Dera'Khan of the Rivetfang

Oh shit, this seems like a very original concept.

I've been preparing Dera for a while now. And when I saw Zaku's gnoll, I went "Oh hell no, you're not gonna be the only gnoll around here." So I finished it just now.

Great format and detail, but picture made me vomit.
I mean, fucking bloody chunks vomit.
Need to wash my monitor now.

There's a gnoll town near Surna now? This place is getting pretty crowded.

Since there's no lore on gnolls, I have nothing to support this, but I've always viewed them as being rather primitive. You've set them up as living in a town, having distinct professions, wearing fancy clothing and knowing how to perform advanced engineering (for the time). Seems... unusual. And why is every engineer in Aeria only concerned with making guns and explosives? There are other fields, you know.

Because there's no actual lore on gnolls, I figured there would be more distinct tribes, which I mentioned in the bio. More civilized ones and then the more brutish ones. Rha'Lusk wasn't a bloodthirsty monster either. I also have no idea where the heck Surna is, so I assumed this little society of gnolls would be somewhere along the northen border. That can be changed easily, though.

And yes, I set this tribe to live in a town and having professions and wearing decent clothing. I think it's not too much of a leap of faith if a couple tribes of gnolls living nearby civilization would've picked up on how to make this kind of advanced stuff over the course of 200 years. It might be that "town" is a bad term. More of a village. With 75-200 or so gnolls living there.

The concept for Dera was that she'd be an engineer/rogue who likes fancy clothes and totes an overengineered gun, which evolved into a small gnoll society enjoying similiar things. Besides that, I don't really know what kind of engineering flies in Aeria besides guns and bombs.

Markka wrote:

Besides that, I don't really know what kind of engineering flies in Aeria besides guns and bombs.

Glad you asked. There's clock-making, golem-crafting, lamp-making, steampunk-type stuff (if your character is really smart) such as mining drills or simple locomotives (you'd have to ask Kain about that stuff though). You can also be a blacksmith or craftsman, making such things as saddles, armor, tools, traps, ropes, clothes, or dinnerware. There's all kinds of things, really.

Markka wrote:

I also have no idea where the heck Surna is

Good heavens, thank god we don't have a world map.

I doubt the Rivetfang tribe or Dera could really make golems and steampunk-style stuff. They're not *that* advanced. Yet anyway. Rest is entirely possible. I just wonder if the rough location and the population of village Plateback are appropriate.

I must've missed something with the world map, because when I tried to check it, it was really freaking tiny.

You can click on it to zoom in.

I'll give this an accept, It seems kosher and balanced to me.
Though a gnoll lore page should be decided on.

I'd be willing to write the page on the gnolls.

Zaku wrote:

I'd be willing to write the page on the gnolls.

Gogo. Make sure to include variety of gnolls.

Besides that, my previous questions about the location of the Rivetfang village and the population of it haven't been answered yet. I'd appreciate if someone shedded some light on that. And as always, more feedback would be dandy in case something is substandard. (Disclaimer: not including picture, theme song and autoplay.)

Whilst I appreciate a lovely looking page and a gorgeous song, I can't say I'm too keen on gnolls as being capable of fashioning classy, steampunk-esque weaponry and the such.

It's really more lore than anything, I prefer Zaku's much more brutish approach, and at the very least still pretty basic and tribal. So I'm not sure what to say here, I'll be honest.

Krug wrote:

Whilst I appreciate a lovely looking page and a gorgeous song, I can't say I'm too keen on gnolls as being capable of fashioning classy, steampunk-esque weaponry and the such.

It's really more lore than anything, I prefer Zaku's much more brutish approach, and at the very least still pretty basic and tribal. So I'm not sure what to say here, I'll be honest.

Even Rha'Lusk was a tad too soft for gnolls, I think. Atleast she made more sense because she was a nomadic tribal.

Looks like this could become a debate on how gnolls should be interpreted in this setting. I, for one, am satisfied with how they're handled in DnD, as a type of clever but savage race. We're already breaking the mold with the goblins, and there's plenty of civilized races to choose from besides.

In my opinion both kinds of gnolls could be viable, those who are brutes and savages and those who spend less time fighting everyone. The latter would probably be less common, but with the new state of the world, I imagine at least some of the marauding gnoll tribes might've been killed off. The ones less bent on destruction would've been less likely to be killed off. At least that's how I figure it. After all, there is a lot of variation between elves and humans, too. There's the nobles, grand mages, brilliant scientists and then there's the other end of the spectrum. Why should that apply to other races, but exclude gnolls?

Now, there's the issue of gnoll crafts. I didn't meant to imply that all gnolls, or even Rivetfang gnolls are overall as adept with technology as the most civilized and advanced races. It's likely that their crafts are still more crude in comparison, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch of imagination to say that they've found weapons and other mechanical devices left by other races and learned by reverse-engineering them. This is also implied in Zaku's WIP gnoll thread.
This information could've easily been passed down along the lines, which could've lead to the developement of a more advanced society. What might pass among gnolls as "unbelieveable" or "advanced" might be considered mundane among humans and elves, which is likely to be the case.
There'd be societal variation of course, and since gnolls have always been more warlike, although some tribes may've branched off from that kind of behaviour, it would make sense, for example, if gnolls were by nature more focused in weaponry and armor and had their own designs.


Edit 1: Bump.

Edit 2: Five days and counting. Four since anyone else said anything.

There could be more civilised tribes, I suppose if the lore permitted it, but they'd still look like great big hulking badasses. That's genetic, innit.

But that's a very cool image, at least in my eyes. :D

That's perhaps another thing I don't quite care for, the whole looking like huge great big hulking badasses. Of course this is a far more subjective thing to talk about. Personally I prefer to have different genders (if they exist) look different enough to have a clear distinction between them. As in, you didn't need to strip them down to their knickers and comb them for evidence. I think that would also make finding character pictures even more of a pain in the arse. And usually being huge and hulking doesn't isn't directly propotional to being agile, dexterous and stealthy.

Think of the Moot and the thousands of pictures he already goes through to find a handful of usable ones. ;-;

Edit: Come to think of it, if other tribes spent far less time physically fighting and rather honed their magical/technological skills, would that not already make them noticeably slimmer due to the lack of physical training in comparison to their savage/brutish counterparts?

I look at it this way, gnolls are more animal then man. Very few animals are distinctively different in terms of gender besides their genitals, which is what I intended for the gnolls. I'll finish the page and make room for the possibility that some gnolls can become civilized (which I had intended on putting in from the beginning) but I don't see why they would look much different from male gnolls. They wouldn't have humanoid breasts, they're canine in nature and would sport 6 mammary glands like a dog. The only visual distinction I had in mine were manes and their presence being more apparent on male gnolls.

Hm, yeah. I'm wondering if this would invalidate the reference pictures I've used so far and how I've described gnolls as. In my vision they're not quite as animalistic and have more humanoid traits, kind of like, if you allow the reference, Worgens.

I can't say I'd like the females to conveniently look like just another humanoid race, I feel like that'd just be a massive disappointment for not only the potential variation of this race, but for the variety of races in the world as well. This just seems like a much more refreshing take on it, as much as I understand your reasons for opposing.

Also I'm sure, you'd have no shortage of pictures, there's a lot of images you could find for these newly proposed gnolls.

I'm sure there are a few pictures. Sadly they all look alike, male or female, and I'm not sure where the variety comes in that. I don't think I can quite agree to the characteristics of the proposed gnolls, but if that's what'll it be then I've little say in it.

This needs some changes. For one, it's a furry.

WELL SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT

Munroe wrote:

it's a furry.

So are the Aranek, Canis, Hadri, and dragonkin. Furries, according to the average furry fan, is not limited to mammals. They cover every corner of the animal kingdom, from arachnids to aquatic mammals.

Kazuth are aren't in the list, but only because they are really humans with cat ears and tails. If they had fur all over their bodies they would be, however.