Beastmen

The Beastmen were told that the Fey created them for the sole purpose of killing Humans. They say that animals were molded into a humanoid form, while keeping the best fighting instincts of all of them intact. They say only the Fey could have honed the Beastman fighting instinct into perfection for battle, and without them there would be no Beastmen.

These are all Fey lies. Who knows why the Fey always lie? The past does not matter, only the now. History will not feed you, clothe you, or bring you riches; so what’s the use of it? No Fey magic can hide the truth from the Beastmen. No Fey ever wielded a power strong enough to create this powerful race.

It isn’t a waking memory that refutes the Fey claims, but the Dream that all Beastmen go to when their eyes close and their minds sleep. When a Beastman sleeps, he is in the primal lands filled with good hunting and great battles between Beastmen Warbands. It is filled with ancient territories, dead comrades, and ferocious beasts that can kill you in an instant if not careful. It is the waking world that is less real for the Beastmen. There is no fear of death because it is a final return to the Dreaming.

This Dreaming is an oddity among the Nexus races. Every Beastman will grow up knowing who and what they are, and their people’s ways. An orphaned cub could grow up without every having contact with other Beastman but he will still Dream. He will develop as a Beastmen with those Dreams leading him to his own people.

Who they are

Beastmen tend to have fur from at least the waist down, some have it all over, and they range in appearance from mostly Human-ish to mostly bestial. The more bestial members of this race have full goat or bull heads. The only thing all Beastmen share is horns. Interestingly enough, the more bestial and more massive the horns the more respect the Beastman garners. The more Human a Beastman looks, the less likely he will be respected by the others, and the more likely he will be bullied and picked on. To look Human is thought to be an indication of weak blood.

Argumentative doesn’t even begin to cover Beastmen behavior. Young males and females with no children organize into nomadic Warbands looking for easy targets. They are led by the strongest and most charismatic Beastman in the group. They are often as dangerous to non-Beastman allies, as they are to the enemy. If a Warband thinks there is no good reason to stick around for a battle, they are just as likely to take down their own allies, loot them, and leave. There are stories of armies hiring away Beastman Warbands in the middle of battle with last minute negotiation and cold hard cash.

The name Beastman is a misleading one, as there are females in the race. Females with out children, or who foster their children off, travel and fight as well as any other male in a Warband, but females with children will found their own Nursery bands devoted to the communal raising of the children. They raise not only their own children, but also those of the females the chose to raid and fight in the other Warbands.

Beastmen trace their lineage through their mother, when possible. Often, however, early deaths prevent a Beastman from knowing little more than the story of his birth. They are often named descriptive, and silly names at birth. These names will stick with them until they have reached adulthood at around 18 years of age. Then they will be given an adult name in description of their deeds, or temperament. Often young adults will go out of their way to commit feats of bravery to get impressing sounding names at the naming. It is far better from a Beastman point of view to be named HeartRipper, BloodyClaw, LongFang, or TwoHorn DeathSpell than to be called FuzzyCub, LongFang’s Whelp, or Giggles.

A Beastmen will live to around 100 years old before dying of old age, but unless they live as a part of one of the Nursery Bands they usually die much sooner.

Warbands support the Beastmen culture, as Beastmen do not manufacture their own goods, and all they have comes from other races. Warbands will routinely outfit any Nursery Bands they come across sometimes in the form of males seeking promiscuous female approval, or just outright generosity towards the children in the Band.

Beastmen will build up material wealth during raids in order to attract mates. Often males are the ones competing, but it isn’t unheard of for a female to build her own status and wealth to attract a male that is renowned for his own exploits. Beastmen rarely mate for life. Females that wish to continue in a Warband foster their children out to a Nursery Band, so that she can continue her life of raiding.

When a pair does make a serious lifetime commitment, it is marked on the pairs body. They leave deep teeth marks in the each other’s throat as a mark of loyalty and ownership. This mark gives a Beastman the right to kill anyone found sleeping with their lover, if they can. Most often the pair will move to a Nursery Band, instead of the raiding Warbands. The male helps provide protection, and security.

All of these things make for a rather promiscuous culture, with no clean lineage lines. The core of stability for Beastman culture is the bands that raise children. It is the only place that infighting is strictly prohibited, with a penalty of death. This loyalty to the Nursery Bands is so deep that Warbands from the area will drop everything they are doing to help defend one under attack. This a far cry different from the relationship Warbands enjoy between themselves. It has been known for one Warband to cheer on the demise of another from a safe distance if the two groups haven’t been getting along.

On the whole, all Beastmen exhibit an aggressively protective nature to their children. The foulest tempered, largest, murderous adult male Warband leader would never hesitate to put his life on the line to protect the youngest of newborn Beastmen. Without this instinct to protect their young, the Beastmen would have probably disappeared as a race.

The Gods

Beastmen worship a small number of Gods, but on the whole religion is simple. There are occasional Shaman’s that speak for the Gods, but like all things in Beastmen culture they need the strength to back their word. Often, however, a good Shaman has the clearest Dreams, and they are often able to give startling information by talking to those that have died and entered the Dreaming.

They follow the great red furred, bull headed Bloody Horn into war. He is a war God covered with white crisscrossed scars, many tattoos, piercings, and great bull horns. The sacrifice of an opponent’s head and heart pleases him most.

Bright Tooth is a beautiful goat headed white female. Her fur is as white as the clouds, and soft to the touch. She is often called upon to help with childbirth, and matters that concern women and the raising of children. She is said to be the one to create the first Nursery Band, and is often depicted as Bloody Horn’s mate.

Lastly there is Slanky. He is a trickster with small horns and a Human-ish face. His stories make the Beastman smile, and often give hope to those not capable of gaining through battle. His stories show how to trick and deceive your enemy to get what you want.

Adornments

Beastmen often adorn themselves with permanent markings tattooed into their skin. If they are furred they often engage in scarring to remove the fur, or create white fur in patterns. These scars are often in the form of runes to designate different band association, lineage, or offspring. Sometimes it may commemorate victories, or acts of vengeance as well.

Beastmen also enjoy wearing trophies of their kills. It speaks of their prowess in battle, and shows everyone what they are made of.

The War

During the Gate War the Fey used many mind controlling magic’s to keep the Beastman in check, but the Fey had nothing that could bind the Beastman to them forever. Beastman would drift away from the Fey one at a time to the deep Nexus. They would have just left forever, but the Fey had the Nursery Bands, so integral to the Beastman, under their control.

It was during a chance encounter with a crazy Human Cyborg that the Beastman, Grim’s Blood the Shaman, saw Turner the Human enter the Dreaming. It was a sign from the Gods that the Cyborgs could be trusted at least enough to help them free their young from the Fey.

Those chosen by Grim’s Blood to be a part of his Warband wore a symbol of a black claw to help identify each other. It was the largest event of Beastmen cooperation in their entire history. Their need to free their children, and those caring for them, was what caused them to work with each other when at all other times they would have fought. During a large battle Grim’s Blood managed to replace a Beastmen unit with his own massive Warband of the Black Claw. He saw Turner, who the Gods said was Beastman in Human form, and he gave the signal for the attack.

By this time all Beastmen under Fey control were on the Nexus, and the Gate they were kept by was not far from the battle site. It was a massive victory as the Fey and Human forces seemed blinded by the assault. It is said that the Gods themselves came down and took part in the battle.

After that the Beastmen split up into their separate Bands and melted into the wilds of the Nexus. The rest of the War would be a boon to their way of life as they raided both forces, gaining much in goods.

Today

Nowadays, the Beastmen still live as the Dreaming showed them, and are a perfect addition to the Nexus landscape. They are unparalleled in their ferocity, and fighting skills, and take what they need from other races too weak to keep a hold of it.

There are usually anti-Beastmen laws keeping Beastmen numbers under certain limits in most city-states. Other races say it is well known that if you exceed more than a few Beastmen in a tavern at a time they group up and start wreaking havoc. However, other races recognize that as a fighting force, they are more than capable, and some city-state nobles pay huge Beastmen bodyguards well for intimidation and status.

Beastmen like to prey upon Dwarven trade routes because the weapons they carry are usually of fantastic quality. It is argued if more Dwarves would trade with Beastmen at reasonable prices then the raids could be stopped, but by refusing Beastmen trade, it gives them full rights to take it for free if the Warband thinks it can.

Fey are great for magical items, but they always seem to lie. You have to watch out, as they seem to concentrate on magical attacks. Females also seem impressed with gifts of Fairy wings to adorn their tents, and they are so much prettier than flowers that will wilt in a couple of days.

Humans are hard to judge because they are all so different. They often hire Beastmen for different reasons to do what Beastmen do best. In particular the Beastman do not attack Cyborg compounds because these are Turner’s Nursery Bands. They are also a great place to trade goods they have already taken. Tinkers are great to hit, and then trade the junk to the Cyborgs as they give good prices for them.

Beastmen have difficult relationships with the Felinae because they often fight over the same territory. It really depends on which Warband and which Felinae Tribe run across each other because relationships vary wildly from Band to Band, and Tribe to Tribe.

Today Beastmen are led by their Dreams to be what they have always been. No amount of explaining could convince a Beastmen that the paltry magic the Fey could have created their race. The Dreaming says otherwise. They are perfectly matched to the land, and the dangers of the Nexus.