[FGVP03] Frostgrave Gnolls

After an ancient law banned human fighters from the arenas, the Beastcrafters exploited a loophole and created numerous varieties of anthropomorphised animal hybrids. While many different species were exploited to this end, rats, dogs, and hyenas provided strong, reliable subjects and were amongst the most common hybrids. After years of Beastcrafter tinkering and manipulation, robust strains that drew from these three species were perfected. These gnolls, as these strains came to be collectively known, were bred in the thousands in the years before the cataclysm, and sold as slaves and gladiators to the arenas and as shock troops to the armies of foreign powers. When the great storm struck, several groups of the hardy gnolls survived, trapped in isolated colonies deep beneath the city. Over the next millennium, they multiplied, forming numerous tribes and packs, warring with each other in their underground warrens and hunting the great worms. Today, gnolls form what is easily the most numerous group of living creatures inside the Frozen City. Most gnolls will belong to one of the many tribes, clans, or packs that claims large areas of the underground as their territories. While gnolls only rarely come to the surface, their hunting parties are occasionally encountered by explorers in the ruins. Gnolls possess a low-level human intelligence. They are capable of limited human speech and can produce simple tools and weapons, though they prefer to steal or loot rather than create. Gnoll warriors include all of the same types found in human societies, though those that rely on specialized weapons or heavy armour such as knights and marksmen are uncommon. A few wizards, mostly Beastcrafters, have convinced gnolls to join their warbands. While gnolls are naturally distrustful of humans, they can usually be persuaded if the price is right.