Rakkaz
Rakkaz
Religion
Traditions
-20% Cavalry Cost
-25% Harsh Treatment Cost
Slayer of SlayersThe rule of our pack began with Rakkaz I, a wise and cunning hyena-rider who served as a general under Grizaka. So brutal and effective was the way in which she dispatched the warriors of Irsmahap that she was bestowed the epithet 'Slayer-of-Slayers'. Rakkaz I ultimately perished in battle against the gnoll warriors of Viakkoc during the Battle of Kheterat, leaving our pack to the command of her daughter Rakkaz II, who quickly gained the reputation of a brutal warlord even by gnollish standards.\n\nThough Rakkaz I was a loyal vassal of Grizaka, Rakkaz II 'Slayer-of-Slayers' would oppose the founding of Gnollakaz, instead choosing to break off her pack and lead her hyena-riders to subjugate the Fieldstalker clans to the south and raid into the lands of the Tijarikheti. From there she declared Grizaka’s proclamation as "emperor of gnollkind" to be hollow words, and vowed to live up to her bloodline’s name by slaying her.
+0.1 Cavalry Shock
+1 Land Leader Manoeuvre
The Mazu MakharaIn the lands where desert sand meets desert grass stands a collapsed rocky dome five miles wide, ringed with scorched obsidian - the Mazu Makhara, the Shadow Womb. The site is littered with trash, tools, debris and other signs of ancient gnollish occupation, but its original purpose is lost to the ages. What is known, however, is that the place hums with demonic energy, and it has been host to warlocks for many centuries. These warlocks are self-interested opportunists who contract freely with supernatural beings of all kinds, seeking always to gain influence among the most powerful, and the Mazu Makhara is their preferred site for conducting the fell rituals by which they contact the otherworldly.
+0.01 Yearly Demonic Power
DreadsandsOur lands are pocked with fighting pits, testament to a time-honored tradition of gladiatorial combat amongst Fieldstalker Gnolls. In ancient times this custom once drew spectators from far and wide, but with the collapse of foreign trade following the ascension of Rakkaz II the pits have since been corrupted to serve a far darker purpose. Goaded by their warlock advisors, our pack’s rulers now fill them with all number of dissenters and rivals, each of whom meet slow, miserable deaths at the hands of fighting-slaves and wild animals.\n\nConsequently, the land now menaces with a palpable suffering that emanates from these fighting pits - a dark gift to the night hags of the Shadow Swamp whom these warlocks are truly courting. The hags feed off of extreme suffering, and so tolerate our pack’s existence and sometimes even deign to empower a warlock to act as their agent.
-1 National Unrest
Demoncollar HyenasIt is said that gnolls were first created when hyenas were imbued with the power of demons. Through the forging of specially enchanted collars, our warlocks can replicate this profane gift upon the savage dire-hyenas of the highlands by calling forth minor demons and trapping them in their flesh via the warding magic of the collars. The resulting hellhound is imbued with all the fury and rancor of a lesser demon - a hateful beast that dominates the battlefield, seeking to avenge itself upon all mortals. Only the boldest of gnolls dare ride these demoncollar hyenas, for they are just as likely to eat their rider as they are their enemies.
+20% Cavalry to Infantry Ratio
+15% Cavalry Combat Ability
The Rule of WarlocksWhen Gnollakaz sought to bring Rakkaz back to heel, by invading and deposing Rakkaz II, they placed her younger sister Vazera in charge as a more pliable vassal. Our pack’s inexperienced young ruler found herself relying more and more on the power and counsel of her warlock advisors. In truth, these warlocks were loyal to none except the dark masters to which they had sworn their oaths - typically demons or the night hags of the Shadow Swamp.\n\nWith the interests of demons and hags aligning more often than not, their agents soon found more common ground with each other than they did with the descendants of Rakkaz, and so conspired together to see the line of Rakkaz stripped of any real power. In the end the warlocks seized near total control, ruling from the shadows via a series of inept puppets, prioritising their own dark projects over the management of the pack.
+10% Mages Loyalty Equilibrium
-5 Change National Focus Cooldown Years
Loyalty in DeathUnder the Rule of Warlocks, the practice of endocannibalism was abrogated - honoring the dead was seen as secondary to making further use of them. The corpses of dead gnolls were brought to the dark bogs of the Shadow Swamp and left to mummify in the peat. Midway through the process a slave was tied to the burial site and left to starve, their suffering giving rise to a necromantic energy which suffused the mummified gnoll, allowing it to be possessed by a dark spirit. From this ritual a witherling was born, ready to be bound to a warlock’s will through fell magic.\n\nWitherlings made for ideal foot soldiers, for as undead they were ignored by demoncollar hyenas and were capable of receiving the brunt of any attack without complaint, and as former gnolls they retained a savagery and strength of their own. Ultimately, their greatest asset was a total, unswerving loyalty to the warlock who bound them.
-10% Morale Damage Received
Charge of the Six Hundred"As the ground shook with the force of the blast\nThe riders’ screams were a haunting contrast\nTo the zealous prayers of the Kvangahga\nAs they sounded off the guns of Kvanga"\n-Excerpt from 'Charge of the Six Hundred'\n\nThe rise of Haraagtseda to the east spelled the doom of our pack. Not even our mightiest warlocks could match the zeal of those scrap-worshippers, the boons of night hags and demons alike crumbling in the face of Kvangahga. Even as the warlocks fled our country in fear, however, a bold gnoll gladiatrix named Yeeno 'Trampler-of-Fools' seized power and rallied the last of our hyena-riders in a glorious charge against the enemy. Yet it was all for naught, as the gnolls of Haraagtseda levied forth their guns and cannons and decimated our riders before they could even draw blood.\n\nThough Yeeno's charge ultimately proved futile, her memory lived on in the survivors of the siege and was often commemorated by those who resisted conversion to Kvangahga.
+1 Land Leader Shock
Ambition
-25% State Maintenance
History
TBD
Strategy
TBD