One of the few sapient predators (the others being Goblin Dogs, Dragons, Griffins, Pony Wolves, Mesonychids, and Seals), the Hyena family is native to several countries throughout Zebrica

Hyena

For the most part sticking to the northern nation of Crocutia, the hyenas ( tzebua, zevoa, fisi, Walaba, Gevlekte hiëna, Ondilili, Oln'gojine, or Nyangao depending on the regional language) live in a female-dominated society, though both sexes have equal rights.

Though not particularly war-like, they are drafted against their will and are forced to serve as reluctant allies to the city-state of Carthoge, the warthog country.

In battle, hyenas are serious fighters. their bite strength is great enough to break a diamond dog's neck WITHOUT BREAKING THE SKIN. The worst enemies in Hyena armies, however, are their witches.

these hyenas are experts in Zebrican magic and artificery, able to cast illusions, explosions, and whip up homemade bombs in no time.

Leucrotta

the Leucrotta (corocotta, crocuta, leucrocotta, yena) is the fastest member of the hyena family. They constantly emit a noxious stench and their oily skin smells rancid. unusually, they do not actually have teeth, but rather a jagged bony ridge.

Leucrotta identify each other via their scents, which are apparently unique to every individual. The unique scent of all the members of a pack of leucrotta lingers and other leucrotta respect the areas where that scent is found as the territory of that pack. When well fed, leucrotta endeavor to create games which reward the most creative and vicious kills.

what makes them particularly dangerous is their ability as skilled mimics. a leucrotta's voice is normally low and gravelly, but changes to a perfect imitation when mimicking someone.

Long-Necked Hyena

wandering nomads, these hyenas live in small groups and eke out a living as scavengers, unlike the other hyenas who actively hunt.

Gnoll

The reason Zebrica has no native diamond dog species outside the deserts. Gnolls are extremely tall, with the average member of the race standing on average between 7' and 7'6". Though gnolls are relatively lean for their height, weighing in usually between 280 to 320 lbs, the race cuts an impressive visage. In part because of their height and lean musculature, gnolls are very quick compared with many other races.

Gnolls are natural predators and savor the thrills of the hunt. Almost all gnolls prefer the wilderness to the civilized enclaves favored other races and those that do take to cities usually think of them as just another kind of landscape.

Many other races find the gnoll psyche feral and aggressive, male and female equally, and the behavioral tendencies of the race can certainly give this impression. Gnolls start fighting among one another at a very early age and as soon as they can walk, many crawl into places away from the eyes of adults where they engage in vicious, often lethal battles. A gnoll is more likely to demand answers than it is to actually ask a question. Gnolls, however, do not see this as an act of hostility, but rather a basic demonstration of strength.

Although gnolls as a whole have a strong affinity for family and blood ties, this friendliness does not often extend to gnolls who belong to a different pack and the race commonly makes war on itself.

Other gnoll practices might seem equally strange, such as the gnoll propensity for scavenging. At its most basic level, this tendency leads many gnolls to collect trophies that remind them of past victories, items sometimes grisly though just as often simple and mundane, Gnoll trackers sometimes use this to their benefit, keeping scraps of clothing or other objects with the scent of their prey on them, which they use to point them in the direction of their quarry.

This tendency can lead to the even more alien gnoll practice of carrion eating. Unlike most races, gnolls have few, if any, qualms about eating the dead of other races. When gnolls strike a village they do not only leave no survivors but no corpses, eating most of those whom they don't take as slaves. There are even indications that some gnolls take this practice a step further, actually raiding graveyards for fresh corpses on which to feed.

In spite of the savage nature of the gnolls, there are some aspects to their culture that are not inherently repulsive. Gnolls place a very strong value on family for instance, respecting blood ties perhaps more than any other aspect of a relationship. Though gnolls within a pack commonly fight with each other for dominance, these battles are quickly forgotten after their resolution, and in most situations, gnolls of the same bloodline are loyal friends and allies to one another. These bloodlines are almost always traced maternally, through the female line.

This loyalty to family is particularly obvious during combat, either with rival gnoll packs or other races. Gnolls who fight side by side regularly throw away personal glory in order to help their brethren. Perhaps most surprisingly, when a gnoll is separated from clan and family their instinctive need for such blood ties may lead them to form a surrogate "pack" from those whom they choose to befriend. To these unlikely allies the gnoll is as loyal and faithful as they would their own brothers or sisters, embracing the outsiders as if they were family.

Another common trait of gnolls, that of scavenging, is taken to new levels by gnolls who live in the wild as most do. While all gnolls have an innate tendency for collecting souvenirs and trophies, nomadic packs, particularly the savage ones who have little contact with other races except during wartime, often find few other ways to acquire technology, having crafted few tools of their own. The result of this is that most gnolls rely on the other races as their source of wealth and technology. This extends to arms and weaponry, giving gnoll armor a unique aesthetic where each suit is typically made kitbashed together from scavenged pieces of armor found either on victims or abandoned.

Most gnolls are nomadic, wandering from land to land and living off of raids on the local populations. Victims of these attacks should expect no mercy from their attackers and those who are not killed are taken as slaves where they are brutalized and abused both physically and mentally. Gnolls detest physical labor and so to ensure utter loyalty from slaves take the brutalization of slave to almost an art form. For this purpose most packs have specialized slavers known as tantekurash or "spirit breakers" who make it their business to break the will of a slave through repetitive torture.

The process wreaked on a slave's mind by the tantekurash is brutal and often irrevocable. Those captives who do not submit are eaten, often in front of other slaves as yet another form of torment. Slaves who accept their fate often live short and brutal lives, which are ended by them being devoured. Few victims are lucky enough to be rescued and those that are may take months to shake the scars from their psyche and recover. An even less fortunate few find their minds so broken that they actually embrace the brutality of their captors, becoming the kryshantel or "savage souls," who follow their masters into battle as thralls.

Though most gnoll packs embrace their reputation for savagery, others refrain from such utter depravity. These clans are also nomadic but unlike the others rarely engage in violent raids except when seriously provoked. Likewise, though they retain the natural gnoll bloodlust they take no joy in torture or unnecessary cruelty, embracing hunting and tracking over outright slaughter.

In some cases these gnolls might even come to befriend or at least peacefully interact with the members of other races, offering their services as trappers or hunters. Generally, however, gnolls prefer their own kind and except when on business rarely visit neighboring villages dominated by members of another race. Likewise, these gnolls remain aggressive and quick to anger, meaning visitors should be careful not to offend.

One last interesting fact is that ANYONE can challenge for the leader for the leadership position of a gnoll pack, even if they themselves are not gnolls.

2722500
Gnolls sound pretty interesting, but I would like to know more about the others.

2722588 Hmm... well, I pretty much outlined normal hyenas

Leucrotta tend to be regarded with distrust, and in wars are often used as spies

and very little is known of Long-Necked Hyenas

2722615
I think I heard of Leucrottas. Can't they imitate voices?

2722661 yes, and I incorporated that in. since they can already talk, I made them expert mimics here

what makes them particularly dangerous is their ability as skilled mimics. a leucrotta's voice is normally low and gravelly, but changes to a perfect imitation when mimicking someone

2722668
Yeah. I remember that from a Percy Jackson book called The Demigod Diaries.
I believe in that book, they had bony, horseshoe-like structures for teeth.

2723302

unusually, they do not actually have teeth, but rather a jagged bony ridge.

2723480
Yep.

2724775 Funny, only one other creature I know of had that, and it was actually real

2725147
Oh really?

2725592 Meet Dunkleosteus

a giant, armored, toothless fish from the Devonian Period

2726335
Lol, keeping my time machine away from that era.

2727202 Yep