Gnolls and Bone Magic

 This is part 2 of a series on The Thousand Miles. You can find part 1 here.

Gnolls.

Gnolls were a successful mistake. An ancient alchemist granted sapience to hyenas in the hopes of creating an army. This foolish ambition was predicated on the false belief of hyenas as vicious thieves and grave-robbers but all he created were packs of nomadic hyena-people with the power to make tools and wield weapons.

Like hyenas, gnolls are matriarchal. Their societies are small family groups led by the oldest woman. The other women in her clan her children or grandchildren, and the men all gnolls from other clans. Gnoll clans kick out their adult male children. It is a holdover from their days as hyenas. The specifics of gnoll relationships vary from clan to clan. Some are monogamous. Others keep dozens of drudge-men. Regardless, gnoll men do not hunt. Only the women do that.

Gnolls working with other species have a habit of refusing to work with men. To them, a man in a position of power is clearly unworthy of said position. As a result, most places where gnolls frequent have high ranking women in charge of dealing with gnolls. This behavior can be unlearned, but gnolls do not often live long enough to unlearn it.

Gnolls are nomadic, wandering in search of water and food. Most gnolls maintain specific migration routes which they follow consistently. A gnoll clan knows all the other clans nearby, such is the fate of their intermingling. There are a few permanent gnoll settlements in the Miles, mostly made in caverns or beast burrows. Gnolls have a preference towards spears, clubs, and javelins. Most gnoll tools are made of stone, as gnolls lack the ability to perform complex metallurgy, owing to their nomadic lifestyle.

Gnoll mercenaries are a common sight
on the Tin Road. Around 70%
of all Tin Road guards are gnolls.

Gnolls place great significance on beast pelts. A gnoll hunter is measured by the pelt they wear, which always be the most valuable of their pelts. Lion pelts are the most valuable, followed by elephant, crocodile, and hyena pelts. Some gnoll tribes treat insect chitins like pelts. Gnolls do not deal in coin. They will barter only with pelts, water, or other valuables.

Many have the false assumption that gnolls have domesticated hyenas. This is, of course, false. Hyenas are difficult to tame, let alone domesticate. Gnolls prefer less-intelligent animals fit for carrying such as camels or giant beetles. Large gnoll clans might have a pack of royal hyenas for protecting their matriarch, but these hyenas are tamed through magic.

Gnolls as Enemies.

Most gnoll men are smaller than their counterparts. They have 1 hit die and only their jaws for combat. Drudge gnolls have half a hit die. Gnoll women have 2 hit die and have access to spears, clubs, and/or javelins. Matriarchs have 3 hit die and are marrow speakers (see below). All gnolls have the ability to bite a target below half health for free once per turn.

Gnolls prefer hit and run tactics. They will toss javelins and harry you through the desert until you die of exhaustion. They only engage when their targets are weakened, and only when strictly necessary.

To hear the words of the marrow.

It has secrets long forgotten by time. Photo by Wilmy van Ulft on Unsplash

Gnolls have one form of magic. Sure, they might learn to speak through the wind, or to divine the future in the entrails of the fallen, or in rare cases to practice the arcane craft of mages and sorcerers, but gnolls have one magic that is truly theirs: marrow speaking.

Many see a gnoll clad in furs wrapped in hundreds of bones and think of them as macabre and obsessed with death. This is false. Gnolls are no more obsessed with death than any other mortal species. Gnolls have simply learned to listen to the whispers of bones.

When the body withers away and succumbs to rot and all that remains are bones, it is a fair assumption that there is nothing of value left. Bones are not edible. They make for poor tools. But they remember being alive. They can tell you their secrets, if you know how to listen. And they'd give anything for a few moments of the feeling of life. It is this knowledge the marrow speaker uses.

All matriarchs know how to speak to the bones. Her second in command, often her eldest daughter, will be her apprentice. Larger clans of gnolls might have more marrow speakers, but no more than 1 per 50.

One might be able to convince the gnolls to teach them how to listen to the bones. It'll take time, and they will only teach it to women, but the magically inclined can learn to listen to the stories the bones speak. Lift a bone to your ear. Listen close for the shifting of blood inside, the way the sand in the wind taps against, the subtle changes in the bones weight. These are the words of the bones. Fresh bones are loud. Ancient bones speak with little more than a whisper.

Bones can perform all manor of magical spell by remembering the past. A wizard might create a fireball by causing the air to combust, but a marrow speaker can create a fireball by using a bone that remembers dying in an inferno to recreate that inferno. Mechanically, marrow speakers can cast spells as a wizard of a level equal to their hit die. After being used to cast a spell, the bones fade to dust. Having lived again, there is nothing for them in this world.

Six spells the bones can teach you.

Buoyancy.

The fin bones of ancient fish remember where land was once water. One can use them to swim through the water that once was, at least until the fins disintegrate. Small fins can be destroyed in a minute. Large ones might last hours.

Guard.

Bones marked by ancient and deep scars are more resilient than normal bones. They can be used to absorb a dangerous hit before fading into dust.

Seek.

Fresh bones work best for seeking. Ask the bones to find you something they would remember, then crack them to release the blood stuck in the marrow. It will show you the way. They can always find the rest of their body.

Fuse

Rarely, a marrow speaker might find bones that have fused together. These bones can be used by the marrow speaker to impart their fusion to two inanimate objects, adhering them stronger than any glue.

Animate.

With a whole skeleton, a marrow speaker might convince the bones to move once more. This is temporary. They were not designed for this. They are like a necromancer skeleton, but more brittle, and they fade to dust when they are defeated.

This is not necromancy. Necromancy forces life into bones. A marrow speaker coaxes what life is left out of them.

Tar.

The bones of something that drowned in tar have powerful magic. When a marrow speaker snaps one all nearby creatures (except the marrow speaker) will feel as though they are coated in tar, limiting their movement. This doesn't last long, less than 30 seconds. It fails to work on beings that would be immune to the effects of swimming in tar, like tar elementals.