User blog:Ilniaj/The Beastwomen

In the forests and wild areas of the world lurk the Beastwoman, beautiful and powerful mixtures of woman and beast, reptile or insect. They have similar intelligence to humans but employ it with the base cunning of a wild animal, forming a dangerous combination. Beastwoman live in the wilds either singularly, in small packs or in small villages. Though they can hunt, grow and forage most of the resources they need, there is one they can't which is human men to love and breed with. When in a monster friendly nation, they'll travel to the nearest human settlement to find a lover. When they are in a nation hostile to monsters, the need to find lovers is what motivates them to form warherds consisting of several dozen to a few thousands of monsters and raid human settlements for men. Even when they can't find unmarried men (or married men with a wife willing to share after monsterization) their raids can prompt potential husbands to come to them when soldiers are rallied and organized into military endeavors, venturing into the wilds to counter their attacks. The prospect of fighting Beastwoman on their home turf is very risky. They know the paths of their land, including the ones invisible to the mundane eye. In such conditions, the hunter will find themselves the hunted, their scouts and stragglers picked off little by little until the time is ripe for the whole army to be overwhelmed in a devastating ambush. For the people devoted to the Chief God and her pantheon, Beastwoman are an ever present threat. Much of the land governed by the kings who rule in her name are blanketed in wilderness where they lurk. When human nations wage war against monster and monster-friendly nations, the monster-aligned will send envoys to the Beastwoman to entice them to form warherds and harass the enemy, raid the supply lines and force units of soldiers to be pulled away from the front lines.

Beastwoman hordes are extremely dangerous in battle, a ferocious horde of bestial and skilled warriors, great lumbering chariots, packs of well-trained hounds and even larger creatures eagerly subdue enemies that dare stand in their way. Beastwoman are naturally stealthy in both the strategic and tactical level and will levy this stealth to their benefit. A myriad of paths creep through the wilds, both in the typical plane of reality and in other planes such as Wonderland and the Fairy Realms. These "Beastpaths" as human militaries have termed them allow the Beastwoman to bypass natural obstacles, making it difficult to make use of local terrain against them. On the smaller scale the Beastwoman will surround their targets before the fight even starts, tracking and pursuing marching armies unseen for miles. When the time comes, the Beastwoman strike without warning in a swift and brutal ambush. Even when human armies think they have caught the Beastwoman in open combat, they find small to large units of warriors appearing on their flanks and rear, surrounding them and cutting off their escape.

While beastwoman come in a variety of forms, they can generally be divided into three types, the gor and ungor infantry, centauric pseudo-cavalry and flying harpies and insect woman. The gor and ungor infantry are the least maneuverable but often the strongest and most numerous. Centaurs and their derivatives are faster, but their horse-like rear bodies are meant for speed, and more vulnerable to attacks. The Flyers are the least resilient or powerful of them but the most maneuverable, able to fly above whatever ground bound forces try to intercept them and bound ahead with great speed.

The leaders of Warherds are called Wargors and Beastlords, with the latter above the former. Both come in all three general varieties of beastwoman. When a warherd is formed, the beastwoman choose a leader based on who is strongest, lacking more formal command chains. This strength usually comes with age and experience but not always. The Wargors and Beastlords are all expert fighters and keep a beastwoman horde organized and cohesive. The Wargors and Beastlords will always lead their warherds from the front, usually accompanied by a retinue of their most elite fighters. Using their expertise in close combat, they seek the leaders of enemy armies. Even if already married or lacking interest in that leader, defeating such strong and capable men will reinforce their leadership and can make the beastwoman stronger by impregnating them with children.

Beastwoman armies will have magical support as well from their powerful magic users who they call Bray-Shamans, which again, can come in all three general varieties of Beastwoman. The use of magic is powerful and this makes a Bray-Shaman a figure held in respect and awe by their brethren. Due to the strength required for wilderness living, these Bray-shamans are not weak in combat like the spellcasters of most other armies, being equal to or greater than a Bestigor or Wargor in a fight. While many of them are from naturally magically inclined races such as Owl Mages or Unicorns, they must still hone their skills and abilities, so it can be expected that they are wise and knowledgeable in magic instead of wielding it like a blunt instrument. When beastwoman go to war, Bray-Shamans wield their power to wreak terrible devastation upon the foe, the coruscating magic transforming soldiers into new forms, summoning the spirits of the forest or driving enemy mounts to buck their riders to the ground and abandon them.

The Beastlords, Wargors and Bray-Shamans can be a variety of races but some of those races have special abilities like the corrupting aura of the Basilisk or petrifying gaze of Medusa and Cockatrice. Having fully mastered these odd abilities so that they can avoid striking down their fellows by accident, they can be levied into combat to fight their enemies. The strange aura of a Basilisk can poison the very spirit of a human, creating an aroused mess for an eager monster to claim or causing a woman to be reborn as a monster. The Medusa or Cockatrices petrifying gaze can defeat even the mightiest of creatures. Chimera's can breathe fire that heats up and arouses the body to the point it can cause a victim to faint.

The ungors and gors are the bulk and backbone of a Beastwoman warherd. They are also the principle ambushers of such an army, while more resilient or faster units tie down or play avoidance against an enemy army. In the event when such units aren't available, they can form an effective front line. Gors and Ungors sometimes form typical military units but can also make use of a skirmisher formation combined with the use of ranged weapons. Such a formation aids them in harassing the foe. When armed for ranged combat, a typical Gor or Ungor unit will wield throwing weapons such as javelins or throwing axes.

Ungors are slightly lesser than gors by nature of birth, carrying a weaker form of the bestial resilience and fighting skill of the gors. Ungors also tend to lack claws or their claws are too weak to be equivalent to typical hand weapons. They are composed of races like Werecats, Kobolds, Wererabbits and similar. While not as physically powerful as the gors, they are often more intelligent, which makes them more capable than gors at assisting shamans, building large constructions and maintaining weaponry. In battle, ungors tend to take to the field in large herds, armed with shields to protect their bodies and either hand weapons or stout spears.

Another form of ungor unit are the Ungor Raiders, ungors that have been tasked with the role of scouting, delivering messages and mapping the terrain. Bands of these raiders range ahead of the warherd as it travels, sending runners back and forth to ensure that the main body can bring its might to bear. It is the information brought by them that enables the warherd to encircle and entrap the foe, launch ambushes from hidden paths and cut off the escape of those who still believe there is a path to safety. In the course of their scouting duties, the Ungor Raiders often locate small isolated settlements before the rest of the warherd arrives. If they judge it possible for them to overwhelm the settlement alone and worth the risk to do so, they will make an attempt. Overwhelming the settlement before the rest of the warherd can reach it is a great reward, they can claim men as mates and mark them with their energy before other bigger monsters get the chance to do so (and being bigger, they usually can enforce their first pick of men to mate with). In battle, the Ungor Raiders range far ahead of the bulk of the warherd in order to disrupt the enemies battlelines, draw out charges or reveal the locations of hidden warriors. These raiders make an efficient skirmisher screen, charging enemy gunlines or firing volleys with bows or slings before fleeing to safety through the bands of gors that follow behind.

Gor units are made of monsters born with resilient bodies such as werewolves, minotaurs and lizardwoman. Sometimes they include ungors that have developed their skills and bodies to the point that it impresses the stronger born monsters enough to allow them to join their units. Gors prefer to fight with natural weapons, the claws they are typically born with. If they lack such claws, they'll wield weapons, either two hand weapons or a hand weapon and shield. Despite their feral and wild appearances, they can form ordered military units just like men can, a fact that many an enemy captain or general has failed to understand until it's too late. Roving groups of gors band into tight units that march beneath banners bearing the flayed hides of mighty beasts while others bear the captured flags of defeated enemies. The gors raucous crudity and catcalling is accompanied by the tonal drone of pipes and horns. Few foes can maintain their nerve in the face of an intimidating horde of gors, let alone when more of them burst from the trees having circumvented war machine emplacements, outflanked the disciplined battle line and cut off any chance of escaping for routing soldiers.

The best warriors from among the warband will band together into one horde, the Bestigors. As well as being stronger, the Bestigors are more disciplined, forming organized ranks and restraining themselves from the more detrimental excesses. Because of their size and ferocity, Bestigors carve out a privileged position within the warherd. Bestigors are equipped with the best weapons available. Sometimes, this is simply their claws, but they will also carry effective two-handed weapons, either halberds or great weapons. They wear suits of armor and chainmail, a lack of industry will render them lightly or moderately armored as opposed to the heavy suits that civilized nations wear. Bestigors will form the Wargor or Beastlords inner circle of retainers and enforcers and if the leader is slain, it tends to a Bestigor that takes her place. In battle, Bestigors form a solid, armored mass of muscle and iron that charges forward with a terrifying momentum. Most Bestigors are already married, their reasons for fighting are often in the interest of capturing men for their sisters or daughters to marry. In other cases, it is for the chance for material wealth, as war often creates spoils and even monsters have interest in material wealth and status.

Beastwoman will train hounds and dogs like humans and elves will. Their blood is a mixed combination of wolf and dog, with more wolf than dog. In battle, the Warhounds will serve as the vanguard of the army, being the initial flankers before the ambushers can arrive. They bound across the battlefield at an alarming speed; so that a handgunner will have scant moments to take his shot and no hope of reloading before the hound is upon them. The hounds are trained in tactics to subdue opponents, snatching weapons away, striking the hamstrings or tripping up the foe before dragging him back to their master for the reward of a tasty treat. Bray-Shamans have been known to use rituals to alter their hounds, causing them to grow a hide of scales and/or for venom to coat their claws and teeth.

Particularly powerful beastwoman may be fortunate enough to own chariots. Though of slightly crude fashion, the brute force of both the demon realm beasts that draw these chariots and the riders and the weight is enough to inflict terrible damage. The most common creatures that pull Beastwoman chariots are a smaller (but still large) variety of demon realm boar called a Tuskgor. Tuskgors are not natural creatures but creatures of the demon realms, the energy of it causing them to grow to potentially enormous sizes. Beastwoman use Tuskgors in a number of different ways. Some are used as beasts of burden, carting off plunder and bound captives from the battlefield. Others are tethered in pairs to chariots manned by a Bestigor (or perhaps the chieftain herself) and her Gor driver. Tuskgor chariots surge forwards at a breakneck speed, driving towards the ranks of the foe and scattering them as the Beastwoman and Tuskgors strike out with hooves, horns and blades.

Razorboars are massive cousins of Tuskgors, mountains of muscle and hair that when angered, are deadly in the extreme. Beastwoman Wargors and Beastlords will attempt to break the will and tame one to prove her right to lead the warherd. If victory over the beast is achieved, the Chieftain will order a chariot built for it to draw. This she will ride into battle with savage pride, the chariot and the beast that pulls is a tangible sign of her power. More patient beastwoman will raise and breed demon realm boars into Razorboars over generations, feeding them carefully with demon realm produce and meat and even putting a touch of magic into the breeding process. Rarely, several of them are harnessed at once, herded into a loose pack and sent headlong into enemy ranks. Sometimes, Razorboars are used to pull chariots on a large scale rather than just for a chieftain, which are crewed by a Bestigor and Gor just like a Tuskgor chariot.

Ramhorns are gargantuan demon realm beasts, it is believed that Ramhorns were once Razorboars that have continued to grow to a titanic size. As it grows, it's hide hardens into a natural armor, its horns grow massive and vicious tusks emerge from its maw. Fully grown Ramhorns are extremely hard to capture, unlike with Razorboars, a Chieftain is not enough to subdue the creature and many, even quite large groups of monsters have failed and perished trying. Since capturing a fully grown one is almost impossible, two easier methods are used to gain ahold of these beasts. The first is to capture and tame a Razorboar and carefully nurture it into a Ramhorn. Those that lack the patience will enlist the aid of a Bray-Shaman to magically impose her will on the beast. A warherd in possession of a Ramhorn can count itself as one of the most powerful forces in the region, its presence ensuring that monsters flock to its banner. Beastwoman more than readily goad a Ramhorn into battle, the mightiest fortifications can be brought down by one given time. In battle, Bestigors and Beastlords mount the Ramhorn and harass the enemy from the relative safety of a howdah on the creatures back. Sometimes, Great Bray-Shamans use the Ramhorns height to get a better vantage point to hurl spells across the battlefield.

Centaurs are Beastwoman that are a cross between four-legged creatures such as horses or deer and bipedial humans. The hindquarters and forelegs of a quadruped grants them great speed and agility, their upper body of a humanoid allows them to use weapons and manipulate tools and the ears of the beast their lower body resembles grants excellent hearing. Strong, vital and somewhat crude, these Beastwoman are powerful creatures. Most centaurs tend to be nomadic, hunting beasts and grazing the land in herds; even the urbanized ones will go back to these roots when fighting in an army. When in battle, centaurs range ahead of the army, pelting the foe with missile weaponry such as bows, javelins and throwing axes before closing in for melee combat, in which they fight with hand weapons, spear and shield or with a great weapon.

Beastwoman warherds have the possibility of bringing numerous units of flyers into battle. Some of them are a mix of woman and bird while others mix woman and insect. These Beastwoman Flyers will band together in great sky-borne flocks, roaming high above the ground. In order to remain in the air, Beastwoman Flyers have to travel lightly so they lack armor or heavy weaponry, only equipping themselves with their talons, two hand weapons or a light spear. Their light equipment means that Beastwoman Flyers are ill-suited for prolonged combat. Instead they avoid dedicated melee units to strike out at war machines, ranged units, or units occupied by others, cutting off the ranged support and preventing retreating units from rallying and rejoining the battle. In the previous age, some of the harpy family developed dangerous manbane claws that could rip into the vitals and wildfire that would make their claws burst into a magical flame that makes them able to set fires and harm ethereal beings. These mutations carried into the current age, the manbane claws now draining spirit energy like a wight and the demon hellfire no longer causing burns but making the body heat up. They will also use dirty tricks like coating their weapons and talons with a paralyzing poison. The Beastwoman Flyers can create elaborate camouflages in the woods and eyries above their targets so a unit of soldiers that think they were safe can suddenly find themselves surrounded by lustful women, eager to carry them off as lovers.

In the previous age, Preytons were corrupted Great Stags, turning them into hybrids of forms much like a Chimera. Preytons have equine heads with a pair of blackened and serrated antlers on them, their hindquarters and bodies resemble a stag while their forelegs are replaced with massive wings resembling that of a great eagle. In the previous age, the ritual that creates a Preyton fills it with malice and hatred, driving it to kill even when not hungry. The ritual has been modified in this age and Preytons are far more docile. While no longer as vicious and therefore effective in combat, they are far more controllable and can even be tamed, while in the previous age, only magic can harness them for battle. Sometimes, opponents of the Beastwoman have a well-armed air force of their own such as Pegasus or Hippogryph knights from Lescatie or Great Eagles allied with elves. The Preytons are more able combatants than Beastwoman Flyers and are more capable of engaging these flyers in direct combat, as well as charging the flanks of dedicated melee units. Sometimes a Preyton will be fed a concoction that sends it into a frenzy before battle and/or be taught to stalk and ambush just as capably as its beastwoman masters. Just like with warhounds, Bray-shamans can enchant Preytons so that their skin hardens, forming natural armor.

In the previous age, beastmen could enlist the aid of pixies, either gathering an already existent tribe or creating their own by killing children and twisting their souls with dark rituals. While the latter method is no longer in use except when a child loses their life before their time, the Beastwoman now have portions of the fairies on their side. In times of conflict, hundred of fairies and pixies join together, scurrying along paths unseen. Such a mass of magical creatures brings with it a great amount of magical energy. Thus all of them and the paths they've taken shine bright of magic. Sparkling in indefinite colors, the spectacle is a beautiful sight to behold. Man and beast alike are befuddled by this rare display of raw magic and stop their chores or whatever they were after. This magic does have a practical effect allowing them to befuddle enemies, causing them to stumble towards them, transfixed by the magic, an aspect that the Beastwoman are fully willing to make use of in their ambushes, drawing people towards the sight and then attacking.

Giants are monstrous humanoids with boundless strength and a prodigious appetite for fighting, food and alcohol. As strung and as tall as 10 men, they are all formidable creatures, if only due to the amount of brute force they can use rather than any skill or intelligence. Loud, aggressive and rather stupid, giants are capable of destruction on a massive scale when the mood strikes them. A giant can join a warherd either through negotiation or magical enforcement, unlike the rest of the warherd they are not interested in men as spoils of war and will instead join a battle in exchange for payment in food and alcohol. They will carry both a large club and a bag to stuff captives into, knowing that they can get far more than the meager meat on a human by trading him or her with the beastwoman.

Many Beastwoman come from Wonderland, and occasionally they can entice a Jabberwock to emerge from that spirit realm and fight for them. Though Wonderland has twisted the dragons that reside in it so that they take pride in lasciviousness rather than strength and wealth, they are still powerful beings who can transform into something similar to the form they had in the previous age. When a Jabberwock transforms into her enormous dragon form, her head retreats into her body and the two tentacle heads taking its place as well as the typical changes in size, strength and body shape that comes from taking this form. Unlike regular dragons that breathe fire, a Jabberwocks breath weapon is a pink mist that drives the bodies of those that breath it in into heat or rut, addling their minds and even causing them to faint. While not as skilled at fighting or as strong as a typical dragon, a Jabberwock does have a few advantages. Since she has two heads, she can store two uses of her breath weapon for use rather than just one and can make more attacks in the same amount of time as a typical dragon. A warherd containing a Jabberwock is a powerful force for any warherd able to entice one into battle is already influential. Jabberwocks in their inhuman form come in three typical sizes. Young Jabberwocks are the weakest with smaller bodies and weaker scales, but still formidable, "Standard" Jabberwocks are middling in capability and Great Jabberwocks are the oldest and mightiest among them.

Some of the plant type monsters such as Alraunes, Liliraunes, Barometz and Dryads can have the non-humanlike part of them grow to massive sizes. Tentacles can also appear to have a massive non-humanlike part but it's instead the Tentacle controlling a mass of other tentacle plants. These monsters aren't permanently rooted to the ground, they can uproot themselves and move but will do so slowly while relatively human sized. When they reach a massive size, they can move quicker than a man and match pace with an elf, if only due to a long stride length rather than speed of limb. With the exception of tentacles, these monsters must be married to reach such a size so whenever they march to war, they are not in search of a husband but of other goals and gains. Whatever her reason for fighting these monstrous flora are deadly opponents. They thrash around with flailing branches, vines or tentacles while addling the mind of whoever they fight with the sweet smell of aphrodisiac nectars. There is little pattern or strategy behind their strikes and anybody standing against her will be hard pressed to defend themselves while trying to find a weak spot in her defenses. As they are all plants, fire is an effective means to kill them. Dryads are covered in iron-hard bark, a natural armor that is difficult to get through. Others such as Alraunes, Liliraunes and Barometz will spread a cloud of their pollen around them making it difficult to target and strike them. Tentacle plants have all of their tentacles coated with an aphrodisiac slime that soaks into the skin and since the tentacles all have their own will, they can strike out faster than the other monster flora.