Hyenafolk (Grisaire Supplement)
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Hyenafolk are people that populate solely the savannahs of Edim. They are ruled in a clan system by a matriarch and have highly spiritual culture entwined with battle and death. As of recent, they are known to skirmish with the leonin who live around the same area. In history, the leonin commonly treated hyenafolk as tributary peoples, and hyenafolk had to share resources with the leonin due to the latter's higher military might. There is some bad blood between the two that was never resolved.
Hyenafolk culture is highly divergent from the fanaticism of gnolls. While they are ruled by a matriarch, a clan is ultimately able to decide if a matriarch is too weak to lead. In such situations, a new matriarch usually arises from a coup. Not all coups are violent and some result in peaceful surrender by the previous matriarch. As a buffer against this, the matriarch usually tries to surround herself with the strongest females in the clan. These are known as her Hunter Guard. In addition to being her closest entrusted, they also help protect the clan in times of strife.
Death is a subject hyenafolk know well as scavengers. Similar to lizardfolk, hyenafolk do not abhor cannibalism. To them, it is better to die and be devoured so one's body may have use until the very end, even as nourishment for another. It is, however, a great disgrace to be eaten by an enemy of the clan. Hyenafolk will usually eat even bones of the deceased, but they specifically leave skulls intact as a sort of rite. This does not preclude them from wearing the skull themselves, particularly if they are that of an enemy. As such, warrior hyenafolk will often adorn their clothes with the bones they did not eat. Shamans in a hyenafolk clan are also supposedly able to divine fortunes and draw the strength of the dead from bones. In fact, there is a lost art of making certain weapons and armor of bone imbued with the soul of the dead from the hyenafolk.
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