Riadus

The wulfen are a race of tribal wolf-men that live in dense forests in and around the foothills of mountains. They are rarely seen outside of their forest homes and they detest visitors. Most wulfen were hunted down and slaughtered as monsters by humans over the centuries and few tribes remain.

Personality: Wulfen are extremely territorial. Once they have staked a claim to an area, they defend it tenaciously and violently. Tribal feuds between two wulfen clans who claim the same land may last for generations. Wulfen are stubborn and quick to judge; once a wulfen does not like someone, he will never like him. Similarly, a wulfen friend is a friend for life, though such friendships are difficult to earn. Wulfen also see violence as an efficient and effective method for solving problems. Most will simply settle for making crude but colorful threats to force their opponent to back down, but rarely make any threat they are not fully prepared to back up.

Physical Description: Wulfen are bipedal humanoids whose heads and legs resemble those of wolves. Their bodies are covered in thick white-gray (southern climates) or russet-brown (northern climates) fur with lighter colors (typically white) on their chest and neck. Males average about 350 pounds and stand 7 to 8 feet tall, while females are slightly slimmer and shorter. Wulfen appear hunched because of their long, forward-thrusting necks. Though bipedal, wulfen will occasionally run on all fours. Because of extensive contact with more civilized cultures, many wulfen tribes have adopted clothing. They typically wear little more than some kind of loincloth or short pants and perhaps a vest or jacket. Almost all wulfen enjoy jewelry and other accessories and have a particular liking of belts, bracelets and bracers, and necklaces.

Society: Wulfen are nomadic hunters who live in ever roaming groups of extended families. Each group, headed by a single chief, works together in nearly all aspects of wulfen life. A group’s chief, usually male, is not a hereditary position, but is filled by whoever among a group is deemed the “strongest”. Strong to a wulfen is not always measured by brute strength, and for a chief it is measured mainly by effectiveness. As no one is obligated to obey him, the chief must maintain a high degree of effectiveness to maintain his position.

Relations: Wulfen typically hate humans for invading their territories and killing their kin. Those who have come to know humans and human society may learn to trust individual humans, but will often carry a grudge against humans in general and treat them with bitter prejudice. They willingly share territory with elves, who they respect for their spirit. They sometimes deal with orcs, goblins and occasionally gnolls for trading, but such dealings often end in conflict. Wulfen have very little contact with other races and tend to view any unknown as a potential enemy until proven otherwise.

Wulfen Lands: Wulfen prefer forests and woodland areas and live in tribes of a dozen to as many as a hundred. Once a tribe has settled down in an area, they will rarely leave, though their camps might move about from season to season within their chosen territory. Wulfen have neither nations nor a region of their own and can be found in any hilly forested area with plentiful game.

Alignment & Religion: Wulfen are almost always Chaotic in alignment, valuing personal freedom above all else. They are often neutral in regards to Good and Evil, not trusting either. Most wulfen worship Feilona and view other deities as false gods or corrupted and evil spirits.

Language: The wulfen language is a complex combination of verbal speech and body language. To most races, the wulfen tongue sounds like nothing more than growls, whimpers and howls, but to the wulfen, a great many things can be said and heard in a simple grunt or howl. The wulfen have no true written language, but use their scent and claws to leave messages on the ground or in the bark of trees. Though they do not like the company of other races, wulfen will occasionally make an effort to learn common (or other languages) to understand the speech of people who trespass on their territory. They rarely let the trespassers know they understand, however.

Names: A wulfen’s name is given to him by his own spirit, as interpreted by the tribe’s chief. When a wulfen is born, it is brought before the chief, who looks into the cub’s spirit and asks for its name. Once revealed, the chief announces the cub’s name to the rest of the tribe. Wulfen names tend to reflect the elements and nature, particularly those found in the forest. Since all wulfen names are made up of common wulfen words, wulfen almost always translate their names into other languages when speaking them.

Male Names: Dancer, Fang, Ghost, Howl, Leif, Oak Tree, Peace, Rainfall, Runner, and Stone.
Female Names: Butterfly, Cloud, Rainbow, New Moon, Sapling, Sky, Star, Waterfall, White Dove, and Wind

Adventurers: Wulfen are rarely seen outside their forest homes. Occasionally, however, a wulfen makes his way into human or elven lands. What happens next depends greatly on the temperament of the wulfen and the people he finds. Few wulfen willingly choose to leave their home and mingle with other races. Most are lone survivors of a tribe that lost a battle against other wulfen who have nowhere else to go. Others may be on a quest for their clan, requiring them to enter human lands to complete it. Rarely, a wulfen cub will be left for dead at birth, judged as too weak to survive by a tribe’s chief, but discovered by some human or elven traveler who then raises it. No matter how he finds himself there, a wulfen outside his forest home will never lead a dull life.

Wulfen Racial Traits

• +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Wulfen are nimble and insightful but stubborn and crude.
• Medium: Wulfen are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Normal Speed: Wulfen have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: Wulfen can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
• Scent: Wulfen have the Scent special ability.
• Wild: Wulfen receive a +2 racial bonus on all Perception and Survival skill checks.
• Natural Weapon: A wulfen a bite attack that deals 1d3 points of damage.
• Languages: Wulfen begin play speaking Common and Wulfen. Wulfen with high Intelligence scores can choose bonus languages from the following: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Sylvan and all Regional Languages.