NOTE: The rules involving supernaturals are only being preserved for the sake of reference. We are not accepting supernatural characters as player characters in the game.

Yama-inu

PC Restrictions: 2 slots open.

Quote: (Coming Soon)

In General

The yama-inu, or "mountain dogs," are basically packs of giant wolves (6' at the shoulder). They are clannish, aggressive, and arrogant creatures who stake out territory and ruthlessly eliminate the competition, whether it be humans, other yama-inu packs, or other supernaturals. On occasion, they form alliances with humans -- specifically, magic-users -- where there can be mutual gain. But on the whole they keep to themselves and will not hesitate to use violence to defend themselves and their packs.

Appearance

Yama-inu are basically wolves, 6' or so at the shoulder, with no other unusual properties. They have the same colorations and markings as conventional wolves, and can move about one and a half times as fast as the average man can run (i.e., someone with 6 total dice in running).

The Creatures Themselves

Yama-inu live and hunt in packs of about ten to twelve. The pack is led by a single alpha male, and there are regular, ritualized competitions to unseat him and dominate the pack.

It is the responsibility of the alpha male to plan for the pack's overall well-being, so if the others are in doubt about his ability to lead, he can be unseated by a simple "vote of no confidence." If he refuses to go, they can oust him violently. Members of the pack as a whole can also be ousted if it is believed that they have betrayed the pack to a rival, or done something else to betray any one of them or the whole of them.

If the alpha male wants to pledge the pack's fealty to, say, a magic-user, the whole pack must agree -- although a show of violence/domination on the part of the alpha male will usually take care of that.

Yama-inu "speak" in a quasi-telepathic fashion; their voices can be heard by all whom they desire to hear it, and they can "whisper" to each other (although not to individual non-yama-inu). This is considered a special effect and costs nothing. Note that this is also highly out of the ordinary, so that someone confronted with such a phenomenon for the first time would most likely be terrified by it -- to say nothing of the site of a pack of giant wolves!

The Individual

(This part deals with generalizations. The individual characters do not have to follow this verbatim… instead, it is a manner of helping someone to get ideas)

Past:

Yama-inu live about forty to fifty years each and mate once, for life. The average litter is two to four cubs, and the cubs are considered mature after one year, although they continue to grow in size for anywhere from another 1-2 years. If a human adopts a cub, the cub will eventually try to wander back and rejoin its own, although by that time they may not accept him, and may in fact kill him for doing so.

Present:

Yama-inu live with the pack and die with the pack, if possible. They hunt in twos and threes and return the kills to be shared by the pack. Poor performance as a hunter is good grounds for ostracism from the group. They will eat almost anything that's alive except for humans, whom they find repulsive and smelly.

Killing a mate will cause the survivor to frenzy, essentially attacking the killer until one of them is dead. If the rest of the pack is nearby (or is summoned; see below) they will also attack, but not in the same fashion, i.e., heedless of personal safety.

Future:

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Goals:

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Fates:

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Nature

Because the yama-inu are naturally territorial, they do not venture very far from their place of birth unless the pack roams to a specific place. If the pack moves somewhere, it is with the intention of taking it over, but they will fight bitterly to defend what they do have in whatever form they have it.

Yama-inu tend to weigh heavily on the boastful, arrogant and often downright cruel side. The friendships they do form, whether among each other or (rarely) with humans are based on asserting and maintaining domination. This is one of the few things they respect: the assertion of power.

Demeanor

Outwardly the yama-inu reveal little, if anything, about themselves, to outsiders. About the only things one would glean from a casual encounter with them is that they are territorial, touchy, violent and unfriendly. More than that, in their minds, would be a waste of breath.

Drives

The yama-inu only have a few basic drives: to keep their territory, to survive, and to reproduce. Anything outside of that tends to be highly foreign to them, although the few times they team up with humans to enhance their territory (for whatever reasons) are the main exceptions this rule.

Throughout History

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Powers and Skills

Because of their animal forms, yama-inu cannot learn martial arts or other advanced combat skills. They also cannot learn Literacy, as they find such things to be of human origin and therefore useless to them.

They can learn Strategy and Tactics, and any alpha male worth his salt will probably have these skills as a way of putting one over his opponents.

Other common skills for yama-inu would include: Stealth, Running, Area Knowledge, Intimidation, Interrogation, Torture, Lie Detecting, Lying.

Claw Attack

Attack Roll: Reflexes + Claw Attack.
Damage Roll: Strength.
Requirements: Only useful within hand-to-hand range.

Bite Attack

Attack Roll: Reflexes + Bite Attack
Damage Roll: Strength.
Requirements: Only useful within hand-to-hand range.

Tracking

An innate power that allows yama-inu to find someone who passed over a particular place up to one week ago.

Roll: Ki + Tracking. If someone was using Camouflage or some other similar skill to hide their passage, then the roll needs to defeat the total number of successes made by the previous roller. Uses ki; counts as a spell.
Requirements: Must be physically at the place where the person passed.
Effects: Number of successes = number of 60' areas of movement disclosed.
Duration: Instant.

Running

Lets you augment natural running skills.

Roll: Ki + Running. Uses ki; counts as a spell.
Requirements: None
Effects: Number of successes = number of successes added to a running roll.
Duration: Instant.

Claim

Allows yama-inu to mark territory (an area of one square mile) as their own.

Roll: Ki + Claim. Uses ki; counts as a spell.
Requirements: The area must be occupied by ONE pack.
Effects: If an area has been previously claimed, the roll needs to be more than the number of successes rolled previously. The "leftover" successes are then treated as the number to be overcome by successive Claims.
Duration: Instant.

Growl

Allows you to intimidate non-yama-inu.

Roll: Ki + Growl. Uses ki; counts as a spell.
Requirements: None
Effects: Number of successes = number of successes needed to be overcome by Ki + Intelligence on the part of the victim.
Duration: Instant.

Bring the Pack

Lets you summon other members of the pack who are within a 360' radius, one by one.

Roll: Ki + Bring the Pack. For each radius of 360' beyond the first, add -1. Uses ki; counts as a spell.
Requirements: None
Effects: Number of successes = number of other yama-inu that are brought in, one round at a time.
Duration: Instant.