Bleached Bones

The Bleached Bones are a gnoll people who have traditionally lived as hunters and scavengers in the southeastern Sangora Desolation. The mass emergence of the undead in Oscan in Y9940^* was a ruinous event for the many gnolls who resided in nearby desert and hills, and today the tribes have scattered, some remaining in the region but others migrating north to southern Khapesh or west to the foothills of the Fangs of Khurazar near Yarma and Kharakun.

History

According to the stories recounted by Bleached Bone elders, their people migrated south from their overpopulated communities in the Taizzan Expanse long ago, leaving the other gnolls there behind in search of new lands. After crossing a land bridge between two deserts, they made the trek south down the coast of the Kilche Sea, eventually finding their way to the arid hills north of Oscan. There their tribes remained for the following centuries, carving out new niches for themselves. Oscan and the Bleached Bones had a complicated relationship during this time, sometimes open hostility and sometimes acceptance and trade. At various points Oscan attempted to drive the gnolls away from its territory, but most of the time they maintained an uneasy peace, engaging in trade with the gnolls while still usually refusing them access to the cities of the kingdom.

The rise of the undead in Oscan in Y9940^* did not only affect the settled communities of the kingdom, as the Bleached Bones found their world transformed as well. Their common practice of keeping the bones and other keepsakes of deceased ancestors as objects of veneration ultimately proved catastrophic when these remains knit themselves together into new undead forms that then decimated the unprepared tribes. The majority of the surviving Bleached Bones fled the vicinity of Oscan into the far more inhospitable sands of the Sangora. From there they dispersed. Some began to trek north along the Aur River to the southern reaches of Khapesh, while others made the long journey west past Xatabra to the dry, rolling landscape north of the Fangs of Khurazar.

Location

In the modern day Bleached Bone gnolls live across the southern and eastern Sangora Desolation, primarily in the arid regions near Oscan, southern Khapesh, and Kharakun. Others who have left their tribes can be found farther afield, but most tend to remain in the dry southern lands that they know well.

Culture

Religion

Traditionally the Bleached Bones follow a form of ancestor worship similar to that of other gnolls around the world. The remains of the dead are often consumed as a sign of reverence in feasts that bring together whole clans and tribes. Doing so is said to allow the living to learn the memories and gain the traits of the deceased, allowing them to live on in perpetuity. Not only family are consumed in this manner, but also worthy foes and other outsiders who have proved their strength to the tribe. Certain remains from the departed, particularly their bones, are then kept by their descendants so that they might further guide and assist their kin even after death.

These long-established practices have been shaken greatly by the events in Oscan, as many amongst the Bleached Bones suffered a crisis of faith after their revered ancestors attacked. Others have interpreted such hostility to be a sign of displeasure with their wavering adherence to strict traditionalism, after some Bleached Bone tribes began to adopt the worship of Elven and Aserdian deities followed by the settled peoples of Oscan. Conflict between these two viewpoints has begun to brew, as the former group moves away from ancestor worship and the latter abandons any and all veneration of foreign gods.

Architecture and migration

The homes and storehouses of the Bleached Bones are semi-subterranean, large circular rooms dug into the soil capped with a wood and hide roof resting on top of a ring of large stones along the rim. Access to these abodes is via short tunnels or stairways from the surface. Eminently practical for the harsh climate in which they live, temperatures in the houses of the Bleached Bone gnolls are regulated by the earth, kept from getting too hot during the day or too cold at night. Buildings tend to be communal, with several generations of a clan under the same roof, all arranged around a central area in which a bonfire is lit.

Prior to the rise of the undead in Oscan, Bleached Bone tribes were largely sedentary. Small communities would send out hunting parties to acquire food and usually only consider relocating if prey was consistently scarce. The tribes have become significantly more nomadic since they were forced out of their lands by the undead threat, though some have set up new permanent towns in the desert uplands between Yarma and Sahramina.

Food and cuisine

Bleached Bone gnolls hunt or scavenge their food. They have a strong preference for the meat of large game, but they tend to lack pickiness when it comes to freshness. Around Oscan the dinosaurs and giant lizards were favored prey, though as they could only be brought down by organized hunting parties, the meat of smaller creatures was more typical of the everyday meal.

Raiding

After fleeing the lands north of Oscan, many Bleached Bone gnolls have turned to extensive raiding to survive. Although the Bleached Bones have always engaged in the practice to some degree, previously they were far less routine pillagers than some of their kin elsewhere in the world, only attacking the well-defended settlements of Oscan in times of famine. Those who migrated far to the west have been particularly successful in this new lifestyle, striking at merchant caravans along the trans-Sangora trade routes north of Yarma. There they have become a persistent to with the city, which has been broadly under-equipped to address the new threat, forced to rely on adventurers to push the gnolls out of their hidden encampments in the desert along some of the more heavily-trafficked paths.