Windhowler Gnoll

Windhowler Gnolls are an ethnic group of gnolls native to west Sarhal, particularly the western Salahad, with a major population across the north of Fangaula, though greatly reduced due to conflicts that arose alongside the eruption of Junansuar as well as Busilari purges.

History[]

Windhowler gnolls have been a presence in the Western Salahad since the beginning of recorded history, wandering the vast dunes of the Salahad and making a living from the hunting and raiding of surrounding settlements. These actions earned them a reputation as violent and dangerous creatures to the surrounding locals, the Fangaulan’s often believing them the half-demon spawn of the goddess Goxma.

This reputation, and their migratory and harsh conditions, kept Windhowler gnolls from forming larger and more sedentary nations; mostly being confined to small-scale hunting and raiding packs, which feuded with and fought against the humans who shared the Salahad with them.

This would change with the appearance of Biakata, a powerful human planetouched warrior, who would unify human and gnoll alike, and march southward to conquer the lands of Binwarji; creating the Second Fangaulan Empire. Biakata settled many of her gnollish allies in the northern frontier of her empire to defend against the less cooperative gnollish packs that remained in the desert.

The Windhowler population would remain there for many centuries, growing and contracting as the various powers rose and fell in turn. Many loyally and devotedly adhering to the myths and tenets of the Fangaulan Pantheon.

In 1253, the Twin Xhaz arrived in Fangaula. Lead by two Xhazobines, gnolls of incredible and terrible demonic power, the Twin Xhaz would annihilate and ravage huge amounts of the land, due to the Empire deciding to only protect its heartlands against the nightmarish horde; this would ultimately lead to the collapse of the Empire and it’s authority.

This tragedy also had the crucial impact of introducing the Xhazobkult to the Windhowlers, along with a great number of non-Windhowler gnolls that would mix with the local population and go on to become the Seascourge Gnolls. As a result of these upheavals, many Windhowlers converted to seek protection and power, whilst those who remained loyal were treated with hostility and suspicion by the Fangaulan’s.

It would be seven long years before the Twin Xhaz were slain, and with their death, the Xhaz dissolved into a massive array of squabbling hordes, which fought and struggled for dominance in the savannas in the north of Fangaula. It would be another one hundred or so years before the region was consolidated by a power from the north, the Seascourge Gnolls of the Viakkoc pack.

In the early 1430’s, Brrtekuh, who had led the northern Windhowlers that had not submitted to Viakkoc , struck north; conquering through the Salahad and into Deshak; succeeding massively at first and pushing all the way to the capital; where the royal family was captured, killed and devoured. Her success would be stymied by a traumatic brain injury, sustained at the hand of the very last of the palace’s guards.

Shortly after, in 1440, following the massive martial successes of Grizaka at the battle of Masiluri prompted Viakkoc X to invade Kheterata, in the hopes of securing yet more power and land. A year into his invasion, a lieutenant of his; a planetouched Windhowler gnoll by the name of Ardavakx saw an opportunity and seized control of the southwestern territories of Viakkoc, before invading Binwarji and taking the imperial capital of Sigilan. He would forge a kingdom by the name of Tzilekal, or ‘land of cunning’.

Viakkoc X would die, just a year later, during a duel against Grizaka, finally shattering the last power of the Viakkoc pack in Fangaula, and forcing them to flee northwards where they would ally with the Brrtekuh pack under the Sandspite Pact and come to dominate Akasik.

In 1443, a Windhowler gnollish caravan guard was separated from her caravan during an intense sandstorm, and becomes lost in the Salahad, surviving for days on what little she could find and scrounge, before eventually stumbling across a group of Windhowler shamans who had been exiled into the desert some years. Finding her, and hearing her story of hardship and survival, the shamans proclaimed her Irkorzik, the ‘Sand Wind’. Backed by these shamans, she gathered a large host and took control of many of the packs that were left leaderless after the collapse of Viakkoc.

These three packs: Irkorzik, Tzilekal and Brrtekuh would shape and guide the destiny of the Windhowlers. Tzilekal would conquer much of the Fangaulan lands and proclaim themselves the first Sultanate in Sarhal in eons, claiming the legacy of the ancient genies.

Brrtekuh would aid the Viakkoc pack under the Sandspite Pact and grow to control the territories of the Kheteratan coast until their eventual betrayal and annexation by Viakkoc during the conflict known as the Dance of Demons. Irkorzik would come to dominate the key trade routes across the Western Salahad while maintaining a more nomadic way of life.

In 1633, the fate of the Windhowler gnolls would be forever changed, as the Zuultan of Tzilekal entered the Junansuar volcano, and mere minutes later it would explode into one of it’s most fearsome eruptions in history, massively damaging and devastating huge chunks of western Sarhal and beyond, Fangaula in particular was devastated and the Tzilekal Zuultanate collapsed as a result. Violent reprisal killings would erupt, as many desperate and angry Fangaulan’s blamed their gnollish rulers for this, causing many to flee north to Irkorzik or east to Konolkhatep and Haraagtseda.

Around 29 years later, among the warlord packs that would succeed the Corsair Kingdom of Viakkoc, a new Xhazobine would rise, the Gunpowder Xhaz; who’s overthrow of the reining pack and quick and violent expansion; which included the conquest of the Irokzik pack, would attract many of the Windhowlers that had been expelled from Fangaula during the sectarian violence following the Zuultanates collapse, and the subsequent purges of the Busilari colonial authorities. Many of these exiles held some lingering loyalties to the Xhazobkult and became eager soldiers of the Gunpowder Xhaz.

For 26 long years the Gunpowder Xhaz would ravage Busilar and Northern Sarhal, only ending after the death of the Xhazobine, which would dissolve the Gunpowder Xhaz, and with it, the last of the Xhazobkults power in Western Sarhal, at least in any organized capacity. Many smaller packs survive to this day, in the hostile deserts of the western Salahad, as their ancestors did.

Culture and Religion[]

For much of history, the Windhowler gnolls were rather cosmopolitan, by gnoll standards. Those gnolls who were worshippers of the Fangualan Pantheon integrated with and commonly worked alongside the humans that surrounded them, harkening back to their ancient unification under Biakata. They have traded with their surrounding peoples and have long found common ground with many, even adopting cultural traits from their contacts.

As a result of their smaller and thinner frames compared to other gnolls, Windhowler culture has come to venerate cunning and trickery over brute strength. This has made them fearsome tricksters, ambushers and masters of psychological warfare.

Religiously, for most of history, and more commonly today, most of the more southerly Windhowlers were devout followers of the Fangualan Pantheon., Though many converted to the Xhazobkult after the Twin Xhaz’s invasion. Many who converted viewed the Xhazobines as emissaries of the exiled Fangualan gnoll goddess Goxma, creating a curious syncretism. They still retained great amounts of their traditions and cultural practices even during the Xhazobkult period. Over time, many reconverted to the previous faiths of the Windhowler peoples.

Many Tzilekal gnolls came to venerate a deity known as ‘Ko-juguya’, this two headed goddess of ambition, secrets and conquest would become a core part of their religious belief, as a fusion between the ancient hero Biakata and the Fangualan god Goxma.

The more northern packs that resided within the desert followed a tradition referred to as "Tadazvog" the Guardians of the Dead. These gnolls placed great reverence on the consumption of their ancestors and maintained many great boneyards across the Salahad, traditional shamans obscuring their locations by controlling the desert storms. Elements of this faith could still be seen within the cultural practices of the Brrtekuh and Irkorzik packs longer after the adoption of the Xhazobkult by the northern Windhowlers.

Beyond that, exact ‘Windhowler culture’ is hard to pin down, as the vastness of the land they inhabited diverged and drifted their cultures in many different ways. Gnolls from the Tzilekal Zuultanate showed a heavily material culture, with a focus on emulating the ancient genies. Gnolls of the Irkorzik pack were frugal traders and nomadic survivalists, harnessing the elemental powers of the desert winds.

The gnolls of the Brrtekuh pack became uniquely republican, placing great reverence on their ancestors and and the state, heavily leaning into the common gnollish practice of endocannibalism, believing it to allow those who consumed the dead to share the wisdom and spirit of the deceased.

Appearance[]

Windhowler gnolls are typically shorter and more wiry than other gnolls. They are usually pale grey in colour with long pointed ears and black stripes across their fur.