Gnolls, or at least a variant of the gnoll, play a very important role in my campaign. They are known as groylkyn and live only in the deep coniferous forests of the east (unlike the savannah -dwelling gnoll). In Braxus (the name of my setting) the groylkyn are a wolf-like race not unlike the lupines of earlier editions and are in league with dire wolves, lycanthropes, and other similar creatures.
They can be classified into essentially two different varieties: the cur and the war breed. A third varient is the kobold which are often called runts by those who recognize the loose kinship that the dog-like kobolds (rather than the reptilian origins of the core kobold) share with their larger cousins. Grolkyn are extremely voracious and view humanity as a principle source of food. Their language is altogether unknowable to man since it involves such a wide range of yips, growls, facial, and body expressions. Groylkyn are much more barbaric than gnolls and use flint weaponry and other primitive equipment. They are also much more agile (though not as strong) and typically fight with a pair of matching flint daggers (shortswords).
To some degree, groylkyn possess a pack mentality and require the presence of others of their kind to function normally. Left on their own, a lone grolkyn usually reverts to more beastial behavior, often throwing down its weapons to fight with tooth and claw if not fleeing the battle altogether.
The groylkyn are greatly feared by the people of the east and are a frightening, alien presence in the tall dark pines of the eastern forests. On one hand, they obviously possess the intellect to knap flint and organize themselves, yet they seem driven to consume other sentient races rather than trade or make alliances of any sort. They are the Hunger in the Woods and are the stuff of both nightmare and fables.
