What have folks done with Gnolls?
I’m actually wondering where to put them in my Islands World setting, but I definitely think I’ll make them more like spotted Hyenas. Social, pack-oriented, generally matriarchal in their more traditional groups, with women being bigger and stronger than men, etc.
Their primary native languages would all be very tonal, as well.
I feel like having an incredible bite would impact everyday habits, but I’m blank on how ATM.
While I haven't finished the rules yet, I do always try to use a worldbuilding crutch of 'generic origin for beastfolk.' I find it covers a lot of territory (especially for races that aren't very popular) and leaves a lot of wiggle room for oddball ideas.
I've done two main versions: it's the easy way to make your own race, and it's just how this one region works.
The 'easy way' version makes them popular for weaker Powers (ie not quite gods) to create by mixing an existing race with an animal. Demon lords do this a lot, devils sometimes and once in a while some other power. The demon-made ones are only absolutely loyal if they're still in the Aabyss - once they're put on the material plane the demon lord's control only lasts until the beastfolk decide to rebel, which usually starts happening in a few generations. It's never really total, but it's also never zero, as it were.
IE In the case of gnolls, they were made by Yeenoghu, because he wanted his own raiders. Some got sent to the material plane, where they raided for him. But them some had a breif moment of introspection and realized raiding Yeenoghu's enemies was harder and more dangerous than just hunting wildebeests, so they switched to that and looked for other spirits to worship. But not all made the switch.
The other version was simply: that's how one continent worked. Any animal living there could attain a sort of enlightenment that would make them more humanoid (ending up anywhere in the range of 'talking animal' to 'kemonomimi'), and about as smart as a person. They would then start to build societies, often influenced by the way the animal nature (ie the cats tend to be a de jure patriarchy and de facto matriarchy). Many powers would try to entice a species to worship them, from gods to aliens to demons, but most worship the collection of ancestor spirits generally referred to by the normal collective noun but capitalized.
IE Gnolls are just the name for enlightened hyenas. Most worship The Pack (the spirits of dead gnolls), but Yeenoghu has a few followers among them.
In both settings, non-demon-worshipping beastfolk consider demon worship by itself to be an existential threat, and will kill known demon-worshippers on sight.
As for the bite: spitballing here, but I imagine 'bite strength' would probably become a cultural/symbolic stand-in for general personal power. So you'd have leaders needing to bite through a hard thing to prove they're worthy, or biting contests, etc.
