Vargr

Description:

A vargr (pronounced 'warg') is an enormous canine similar to a wolf and sometimes referred to as a dire wolf. Vargrs are apex predators of the taigas, with lone individuals able to take down full grown moose and bears, and packs of them able to threaten even larger and more powerful creatures like mammoths or epic creatures like frost giants. A typical full grown vargr is the size of a donkey, but an alpha can approach the size of a horse. Because of their load on the ecosystem, vargrs must range over enormous terrain, often claiming thousands of square kilometers per individual for their territory. Sometimes one will settle down for a season - particularly if it can make a seasonal feast of village - resulting in unspeakable horror for those faced with the threat.

Because they are intelligent and social, vargrs recovered as pups have been known to be tamed and used for protection. They do not seem to be fully domesticable, however, and there are many grim tales of lords and ladies raising vargr pups to serve as guard dogs or hunting companions, only to end up being ripped to pieces by an atavistic 'pet'.

In some cases, vargrs have been captured and bred, and their young raised to be used as mounts. Tuckers are particularly fond of this practice and in regions where vargr roam, tuckers will often be on the hunt for them - particularly in the sping when new pups are born (easier to poach them from a den than to capture them in the open). Ironically, this arrangement seems mutally beneficial, as vargr mounts will tend to eat about a third of their riders, and tuckers don't seem to mind those odds.

Special:

Like wild dogs, vargrs are very skilled at knowing when to fight and when to run, but fleeing combat is calculated, and is not a fear response. All vargr benefit from the Unfazeable perk, and so are immune to fear. Those trained to serve as mounts can carry riders into mounted combat without further training needed to make them combat ready. Vargr's will carry riders, but will not carry loads on ther backs.