The Elves are attuned to the wild and to living things more acutely than any other humanoid race in the Known World. Not surprisingly, their gods reflect this, and one of their major deities is Karnos, the Lord of Beasts, whom Humans identify with their own ancient deity of wild places, Taal. Karnos is the patron deity of the Beastfriends.
Humans and other races have domesticated animals by taking them out of the wild and taming them. Elves work differently. To an Elf, the practice of breaking an animal's spirit to 'tame' it is barbarous and typically Human; they prefer to gain an animal's willing co-operation rather than force it into servitude. Humans see an inconsistency between this attitude and the Elven love of hunting, but Elves contend that their hunting is no different in terms of being 'natural' than the hunting of a wild cat or a pack of wolves. Like any other wild hunters, they take only what they need to survive. Hunting is not a sport for Elves.
Out of this rapport with nature is born the uniquely Elven career of the Caraidh or Beastfriend. All Elves have the potential for beast-friendship; some are born with it, while others may develop it during their lives. The Beastfriends develop their natural affinity for a particular animal species to an extraordinary degree. They have even been known to fight with Elven armies, their beasts alongside them on the battlefield, in defence of their forest homes.
Becoming A Beastfriend[]
The Beastfriend career is open to any Elf who follows Karnos and may be entered from any other career. As well as spending the normal 100 experience points for a career change, the character must take to the forest for a certain time, preferably in the company of one or more Beastfriends, who will be in charge of their training.
In game terms, the gamesmaster should handle this in the same way as other career changes, bearing in mind that the initial training to effect the career change must be undertaken in a forest environment.
The first step in becoming a Beastfriend is to determine the species with which the individual has a particular affinity. The gamesmaster can determine this secretly, bearing in mind the character's personality, or the GM and player can discuss the decision and agree on a species, or the player can roll on the following table:
| D20 Roll | Species | Beastfriend Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Bear | Caraidh Bruinn |
| 5-8 | Boar | Caraidh Much |
| 9-10 | Hawk | Caraidh Iolair |
| 11-12 | Horse | Caraidh Aech |
| 13-16 | Hound | Caraidh Cu |
| 17-20 | Wild Cat | Caraidh Cadhmorr |
These are the most common friend-speices. There are rumoured to be others, but these are seldom seen, even by the Elves themselves. It is said, for example, that, among the High Elves of old, rare individuals from the highest nobility were born with the gift of Dragon-friendship, which could not be learned by those not born to it. These were the Beith-Caradan Dragon-riders, thought by some to be no more than legend - and believed by others to be sleeping in the deepest forests with their mounts, awaiting an appointed time when they will be needed to save the Elven race from certain destruction.
Having entered the career and determined the friend species, the new Beastfriend must go alone into the forest and, using their Charm Animal skill, befriend one or more members of their friend species.
|
Advance Scheme | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Beast |
M |
WS |
BS |
S |
T |
W |
I |
A |
Dex |
Ld |
Int |
Cl |
WP |
Fel | |
|
Bear |
|
+10 |
|
+2 |
+2 |
+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
+10 |
|
| |
|
Boar |
|
+10 |
|
+1 |
+1 |
+2 |
+10 |
|
|
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
| |
|
Hawk |
+1 |
+10 |
+10 |
|
|
+1 |
+20 |
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
|
|
| |
|
Horse |
+1 |
|
|
+1 |
+2 |
+2 |
|
|
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
|
| |
|
Hound |
+1 |
+10 |
|
|
|
+2 |
+10 |
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
+10 |
|
| |
|
Wild Cat |
+1 |
+10 |
|
+1 |
|
+1 |
+20 |
|
|
|
+10 |
|
+10 |
| |
Skills
♦ Upon entering the career, a Beastfriend automatically gains these skills, with respect to his specific friend species only. To gain full use of these skills, they must be bought with experience points as normal.
In addtion, a Beastfriend gains other skills according to the species with which he is allied:
Bear
Boar
Hawk
Horse
Hound
Wild Cat
Trappings
There are particular trappings associated with the Beastfriend career, although many Beastfriends arm and dress themselves in style reminiscent of their friend speices; thus, the Caraidh Muchor, Boar-friends, favour curving, tusk-like daggers, while the Caraidh Bruinn and Caraidh Cadhmorr (Bear-friends and Cat-friends, respectively) use clawed knuckle-dusters.
Career Exits
Animals In Combat[]
All Beastfriends can command their animal companions to fight with them. This requires a Ld test (based on the Beastfriend's Ld).
Boar
The forest boars commonly found associated with Caraidh Much are smaller than the plains boars described in The Bestiary as being ridden by Goblins. They cannot be ridden. They also have -1 M from the listed profile.
Boars have one gore attack; boars with Beastfriends do not cause infected wounds. Wounded boars are subject to frenzy.
Horse
The Caraidh Aech or Horse-friends often ride the horse to which they are bonded. Some rare individuals may be bonded to the whole of a chariot team. If the Beastfriend makes a successful Ld test at the start of a combat, the horse may act in all respects like a Warhorse and makes all fear tests using the Beastriend's Cl score instead of its own, while the Beastfriend gains a +20 bonus to all Risk tests involved in riding; this bonus includes the normal +10 bonus for Ride skill.
Hound
The hounds used by the Caraidh Cu are the specially bred Elven hunting dogs. They should be treated as war dogs.
Wild Cat
The Caraidh Cadhmorr are found in the company of the great Wild Cats of the Old World. A Wild Cat will always leap at the end of a charge into combat.