Animal Lords

The animal lords of the Beastlands are said to be anthropomorphic representations of their chosen creatures. That is, they're animals dressed in humanoid forms, wearing shells that're pleasing to the human eye but bearing spirits that're purely animal. Chant is there's a lord for every kind of natural animal in existence. Thus, the Beastlands are home to the cat lord, the wolf lord, the lizard lord, the hawk lord, the rabbit lord, and so on, without number.

Each animal lord can take two shapes: that of a beast (the ideal specimen of the species, naturally) or that of a beautiful humanoid - one with subtle characteristics of the lord's animal. For example, the dog lord is friendly and outgoing to those who give him affection, close-mouthed and vicious to those who who him disdain. In humanoid guise, an animal lord is attractive enough to charm any basher fond of his subjects. And though a few hapless mortals fall in love with the lords, the bloods don't hold with mortal emotion. They care only for protecting their token beasts, and even that's more duty than love.

The animal lords don't seem to play favorites. They note when a sod is friendly - or cruel - to their subjects, but they don't maintain alliances for long. They may be social (like the wolf lord) or distant (like the alligator lord); they may grant favors if it serves their cause, or turn down pleas for aid if it doesn't. As one sage put it, they're not immoral, they're amoral.

For the most part, the animal lords leave the real gods of the Beastlands alone and are left alone in return. So how did the lords arise? After all, beasts aren't supposed to have beliefs. does that mean the animal lords aren't even close to true powers, who require faith to exist? Or were they born from the very fabric of the Beastlands, animal petitioners who vere the very models of their species, taken and shaped by the plane to watch over their kind?

Whatever they are, they're not immortal. Animal lords die occasionally, killed by blood-thirsty mortals, other animal lords, or just plain misfortune. That makes them pretty peery bashers and tough opponents. the best way to deal with an animal lord is to treat him exactly as a body'd treat his totem beast. It's only logical, really.