The Wildgrowth Logs: War Woods
“Whilst seemingly simple and barbaric, these beasts hold more humanity than many I see around me daily. They are proud, stubborn and above all else, united in their species survival”
I knew I wanted to have some form of animal-men in Wildgrowth, as well as tying something in that harkens back to the feeling of the old Slaine comics. I wanted a barbarian race but was very aware that another faction was digging into that particular vein of concepts. Looking back over the various ideas I’ve played with over the years, I came across an old idea with Hedgehogs riding chickens* which struck a chord within this cavernous noisemaker I call a brain.
The Houdon went through a few different ideas, before I decided to jettison the Celtic influences and start researching a lot of African mythology and culture**, before this led me to some interesting concepts. I was very aware that any concepts that came out of this research had to be carefully navigated, with a heavy side of caution that I did not steal any existing cultural importance outright.
I eventually hit upon a race that both venerated and shackled spirits of the world. The Moeras are deeply spiritual but massively pragmatic, and upon seeing how the corruption spread, they retreated into the swamps, leaving rings of protection made from spirits of the land that the Houdon raised and fusing said energies into the land itself to create Elemental guards. Taking the respite such measures allowed them, The Moeras began to look inward to their own civillsation, forming tribes that dwelt in smaller numbers, hidden in the swamps. Each tribe took on a singular aspect of Moeras society as their own, to focus and perfect as best they could. The Mar Ras took to care of the large beasts of burden the Moeras use, the Garbouk, breeding ever larger, and more intelligent generations of these flightless birds. The Houdon, warriors all, focused on allowing the abillity to be berserker- posessed by the spirits of the earth, as well as learning the materials to make weapons from in this new land they had escaped to.
All had not gone well for the Moeras however, with an internal regression that takes hold of elements of their populace. If this bestial infection comes from the Wildgrowth or the uses of the internal powers of the land, none can truly say. Those afflicted become first superstitious and afraid of all forms of civilizations before becoming nothing more than a beast. Alongside this loss of intelligence comes an immense change in size and bulk, as well as viciousness. The Tar Ranak tribe has taken it upon themselves to study the afflicted, the “Terugge” or “Regressed” as both a way to end the affliction and to use them as beasts of burden or of war.
The Moeras had attempted to come to the cities and the settlements of man when the Walking Woods began to take hold. Each turned back the tribes, either through disbelief or as a result of the humans refusing to look after anyone that was not their own. As a result of this, The Moeras feel a deep seated resentment towards the human civilastions.
“We did not expect to be turned away as we were. Outcasts, we became. Hated. We knew only the maelstrom for so long, left to die as the Cities of Man shut their doors to use. We expected to perish in the Walking Woods.
We could not have been more wrong
”
*Known as Hedgehogres
** Because I am me, this caused everything to slow as my good old ADHD brain got right into this