Magnataur



Magnataur are massive creatures that live in Northrend. They have the torso of a giant attached to the body of a mammoth; like the centaur and Keepers of the Grove, they are relatives of the demigod Cenarius. They are notoriously long-lived, though lacking in patience, and are rumored to engage in cannibalism when food is scarce. They are vicious, brutal, and uncaring; only the strongest and meanest survive. Despite their hostility towards all other races, they have become strangely tolerant of the arctic kobolds, who follow the magnataurs for safety and mutual benefit during hunts.

Magnataur live in prides, much like lions: one or two dominant males and several females along with their offspring. Single males are known to control giant herds and produce sizable litters. However, magnataur are hideously violent creatures and rarely put aside their aggressive natures to cooperate with each other, which is the main reason they are rarely seen coming together in any real numbers without killing each other.



The enormous magnataur have little to no magical affinity. Magnataur casters are very rare, and tend to follow a shamanic route if they practice at all. However, they won't go down without a fight, and their thick hides can withstand several of the most powerful frostbolts. Magnataur runemasters, such as Dregmar Runebrand, are a rare breed.

The Dens of Dying are a sacred place to the magnataur, where they go in their old age to die.

Territories

 * Garm, occupied by the Garm herd
 * Magmoth, occupied by the Magmoth herd
 * Gammoth, occupied by the Gammoth herd

In the RPG
The overwhelming majority of magnataur are powerful melee fighters, charging into combat and using fear and massive clubs as their only weapons. Still, a few more specialized magnataur exist, including the shamans that often dominate small groups of their kind, and a few rare hunters, scouts and rogues. Regardless of their specialty, magnataur are among the deadliest creatures of Northrend, if not the world in general. They are a dying breed, but their recent desperation leads them to levels of cooperation never before seen, and this could prove disastrous for the other mortal races living on the glacial continent.

Description


Generally speaking, magnataur are raiders, and they spend most of their lives pillaging caravans, small towns, and even full-sized cities on the rare occasions that they work together as a group. Magnataur are one of few races that rarely even get along with other members of their own species, and these disagreements usually lead to bloodshed. For this reason, there are few magnataur left in the world. Due to their large size, magnataur are constantly hungry, and they eat almost anything. When raiding a caravan, they eat the humans, pack animals, and whatever else they can find that won’t break their teeth.



Magnataur are intelligent enough to know that humanoid creatures can provide food for them, and a few historical mentions have even been found of magnataur setting up kingdoms and making humans into slave labor to provide them with nourishment. Such kingdoms don’t last long, however, as magnataur are universally too impatient to deal with such situations for long. Those magnataur who tire of a lifestyle of raiding often take up fishing or whaling. Whales are considered a delicacy among magnataur, and those who are able to catch them frequently are highly respected.

The only places where large numbers of magnataur dwell are the Dragonblight and Storm Peaks on Northrend. In the past, they inhabited a larger portion of Northrend, but they have suffered as many losses to the Scourge as any other race.

History
The history of the magnataur race is largely shrouded in mystery, but it is known that at one point in time, they were a dominant race. The shattered remnants of a few magnataur kingdoms have been found, but they were all extremely crude and underdeveloped by modern standards, having never progressed beyond the point of making simple tools and structures. A few early writings exist from cultures of humans who were kept as slaves by magnataur, but not many.

Appearance
This creature has the upper torso, head, and arms of a giant with massive tusks and the body of a great woolly mammoth, similar to a centaur that is half horse. They wear little clothing, although the shamans often adorn themselves with stolen jewelry. It is fearsome to behold as it strides forward, its mighty hooves making the ground quake with each step. They weigh 15-20 tons and stand 20–30 feet tall. The origins of magnataur are a mystery, though speculation abounds. What is clear is that their numbers are few. This fact is somewhat of a blessing, given the pleasure these creatures take in destruction and torment. Survivors of caravans speak of wagons and horses smashed into the snow. Some paused in their flight long enough to see a massive figure carefully placing screaming people into a huge sack, destined certainly to unknown horrors. Such a creature requires a great deal of food to feed, so magnataur eat people and animals once they have their fun. In several places, they have set up crude kingdoms, sparing people from terror so long as food is provided. Eventually, either the populace fails to provide or the magnataur gets bored and another rampage begins. Others have some skill at fishing for whales and many take to the water. Magnataur do not trust or like one another any more than they like other creatures. Magnataur will occasionally fight one another, but typically avoid these situations.

Magnataurs come in an assortment of colors from lighter brown (warriors), to dark brown (reavers), to blue/white (destroyers). Magnataurs in Wrath range in color from brown to blueish-white.

Culture
Most magnataur never learn to read or write, including many of the shamans, and thus there is little written culture left behind from the rare instances where they have set up small civilizations. Their buildings are simple wooden structures at best, and while a few cave paintings have been found, they create little art. Generally, abandoned weapons, dishes for eating, and simple beds are the most intricate works left behind in their settlements. Perhaps the most unique creations of magnataur are their sacrificial chambers, where a number of crude wooden or metal cages hold prisoners as they are burned alive in a central ring of fire. The easiest way to distinguish a magnataur ruin from any other is the sheer number of objects that have been crushed by massive force; when magnataur leave a city, they intentionally destroy anything they consider valuable that they cannot take with them, and they can be amazingly thorough. It is suspected that this is because they use the destruction of their own cities as a way of alleviating the frustration of having to move to another home.

Typically, the size of a magnataur is directly related to its place in society; the largest and strongest are almost always dominant, and this is true even of spellcasters. Magnataur appear to continue growing throughout their lives, and thus the oldest are also the largest, strongest and most powerful.

Strength means everything to magnataur, and they listen only to those who they feel are strong enough to threaten them or can somehow feed their gluttonous appetites. A given magnataur largely considers other creatures, including other magnataur, inferior. For the most part, a magnataur lacks long-term goals, save to grow more powerful and find ideal supplies of food. Outsiders are viewed as food, threats, or providers of food. There are few exceptions: Magnataur are wise enough to give dragons a wide berth and know that invading the territory of a dragon can be deadly. Likewise, they avoid the Scourge, knowing that the undead are dangerous and taste unpleasant. Magnataur attack adventurers on sight, holding back only if they feel the adventurers would potentially have something to offer them — which is a rarity.

Society
Most magnataur live much of their lives alone, and as such, no formal society exists among the majority of them. A small number of tribal groups exist, and in these cases, they are held together by their mutual fear of their shaman leader. In most cases, these small tribal groups end with the assassination of their leader, but a few shamans have been strong enough to hold a tribe together for a number of years. The only system of rank that magnataur understand is dictated by power, and thus, a larger or more combat-worthy magnataur is always considered superior. The race as a whole is not formal enough to have an elite group of warriors, though small groups of powerful shamans do exist; these shamans are considered the leaders of the magnataur as a whole, although they lack any formal institution of this leadership.

Male and female magnataur differ only in that females have a slightly greater obligation to care for their children for a few years after childbirth. There is no mating season for magnataur; they simply mate when they feel like it. They breed when food is plentiful and chance brings a potential mate into close proximity. Once the act is complete, the pair separates, often never to see each other again. Mothers teach basic hunting, weapon making, basic language skills, and how to craft needed tools. Humans and other animals are brought back to the lair for the child to play with. When young are old enough, they accompany the mother on raids. Once reaching adolescence, children are abandoned and fend for themselves, and to hunt on their own. Magnataur will occasionally fight one another, but typically avoid these situations. Mating, however can pit males against each other. These fights are usually all display. The two shout and smash the ground until one looses his nerve and flees.

Experienced magnataur tend to advance as warriors or scouts. A few rare and powerful magnataur also learn the path of shamanism, or advance far enough as warriors to become gladiators. There have been a few arcanists, runemasters and inscribers in the history of magnataur, but they are rare. Hunters are not unheard of among their number, but they are looked down upon for favoring ranged weapons over melee. Due to their size, it is difficult for magnataur to become rogues, but a rare few exist; they are incapable of the kind of stealth most rogues enjoy, but specialize instead in setting traps and ambushes. Paladins, priests, witch doctors and druids do not exist among the magnataur.

Faith
They do not worship the Old Gods, or any gods at all, and nobody has yet to find any writings that detail their creation, even through legends or hearsay. Magnataur never played a major role in the history of humanoid societies, but there is a potential for that to change in the coming years.

Most magnataur have no specific religious beliefs, although many have superstitions that are passed on within a specific family. There are a few shamans among the magnataur race, but their perverted concept of shamanism is most comparable to that of the forest trolls. For example, magnataur shamans often sacrifice large numbers of humanoids in their barbaric rituals — of course, they still eat the remains afterward. Overall, most magnataur distrust magic, although they fear only the most powerful spellcasters, such as dragons.

Combat
Magnataur employ two basic strategies. The first is simply to charge a victim or settlement and start laying waste with his club. Fleeing victims are trampled. The other approach is to lie in wait or behind cover for passing caravans. Magnataur sometimes follow caravans, looking for an opportunity to surprise them. This desire for surprise is not out of caution or fear, but rather to limit the chance that any victims escape the encounter. Given the lack of any appropriate weapons for their size, magnataur have some skill at shaping trees into serviceable clubs. These huge clubs weigh between 200 and 600 pounds and can be wielded one-handed by a magnataur. Gargantuan magnataur have even larger clubs.

Language
Magnataur speak Low Common. They do not interact with any other cultures enough to learn other languages.

Relations
Since there is no formal magnataur society, they never go to war as a whole, and thus they largely try to avoid the threat of the Scourge, dragons and anything else they cannot handle individually. Magnataur routinely attack ice trolls and tuskarr, pillaging their villages for food and supplies. Generally, tuskarr defend themselves well against such attacks, and the Drakkari simply take their losses. Occasionally, a troll leader grows infuriated at the magnataur raids and sends out a massive group to hunt the creatures, but such an expedition usually ends up with so many troll casualties that future generations remember that retaliation is not worth the cost.

Murlocs often try to serve magnataur in an effort to save their own lives, and it occasionally works for a while. Most of the time, though, magnataur can’t resist the taste of murloc and end up eating their slaves. Furbolgs know to hide from magnataur attacks, and magnataur find them irritating to hunt, and thus only the most desperate or skilled of magnataur try to hunt a furbolg. Magnataur have few allies, even with other Magnataur, but they seem to tolerate the arctic kobolds.

Magnataur adventurers are rare, but a few have given up their life of raiding or whaling for a more fulfilling existence. With the growing threat of the Scourge, many magnataur are forced into a new way of thinking, and the wisest among their number realize that they may not be able to stand against the undead alone. It is also possible for a magnataur to be taught the value of more peaceful forms of shamanism or other faiths, much like Thrall taught the Darkspear trolls to curb their cannibalistic practices. Magnataur have a difficult time getting along with other races, but given time and effort, they could learn to adapt and teach others that they are different from the other creatures of their race. A magnataur adventurer is an exceptional individual, but adventurers are exceptions by default.