Hutaaka
by Marco Dalmonte English translation by Gary DaviesPflarr - Magic, knowledge, protection, magical constructs
Notes:
1. The Hutaaka are thickly furred humanoids with the head of a jackal, created by the Immortal Pflarr in order to make a race of servants and heralds of his word. Greatly respected in the Nithian Empire, creating a real kingdom in the land of the Traldar getting to dominate them until the invasion of the gnolls, which upset the balance of the region. In order to survive, the Hutaaka retreated into their hidden valley together with the more faithful Traldar slaves, and which lived totally isolated for the next 500 years, until the Nithian Empire was destroyed by the Immortals and Pflarr, disgusted by the about-turn of his followers, also transplanted a discreet number of Hutaaka in the Hollow World together with the most worthy Nithians, and is only interested in these, abandoning the few remaining Hutaaka hidden in the Lost Valley to their inevitable decline. The Hutaaka of the Hollow World are instead in the full splendour of their civilisation, proud of being the direct emissaries of an Immortal, and exercise this their privilege with all the arrogance of which they can arrange. The Hutaaka live in a valley to the north of the Nithians, on the western shores of the great Lake Menkor (a few kilometres distance from the land of the brute-men to the north), and although Nithia is extremely near, the Nithians haven’t dared profane the valley of the Hutaaka, considered sacred and inviolable by the will of Pflarr. The Hutaaka are peaceful and extremely erudite, their communities are independent and each is ruled by a caste of noble priests, who guide the people on the road to the correct veneration of their patron and rule the Hutaaka in the name of Pflarr. All the other Hutaaka, independently of their trade, are considered equal and subordinate to the authority of the priests. Pflarr is often served by the Hutaaka as messengers and oracles, and he has chosen them to undertake long journeys in the rest of the world as heralds of Pflarr is the most ambitious and noble task for the Hutaaka, who because of this are considered superior to all other existing species.