Mahout, my coat!

MAHOUT (#21/31, #141/365) [POT]

SKILL: 7

STAMINA : 6

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON: Goad (as per Handaxe) or Spear

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: See below

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-3

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Friendly-Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: High

Similar to herders, MAHOUTS also tend to animals, though usually just one, and a very large beast at that. To determine what creature a group of Mahouts will have under their control, roll on the table below for type and habitat.

Roll Beast Habitat

1 Mammoth Towns, Ice, Mountains, Hills, Plains (Roll for type: 1-2 Common, 3-5 Tusker, 6 Black)

2 Elephant Towns, Jungles, Plains, Hills

3 Rhinoceros Plains, Wilderness

4 Hippohog Rivers, Lakes, Marshes, Jungles

5 Gunderwal Towns, Deserts, Plains, Wilderness

6 Sandcrawler Deserts, Plains, Wilderness, Towns

Such enormous creatures are typically used as battle-beasts in war, or transportation of either people or haulage, as well as being involved in construction and building. To control their large animal, most Mahouts will be armed with a goad or bullhook (a short, sharp pointed stick with a curved hook on one side), and a spear, with clothes appropriate for their terrain. They may well have some extra gear; roll 1-3 times on the table below for each Mahout present to determine any other possessions they may have.

Roll Extra Gear

1 a musical instrument (roll: 1-2 Bamboo Pipe, 3-4 Bronze Bell, 5-6 Bone Whistle)

2 1-3 steel or iron chains

3 a Leather Jack

4 a nice Hat

5 a Missile Weapon (Roll: 1-3 Javelins (1-2), 4-6 Sling and ammo)

6 a Net

Mahouts are semi-nomadic, usually having a home village that they periodically return to, but otherwise wander far and wide to find employment and food for their enormous creature companion. Mahouts with Tusker Mammoths, for example, are common sights on the roads between the various clan-cities of the kingdom of Kazan, while nomads of the Twin Sun and Scythera Deserts are known for their use of Sandcrawlers and Gunderwals respectively, as both heavy haulage and transport to augment their herds of camels and mules.

MULESKINNER (#22/31, #142/365) [POT]

SKILL: 7

STAMINA : 6

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON: Whip or Spear

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Towns, Plains, Deserts, Wilderness, Hills, Woods, Mountains

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-3

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: High

The caravans and mercantile missions that wind their way across the great overland trade-routes of Titan's three major continents requires countless mules for transport and haulage and these are provided for by MULESKINNERS. These specialized herders, who are invariably accompanied by 4-24 Mules (see Return to the Pit, p. 9), usually harnessed, which are being brought from an animal market perhaps, to join a caravan, or the reverse, for mules, being sterile hybrid offspring of horse and ass, have no natural herds of their own. Muleskinners will be wearing travel-stained clothes, and armed with a spear and a whip, as well as a full waterskin, and riding their own horse. They will also have 1-3 items of Extra Gear each; roll on the table below to determine what:

Roll Extra Gear

1 a musical instrument (roll: 1-2 Bamboo Pipe, 3-4 Six-stringed Lute, 5-6 Bone Whistle)

2 a pouch of Smoking Weed and a pipe or a Hip Flask of Special Brew

3 a Leather Hauberk (in the form of a long leather coat lined with sheep fleece)

4 a nice Hat

5 a Missile Weapon (Roll: 1 Javelins (1-2), 2 Sling and ammo, 3 Hand Crossbow and 10 bolts in case, 4 Flintlock Pistol and ammo, 5 Bola, 6 Shortbow and 20 arrows in quiver.)

6 a Net

Muleskinners and their herds of mules are found wherever there are trade routes, imperial roads, animal markets and large mercantile centres, or, conversely, they may be encountered out in the wilderness travelling from one bastion of commerce to another. In particular, the Battlegrounds of Khul, an area of grassy steppes near the city of Corda, are famous for its Muleskinners, known locally as Gauchos. Gauchos must protect their animal charges from the undead and chaos horrors that still lurk out there on the Battlegrounds, shambling leftovers from the Chaos Wars of almost three centuries ago. As such, Gauchos are heavily armed and armoured, with leather hauberks, flintlock pistols, bolas, whips and long thin-bladed spears, with which to more than adequately defend themselves!

SWINEHERD (#23/31, #143/365) [POT]

SKILL: 6

STAMINA : 7

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON: Staff or Dagger

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Woods, Plains, Hills, Towns, Wilderness

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Unfriendly

INTELLIGENCE: Average

The SWINEHERD is a specialised type of animal-herder, responsible for raising pigs as livestock. It is not a highly desirable vocation, and Swineherds are typically encountered as solitary individuals, accompanied by their herd of 3-18 swine. To determine what kind of pigs the Swineherd is looking after, roll on the table(s) below. All pigs will be of the same type.

Roll Type of Pig

1-5 Normal PIG (SKILL 5 STAMINA 4, Small Bite)

6 Special breed (only 1-6 of these)

For special breeds of pig, roll two dice and consult the table below:

Roll Special Breed of Pig

2 Parnassan Iron Hog (with wooden collars)

3 Great Boar

4 Savage Swine or Hellhog

5 Warthog

6 Hog-Mule

7 Wild Boar

8 Razorback

9 Cave Hog

10 Galomper

11 Red-Bellied Barrabang Pig

12 War Pig of Doom (unarmed)

A Swineherd will usually be found allowing their drove of pigs to forage in the wild, though never in drier climates, or taking their animals to market for sale and slaughter. Perhaps not surprisingly given their suine livestock, Swineherds wear grubby and often quite smelly clothing and are armed with a staff and a dagger. In addition, they will have 1-3 items of Extra Gear - roll on the table below to determine what:

Roll Extra Gear

1 a musical instrument (roll: 1-2 Bamboo Pipe, 3-4 Six-stringed Lute, 5-6 Bone Whistle)

2 a pouch of Smoking Weed and a pipe or a Hip Flask of Special Brew

3 a Leather Jack

4 a nice Hat

5 a Missile Weapon (Roll: 1-2 Sling and ammo, 3-4 Bola, 5-6 Shortbow and 20 arrows in quiver.)

6 another Melee Weapon (Roll: 1-2 Net, 3-4 Whip, 5-6 Club).

There is also a 1-3 chance the Herder will be accompanied by a trained DOG (SKILL 4 STAMINA 4 Small Bite).

Being a swineherd is often a lonely profession, and some are known to settle down in cities or towns to work as abattoirs or butchers. The city of Salamonis even has an infamous business known as the Slime and Swine Guttery that processes Razorback meat for consumption by the Salamonian populace, and guts for the production of the culinary delicacy known as lamoy. Curiously, the proprietors of the Guttery are the brothers Pigboy and Jowler, both members of the rare hog-headed people known as Snouters (thought to be related to Tuskers and Zwinians). If it seems perhaps bizarre that pig-headed creatures would slaughter actual pigs for meat, nobody has dared take it up with Pigboy and Jowler yet (although they are looking for an adventurer to help them deal with a Rattapillar infestation).