[DF] New Race: Wolf-Folk

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Anders

I would make them pastoralists. They are well suited for that anyway; there's a reason people use herding dogs. Pastoralists can have well-organized societies and can be a serious threat to civilized societies.

Considering one of my main recurring wolf-folk adventurers has being a shepherd as his background, I'll second that. He also has a personally sheepish nature (Chummy combined with Shyness).

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Anders

I would make them pastoralists. They are well suited for that anyway; there's a reason people use herding dogs. Pastoralists can have well-organized societies and can be a serious threat to civilized societies.

Many pastoralists spend a lot of time hunting anyway; the sharp lines classifying economic and social types are a convenience for Ethnographers but vaguer in practice.

I could see pastoral wolf-folk too. They would not be as much a threat, not being as well armed. Pastoralists in the past were a threat because they had incredible mobility, and a weapons system perfectly matched to their lifestyle which they could practice with in normal life. Lupine graspers are simply not efficient enough to manage armed conflict as well as humans. The lupine jaw does not match the human hand, and humans have two hands and a mouth making a versatile flexibility in weapons and communication. The fact is humans are far more formidable even at close range. And even sedentary humans are probably about as mobile as wolf-men in a forced march. It took the advent of gunpowder for sedentarists to outpace nomads militarily. Whereas humans will outfight wolf-men almost right away.

In peacetime wolf-folk would be as efficient as human pastoralists and that would certainly be a way for them to provide a food supply that can sustain a large population.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Many pastoralists spend a lot of time hunting anyway; the sharp lines classifying economic and social types are a convenience for Ethnographers but vaguer in practice.

I could see pastoral wolf-folk too. They would not be as much a threat, not being as well armed. Pastoralists in the past were a threat because they had incredible mobility, and a weapons system perfectly matched to their lifestyle which they could practice with in normal life. Lupine graspers are simply not efficient enough to manage armed conflict as well as humans. The lupine jaw does not match the human hand, and humans have two hands and a mouth making a versatile flexibility in weapons and communication. The fact is humans are far more formidable even at close range. And even sedentary humans are probably about as mobile as wolf-men in a forced march. It took the advent of gunpowder for sedentarists to outpace nomads militarily. Whereas humans will outfight wolf-men almost right away.

In peacetime wolf-folk would be as efficient as human pastoralists and that would certainly be a way for them to provide a food supply that can sustain a large population.

Ok, are you talking about humanoid wolves or about horizontal wolves with intelligence?

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Ok, are you talking about humanoid wolves or about horizontal wolves with intelligence?

I assumed the OP was talking about wolves shaped more or less like wolves as we know in the normal world but endowed with sapience.

[Culture20]

The Terror is costly, and I can think of two ways to bring it down: Accessibility, not against canines or wolf-men; All Out (the wolf-man must stand still with a raised head while howling)

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I assumed the OP was talking about wolves shaped more or less like wolves as we know in the normal world but endowed with sapience.

The OP was thinking in line with the cat-folk from DF series, so an upright wolf.

[Anders]

That was my impression as well. Something like the Vargmän from the Swedish RPG Drakar och Demoner.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I assumed the OP was talking about wolves shaped more or less like wolves as we know in the normal world but endowed with sapience.

OPs template does not have Quadruped, nor the key traits from it (No Fine Manipulators, Extra Legs, Horizontal). So they're just as upright as humans and velociraptors.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Ok, are you talking about humanoid wolves or about horizontal wolves with intelligence?

Originally Posted by Bruno

OPs template does not have Quadruped, nor the key traits from it (No Fine Manipulators, Extra Legs, Horizontal). So they're just as upright as humans and velociraptors.

If you are interested in horizontal wolf-folk, I built a racial template I'm rather fond of and posted it here.