Porq
| Creature Class | Beast |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Common |
| Group Size | 5-500 |
| Terrain | Any |
| Climate | Temperate to Tropical |
| Traits | None |
| Languages | None |
| Companions | Chieftan Porqs, Razorback Porqs |
The Porq are a feral species of animal with an uncanny talent for mimicking Human behavior. Their roughly humanoid bodies, combined with unmistakably swine-like heads and faces, have led more than one scholar to wonder whether the Porq consider themselves some crude reflection of Humanity. If so, they have certainly developed an unusual way of expressing their admiration. A Porq that has spent enough time around Humans will happily wear human clothing, strap on armor, and carry weapons it has no real understanding of how to use.
The mimicry becomes stranger when several Porqs gather together. Left entirely to themselves, they behave much like other wild animals, rummaging about on all fours and hunting in disorganized packs. Human contact seems to awaken something different in them. Their grunts, squeals, and crude gestures begin to take on apparent meaning as they point, shove, gesture, and direct one another into battle.
Porqs are capable of surprisingly coordinated violence when given human examples to imitate. They have been observed marching in rough formation, charging together, and even wielding captured weapons in ways that bear an uncomfortable resemblance to military drills. They do not understand tactics in the human sense, but they seem perfectly capable of learning the appearance of tactics.
Their favorite prey is also their most difficult. Porqs will hunt virtually any of the twelve Human strains, from Aelf to Dweorg, Human to Aydahar. They appear particularly fascinated by the challenge of hunting creatures that look, act, and fight like the models they so enthusiastically imitate.
Porq Temperament & Disposition
Porqs cannot be reasoned with. Attempts at negotiation generally result in confused grunts at best and an immediate attack at worst. They possess no meaningful concept of surrender, retreat, or honorable defeat. Once a Porq pack has committed itself to a fight, it will continue until there are no Porqs left capable of fighting.
Fear seems to play little part in their behavior. A Porq may charge an armored warrior several times its size with the same enthusiasm it would show toward a wounded animal. This does not make them particularly intelligent, but it does make them exceptionally dangerous when encountered in numbers.
Their apparent courage should not be mistaken for discipline. A pack may attack with remarkable ferocity one moment and descend into a chaotic scrum the next. The closer they have lived to Humans, however, the more likely they are to imitate organized behavior even when doing so serves no obvious purpose.
Porq Lairs
A Porq lair in the deep wilderness is a miserable place. Packs settle wherever they find shelter, rooting through mud, vegetation, carrion, and whatever else happens to be available. Pits of muck mixed liberally with their own waste are common, and the concept of sanitation appears to have escaped them entirely.
Human influence changes this considerably. Porqs living near settlements often begin copying human habits, including the construction of crude shelters. Their lairs may become primitive bivouacs assembled from stolen cloth, broken timber, discarded shields, animal hides, and anything else that looks sufficiently useful.
The difference can be striking. A deep-wilderness Porq may sleep in a filthy depression in the earth, while a Porq pack exposed to Human camps might erect a surprisingly recognizable collection of lean-tos. The result is still filthy by Human standards, but at least the Porqs appear to be making an effort.
Porq Loot
Porqs have little understanding of the purpose or value of most Human artefacts. They nevertheless have an unfortunate habit of collecting them. A sword may become a digging implement, a shield may become a cooking surface, and a piece of armor may be worn simply because another Porq once wore something similar.
This makes Porq lairs surprisingly good places to find objects that should not logically be there. A magic staff, for example, might have been taken from a defeated adventurer and subsequently used to hold up a sagging lean-to. The Porqs may have no idea that it is magical at all.
The stranger the object, the less likely a Porq is to understand its value. Adventurers searching a Porq lair should therefore be prepared for the possibility that something genuinely rare is being used as a tent pole, cooking utensil, ornament, or particularly impressive stick.
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