Joinlings

A common threat characters in Tattered Realms might face are the Joinlings. Produced by Pyromancy eons ago, the Joinlings are combinations of man and beast, fused together by magical disaster or cruel experimentation. Some survived the transformation and escaped into the wild, where the fertile ones bred, creating small packs or tribes of man-animal hybrids.
Joinlings are generally primitive, and not all of them can speak. They fear humans (rightly so, in most cases) and often react violently to incursions into their territory. It is not uncommon for groups of them to raid isolated human settlements, either, for tools, goods, or materials.
The Genosian Church has essentially put a Fatwah on the entire species, and while the Dessians are not explicitly opposed to their existence, Sorcerer-Lords, particularly Pyromancers, are very interested in collecting them for vivisection and experimentation. The pyromantic mysteries contained within their flesh could be worth a thousand tons of magestone.
There is not a single moral problem with killing Joinlings, because they are horrific abominations. Kill away.
==Prevalence==
Most of them are killed, but it's still a wild continent. There are deep woods and places to hide all over the place, to say nothing of The Hollow. Most people would also rather pretend Joinlings aren't real and throw rocks at the ones they see than arm up and go hunt them down in the forest.
But perhaps more importantly, they keep "happening." Pyromancy is a living thing, and all it takes is one prodigious kid losing control of their powers to accidentally meld a bunch of guards with their horses, creating a new band of freaks.
Category:Monsters