Bonewolves

The Bonewolves were (or perhaps are) a species of Dreadfolk, an intelligent creature from the Dreadlands. They were rarely sighted invading this world, but were a common sight in the Dreadlands according to the few individuals who entered that realm and survived to tell their story. Bonewolves were historically also known by the names of Bone Demons, Skull Demons and Dread-Hounds before the Nesarian name of Bonewolf became dominant.

The basic shape of the Bonewolves was humanoid, but they resembled Humans very little. The "bone" part of Bonewolf derives from the fact that their head seemingly has no flesh at all, and the "wolf" part derives from their dog-like tail and the fact that their head - or, more accurately, their skull - closely resembles that of a wolf. The bone gave way to gaunt flesh covered in black fur at the neck, but this was not a clean transition; the flesh had the appearance of being raw and wounded, constantly slowly oozing blood. The eye-sockets, mouth and vicious teeth of the Bonewolves were also seemingly always dripping with blood no matter the circumstances. The size of a Bonewolf was highly variable; the smallest ones stood shorter than the average man, at approximately five feet, whereas the largest could stand as high as eight feet. The very largest of the Bonewolves - presumably their leaders - also had bony spines running along their back, which pierced through the skin through weeping wounds.

Despite the fact that the Bonewolf physically did not possess eyes, ears or a nose, they were able to see and hear perfectly well, and had an extremely perceptive sense of smell. They were also able to vocalise sounds, but most had great difficulty speaking - not for any lack of intelligence, as they were quick-witted creatures and could completely understand speech said to them, but rather because it was physically challenging for them to speak.

Bonewolves appeared to have pack-like social structures, dominated by the caste of leaders - that is, the largest Bonewolves who had spines. However, it is not clear whether the Bonewolves with spines became leaders, or whether they had the spines because they were the leaders. In any case, no more than four leaders were ever spotted in a single pack. How they reproduced is unknown, as they had no sexual organs, but they were clearly capable of multiplying their numbers; individual packs were observed growing as large as 100 strong.

Conflict within a pack of Bonewolves was never observed, as Bonewolves appeared to be extremely loyal to their leaders and possess a keen sense of community, but they were known to frequently come to blows both with other packs of Bonewolves and with other Dreadfolk - particularly the Grey Demons, whom for an unknown reason they despised and were despised by. Bonewolves were known to feast on the flesh of their fallen enemies, including their own species, but their primary source of food was the more beastial, animal-like creatures found in the Dreadlands which posed less of a threat.

Against other Bonewolves, perhaps out of some code of honour, the Bonewolves would only ever fight with fist, tooth and claw, but against other enemies they would frequently employ weapons and magic. Unusually for a magic-wielding race of Dreadfolk, the Bonewolves could not employ shadow magic, but instead were restricted to plasma magic - and a peculiar variant at that, as they used neither the lightning-like bolts nor the searing clouds of plasma used by the Elfkin, but instead they formed and threw balls of pulsating plasma at their enemies, which would expand and enwrap their target upon impact. This type of plasma magic has never been replicated by any Elfkin.