Dovesworn Gnoll

**Dovesworn Gnolls** are an ethnic group of gnolls originating in Anbennar, specifically within Businor. They emerged in the aftermath of the War of the Copper Hills and subsequent exodus of the Hillthrone Gnoll population into the County of Bisan and the greater Empire of Anbennar. Those gnolls who promised service in war for the Duchy and Empire, and devotion to the Cannorian Pantheon, would become the first Dovesworn Gnolls.

## History

Since the arrival of Jaher in the early 11th century, the Hillthrone Gnolls who lived in the Khenak mountains had faced increasingly shrinking territory and scarce natural resources. An issue only worsened by the increasing technological disparity between the gnolls and their encroaching Busilari neighbors. Reforms like the Brainmarrow Pact- an arrangement in which gnollish mercenaries were obligated to bring back Cannorian ideas and technology from their expeditions under the threat of their families’ death- proved too little and too late to change the geopolitical tides.

Faced with complete defeat after the War of the Copper Hills, the last stronghold of the Queendom of Xanzerbexis fell. Displaced, the last Queen-of-the-Hill led many of her people north into the provinces of Countsbridge and Gnollsgate, where they stayed whilst the queen pledged her loyalty to the Count of Bisan and to the Emperor of Anbennar; and promised her people and her would loyally follow the Regent Court; so long as they were granted protection and a home.

After a long and heated debate in the Imperial Diet, it was decided to allow them to settle in Countsbridge and Gnollsgate, where they formed the County, later Republic, of Honderaak, marking the birth of the Dovesworn gnolls.

Immediately the new people faced many issues; most caused by the relative poorness of their land and the legacy of brutality and cruelty that the gnollish people had left. Overtime, this legacy proved both useful and detrimental, as it quite effectively drew the attention of many hungering princes, who longed for bloodthirsty warriors to help them in their squabbles and conflicts, drawing a much needed income into the burgeoning states, and earning them a reputation as hardy, but civilized warriors.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the famous Dovesworn inventor, Agrex Akcyxx invented his infamous Scrap Gun, a popular weapon for rebels, revolutionaries and mercenaries across Halann, forever connecting the Dovesworn gnolls with a reputation of craftiness and frugality.

## Culture

It can be reasoned that the prior extensive contact with the cultures of Anbennar, in the form of Hillthrone mercenary experience, and the extensive cultural contact mandated by the Brainmarrow pact, likely contributed to the speed of the Cannorization of the Hillthrone gnolls and the emergence of the Dovesworn people.

The Dovesworn gnolls faced a difficult line to walk between their fierce reputation; which was vital to them earning mercenary contracts, a substantial source of income for Honderaak; and their respect within the Empire and wider Cannor. One which they walked rather successfully.

The mixing of their Anbennarian neighbors with their traditional customs, which were a legacy of the Hillthrone origins which mixed into every aspect of their culture, but nowhere more visible than the canton system which mixed elected representatives with inherited positions to administer their lands.

The classical gnollish traits of frugality and scavenging took many forms upon their entry into the empire, most notably in scrap and recycled inventions.

## Appearance

Dovesworn gnolls, like their Hillthrone ancestors, have some of the most diverse appearance of a single gnollish group, reflecting their origins in the Great Xhaz, millennia ago.