Warg

***For a similar creature inhabiting the Imperium of Sidhae, see the direwolf.***

The **warg** is an enormous wolf-like apex predator native to the irradiated wastes of Mechanocratic Russia. The wargs are heavily-mutated Siberian wolves, and like their ancestors, wargs hunt their prey in packs of four or five. They are as large and strong as warhorses, and equally fast; as a result of that and their penchant for preying on human beings, the ghostlike howl announcing the arrival of a warg pack is arguably the worst nightmare of any Siberian wastelander.

## Overview

The wargs have their origins in pre-war genetic manipulation projects, the Soviet army wanting cloned, enhanced Siberian wolves initially for search and rescue purposes. Their potential as weapons, however, was only realised when Great World War Three commenced – the enhanced wolves were utilised for patrols, reconnaissance and as terror weapons against the invading US army. Once the nuclear exchange of 2077 transpired, however, many of the surviving wolves escaped their masters and returned to their native Siberia, thereby succumbing to all of the horrific effects that came with the irradiation of the world. Thus the first mutant creatures that would become known to the Russians as the wargs were born – and, left unchecked by a shattered humanity, they spread quickly across the wastes.

Warg fur is hard and bristly in warm weather, while in a colder climate it becomes much fluffier; the fur also undergoes a seasonal colour change, becoming almost black in the summer while turning a greyer colouration in the winter. The 'manes' on the back of their necks are almost as spiky and tough as the spines on a porcupine. Another highly distinctive feature of theirs is their glowing, blood-red eyes – the result of a mutation allowing the beasts to see infrared radiation, a relic from the rescuing days of their gene-augmented Soviet ancestors.
Despite their fearsome reputation for actively hunting down and devouring humans that stray into the wastes, wargs have found service amongst particular elements of society as working animals. Most wargs in human service are kept for hunting purposes as well as search and rescue. The rest serve as guard dogs, keeping watch over wasteland households and ready to kill burglars that attempt to break and enter as well as protecting food crops against pests such as the bear-sized shoveltusk. Less frequently, wargs have been tamed by several wasteland raider groups for use as combat mounts.

The 112th Orbital Shock Brigade of Tula – the Black Coats – hold a particular reverence for wargs because of their reputation and strength; they frequently make use of wargs for patrols, guard duty and psychological warfare. Additionally, one of the initiation rituals for prospective recruits is to slay a warg with only a combat knife; a successful recruit then skins the slain creature for its hide and fur, and then makes a trenchcoat out of it. This coat is the namesake of the soldiers in the brigade.

## Notable appearances

Curiously, although the warg has been mentioned on a number of occasions, the creature has never actually made an appearance in an RP (so far).

## Trivia

* The warg is based from a creature of the same name in J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Lord of the Rings*, where they are used as battle mounts by the Uruk-hai. The Tolkienian warg is, in turn, inspired by the *vargr* - the wolves Fenrir, Skoll and Hati from Norse mythology.
* Grand Marshal Gordon Kravchenko kept a pet warg named Rip until the death of the latter in 2151.
* Bogdan Andropov is known for wearing an enormous *shinel* greatcoat tailored from warg fur over his power armour. Additionally, the Chthonian Kheraklz frequently wears a wargskin cloak over his. Both items of clothing are hunting trophies from the younger days of both men.
* Victor Golovkin possesses a huge scar running the length of his back that he received as a child from a warg. He keeps it as a memory of his mother Ekaterina, who saved him from the warg that gave him the scar – despite the pleas of his lover, Elena Trotskaya, who views scars as a concession of flesh to an enemy, to get rid of it with tissue repair surgery.
* Natasha Simacheva, Mecharussian sports commentator and co-presenter of the 2151 Hammerfall Games, tried out for the Black Coats, but failed to defeat the warg in the aforementioned initiation ritual, instead almost getting killed herself.