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The Blink Dog Nation
Alignment: Lawful Good
Capital: The Dream Caves of the Ancestors
Rulers: High-Alpha Female Hurfgra Spiderslayer of the Skywatcher Kinship, High-Alpha Male Gurgrauf Cavekeeper of the Skywatcher Kinship
Government
A joint tribal council led by a High-Alpha Male and High-Alpha Female governs the Kinships. These leaders are selected through traditional dominance rituals.
Geography
The land consists of temperate plains, with warm plains and hills to the south and some temperate hills to the west. The Icemelt River flows through the region, and is fed by countless smaller streams and tributaries.
Culture
The blink dogs of the Kinships all share a basic tribal culture with an emphasis on honor, tradition, and the veneration of the celestial powers through the intercession of ancestor spirits. An alpha male and alpha female share leadership of individual packs. The most powerful and influential of these alphas come to dominate extended families known as kinships. The males of the kinships typically focus on gathering and keeping the oral history and traditions, while the females typically focus on hunting and protecting the young. The blink dogs have no written language, but often leave elaborate and long-lasting scent markings and coded colored rock arrays conveying complex messages throughout their territory.
History
Long before the arrival of the human settlers, before discovering the secret of blinking, the Kinships wandered the Rolling Plains living off the bounty of the land. With the rise of the Goblin King in the Verdant Peninsula to the south, the wheels of war began to turn. The Goblin King craved control over the sacred sites protected by the Kinships. He believed they would grant him the mystical power to become a living god. He sent forth his goblinoid janissaries, but they stood no chance against the combined cunning and feral might of the Kinships.
The Goblin King did not give up easily. Beneath his pyramid temple, he bred clutches of arcane phase spiders and trained them to execute his will in the Rolling Plains. The phase spiders marched north to exterminate the Kinships, and the Kinships could do nothing to stop them
The Kinships retreated to the Caves of the Ancestors, their most powerful sacred site, when High-Alpha Rufyar Stormherald answered the call of the Ancestor Spirits, traveling into the Ethereal Plane on a vision quest. The spirits granted him the gift of blinking, and sent him to teach the secret to the Kinships. With the power of blinking, the Kinships fought back against the phase spiders and reclaimed their sacred land.
When humans settled on the Pirate Coast over a hundred years later, the Kinships cautiously avoided the strange colonists. However, now that the human settlers are spreading across the Rolling Plains, the blink dogs have no choice but to deal with the strangers.
Relations
The Kinships are wary of the presence of human settlers in their midst and tensions have occasionally broken out into violence. The benevolent traditions of blink dog culture, however, compel many packs to protect the ignorant humans from the dangers that lurk in the Rolling Plains. The Kinships despise the Goblin King and his phase spider assassins. The savage gnolls of the west fear the Ghost Hounds who drive them ruthlessly from the Rolling Plains whenever they venture near.
Notable Settlements
The Dream Caves of the Ancestors (pop. varies)
The blink dogs perform their most sacred rituals within these winding sandstone caves in the southern hills. All young blink dogs must undergo a vision quest within these caves, communing with the spirits of their ancestors as a rite of passage. The Skywatcher Kinship protects the caves, but all the kinships gather for a great convocation on the winter solstice where they share news, perform rituals of friendship and grievance, and make decisions for the Blink Dog Nation as a whole.
Skywatcher Kinship (pop. 16,000)
The territory of the Skywatcher Kinship centers on the Dream Caves of the Ancestors in the southern hills. The Skywatchers uphold strict traditions of mysticism and spirituality. They spend as much of their time as possible at their sacred sites communing with the ancestors and protecting them from villainous phase spiders.
Rockjumper Kinship (pop. 9,000)
The territory of the Rockjumper Kinship extends from the Rolling Plains into the hills to the south and west. The Rockjumpers value courage and honor above all else and frequently test their mettle against the gnolls of the western hills. Rockjumper braves have saved many human settlers from gnoll raiders.
Elkchaser Kinship (pop 20,000)
The Elkchaser Kinship has the widest migration pattern of any of the major kinships and follows the great elk herds in their seasonal travels across the plains. Elkchaser life revolves around the family, with the most respect given to those who care for the pups.
Stormherald Kinship (pop 12,000)
The Stormherald Kinship roams between several sacred sites in the northern and eastern reaches of the plains. The Stormheralds see themselves as the protectors of the Rolling Plains and practice rituals designed to instill loyalty and foster prowess.
Behind the Scenes
The Gnoll Threat
The gnoll cleric Nergrosh has uncovered rituals to create powerful mummies to destroy his enemies. He is sending gnoll agents into the Rolling Plains in search of a mystic site to empower his dark necromancy.
Imminent Violence
Human settlers have unwittingly trespassed on a sacred site of the Stormheralds. The Stormherald warriors see this as a mortal crime as the site was clearly scent-marked as taboo. The Stormheralds are planning violent retaliation if this misunderstanding cannot be reconciled in time.
Sequel to Villainy
The Goblin King has overseen a vile union of goblin and infernal, and Barghests are the result. The Goblin King has ordered the first of these Barghests to go forth from the breeding pits from which they spawned and into the Rolling Hills to carry out his schemes.