Ghosti’s Personal Gnoll Headcanons…
…utterly unsupported by ‘canon’ info from Warcraft or anything which actually features gnolls, but heavily influenced by spotted hyenas, whose society is matriarchal. This is basically how I see them in my High Fantasy universe and other writing and I thought it’d be fun to share them with you. Feel free to add your own headcanons or send me more suggestions.
Anon earlier mentioned that gnoll babies are super cute and fluffy, and I wholeheartedly agreed, and said I’d do a post on my thoughts about gnolls, so, let’s get going:
First off, yes, female gnolls have the same genitalia as female spotted hyena do… Look up hyena anatomy if you want, it’s surprisingly interesting.
Anyway, it’s an entirely matriarchal society.
There are different species of gnoll - like with brown, spotted, striped, and aardwolf…
Much higher levels of testosterone in females than males, with females being bigger, more dominant, more aggressive, and more muscular.
Males rank below all females, even the alpha male of the clan.
Males are actually more gentle and sweet, and are usually left in charge of the older cubs while the females will go on war raids and hunting parties.
However, females with very young cubs will stay behind as well and suckle them. Females are very tender and sweet with their cubs, especially if they’re female. Females who have just one male cub may also see them as quite endearing and weak sometimes and the cub may receive lots of fuss while he’s still small.
Childbirth for females is excruciating because of their biological makeup, and females often die during their first delivery. Male gnolls are extremely distressed during this time, and if his mate dies, the male gnoll will grieve for a long time. Sometimes he will leave the clan altogether and either remain a nomad, or find another clan to try and join.
Male gnolls in their teens will train the younger cubs to fight and use weapons until they’re good enough to move up the ranks and learn from one of the high ranking females.
Male gnolls who stay with the clan may train with the females, and only while they’re in the training ring are they equal (i.e., the male doesn’t have to submit to her – he can just train), and the outcome of the match is respected and accepted no matter if the male won or not.
Strong family ties, with lots of chilling out and cuddling when not training. Lots of play-fighting too, biting, grappling, and hugging and nuzzling.
Gnolls are big on body language, with expressive ears and tails.
Friendships formed during cub-hood can make it difficult when the females grow up and attain a higher rank than the males. Sometimes a male and female may leave the clan and live alone, though this is rare, as the females’ instincts to remain in the clan are strong.
The matriarch is rarely challenged, but occasionally there will be mutinies within the clan, usually if the matriarch has not proven herself strong enough or successful enough in leading her clan.
The social standing of the lower ranking females, and also amongst the males, will shift constantly, with lots of fighting and bickering and wrestling to determine dominance. Females always outrank males though.
Male gnolls living with a clan are home-builders, but usually leave their family clan in their late teens (they age like humans), and become nomadic until or unless they find another clan and are accepted.
Clans are highly aggressive towards each other. Any border infringements can mean outright war. Clan comes first… Females who leave their clans are often shunned and lose respect among their families. No matter if they were the matriarch’s eldest daughter, if they join another clan, they rank at the bottom of all the females, though above the males.
Gnolls are very tough and fast healers, and many of them sustain massive injuries during war. They’re not afraid to use close-up, hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons. They will bite and claw, and many of the older gnolls bear hideous scarring from battles, and even missing limbs. Scars and deformities are not seen as unattractive, and should anyone – male or female – be rendered unable to care for themselves during a clan war or even a hunt, they will be taken care of by the rest of the clan, and treated with the respect of a middling female (or higher, if the individual was a high ranking female to start with).
Gnolls will run on all fours as much as on two legs, but their back legs are kinda short and stocky (and adorable). They like to carry their weapons in holsters on their back or on their belt for the shorter axes and knives.
Will eat literally anything. Have iron constitutions and nothing is ever ‘too far gone’.
All gnolls love mud baths. Messy, mucky, gorgeous. They love it.
Love to laugh. If you can make a gnoll laugh, then they’ll probably like you.
Gnoll courtship is on the males to do the wooing by bringing gifts to the females, but they’ll often be wary of offending the female… The more impressive the gift, the more likely she is to be impressed. It’s the females who will ask the male to mate with them.
Ok, I’m gonna leave it there I think before this gets into an epic about my own personal thoughts on gnolls.
Please feel free to send me your headcanons if you’d like (if there’s something you want to expand on, or disagree with, I’m all ears!) because I just love hyenas, and so gnolls are right up there with my favourite non-humans, and I love hearing your thoughts as always.
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