@tredispade: [asked for a STARTER for Magnai].
It had taken some time to reach the Azim Steppe, but all manner of beasts that Jae could find immediately spanning the vast range of flats and grasslands around Reunion were livestock meant for reagents such as wool, milk, and meat. The Questir tended to their dzo flocks and had built many borders around their encampment to ward off Steppe Gedan- Beastkin in the form of rangy hounds whittled down to skin and bone from hunger and scarcity.
The neutral grounds were prime inventory to steal from, despite the ever watchful shifts of Au Ra guards that trekked the borders- As despite their familiarity with animals, they lacked the innate senses and mindset of a feral scavenger. Skeins of fermented goat's milk offended the Berserker’s honed olfactory senses, choosing to avoid them in favor of salt-cured meats laid out to lose their innate moisture in the overbearing sunlight of near constantly clear skies.
Gnawing on a thick strip of jerky between his incisors, Jae-hyo rested on his stomach overlooking the festivities taking place on the advent of the lunar new year- The Xaela tribes seemed to have been busy cooking a variety of foods in preparation for what they called the ‘Tsagaan Sar’. While the smell of freshly cooked rice and curds did entice his growling stomach, it was the war cries of various participants of the annual games taking place that captured his interest. The Xaela all looked the same to the Hyur, so he couldn’t really tell each specific tribe apart from another, being ignorant of the sheer number of disparate groups and their customs.
A large Au Ra riding a giant bird seemed to be the most effective in combat, being a great deal larger than most of his opponents and wielding a massive war axe. He also seemed to be commanding the fiercest looking bird of prey out of the entire mess, so… While Jae could certainly bide his time and simply steal the mount from the Xaela while asleep or drunk off of their disgusting milk, where would be the fun in that?
With a feral cry mimicking that of a steppe tiger’s roar, the Berserker effectively spooked a neighboring herd of mammoths into a fit of mindless frenzy, the group stampeding down the slope of the nearby plains and throwing the competing groups of warriors into chaos. Jae-hyo leapt onto the back of a elder mammoth at the front of the thundering stampede, crouching down on all fours to hold onto the leathery ears and fur of his impromptu mount, waiting until he spotted his quarry- The biggest (and therefore, strongest) Yol that the axe-bearing Au Ra was astride.
Leaping from off of his perch, the fur and bone-clad beastman outstretched his claw-adorned gauntlets, swiping aggressively at the face and chest of the Xaela rider as his upper lip curled back into a fearsome snarl.
The other tribesmen and women seemed to balk at his appearance, an array of voices angrily trying to pinpoint what apparent tribe he must be from, the words ‘Taken’ and ‘Qerel’ being used quite frequently, but holding no intrinsic meaning to the wild interloper in question.
