Fhorge
Pathfinder |
The fhorge (pronounced FOR-jay; its name derived from an old Draconic word for boar, "furaje") is a well-known sight across the lower Outlands, even onto the more survivable Lower Planes; a hazard to travelers and a source of meat for hunters far and near. This animal originally descends from domesticated daeodons, or "dire boars", imported from the Prime by lizardfolk travelers in the early days of crossplanar travel during early attempts at colonization, when it was thought that the local fauna of the Outer Planes held no chance at supporting mortal life. While these early colonies lasted mere years against the then-common Blood War raids into the Outlands, the fhorge surprisingly managed to find a foothold on the plane, escaping into the wild where it thrived in the local conditions, growing in both size and ferocity until it became the animal known today.
Ecology
Fhorge are omnivorous scavengers, and though they prefer to eat roots and tubers, they can also subsist on grass, nuts, berries, insects, small reptiles, or carrion. Surprisingly, this includes razorvine, making them one of the few animals to gain any benefit from the tenacious weed. Most of their feeding and migratory activity is done at night, with transient activity in the day interspersed with rest periods, but this changes during breeding season around mid-autumn, when their active periods can be entirely unpredictable - most Outlander travelers know to pay special watch on the trail during this time of year, as an active sounder is not something a person wants to stumble into unwittingly; fhorge sows can be extremely protective of their young, even more so during this time of year.
While adult male fhorge are most often on their own, the rest of the species travels in small packs, or "sounders", led by a dominant female, with up to three or four other adult females as well as dozens of young fhorge; sounders commonly contain upwards of 50 fhorge in a pack. Following breeding season, any impregnated sows will gestate for approximately five and a half Outlander months before giving birth to a litter; most commonly between four and six young, though first litters are usually half that size. Males leave the sounder at around 20 months of age, and only return to a sounder during breeding season. The average fhorge can live up to 20 years, though some have been sighted as surviving up to 30-35 years of age.
Appearance
At birth, fhorge are close to 36 inches long, but by two years'-time, they'll have reached their full size; males can be anywhere from six to eight feet long, and up to five feet tall at the shoulder, while females are only slightly smaller, usually from five to seven feet long and near as tall. Fhorge are covered in coarse, dark fur that can range from dark-brown to pure black, growing thicker in the winter, with tails tufted with thick bristles of the same color; patterns of fur color are extremely rareamongst fhorge. A fhorge's most prominent feature, of course, are its long, curving tusks. These tusks first begin to grow at around two weeks, and continue growing throughout a fhorge's life, oftentimes reaching lengths of 24 inches by death in males. The tusks of females are usually shorter, rarely exceeding 12 inches, but only slightly less deadly for it.
References
- Planescape MCII, pp.38-39
