Tiger

Concept: Tigers are a pseudo-mixture of lions and tigers. Male tigers are somewhat solitary, but they like having a home to go to. While tigers might range in wealth, they usually have a harem of human women led by their singular Tiger wife. The wife runs the household and manages the estate.

Physical Qualities. While large, Tigers are not quite as tall as Bears and Dragons. The shortest Tigers are well over six feet, with the the tallest nearing seven. They are easily the most massive, however, with the most svelte female Tigers weighing in at around 220 lbs, Tigers are corded with muscle, feature heavy bones, and rough physiques.

In human form, a Tiger has an umber, orange, or yellow skin tone. Many show faint tracing of their striping or rosettes on their skin as a darker, almost tanned, patch of skin. Hair colors can vary from reds, to golden, to black; typically worn long. Males are given to voluminous curling beards.

In hybrid form, Tigers appear much as their human form, but with a cat-like head similar to that of a lion or tiger. Their base fur colorations vary wildly, and might not necessarily match their mane and/or beard. All Tigers have a unique pattern, usually stripes or rosettes, on their fur that matches the patterning on their skin.

Playing a Tiger. A Tiger is calm, patient, refined almost to an extreme. They treat even their worst enemies with a velvet glove. But, as the saying goes, this glove hides the knife they'll use to kill you. When you play a Tiger character, remember that even the most base-born former Tiger serf comes from a culture of discipline, order, and patience. You are the epitome of speak softly and carry a big stick.

If you are a male Tiger, consider your heritage; what has led you to leave your family, clan, and caste? Why are you adventuring with non-Tigers? If you are female, what has causes you to leave your training behind and take up the blade?

Tigers are frequently fighters and rogues, with a few being clerics. Some become rangers and serve as scouts, some abandon their clans and join monasteries to become monks

Culture. Tigers form stratified caste-based societies, with each successive tier following the orders of the higher tier. Tigers place a lot of value on respect and honor;

Tigers are rare in that they follow a custom called marriage, where a binary couple of male and female Tigers is formed. The male Tiger technically owns an estate (the property on which his family lives, as well as a specific holt located on the outer grounds of the property), and is the spiritual head of the household. The wife, however, actually runs and maintains that property. So, the husband and lord values and respects his wife for maintaining his property, while the wife treats the husband as her king and values his goals. While most looking on from the outside see a 'submissive' woman, female Tigers are anything but; they're cunning, vicious, and devoted. They can put their husband in his place with a few carefully chosen words and a smile. A wise husband knows when not to cross his wife.

Young Tigers are often affianced at young ages, on average 5 or six years old. Young females are often fostered into the family of the groom-to-be so that the two can grow up together and she becomes essential to the family. Once married, the new wife carefully selects her husband's harem from cultivated and groomed human women (or men, should his inclinations lean that way). The members of the harem live to her specifications and whims. Any Tiger offspring are raised as her own biological children. Human offspring are fostered into the estate's holt.

Relations. Tigers are generally not thought of well outside of their lands. The general consensus is that Tigers are cruel, vainglorious, and egotistical. There is, however, an element of mystique and mystery to these reclusive Theru. Tigers are uniformly considered to be very attractive, and they have refined manners of speech and decorum. It is not uncommon for Tigers to be sought out as tutors in manners of etiquette.

Humans. While not technically slaves, humans in Tiger controlled lands have few freedoms or luxuries. Many live in abject poverty, eking out a living through hard manual labor. The majority of human live just outside Tiger clan estates on holts, where they farm, ranch, or otherwise provide for themselves and their Tiger lords. Some Were-tigers live within the estate as servants or guards, and carefully selected and groomed young women form the majority of the Lord's harem.

Tiger's maintain that their human serfs are, by not leaving, giving their implied consent towards this way of life. After all, if things were truly so terrible, the humans would seek better pastures. And this is technically true; any Were-tiger is free to leave the estate and move elsewhere, even members of a harem. Culturally, this is very strongly frowned upon, and such individuals are known as buti (A Tiger expression for the sound spittle makes when it leaves the lips). Were-tigers wandering by themselves are often interrogated briefly by anyone they come across, and if they do not have a suitable excuse for being unescorted, they are often denied services, food, shelters, and might be actively chased from a facility or town.