300 AD: Not Humanly Possible

 

Saint Christopher, for reals.

Let's talk about non-human species for this game.

Now Runequest, RQ, is known for "strange" monsters. I put "strange" in quotations because the people saying these things think that Stat-Trap monsters designed to to play against rules and based on weird plastic dinosaurs, looking at the Rust Monster, are normal. So of course, me being so normal, I am going with based off of scholastic works that actually exist-- I am being scientific. Yeah right. Still using what we now call folkloric sources, which would be called "educated" at the start of the Seventh Century AD. I'm such good weird fantasist that reality falls into my lap. 

   The Dog-Heads
According to Wikipedia it's called "cynocephaly." I call them dog-heads, not "dogfaces." "Faces" is a World War Two term for Army grunts because ring-knocking West Point Officers giving orders to about 3/4-trained conscripts like they were dogs in combat. Dog-Heads have popped up throughout history. They start appearing in strict Biblical iconography since about 300 AD and didn't stop there. Despite Dog-heads being a metaphor for accomplished but illiterate people, I find them the most fascinating non-human "race" ever these days. Yes, they had that convention of language, metaphors,  before 1993. So mixing and mismatching  here's my lore:
  My-Take: Residing beside humanity since the skies were separated from the seas and trees grew on the land, dog-heads have been around humanity. It is said that they even older than wolves or real dogs, those species evolved from the cynophalids(?).  They have been able to avoid going MYTH because of their acceptance of the human regime of how things should be. Lately though, the muslin-wearing Islamic-worshiping mystics have associated the dog-heads with the ghul And when ghouls show their undead essence to to the travelers that those demons have been trying to seduced, the dog-like head of the collapsed corpse would remain. So Dog-Heads have been getting the short end of things especially for the last century and then some. 

PC Race- Dog-Head
   
   As they are canine in nature, they tend to adopt the Character with the highest Charisma around them as their leader. As people move in and out their lives, SAVES on CHARM will be required to maintain loyalty.

Dog Luck Keen Hearing, Smell, and Tastes- +15% to any Perception roll.


   Pilt-Downer
As the Sky continues to separate from the Sea and the Trees grow ever larger on the Land, Ogres continue to face the problem that the world just isn't big enough for them. Wherever more natural folks liked to live, the ogres would have to go away. Pilt-Downers are their last defense against the World Occurring. 
   The size of human children bit possessed with the presence (INT and CHR) and strength (STR and DEX) of an adult.While they try to avoid the World's attention (+10% to SNEAK rolls), they tend to die young (-10% on CON Saves).

Down and Pilt: 50% chance of learning any spell cast at or on them.