Wemic
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| Wemic | |
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In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the wemic is a monster with the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of a lion. Like centaurs, they are considered "tauric" creatures.
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[edit] Description
Wemics are larger and stronger than humans; a wemic can leap up to 50 feet with a running start. Their front claws are sharp, and they can fight with both claws and weapons at the same time. Some gamers have suggested that they are keen of eye and ear, that they can roar, that they can rake with their back claws, and so on, but these options are not universally used in most role-playing games. The human part of a wemic has feline characteristics around his or her eyes and ears, and perhaps in the nose and teeth as well. Males are generally represented as having long mane-like hair.
[edit] Society
Wemics are excellent hunters and fighters. They do not make settled homes, but generally follow the herds they hunt for food. Some have compared them with the aboriginal people of the central plains of North America. A nomadic, stone-age folk, wemics are often represented as barbaric, illiterate, and uncivilized; they are famous for being highly superstitious. Others would describe Wemics as nature-oriented people with a rich tradition of oral history; they live close to the earth and are in tune with its magical forces.
When a wemic must be still for a time, telling stories around a fire, pausing for a meal, waiting for a friend, or just to take a brief rest, the Wemic commonly assumes a posture in which his hindquarters rest on the ground as his front legs remain straight and his forepaws stay flat on the earth. This they call sitting. This is different from a Wemic sprawling (both hind and forequarters on the ground, but with torso upright) or laying down.
[edit] Subspecies
Wemics entered the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons in the accessory Monsters of Faerûn, which also introduced the mountain wemic: essentially the same build, but the lion portions replaced by those of a large cougar. Mountain wemics are slightly smaller than common wemics and generally solitary.
[edit] Wemics in the Forgotten Realms
Wemics appear in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. They inhabit the vast african-savanna-like grassland known as the shaar, waging war with the Loxos, Thri-Kreen and Centaurs which also dwell there.
[edit] Creative origins
David C. Sutherland III, the artist who painted the covers of the first edition Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide, created the modern-day wemic for a game product called Monster Cards Set 3, a first edition Dungeons and Dragons supplement released in 1982.
[edit] References
- Slavicsek, Bill. The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR, 1993).
- Wyatt, James and Rob Heinsoo. Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).
- Cayzle. "The Father of Modern Wemics: Personal correspondence with former TSR employees confirming role of David C. Sutherland III in creating wemics for Dungeons and Dragons" (Cayzle's Wemic Site, 2005).
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