Miedvied/AbyssalManDogs
These surgically altered corpses are not currently in use by Deathlords, though *why* is a good question. The answer is probably because the deathlords have easier access to hungry ghosts than corpses, and so it's easier to simple moliate and train them as neccasary, to create their neccasary barghests.
Still, sometimes an enterprising necromancer needs a good hunting
companion while in Creation, and when the sun is shiding, hungry ghosts
are not much help.
Mandogs are, generally, human corpses. However, they have had their
nasal cavities extensively enhanced (internally; this is not visible to
cursory examination), as well as certain vital energies rearranged to
enhance their ability to smell to levels so potent as to be
supernatural.
What *is* visible at cursory examination is the fact that these beings
have their eyes sewn shut. Also, that their arms and legs have switched
places; legs (detached at the hips) have been reattached to the
shoulders, so that the knees bend towards the anterior of the body
(head), and thus fold under the chest. The arms are removed at the
shoulders and replaced at the hips, positioned to bend likewise, and
fingers are all shortened by one joint - creating a physical structure
much like a pitbull - while not capable of great speed, the mandog's
limbs are positioned so as to be especially handy for maneuvering in
close combat.
It would be ironic to note that the first creation of such a being was
performed by a Solar-exalted doctor, punishing an imperial for his
callous regard to natives and his goal to subjugate and enslave the
local races. It is debatable who is the worse man, but it is not
debatable who is the more adept torturer.
Mandog </b>
<b>Strength: 2 Dexterity:4 Stamina: 4 Wits: 2 Perception:2 Intelligence:1
Willpower: 3 Health Levels:
- -0
- -1 x 2
- -2 x 2
- -4 x 1
- Inc.
Attack: Bite, Spd 7, Acc 11, Dmg 3L Dodge: 8 Soak: 4B/2L
Abilities: Athletics - 1 (Short Distance running +2), Awareness 2 (+3 scent, no penalties for blindness), Brawl 2 (Bite +3), Dodge 2 (Close combat +2) Stealth 1, Presence 1 ( Physical Intimidation +3)
Note: Due to the careful pinning of the heart chambers, and the
almost-mindless nature of the mandogs, they cannot fail Valor rolls.
All typed up in-game tonight, by the way:
The healthy - formerly healthy - soldier went down promptly, as a knife
crossing one's carotid artery tends to cause a negative change in one's
health. The other was coughing hard, his fist curled before his mouth,
unsure why he couldn't catch his breath, and why his lungs felt so
heavy, and then he coughed harder, and blood was on his lips. And
Andrahi stood and watched and let justice be served, as these men were
the killers of the innocent and the enslavers of the weak and these men
had no right to rule over Creation and would now no longer even rule
over themselves. The man fell to his knees, not dead, but incredibly
weak. There was a reason for that; Andrahi did not want him dead. And
he would not die until the good Doctor chose to let him.
His physician's pack withdrawn from where it was attached to his
waist-chains, Andrahi settled down comfortably on the ground. "Oh, now,
don't go crawling away..." and a sai came down, pinning one of the
man's hands to the earth. Bone shattered with the force of the blow,
struck into the ground beside the sai's blade. His surgical implements
were withdrawn.
"Now, you see, first of all, I find that I completely dislike the way
that your limbs are arranged. We can fix that. We *will* fix that. Stay
awake, now; few outside the Heptagram are privy to such a display of
talent."
Limbs, close to the joints, were very carefully tied off to stop blood
flow. He didn't want his patient bleeding out and *Dying* while he
worked - dear god, no! Who else would be witness to his work?
It was several hours later that the last tendons and bones and veins
and nerves were being reattached, and the man's legs had been placed
where his arms had been, and his arms where his legs had been, with
fingers all having lost a joint; the legs now serving as 'front' legs,
the stumpy hands as 'rear' legs, so that the man could run face-down.
He would be what Andrahi would call a Mandog. Okay, fine, he was genius
with a knife, not with names.
When that was done, he removed the man's tongue. He could not remove it
entirely, however, because to do such would be a waste, and the tongue
was soon fused to the formerly-unused bone at the upper crest of the
buttocks - now functioning as a tail with which the imperial could
cleanse himself.
Lastly, the doctor moved to the man's face - beginning with a careful
removal of the adnoids, an excision of the bones on the interior of the
bilateral turbinates, and many other small changes vastly enhancing the
man's sense of smell, before he woke the man up enough to let him see
the last changes done to his body - sewing his eyes shut while he was
watching.
Darkness overcame the imperial, before his heart finally
ba-thump-thumped its last beat, and gave out.
The remains of the headless one were burned to mere ash, and doused with
salt. The other was brought back with him.