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"Arthur:

I write you again, so soon after the last letter, that probably both will arrive you at the same time. I had too, as I found in down in the port a ship that sailed back to Dumia this same day, and wanted to tell you some of my first impressions of the Cynocephaly, the Dogmen.

God knows very well, and so you, how nervous I was about this whole endeavour. While K'Hiff is an Imperial Province of the Empire, being lost in the east, among the lands of the demons made it a dangerous journey... and as is largely inhabited by beastmen, the Dog people.

We both heard the stories, back in the seminary, about the Cynocephaly -or K'Nir, as they call themselves-, dog-headed monsters who ate human flesh and barked.

So I can't but say how surprised I was when I reached the lands of the Cynocephaly, K'Nir, Dog-men, or as the demon-worshipper Nutks call them, Healfhundingas, or Half-Dogs. But by the love of virgin Mary, never call them half-dogs to their face. Or worse, confuse them with the werewolves of demons: they consider werewolves to have been a creation by the enemy, to mock up them.

K'Hiff -or as sometimes our men back in the Empire write it down, Cahyff- was surprisingly... civilised. A human city, by all signs. Inhabited by dog-headed humans.

Because, the Cynocephaly -the christian ones, that's it- see themselves as humans.

Other great surprise was that Abbot Bartholomew, the head of the monastery here, is a dog-man himself -and a very learned one, as well!-. The man have an extensive library, and have a deep knowledge not only in the Karentian cannon, but as well on the fathers of the Church of the times of the Sky age.

The patron Saint of Cahyff is Saint Christopher... a Saint of the days of old, of the Sky-Age... A Cynocephaly himself, who as Abbot Bartholomew told me, as said by the bishop of the Sky Age, Walter von Speyer, was a dog-man, human-flesh-eater who met the Christ child, regretted his former behaviour, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an athlete of God, one of the soldier-saints.

Abbot Bartholomew as well showed me that it wasn't the only account of the Cynocephaly in the Sky Age. Augustine of Hippo himself, too, mentioned the dog-men in his great book The City of God, in which he discussed if such creatures -if they existed at all- could be descendants of Adam. Others men of the Sky Age talked as well of them, and said that, if human, a Christian's duty would be to preach the Gospels to them. If animals, and thus without souls, such would be pointless.

Considering how normally the authors of the Sky Age don't talk of many of the peoples that lives in our world of Aiers, I think it's easy to suppose then that, unlike others creatures, they too should come from the skies with us. And therefore, they too, despite their monster appearance, are children of Adam, who have to learn about our saviour.

And for what I have seen so far, they may be better Christians that many of the heretics we are being troubled with back home, in the Empire!

I'm waiting news from you, and how goes your attempts to bring the word of God to the savage elves of the jungles of Nubla.

Your brother,

Jeraume."

Some thoughts about the Cynocephali of Earth
Reading some random stuff, was surprised how common and prevalent was the myth of the Cynocephali, the dog-headed people. In fact, many of the authors mentioned here -Augustine of Hipp, Walter von Speyer and many other theologians of the medieval time considered indeed the question of dog-men, and if they should be converted to Christianity. They were accounted for as well as real in the journeys of Marco Polo and many others...

To this point, Saint Christopher, which was often depicted in iconography having a dog-head, would be a "strong evidence" to the humans of Aiers.

If the men of Aiers, who think of the records of the Sky Age as sacred, finds out this, they couldn't but consider the K'Nir and the Cynocephali one and the same...

The K'Nir of Aiers

Little was expected from the K'Nir dog people:

While in prehistoric times the packs of dog-people had been one of the earliest challenges to elven tribes in northern Aels and Hieyoks, as technology was developed by other peoples, K'Nir dog people remained using their primitive stone and wooden tools and weapons, living in hunting packs, engaging little in trade -or any other ways- with other peoples of Aiers -often understanding the world as themselves -the pack- against everybody else: hunters and preys.-

The simple society of K'nir -and their reluctance to change or adapt to the technological advances- made the High Elves -during their imperialist expansion in the Late Elf Age- to classify them simply as bipedal animals, only with little intelligence enough to use and produce simple tools: and as such, they where hunted by elves.

The sucessive conquerors that came afterward -clashing with the High Elves- such as Galaw High Orcs, Kanovs and Humans, neither gave more thought or consideration to them that the one given by the elves: slowly but surely, the K'Nir population declined and was reduced to pockets of population, such as the K'Hiff archipelago.

While it's said demons inspired themselves in part of the K'Nir to create the werewolves and in the first Dark Legion they had a place to the Dog-people, they afterwards pretty much forgotten and left to their own devices.

The history of the K'Nir of the K'Hiff islands will change with the arrival of the Vanolosé orc explorers.

The K'Hiff islands, while where poor in agricultural terms and had an hostile climate, where on the path between the Hieyokscream and the Tok sea -and in the trading routes that the Vanolosé hoped to establish-. A place too good and strategic to set ports, the Vanolosé orcs founded their settlements -soon finding hostility of the dog people packs.-

Not interested in the costs of an invasion, the Vanolosé instead used their experience with harpies and other primitive beast peoples they had used in the southern Tok, and won local leaders with trinkets, symbols of status, becoming the sole providers of such. While not an automatic success, soon many of the most important packs where under the influence of the Vanolosé traders -and ready to wage war to the packs that weren't, now buying steel weapons to the brown orcs-.

Very quickly the K'Nir under Vanolosé influence changed, becoming for the first time sedentary. The Vanolosé will teach them as well to become shepherds -needing their coastal ports and ships fresh meat- and later was discovered copper mines in the isles.

K'Nir, hunters and excellent trackers became part of the entourages of mercenaries that went along with the expeditions of the brown orcs.

While much had changed to the dog people of K'Hiff thanks to the brown orcs, a fundamental change will come when Karentian Christian preachers reacher the island: actually stranded there due some taxation problems with the Vanolosé -who charged religious preachers in their territories to extend their religions, be humans, orcs, elves or demons- they will begin the conversion of the Dog-men packs to christianity.

This will divide the K'Hiff tribes in two opposing sides: the christian Huneeus-Hund Pack -named Huneeus after the Sargonic dinasty, as they where converted by Sargonic preachers- and the traditionalists -who really in their own had incorporated some of the christian religious beliefs into a new religion that worshipped supposed common ancestor and god, that they called Our Father: these packs where called by the Vanolosé -mockingly according by the human christian chronists, for the use of liturgic dumian in their name- as the Paternoster Packs.

Victory will be on hands of the Huneeus-Hund Pack, and the self-proclaimed Dog King -who had sworn in a cross as vassal, as nominal it may be, of the Archbishop of Karentia- decided that his packs of K'Nir needed a common goal to unite them behind his banners and to leave their now too-narrow isles -thanks to the demographic growth due the adoption of agriculture and livestock-, beginning an attempt to settle in Stapäria, as a christian spearhead between the realms of the Dark Legions of the Demons.

While they would enter in conflict with the Nutks, who will turn to be the fiercest enemy of the K'Nir of the Huneeus-Hund would be the Loranor Kingdom -which later became the Loranor Empire-, who was seeking to reach the shores of the sea: it will begin a long and bitter conflict between the cat and dog people -with the Loranor Empire occupying Stapäria and invading the K'Hiff islands.-

When the Holy Sargonic Empire was proclaimed, K'Hiff, vassal state of the Archbishop of Karentia, became officaly an imperial province -and despite being on the other side of Aels, using the Vanolosé southern trade routes, there would be a limited exchange between humans and K'nir, being formed under the Karentian banners a unit of K'Nir mercenaries warriors, the K'Hiff Guard -often nicknamed as the Dogs of the Church-, some of the most fanatical and loyal warriors of the Archbishop.

The K'Nir were able not only to finally expel the Loranor invaders of their archipelago, but as well from Stapäria and went as far as into Thol'Iznea, the capitol of the Loranor Empire: the sack of Thol'Iznea will mark the end of the Loranor empire, which reshaped the geopolitical balance of eastern Aels:

The Huneeus-Hund, deeply involved in the Sargonic Religious Wars, will be severely weakened by them, leaving them exposed against the Dark Legion in the Third War of the Power.

Description

Mature Content

Mature Content

"Arthur:

I write you again, so soon after the last letter, that probably both will arrive you at the same time. I had too, as I found in down in the port a ship that sailed back to Dumia this same day, and wanted to tell you some of my first impressions of the Cynocephaly, the Dogmen.

God knows very well, and so you, how nervous I was about this whole endeavour. While K'Hiff is an Imperial Province of the Empire, being lost in the east, among the lands of the demons made it a dangerous journey... and as is largely inhabited by beastmen, the Dog people.

We both heard the stories, back in the seminary, about the Cynocephaly -or K'Nir, as they call themselves-, dog-headed monsters who ate human flesh and barked.

So I can't but say how surprised I was when I reached the lands of the Cynocephaly, K'Nir, Dog-men, or as the demon-worshipper Nutks call them, Healfhundingas, or Half-Dogs. But by the love of virgin Mary, never call them half-dogs to their face. Or worse, confuse them with the werewolves of demons: they consider werewolves to have been a creation by the enemy, to mock up them.

K'Hiff -or as sometimes our men back in the Empire write it down, Cahyff- was surprisingly... civilised. A human city, by all signs. Inhabited by dog-headed humans.

Because, the Cynocephaly -the christian ones, that's it- see themselves as humans.

Other great surprise was that Abbot Bartholomew, the head of the monastery here, is a dog-man himself -and a very learned one, as well!-. The man have an extensive library, and have a deep knowledge not only in the Karentian cannon, but as well on the fathers of the Church of the times of the Sky age.

The patron Saint of Cahyff is Saint Christopher... a Saint of the days of old, of the Sky-Age... A Cynocephaly himself, who as Abbot Bartholomew told me, as said by the bishop of the Sky Age, Walter von Speyer, was a dog-man, human-flesh-eater who met the Christ child, regretted his former behaviour, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an athlete of God, one of the soldier-saints.

Abbot Bartholomew as well showed me that it wasn't the only account of the Cynocephaly in the Sky Age. Augustine of Hippo himself, too, mentioned the dog-men in his great book The City of God, in which he discussed if such creatures -if they existed at all- could be descendants of Adam. Others men of the Sky Age talked as well of them, and said that, if human, a Christian's duty would be to preach the Gospels to them. If animals, and thus without souls, such would be pointless.

Considering how normally the authors of the Sky Age don't talk of many of the peoples that lives in our world of Aiers, I think it's easy to suppose then that, unlike others creatures, they too should come from the skies with us. And therefore, they too, despite their monster appearance, are children of Adam, who have to learn about our saviour.

And for what I have seen so far, they may be better Christians that many of the heretics we are being troubled with back home, in the Empire!

I'm waiting news from you, and how goes your attempts to bring the word of God to the savage elves of the jungles of Nubla.

Your brother,

Jeraume."

Some thoughts about the Cynocephali of Earth
Reading some random stuff, was surprised how common and prevalent was the myth of the Cynocephali, the dog-headed people. In fact, many of the authors mentioned here -Augustine of Hipp, Walter von Speyer and many other theologians of the medieval time considered indeed the question of dog-men, and if they should be converted to Christianity. They were accounted for as well as real in the journeys of Marco Polo and many others...

To this point, Saint Christopher, which was often depicted in iconography having a dog-head, would be a "strong evidence" to the humans of Aiers.

If the men of Aiers, who think of the records of the Sky Age as sacred, finds out this, they couldn't but consider the K'Nir and the Cynocephali one and the same...

The K'Nir of Aiers

Little was expected from the K'Nir dog people:

While in prehistoric times the packs of dog-people had been one of the earliest challenges to elven tribes in northern Aels and Hieyoks, as technology was developed by other peoples, K'Nir dog people remained using their primitive stone and wooden tools and weapons, living in hunting packs, engaging little in trade -or any other ways- with other peoples of Aiers -often understanding the world as themselves -the pack- against everybody else: hunters and preys.-

The simple society of K'nir -and their reluctance to change or adapt to the technological advances- made the High Elves -during their imperialist expansion in the Late Elf Age- to classify them simply as bipedal animals, only with little intelligence enough to use and produce simple tools: and as such, they where hunted by elves.

The sucessive conquerors that came afterward -clashing with the High Elves- such as Galaw High Orcs, Kanovs and Humans, neither gave more thought or consideration to them that the one given by the elves: slowly but surely, the K'Nir population declined and was reduced to pockets of population, such as the K'Hiff archipelago.

While it's said demons inspired themselves in part of the K'Nir to create the werewolves and in the first Dark Legion they had a place to the Dog-people, they afterwards pretty much forgotten and left to their own devices.

The history of the K'Nir of the K'Hiff islands will change with the arrival of the Vanolosé orc explorers.

The K'Hiff islands, while where poor in agricultural terms and had an hostile climate, where on the path between the Hieyokscream and the Tok sea -and in the trading routes that the Vanolosé hoped to establish-. A place too good and strategic to set ports, the Vanolosé orcs founded their settlements -soon finding hostility of the dog people packs.-

Not interested in the costs of an invasion, the Vanolosé instead used their experience with harpies and other primitive beast peoples they had used in the southern Tok, and won local leaders with trinkets, symbols of status, becoming the sole providers of such. While not an automatic success, soon many of the most important packs where under the influence of the Vanolosé traders -and ready to wage war to the packs that weren't, now buying steel weapons to the brown orcs-.

Very quickly the K'Nir under Vanolosé influence changed, becoming for the first time sedentary. The Vanolosé will teach them as well to become shepherds -needing their coastal ports and ships fresh meat- and later was discovered copper mines in the isles.

K'Nir, hunters and excellent trackers became part of the entourages of mercenaries that went along with the expeditions of the brown orcs.

While much had changed to the dog people of K'Hiff thanks to the brown orcs, a fundamental change will come when Karentian Christian preachers reacher the island: actually stranded there due some taxation problems with the Vanolosé -who charged religious preachers in their territories to extend their religions, be humans, orcs, elves or demons- they will begin the conversion of the Dog-men packs to christianity.

This will divide the K'Hiff tribes in two opposing sides: the christian Huneeus-Hund Pack -named Huneeus after the Sargonic dinasty, as they where converted by Sargonic preachers- and the traditionalists -who really in their own had incorporated some of the christian religious beliefs into a new religion that worshipped supposed common ancestor and god, that they called Our Father: these packs where called by the Vanolosé -mockingly according by the human christian chronists, for the use of liturgic dumian in their name- as the Paternoster Packs.

Victory will be on hands of the Huneeus-Hund Pack, and the self-proclaimed Dog King -who had sworn in a cross as vassal, as nominal it may be, of the Archbishop of Karentia- decided that his packs of K'Nir needed a common goal to unite them behind his banners and to leave their now too-narrow isles -thanks to the demographic growth due the adoption of agriculture and livestock-, beginning an attempt to settle in Stapäria, as a christian spearhead between the realms of the Dark Legions of the Demons.

While they would enter in conflict with the Nutks, who will turn to be the fiercest enemy of the K'Nir of the Huneeus-Hund would be the Loranor Kingdom -which later became the Loranor Empire-, who was seeking to reach the shores of the sea: it will begin a long and bitter conflict between the cat and dog people -with the Loranor Empire occupying Stapäria and invading the K'Hiff islands.-

When the Holy Sargonic Empire was proclaimed, K'Hiff, vassal state of the Archbishop of Karentia, became officaly an imperial province -and despite being on the other side of Aels, using the Vanolosé southern trade routes, there would be a limited exchange between humans and K'nir, being formed under the Karentian banners a unit of K'Nir mercenaries warriors, the K'Hiff Guard -often nicknamed as the Dogs of the Church-, some of the most fanatical and loyal warriors of the Archbishop.

The K'Nir were able not only to finally expel the Loranor invaders of their archipelago, but as well from Stapäria and went as far as into Thol'Iznea, the capitol of the Loranor Empire: the sack of Thol'Iznea will mark the end of the Loranor empire, which reshaped the geopolitical balance of eastern Aels:

The Huneeus-Hund, deeply involved in the Sargonic Religious Wars, will be severely weakened by them, leaving them exposed against the Dark Legion in the Third War of the Power.