Many believe them to just be a legend, a boogieman of sorts, to scare the children. “Don’t get out of bed tonight, or the Yashas will come for you.” An effective tool of parental control, but ultimately the message is flawed. If Yashas are about, they’ll come even if you are in bed, and hiding under the covers won’t help you.

These wolf-headed people, if indeed you can call them people, did not exist until five human generations ago. An evil wizard, bent on conquering a nearby kingdom, found traces of werewolf in the blood of a youth who was stupid enough to enter the mage’s tower. As it turned out, many hundreds of years ago there had been a breakout of lycanthropy. A few men, on a routine hunting expedition, ran across a werewolf. Though they managed to dispatch the creature, each one contracted the vile disease. These infected men were eventually discovered and killed, but not before they had sired children. The children of these monsters, thankfully, had not contracted the disease themselves, but the potential had been passed down, in their blood, for generations. Now, the decedents of these lycanthropes have wolf in their blood, distilled and weakened, yes, but they still had the potential. The evil mage drew up a spell, kidnapped the villagers who had this potential inside of them, and activated the long-dormant beast. And with that, the mage had an army. The first Yashas were created. It was appropriate that the mage never managed to use his army, for the Yashas proved too chaotic to control. They tore the wizard apart and devoured his remains.

Exiled from their homes, the Yashas came together, creating a pack. The Yashas found that plant life would no longer sustain them, only flesh could end their hunger. Yet, animal meat, cooked or raw, tasted disgusting to them. Only human flesh would bring them pleasure, and the younger the better. A man in his prime was better food than an old crone. A child was even better. A newborn? The greatest of delicacies.

Physically, a Yasha looks like its base creature, except that its head is that of a wolf, and it tends to hunch over. They act nothing like the creatures they once were, the beast inside of them has taken complete control of their mental state. Don’t be fooled, Yashas are not simply wild animals, they retain enough of their human culture to remember how to make and use tools, and can be cunning warriors if the situation calls for it. Most of their attacks revolve around getting another meal, raiding a nearby settlement to snatch a child or two away. They have been known to make alliances with more powerful evil creatures, in exchange for food. They make great mercenaries, they cost no gold, and yet no good man would dare try to match the price required to make them turn on their employers.

Yasha society is based around a pack mentality. Yashas protect their oldest members, even laying down their own lives to save them. Dying in any other way is considered shirking one’s responsibilities. The survivors see it as the pack is now down a member, and they have to pay for their dead comrade’s stupidity. There are often feuds within packs, and these situations usually call for a fight to the death. If one of the conflicting Yashas does not want to fight, usually because he cannot win, he can chose exile instead, and leaves the pack. If enough of these exiles comes together, they can form a pack of their own.

Mating within a pack is common, Yashas only live thirty years or so, and the males are expected to find a mate within fifteen years. If a male Yasha wants a female in his pack that is not already taken by another, he may have her. Adultery is unthinkable, and anyone who commits it is killed unceremoniously. If a male desires a female from outside of his pack, there are two things that he can do. He can challenge the female’s father for her, if he wins she leaves with him, if he loses the father kills him. Or, he can steal her away, and run off with her. This is considered the coward’s exit, and those packs are considered enemies so long as the father is still alive. Conflicts between males about an available female are resolved through a fight, though not necessarily to the death. Females rarely have much of a choice in who they mate with, they are raised from birth to believe that a male chooses her, not the other way around. This does not mean that females are seen as weak or inferior in Yasha society, females can hunt, fight, and are the only ones who are allowed to learn magic. Warrior females are not common, but not unheard of either.

While the story goes that the original Yashas that were created were human, theoretically they could arise in any humanoid race. Orcish Yashas tend not to be outcasts from their societies, in fact most Yashas from this race gain much respect from their comrades.

Yasha Template
Type Changes to Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: Increases to d12
Abilities: Str: +2, Con: +2, Cha: -2
Attacks: Gains a bite attack, if it did not already have one.
Bite: 1d8, or base creature, whichever is higher.
Feats: Scent
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Challenge Rating: +1
Level Adjustment: +2

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