The Circle of Swords Gaming Guild

The History of the Races

The Furbin

Furbin Homeland: Oslot, Jen

We Furbins have many legends and myths about our past. Some tell of a great Lynx who created the Furbins, while others talk of a powerful mage who created the original Furbins through magic. Others believe that the Furbins naturally evolved from the larger cat breeds in the wilderness. This last belief is only held by non-furbins. We Furbins could not accept such a mundane beginning.

Before we discuss the origins of the Furbin, first let me tell you about how the Furbins live. Most Furbins live in what they call the Last of the Great Forest. This area is known to most others as the Furbin homelands and is east of the great Duchy of Allwyn. The Furbin are loosely ruled by a council of twelve elders, which are the wisest of all the Furbins. The only real function this council has is to represent the Furbins in any matters that deal with the outside world. All other matters are handled by the individual prides. Each pride is normally controlled by one dominant Furbin, but on occasion for the larger prides two or three Furbin have shared the duties. Since Furbins are known for their tempers, this sharing usually does not last long. As you can see, there is not much control or organization exerted over the Furbins except locally by leader of the pride. This is why there is no formal Duchy ruled by the Furbins. Of course, other Duchies have considered including the Furbin under their rule, but all have failed, The Furbin are fiercely independent and very good fighters, so most believe that they cannot be ruled by any force in the realm.

As I said, most if not all control is held by the leaders of each pride. This is where you see the difference between what is called City Furbin and Country Furbin, You see, some Furbins actually prefer to live in the human cities and villages. These Furbins are called City Furbin and prefer to live under the laws of that city or village. At least these Furbin try to follow some or most of the local laws. It is believed that most of the Furbins prefer to live in the forest or country, and that is why they are called country Furbins. I say, it is believed that most live in the country, but no one has ever been able to take an accurate census of the Furbins to say for sure.

The City Furbins live a life much like any human, elf or dwarf. They normally have specialized skills and occupations to make a living in or around a town or village. Some City Furbins have even dabbled in local government but that is rare. In most cases for City Furbins there is no pride to belong to,. and no leader to obey. These Furbins seem to like it that way, but village law sometimes can interfere with this independence. Some City Furbin accept this, while others usually move on to another town or village.

The country Furbins live a simple life of co-existence with nature. They live off the land and protect that land from abuse. Many a trapper or hunter has run afoul of a Furbin, when he suddenly finds himself in the Furbins territory. Country Furbins are almost always attached to a pride. But there are those rare Furbins who do live a solitary life in the forest. For those belonging to a pride, there is the structure and safety of each Furbins position within the pride. The leader, of courses, rules the pride absolutely.

Frequently, the position of leader is given up to a new individual. This individual assumes the role of leader of the pride when he or she defeats the current leader in non-lethal combat. Do not be mistaken by the words, non-lethal, most of these battles last hours and sometimes days. The only reason that they are not lethal is that we Furbins have quite a constitution. Once the new leader of the pride is established, life in the pride resumes its natural course with the leader setting down the laws to be followed.

Now that you know how the Furbins live, let me tell you how we Furbins came to be. There are many stories or myths about the origin of the Furbin. Most are just that, myths, but two have persisted for hundreds of years in one form or another. The first story is told predominantly by the country Furbin pack leaders to the young cubs at night around the cooking fires. While the second story is told by the City Furbin parents to their offspring when they reach the age of consent. The first story goes like this:

The Country Furbin pack leaders tell of a great struggle that happened long ago for the control of all the wilderness. The forest creatures fought for the side of goodness against the forces of evil. As the battle raged, more and more animals from far reaching lands joined in. One day a large all white lynx named Viror Whitetufts appeared, Viror was a strong cat, and a great leader. He traveled across the great forest, gathering the strongest and the bravest cats from each pride. He told each pride that these select ones would go and fight the great battle so that the others could live out their normal lives. Once the great cats were gathered, Viror led them off to the north for the great battle. The evil did not come, but neither did the select ones. It was assumed that all had perished in the great battle defeating the evil.

Years later in the more remote areas of the great forest, there appeared curious cat-like creatures. They were so curious because they had most of the cat features and abilities, but they walked on two legs. When these creatures tried to communicate with the other forest animals, the results were not good. Soon the forest animals avoided these furry human beings completely. But as the decades went by the furry beings or Furbins, as the forest creatures called them, were tolerated as occupants of the forest. One day, a brave lynx, much like Viror himself asked a Furbin where they had come from. The Furbin said that they were the selected ones who had gone to fight the great battle against evil. Of course, the lynx laughed at this and thought the Furbin mad. The lynx said, Athen where is the great Viror himself, I have not heard of his return. The Furbin replied that Viror had died giving the final killing blow to the evil forces. The lynx laughed again, and ran off.

The Furbin are our ancestors and they told many a story about the great battle against evil. These stories tell how Viror and his select ones joined forces with other animals to fight the evil. They say that just before the last battle all of these animals were transformed into creatures that had hands and walked on two legs not four. The stories also talked of how all the great leaders, Viror included, died in that last battle to defeat evil. To this day, the animals of the forest do not believe that we are the descendants of the select ones who fought to protect them. That is why they treat us much the same way they treat humans and elves.

It is said that one day a descendant of Viror will come to the forest to finally prove that the Furbin are the selected ones. The descendant will prove his lineage by the remains that he bears, those of the great Viror Whitetufts. The spirit of Viror will then and only then find restful peace in his homeland.

While the second story goes something like this:

The City Furbins believe that long ago a great and kind wizard, named Furbane, lived in the wilderness with all his animal friends. One day a human from a village nearby came to seek Furbanes help. The villager told Furbane that a large army of evil creatures were marching toward the village. Fubane knew that the army would crush the town and kill every living being within miles. Furbane also knew that he alone not fight an entire army. He needed his own troops to carry the day. After telling the villager to go back and prepare for the arrival of their own army, he called his animal friends. Hundreds of animals came to answer his call. The response was incredible and Furbane realized that he could not command so many alone. He turned to his oldest and dearest friend, a Lynx named Viror Whitetufts, and asked Viror to be his Field Commander. Viror of course accepted and organized the animals into packs for the coming battle.

Furbane, Viror, and the animal army marched into the village to fight beside the human villagers. At first the villagers were confused, expecting a human army but soon accepted the animals as allies. Off in the distance, they all could hear war drums from the approaching army.

Two days later, the army of evil attacked the village. Hundreds died that day from both sides. And by dusk, not one inch of ground had been won by either side. Both armies withdrew from the battlefield. Furbane, exhausted from the strain of casting so much magic, called for his field commander. Viror arrived at Furbanes tent and gave him a full report on the state of his army.

Furbane realized that the battle would be lost the next day unless something was done. He told Viror to go and select the best one hundred fighters and return with them. When Viror returned, Furbane assembled the select group and asked each one if they were prepared to sacrifice everything to stop this evil army.

Each and every one of them said yes. Then Furbane began casting the greatest, most powerful spell that he could. The casting took all night, and when Furbane was done, he collapsed to the ground. Viror ran up to Furbane, lifted the old mage In his two arms and carried him into his tent. Only then did Viror realize that he was no longer a four legged Lynx. Furbane told Viror that he had transformed the selected ones so that they could they could use the human weapons of war, while retaining most of their animal traits. Furbane apologized for not being able to return them to their original form, then he died.

Viror left his friend, and went out and won the day. The select ones led the battle charge and soundly defeated the evil army. Afterward, Viror said that in tribute to his friend's sacrifice that he and his select ones would always bare the name of their fallen friend Furbane. And that is how we have come to be called Furbins.

Furbins do not comment their history to paper, but prefer to pass the stories down verbally from one generation to the next, so the real truth of the Furbin origins may have been lost long ago. But, these two stories are the most widely told and accepted by Furbins and non-Furbins alike.

Furbin font example

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