>Please correct me if i have made some 'howlers,' but if the
morokanth had lost, >might there have been a praxian tribe which
rode tapirs?
Well ... morocanth aren't exactly tapirs. Actually I expect if the morocanth had lost, they would have gone extinct, or nearly so, just like the Long-Nose, Hippo, and Plains Elk tribes.
>I presume people trade with morokanths, but who would want to buy
a zombified
>herd man?
First off, people do NOT trade with morocanth. At least not much, and not right-thinking people, either. You never know if one of their herd men was a former friend, relative, or descendant of same.
Non-Praxian humans almost invariably regard morocanth with a mixture of trepidation, loathing, and repelled fascination.
Praxian humans generally hate morocanth more than any other tribe. SIgnificantly, their hatred for the morocanth is not different in _type_, just + _quantity_, from their distrust for High Llamas, Bison, etc..
On the occasions that Praxians get together to trade, morocanth are usually not permitted. The lunars are exceptional in inviting morocanth to their bazaars. Conservative Praxians wryly comment, "What's next? Broos?"
MOROCANTH TRADING
That said, of course the morocanth do plenty of trading all
the time -- but they deal mainly with the slimy underside of human
society -- callous slave traders, khans known for cruelty, Black
Fang cultists, etc.
HERD MEN
Herd Men are not zombie-like. They are more like a large,
repulsive monkey that can't be house-trained.
MOROCANTH SLAVES
The morocanths' intelligent slaves are generally
ill-treated by human standards -- in fact, vilely so. Gelding to
control aggression is very common, as are other techniques to render
their slaves less likely to escape, such as disfigurement of the
face, or severing the feet.
Probably the most common morocanth outrage is to purchase (or capture) a man or woman with useful talents along with his or her whole family, then turn the captive's spouse and children into herd-creatures. The slave is made aware that any attempt to escape will result in a special feast by the Morocanth. Sometimes the slave is also promised that good, and lengthy service, may result in one or more of his family members returned to intelligence.
WAHA'S CONTEST
There appears to be some confusion on this subject. The losers of
these contests (i.e., the beasts) were NOT made stupid and
grass-eating. It's the other way round -- the WINNERS became
intelligent, capable of eating meat, but lost their power to thrive
on grass or coarse plant food.
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