Alynx Breeds:
Hunting alynxes come in several breeds, which specialize in different prey. Hunting breeds are common only in their home regions and nearby. A hunter keeps close to his cat, both to support it in the kill and because cats will cache the entire kill and eat it over a couple of days unless the hunter takes it away.
The Oxhead breed of Talastar is the largest, and hunts deer, pigs, and sable. It ranges in size from forty-five to fifty kilos (SIZ 7-8). One can train it to attack people, but it must be kept chained or penned up after that.
The River Cat breed of the Tanier River region is almost as large (around forty-five kilos; SIZ 7), and hunts deer, young elk, ponies, otters, and alligators. In the upper regions of the river, they also take dinosaur eggs.
Somewhat smaller are the Forest Cat native to Heortland and the Bear Cat of eastern Fronela (about forty kilos or SIZ 6), which hunt small deer, hedgehogs, porcupines, and other forest creatures.
Most Orlanthi regions have a hunting cat breed in the thirty to thirty-five kilo range (SIZ 5). These take rabbits, small species of antelope, rubble runners, and other prey in the SIZ 3- 18 range, including the occasional deer. A common (but misleading) term for these is bobcat.
Smaller cats are not often used for hunting, but some places have a twenty-kilo breed used to catch birds, rabbits, and squirrels. Hunters sometimes turn such cats out to hunt and drag their kills home, thus sparing the hunter the effort of going out into the woods.
Cats in the SIZ 1-4 range (5 to 23 kilos) usually serve to kill pests, such as rats, mice, and crows. The smaller sizes are useful to control insect populations, especially grasshoppers and locusts.
A well-stocked Orlanthi farm has a family of about a dozen small cats (SIZ 1-3) for pest control, a couple of bobcats, and a breeding pair of larger cats for hunting. The kittens of the latter are traded, one kitten of good lineage often bringing an ox or pony in trade.
The statistics and description in Gloranthan Bestiary are woefully incorrect. The larger breeds, which hunt deer, have a STR in the 2D6+10 range. Smaller specimens have a STR of 2D6 + SIZ +2. However, none of them ever have a damage penalty.
Like most cats, shadow cats take prey which is larger than themselves. They hunt by ambush, killing with a bite to the neck. The cat aims the blow for the neck if it possibly can, and when it hits it hangs on, continuing to do damage, until the prey succumbs. The cat rakes only when trying to get away. When it is trying to kill prey, it needs to use its hind paws to stay upright. If the bite to the neck does not kill immediately, the cat must hang on and apply its weight to force the prey down.
Other skills of shadow cats include: Climb 95+18, Jump 80+18, Swim 40+18, Listen 70+2, Scan 50+2, Smell 90+2.
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #109
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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