Zhackal

Zhackals are small, thick-furred, four-legged beasts in brown or gray, with tiny razor teeth and deep blue eyes. They make no sound at all, speaking to packmates only through mindlink.

A pack trails a weakened or dying creature until it is nearly gone, then closes in with its minds. Their psionics are telepathic devotions only: ego whip, invisibility, contact, mind link and mind bar. Near the kill, the strongest zhackal mindlinks the whole pack so they can talk and pool PSPs; treat the pack as a single mind with the combined psionic strength of all members. Hidden by invisibility or mind bar, the pack makes contact and ego whips the victim until it believes it has neither reason nor chance to live. The dying emotions are their feast, and sufferers of mountain malaise are a favorite.

Cunning despite low intelligence, zhackals pick only helpless or near-dead prey. Cornered, they bite, but a victim slain in a scuffle yields few of the right emotions, so they prefer flight.

Packs roam everywhere but the silt basins and the silt sea. They ignore treasure and seldom eat corpses, since emotions feed their bodies too, though they can get by on plants, seeds, berries and rodents. The largest member leads, with maximum hit points and 10 extra PSPs, and is usually the smartest. Contacting a pack mentally reveals only raw feeling, most often a craving to see the one who made contact die.

Any dying creature is food, other zhackals included, though never a packmate; a failing member is simply left behind. Packs sometimes enter cities by night but never stay long, or they are found and hunted, usually by psionic search, since they hide so well. Jaded nobles keep single zhackals as pets fed on dying slaves and gladiators; the pet becomes loyal, treating its owner as pack leader, but it is costly, since such a pet hastens the deaths of slaves who might otherwise survive. Ten unblemished pelts yield a square yard of fur worth 100 cp, made into breathable, hard-wearing cloth.