Golden Mane

The Golden Mane was a wemic pride that roamed the grasslands of the Shaar during the 14 century DR. They were a closely knit family whose migratory patterns kept a balance with the other roaming tribes and herds of prey animals.

Activities
The wemics of the Golden Mane shared the responsibilities of the camp amongst one another, depending on the time of day. During the day hours, the males would sleep while the women tracked down and hunted herds of game, scouted for threats and watched over the cubs. At night, the women and cubs slept while the males kept a vigilant guard the perimeter of the camp.

The elder wemics of the Golden Mane, who could not hunt as well as they used to, would remain in the camp maintaining its upkeep, repairing weapons and tools, crafting medicine and tending to the cubs too young to travel the plains.

Migration
The wemics of the Golden Mane had a series of camps established in the Shaaran plains through which they would rotate as the seasons passed by during the year. They would hunt the local game around a camp for a couple of months, depending on the availability of prey. When the time was appropriate to move on, they would leave an offering to Nobanion and mark their past stay to other wemics before continuing onward to their next settlement. The Golden Mane would occasionally share their camp sites with other prides, and even herds of loxo when they were not in use.

Upon arrival at the next camp in the cycle, the pride's shaman, Kretnor, would scrutinize the camp for signs of its last inhabitants before the females and cubs prepared it for living. The males meanwhile, would scout the surrounding locale.

Members
As of 1373 DR, the Golden Mane had four adult males, ten females and four wemic cubs. The leader of the pride was the authoritative Shaq'ar, a powerful warrior who partnered with the elegant and agile mother-figure Wrokeen. The sorcerous Beren, who possessed dark magic, was a challenger to Shaq'ar's authority.

History
In their youth, Shaq'ar encouraged Beren to travel beyond the grasslands and seek out adventure after the dark and greedy wemic showed himself to be uncooperative within the pride. Beren ventured closer to the "civilized" lands where he learned the ways of thievery and uncovered his innate affinity for the Art, a skill which he continued to strengthen.

He returned to the Golden Mane some years later, much more adept at hunting. He used the skills he learned among his fellow rogues to perform adroit stealth attacks upon his prey. While this type of combat was looked down upon the traditionally-barbaric wemics of the pride, Beren explained his unscrupulous kills as simply a matter of luck.

The black-mained sorcerer constantly plotted against Shaq'ar and sought to take over as leader of the wemics. He reached out to other groups of wemics, the nomadic Shaarans, herds of loxo and even a band of thri-kreen whose conflicts with the pride had repeatedly ended in violence.