Elves of the Mugatu:
Somewhere in lies a vast open savannah, thousands of miles across, known as the Mugatu plains. Bound to the by the dark forest, and to the by the steeply rising mountains of Morava, the plains themselves are considered highly desirable by the more civilized nation-states that border them everywhere else.
The plains themselves are largely open, with tall sturdy grasses, occasionally low lying but springy bushes and the rare, solitary Jubjub tree, famed for their arboreal, feral Halfling tribes, giant eagle and griffon nests and other sights.  The plains themselves are home to vast herds of wild ponies,  long horned antelope and a wide variety of plains critters, while the skies are home to griffons, hippogriffs, pegasii, giant eagles, harpies and more.
However, since time immemorial, the plains are also home to nomadic tribes of elves, who take their name from the plains (or perhaps it is the other way round).
The Mugatu Elves will not tolerate other races on their plains, be they human or orc or even other tribes of elves.  They have no permanent, or even semi-permanent camps, living entirely on the move.  
From birth the Mugatu live in the saddle of shaggy war ponies. carried by their parents until they can ride on their own. They are fed mare's milk mixed with horse's blood until they are weaned to raw meat (horse or antelope). By the time he is a young adult, he claims half a dozen horses of his own.   All Mugatu consider themselves part of one tribe, but they tend to congregate in small loose family packs of a few dozen, following the herds of wild horses. Any given herd might have half a dozen or more 'packs' trailing it, and finding an individual elf is not nearly as simple as finding his friends, for throughout their long lives they will move constantly.  When confronted with outsider 'invasions' the nearest packs will gather into a loose group to drive them off and steal any belongings they can, larger invasions will draw increasing numbers of packs.
Most outsiders consider the Mugatu to be cowards, which they will happily agree with.  They prize themselves on their Archery, and most are quite capable of making their own bows from the springy bush wood of the plains, reinforced with antelope horn and horse sinew and their own arrows from the stiff tubular grass they call 'Arrow-grass' (sort of a bamboo, harvested 'young').  Aside from his horse, perhaps even more than his horse (which they are not particularly sentimental about), a good bow is a Mugatu's most prized possession, for without it he cannot eat... in fact is not even a man in their culture (the Mugatu do not marry and have little concern for genders. Pregnant mugatu still ride and hunt, and would scoff at the notion of being somehow disabled by pregnancy). One of the worst insults to a Mugatu is to call him a warrior (which is synonymous with orc in their language).  While they are quiet capable of bravery and even skill at arms (they do carry long spears (lances), particularly when going to war, using them to finish off wounded enemies), they prefer to engage at long ranges, wearing enemies down.
However, every Mugatu dreams of the skies. Those that reach fifth level are expected to have sought out and captured some form of flying beast (or raised one from a stolen egg).  As they have little use for truth (being inveterate storytellers), EVERY Mugatu has a great story about how he performed great heroic deeds to acquire their mount... most, however, bartered shiny things to the feral Halflings of the Jubjub trees, or even with the 'stone folk' (city dwellers), or the elder elves that live closer to the great cliffs.  During their long lives they will go through many mounts, and animal husbandry is a greatly respected practice among the Mugatu.  While an elf may not concern himself overly much about the fate of his war ponies (there are always more ponies, after all...), they do tend to develop much closer bonds with their flying mounts.
As they are constantly exposed to the elements, the Mugatu rarely wear more than breeches and boots to prevent chaffing, though if the rain is heavy, or the weather is particularly cold they will use capes of leather or woven grasses to keep comfortable.  Flying Mugatu will wear furlined vests to keep the chill off, often decorating them with feathers.  The choice of what type of mount one flies is a great indicator of temperament (Griffons are favored by aggressive warriors, Hippogriffs by hunters, Pegasii by scouts and paladins of Ellanhara, the Swift Wind, Eagles by stoics and mystics(rangers and clerics), etc...), at least in theory. In actuallity the desire to take to the skies, and the cultural cachet that comes with flying means many snag the first flying mount they can get their grubby hands on. Dozens of youths die on the plains every year in ill-fated attempts to acquire a mount of their own (any Mugatu may try, the level guideline is merely an average indicator of when they are likely to have succeeded).

Culturally the Mugatu have a great disdain for Wizards (second only to those idiot barbarians...), as the ultimate expression of 'Stone Men' minds, though they do appreciate magic and enjoy the presence of sorcerers and bards. Most locally made magic items (bows and mount related stuff) are enchanted by local clerics.  The Mugatu don't make much hash about one's 'profession', making it very hard for outsiders to tell the difference between a mugatu fighter and a mugatu cleric until the cleric starts calling down holy wrath.  The few 'native' wizards (discounting, again, the feral halfling communities, who do brisk trade with their obstensibly civilized neighbors in all sorts of stuff the nomads struggle to get on their own...) are generally older elves who multi-class into it, often out of the boredom of lingering near the nests of their 'herd' of whatever flying critters they are raising.

The elves of the Mugatu set great stock in courage and honor, though they do define courage differently than most cultures. Cunning is far more important than glory. While they love a good story, even over a boring truth, they do keep their word, when they bother to give it. A Mugatu who swears on his word to do something does it, or dies trying.  They don't make casual boasts of future deeds, preferring to boast of past glories.  Note that lying isn't merely a reputation, it is in fact a full on passtime.  If you try to give an honest account to a Mugatu Elf about that time you climbed skull mountain, at the end of your tale he's just as likely as not to give you some friendly advice on how to 'punch it up a bit'.  He doesn't want a boring true story, he wants something exciting!

When not actively hunting or raiding, the Mugatu like to hold contests of skill with either horse or bow.  They will wager against each other about who can bring down a distant bird first or with the fewest arrows, who can reach the cities of the Stone Men and steal a flag and return (a race and a test of cunning) and more.  That's just how they roll.  Many Mugatu are also proficient in throwing knives and hatchets, a skill gained in such contests.

While they prefer the composite longbow, they will respect a man who can shoot as they do with a crossbow, a slingshot, or just about anything (though, if he can't do it from horseback they'll still mock him as straight-leg or a mudfoot).  It is possible for an individual to make friends with the Mugatu, provided he respects their ways and doesn't try to actually build anything on 'The Sky Lands', as they call their plains.  It helps if he's poor and brave (or foolish, the Mugatu have a superstitious respect for fools, whom they view as the inverse of the cunning people they see themselves as, blessed by the gods so to speak.).

Amongst themselves and the Jubjub Halfling tribes the Mugatu largely rely on an extremely informal barter system. Never offer a gift, however, as it is an insult. They do produce very fine leather goods and exquisite (if somewhat raw looking) bows, but they lack for metalworking (which the Jubjub can do, but THEY lack for mines, but they are excellent scavengers).  The Mugatu will happily acquire coin, and even spend it, but they don't particularly value it, except as a decoration.  Particularly religious or superstitious Mugatu will not enter a building if it has a roof (and may avoid caves as well), as nothing good can come from hiding from the eyes of the Gods (the sky).   They do not particularly dwell on death, and can be cruel and merciless by turns (though, unlike the Jubjub halflings, they do not eat humanoid flesh. It is a well known fact that the only thing a Jubjub won't eat is another Jubjub (and good thing, too. A lifelong exposure to the toxic bark of the Jubjub tree as rendered their flesh highly toxic.) , though they respect (and need...) the nomads too much to kill them for meat. Fresh corpses, on the other hand...

 When a Mugatu dies, his favorite mount is killed too (if it didn't already die of the same causes), and a feast is held with the meat. A sack is made of the hide (hair and all), and the elf's body is sewn inside and left on the grasslands, in the hope that the Gods will return him as a horse (or griffin, or whatever...) in the spirit lands.  A funeral bow and a handful of arrows are sewn up with him, in case he needs them, along with his saddle, which is placed under his head in the spirit bag.

If he dies near a Jubjub tree, the halflings ususally watch from a respectful distance before going to collect the meat, which the Mugatu view as no different than the beasts of the plains getting the meat.  However, neither the  halflings nor the mugatu will touch a dead nomad's saddle. Thus the plains are littered with these temporary 'gravestones' in various states of decay.  Burning a corpse is an insult, but actually burying it is the most dire of curses, consigning the spirit of the dead to their version of hell! A buried Mugatu cannot attain heaven in their belief structure (The actual metaphysical truth of this has never been proven, and no one has dared to ask the Gods directly. It does appear to be true, however, that buried corpses are more likely to return as undead than ones consumed by wild animals or feral halflings...).

Rules:

Easy way: Mugatu are elves, straight outta compton... I mean the PHB.

Moderate Way: Replace skill bonuses with ride and survival, replace find secret doors with... uh... animal empathy?

Hard way: Replace con pen with int pen

Favorite class: Fighter

Do outsiders have to obey their dogs?

Social Structures of the Mugatu Elves, and the Mugatu at War:

Amongst themselves these elves are incredibly wild.  THey lack codified laws and many of the less formal legal structures that civilized men (and many nomads and tribes possess), viewing themselves as the only truly free peoples. Theft and murder often go unpunished, and revenge is considered an appropriate response to various personal 'crimes'.

Theft is notable, however. THe Mugatu only really 'own' their saddle and bow and whatever beast they can tame. Saddles are custom fitted to the owner, if he didn't actually make it himself, and so stealing one is generally a calculated insult, a challenge, than acquisition.  THe Mugatu have some superstitions about saddles, the closest analog would be... oh... underwear.  It takes a special brand of specialness (or a specific prank) to steal someone else's used undergarments, particularly if one is planning to use said stolen garments. Once you remove the potential sexual innuendos of underwear, the same general attitude is held towards someone else's saddle.

Stealing a man's bow however is an unforgivable crime, and revenge is quickly meted out by every mugatu the offended party can round up. Stealing a bow because you lost or damaged your own (and lack the ability to replace it in a timely fashion) is considered remarkably pathetic, and the offending party, if they survive, is often ostracized.

On the other hand, stealing a trained mount is a friendly game, an invitation to 'steal it back'. The general attitude is that a properly trained mount would try to escape back to its true owner, and an improperly trained mount (ie one that doesn't reject the new owner) didn't really belong anyway. However, stranding a mugatu on the plains with NO mounts is viewed as a particularly cruel sort of murder or exile.

However, what is remarkable is how quickly the nomads can organize and develop short term social structures to accomplish significant goals.  They don't appoint generals or social leaders, even when fully organized per se.

How it works is that when enough mugatu see a need to organize (say: To deal with a particularly large and well defended caravan or an invading army) they sort themselves out according to the following chain of priorities:

Reputation (related to the task at hand. May also be viewed as trust. Mugatu measure reputation by how many people are willing to lie for you, rather than your own tales of deeds).
Caste (Flyers vs non-flyers. Griffons for war tasks over non-giffins, etc. Also respected fighters vs clerics and rogues for war, cleric or paladins over fighters and rogue types for holy missions (whatever that might be...) and so forth.)
Age
Wealth (measured in horses and bow quality. Oath Bows are the best bows regardless (though often rejected by mugatu due to their uncompromising natures, the weilders of them have demonstrated a certain dedication and worthiness)
and lastly personal charisma.

Presenting a well thought out plan of action can move one rapidly to leadership positions (note that the Mugatu do not hide their stratagems from their fellows. No secret plans or sequestered information here. The lowest rider can demand, and expect to be answered, a full explanation for why he is expected to assault from the west (or whatever).


One might use this context to explain the seasonal festivals and get togethers that frequently come over the plains as a sort of practice run for more militant organization.  Riders arrive to such gatherings as they can and are expected to immedeatly begin doing 'their part' of the festival with very little discussion or planning.  Generally what happens is a pack will ride up and someone who believes he is 'higher' in the social order (or who just really needs something done (like rounding up untamed wild horses for a horse taming contest) will pick out likely seeming riders and set them to the task. If someone refuses such a communal duty they need to be able to give a good accounting for why they refused (and there is no such thing as being too important to handle manual chores.  The old wise griffon rider that could be called the 'general' of an army might take it upon himself to pick up wayward horse poop if it needs doing, and that is how the mugatu think it should be. By default, if you think doing something is important (picking up horse dung,s ay) then you are probably the best choice for doing it.

Its not terribly efficient, especially for festivals and gatherings, but for war the Mugatu are very, very practiced.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;571207Do outsiders have to obey their dogs?

I do not understand.

Quote from: Spike;571212I do not understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoolander

This should clear up the confusion.

Drat, you figured out the origin of the name. Unfortunately, I still don't get the joke... sadly I've only ever seen Zoolander in scraps and bits over the years. Just as well, probably: I tend to find Ben Stiller is one of those comic actors that tends* to run a good joke just a wee-little-bit too long**.










* tends: Spike Dictionary: Every mother fucking Time.
** wee-little-bit: Spike Dictionary: Time to recalculate the diameter of the universe to account for the sheer scope of this unit of measure

Their elvish war cry has to be either:
"Derelicte!"
or
"Do what you've been trained to do and kill the Malaysian prime minister!"

And do the arboreal halflings of the jubjub trees chain smoke and speak in gravelly voices? I really hope they do!

Undoubtedly. To both, but mostly the halflings.

I should note that fighters get Intimidate as a class skill. Among the Mugatu, the preferred method is a stern, steely look.  

A few people have said it looks like blue steel, though no one knows why...

Only the famous elvish war captains of the order of the piano key necktie get the MAGNUM bonus to intimidate.


After all.....THEY INVENTED THAT!!!

I take no responsibility for using anything after the 'I don't understand' post.


My lawyers make me say that.