Hooraree

The Hooraree are one of the four tribes of cat warriors that inhabited oases in the Sukurvian Desert in the time of Jedit Ojanen.

The oasis of the Hooraree had dense jungle that ran for leagues, but it had the particularity of being girded by a belt of rolling grassland striped with hedgerows. What kept the prairie clear were flocks of bleating goats and lumbering monoxes watched by tiger shepherds. A town of thatch huts shaded by wispy acacia trees ringed a broad shallow lake.

The Hooraree were short but solid, even bulky from an abundance of meat both wild and tame. Their heads were broad and wide, their eyes and fur golden. They wore halters and loincloths of goathide like Efravans but went without paint or necklaces or bangles.

They are keeper of the lore of the cat warriors tribes, their legends of valor stretching back to the golden age of Terrent Amese, their creator, whom they believed to be a god (he was in fact a planeswalker). Once roused by battle fever, the Hooraree are formidable fighters.

The Hooraree are the oldest tribe, descendants of the ancients who fled the Dark Heart of the Wood. All other tribes splintered from them, and so are considered wayward children.

To avoid inbreeding, the Hooraree met with the Efravans and the Sulaki every six years in order to exchange cubs. This was the only non-hostile relation between the tribes, seen as a necessity to ensure their mutual survival.

When Jedit Ojanen visited them, he realised that the Hooraree had outgrown their oasis the same as Efrava.Young Hooraree had journeyed eastward to try and resettle the jungle of their ancestors, but scouts later reported the settlers had disappeared. They were most likely killed by the Scarwood elves, who had claimed the jungle as their own after the tigers' ancient exodus: deeply territorial, they killed any who entered their land and wore tiger hide as proof of their ownership of it. The Hooraree were therefore in a similar situation to the Efravans, unable to expand and even more stuck in the old ways of thinking.

The Hooraree were lead by a council of elders advised by the tribe's shaman. They didn't believed Jedit's warnings about Johan's War, only sending ambassadors to verify his claim of an imminent attack. Once the menace was clear however, they joined the Efravans and their human allies into battle against the emperor from Tirras.