Society Males are rare and highly protected among the hares, though almost invariably they are seen as breeding stock and occasionally seen as leaders. Males often have large harems of females, as a prey race, they breed excessively. The leader of the hares, Lord Raymaker is male. To say the Hares are protective of their males is perhaps an understatement. Should one escape from or otherwise leave a warren, a bounty is placed on their head for their safe return. Should the missing male be found dead, a bounty will be placed on their killer. Geldmales make up no less than 50% of the hare population. These are the defenders and gatherers. Females frequently vie for a position in a male's harem. It is seen as an honorable position in their society. Should a female go without being in a harem for 4 or more Cycles, these spinsters are instead trained to be among the front lines of defenders with the geldmales. While not usually as proficient in fighting, their years of social competition makes them excellent diplomats. Due to the efficiency of the Hare's defending skills and the relative peace they find themselves in, their homes, the warrens, are becoming overcrowded, causing the need to go ever deeper underground and further out across their territory, or sometimes underneath the land another race lays claim to. Their population is only slightly limited by the fact spinster females on the front lines aren't having kits of their own.
Burrows A typical warren has a very narrow entrance, big enough for perhaps a single size 10 creature to squeeze into at an entrance. This narrows down to about size 5 as you go deeper. Larger warrens will have larger entrances for diplomatic reasons. These main entrances tend to be well known, they are also often well fortified and made with a means of quickly collapsing the entrance for defensive purposes. Main entrances have been closed to keep intruders out as well as to trap attackers inside without backup. There are other entrances of course, a 'cargo entrance' for example is likely better hidden. All warrens have at least one secret entrance. Lord Raymaker's warren has no less than 20 such entrances, and the warren is so expansive, that it would take days to get from one entrance to the other whether you are inside or outside of the warren. Many hares spend much of their lives in the warrens. As such warrens typically have large stores of food meant to last a long expanse of time should the need arise. If the stores cannot support the population of the warren, a group from that warren will splinter off to start a new warren.
Marriage The males are essentially the center of a marriage grouping among hares, and it is almost unheard of for a male Hare to be a bachelor once they come of age. A very few lucky geldmales that apply for a marital grouping are assigned to join with a male. Most often these geldmales are older than the males they are grouped with. Females and their families frequently engage in bidding wars and other competition to earn a female a place in a male's harem, sized about 10 to 12 in number, though some females join a harem because the male specifically chooses them.
The page you are viewing was last modified: 09JULY2013
