All Things Vargr

[Condottiere]

So do humans.

Potential.

I think it's supposed to be twins, every six years, voluntarily.

Then factors such as, enough food, affordability, social norms.

And, puberty to menopause age range.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Have not seriously dug into Vargr, but wouldn’t they have big litters?

No. Part of the uplift process was a reproduction strategy conversion from r-strategy to K-strategy (fewer offspring, more parental involvement).

r/K Selection Theory (Wikipedia)

 

[whartung]

Vargr aren't robust (as humans); their advantage is speed. Being less robust means it's easier to knock them out, or down, and wounding them slows them down.

But armor is armor.

Outside of an encumbrance limit, i.e. "too heavy", ballistic cloth is ballistic cloth, and its doesn't take much to defeat those .22s

It doesn't seem to me that the Vargr are smaller enough to warrant smaller calibers and smaller rounds. Consider, nobody (humanely) uses 22LR to hunt coyotes, much less wolves. They're certainly not Elk or a crazy Samoan, but I'm guessing more coyotes and wolves have been taken with a 30-30 than anything else. 5.56/.223 I'm sure are getting much more common. These are ".22" as well, but certainly not 22LR. The primary motivations for large caliber bullets here on Terra are as much maintaining energy at range than anything else, thus the prevalence of .30 caliber cartridges.

A 22 Magnum pistol is no slouch, but a bit ungainly due to cartridge size (they're a bit long for a pistol). The 5.7 is more of a modern successor.

If the Vargr wanted to go a bit smaller, they might do something like a .28 caliber. Something with a bit more case volume without the length of a 22 Magnum. The .32 Magnum is a very nice cartridge, just not popular.

 

[Condottiere]

We gave up armour for about two centuries, until we invented something that's affordable, and not that much of an encumbrance.

For Vargr infighting, it's peer to peer, so all things are equal.

It's when things get unequal, like the opponent being better protected, or fighting humans, that the Vargr have to get more effective weapon systems.

 

[Grav_Moped]

It may not be that they're smaller, though they are.

The big issue is whether the modification that gave them hands (and enabling bipedalism) included adding collarbones. Canines do not have collarbones!

This provides a vastly greater range of motion and extension at the shoulder, at the cost of reduced load-bearing capability. Backpacks and shoulder slings may be an issue...

 

[Condottiere]

Well, going by a fantasy supplement, dogs aren't built for riding, either.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Well, going by a fantasy supplement, dogs aren't built for riding, either.

Fair point. The human coccyx (tailbone) is incorporated into the pelvic structure. Canid tails go the other direction (up/out) and could well interfere with comfortable use of saddles on beasts of burden or on two-wheeled vehicles.

IMTU, the Ancients coded in supplemental bone structure for the Vargr pelvis to anchor muscles and ligaments, as well as for pelvic floor support.

Fantasy supplement? You're talking about the Woofwriters*, no?

------------
*How obscure can I get, here? (Currently, the first part of Google's AI response for "Woofwriters Aspirin" does explain it.)

 

[Condottiere]

Can't recall.

Likely with that flood of supplements that blew in after the open licence.

I was interested in Gnomes, so obvious connection.

 

[Grav_Moped]

How obscure can I get, here?

Too obscure?

It's a reference within one of Robert Aspirin's "Myth-____" stories, to the "Wolf Writers": Wendy and Richard Pini, the authors/illustrators of the Elfquest graphic novels, which featured elves riding wolves (i.e., wolf riders).

 

[Condottiere]

I'm aware of the Pinis' contribution to American independent comics, but I'll admit I didn't make the association, and when it comes to the American comics scene:

My immediate association, probably because of forementioned supplement, would be halflings, and Tolkien's warg riders.

 

[Condottiere]

And speaking of borrowing stuff from other franchises, I believe that the Vargr held on to crossbows a lot longer than humans, and that harquebusiers weren't widely used, moving as fast as possible to muskets.