Hound

Hounds, also known as Hellhounds by the dogs, or craterhounds, are canines that live in The Crater, and have been mutated severely by a substance within known as the Black Touch, which forms on the ground in pools. Some individuals bear more mutations than others. Hounds are believed by all dogs to be evil, and were on the losing side of The Great War. The hounds were driven back into their desolate territory after the war. Hellhounds are akin to evil spirits from the perspective of the dogs.

Culture and Lifestyle
There are four known packs living in The Crater as of the beginning of the comic; Iacar's pack, Pyramos' pack, Badjaw's pack, and Kiridos' pack.

Hounds tend to live in packs, ideally ruled by a leading couple- a male and female- so that everyone has someone to turn to in need, and so more pups can be born into the pack, but this is not always the case. Due to their mutations, mortality rates are high, and breeding is a priority for the packs' leaders. A pack with a male and female leading couple has more favor amongst The Old Ones than one that does not. Generally, the more favor a pack has with The Old Ones, the closer to the center of The Crater they live, though some packs at the outer edge, such as Badjaw's pack, do enjoy extra favor.

In contrast with the dogs, who are in their copper age, the hellhounds have almost no resources and live much more primitive lifestyles. While the dogs create tools, use currency, smith metal, have a visual language system, and established trade, hellhounds have no knowledge of any of those things. Hellhounds however do create basic devices to carry large objects, resembling a cart or stretcher. Hellhounds are known to give funerals to their dead, however, by using insects to clean flesh from bone and hanging the skulls on trees, often with small trinkets usually made from bone.

As there is little food in The Crater, they must spend most of their time hunting in order to be able to feed everyone.

Naming
Hellhounds do not have a specific naming structure or system, and names are often words with no real-life meaning, such as Surama or Dajamos or combinations of words for things around their world, such as Badjaw or Mooseneck.

The author has stated that as a general guideline when coming up with fantasy names for her characters, hellhound names are more "orc-like" as a whole, and dog names are more "elf-like".