Grr: soldier, healer, cocktail-maker. OOC (not in the book)

When going through Induction and Training, Grr was pegged as a scout: low aggression, attentive, stealth and concealment skills, as well as natural ambush tactics. Something of a disappointment to the 7RAR-L brass, who were more interested in shock-troops, but there was a role that needed filling regardless. Never one of the heavy hitters, Grr became proficient in defensive claw to claw fighting, close quarters firearms, booby-traps and sniping. In his advanced training he was instructed in ambush and counter-ambush tactics, psych-ops and infiltration. 7RAR-L (transliteratevly nicknamed the Snarl) training was always performed on live targets. With the high number of illegal immigrants arriving in Australia it was always easy for the Army to find training targets. It was an incentive to the highly predatory "Snarls" to have live prey.

Scouting allowed Grr the freedom to roam in the wild, ranging further and more frequently than the Ravagers, as the regular Snarls called themselves. Mostly being human-born, changed either by surviving an attack by the infective strain of lycanthropy, inheriting the traits or in rare instances, magically lycanthropic, the majority of the Snarls retained many human mannerisms and habits, yet unmoderated by normal human restraint. Expressing their Lycan nature in patterns typical to folklore, by brutal and savage struggles for dominance, blood lust, hyper-aggression and superiority complexes.

Grr reacted to this in typically canine fashion and submitted to those of higher stations whilst honing his natural talents at stealth, integration, infiltration, defensive and evasive combat. This didn't mean he avoided combat, just that he tended to be on the edges of the battlefield, taking out sentries, those fleeing or survivors, rather than the main thrust of most assaults. It was this drive to shine against his pure-combat unit-mates along with a flare for small-unit leadership that earned him his corporal's stripe, and later, field promotion to sergeant.

Capture, subjugation and field expedient interrogation were the norm for any prisoners they took, yet any captivity was only temporary, as a "no-extra-baggage" policy was strictly enforced. It was common for these prisoners to end the short remainder of their lives screaming. They also often supplemented the "Pal + MightyBites" rations. Whilst not officially sanctioned, the taking of trophies was common, as was the posing of the dead and leaving of gruesome markers for anyone returning to a "swept" area. Grr learned a great deal about the application of pain, how the body works, and what it can cope with.

The Snarl's were constantly monitored and given regular training when not active in the field, because they bored easily, and a bored Lycan is dangerous. Instruction in a variety of topics was available and Grr took what he could. Never having been to school, nor having grown up in human society Grr was disadvantaged both in the field and academically, but he knew it. Whilst many of his Snarl-mates would drink, scrump and brawl during their whole down-time, Grr always took time to watch the movies supplied (or bootlegged in) and slowly learnt to read and write. He also looked into his own history, and that of the 7RAR-L, and learnt as much as he could of his kind, and whatever files he was able to access on the other races that populated the world.

As he was less often a front line fighter, and as such less laden with gear, fitting his role as a scout, Grr was often first on hand to treat casualties as the metal hit the meat. He quickly built up first hand knowledge of trauma, massive flesh loss and all manner of burns. He also became familiar with the spread of psychological conditions afflicting Lycans, Fleshies and their other allies. This built on the basic first aid and psych-ops training all Snarls received. Grr's native empathy and understanding of his place in the natural order, as an apex predator put him in a key position to intercede if his Two-Leg Snarl-mates would break down when faced with the bestial nature of their natures. It also put him in a place where he could bring a raging War-Form Lycan back to a semblance of self control. This was essential for unit cohesion in the field.

His nose for magic manifested in several ways, he could draw on the spirits of a place to help him track or guide, to hide or obfuscate him or his fellows, and to heal casualties, slowing blood flow, binding wounds, reducing pain. It also kept him and his Snarl-mates out of magical ambushes


TBC