Role in Its Society:
Gralk is an elder yeti who guards a wind-scoured burial scree where avalanches have entombed generations. He enforces taboo lines: no fire near cairns, no steel in the bones, silence for three bell-chimes before crossing. Younger yetis heed his rumbling calls; even werebears parley rather than bleed the snow. To locals, Gralk is a winter magistrate—brutal to the profane, strangely gentle to the lost.
Appearance Description:
A towering, ape-like humanoid swathed in glacier-white fur clumped with hoarfrost. Ice-blue eyes glimmer under heavy brow ridges that form subtle horn-like arcs. His paws are spade-wide with hooked black claws; bone talismans and threadbare prayer cords braid his mane. A tarnished mourning bell hangs at his throat on a plait of sinew.
Backstory:
As a youth, Gralk survived an avalanche that swallowed his family. A lone human priest cut him free and rang a small bell over each buried chest, teaching him the shape of grief. Years later, poachers desecrated the scree; Gralk answered with snow and silence. He kept the priest’s bell and the rite—three chimes, then speak.
