The Aflifnanias (Old Rh. "leavings") were large, black jackals that came into the Talath Harroch (southern Rhovanion plain) south of Mirkwood at the time of the Great Plague of T.A. 1636-1637.
Originally migrating from the East, they now ranged from the western flanks of the Orocarni to the eastern bank of the Anduin. Their reddish ears complemented and softened their distinct black coloring and their eerie blue eyes, lending them an attractive and somewhat innocent guise that obscured their sly, pitiless ways.
Aflifnanias hunted mostly at night, moving and working in well-coordinated packs of four to twenty. The packs hunted cooperatively in a clever and sinister manner. First, they encircled a small group of prey (deer, kine, sheep, Men, etc.). Then some of them decoyed away the strongest defenders, while the others closed in on the choicest victims. In lean times, however, they were not too proud to scavenge for carrion and refuse; thus their name.
References
Original form in MERP: Undarlaif
- Retrieved from [Realms of Arda]; original reference: [ICE MERP 2012]