“The Horder builds with bones — the Montaro builds with will.”

— Dumatra proverb, 9th Era


The Montaro are believed to have evolved from the same ancient genetic line as the Horders, though they diverged many millennia ago. Where the Horders remained bound to instinct, ritual, and hunger, the Montaro followed a different path, one of intellect and social cohesion. A joint effort of scholars from the Sunarian and Dumatran Biogenetic Institute have theorised that environmental pressures during the Seventh Era forced a strain of Horders to adapt: to think, to plan, and to survive in a changing Dumatra no longer ruled solely by predators.


Over the ages, these proto-Montaro developed a form of proto-sapience, leading to tool use, language, and rudimentary society. By the Ninth Era, they had become fully sentient, forming small yet remarkably sophisticated communes in the remote wetlands and forested highlands of Dumatra. While not technologically advanced, their deep connection to the land and mastery of natural materials made them formidable survivalists and one of the few species capable of thriving alongside Dumatra’s hostile ecosystem.


Unlike the Horders, who haunt the wilderness as solitary reapers, the Montaro see themselves as guardians of their domain, protectors of the old balance. To outsiders, they appear brutish, hulking, leather-skinned beasts that prowl on all fours and tower on two. But within Dumatra, the Montaro are spoken of in hushed reverence, as the Ancient Kin, the bridge between beast and man.


A Montaro is a massive, muscular being, typically standing nine to twelve feet tall when upright, and up to fifteen feet in length when moving on all fours. Their physical similarity to Horders is unmistakable, thick hides, dense musculature, and large, domed skulls, yet key differences mark their higher evolution.


Their heads are proportionally larger, with cranial ridges suggesting expanded brain mass and developed frontal lobes which are a biological sign of reasoning and memory. Their eyes are amber or deep gold, capable of both day and night vision, and often said to “burn” when angered. The jaw, though powerful, is not as exaggerated as the Horder’s; it has evolved for articulation and communication rather than pure predation.


Montaro society is built around communal living and territorial unity. They dwell in clusters known as Korr, usually consisting of ten to twenty individuals. These communes are formed in naturally defensible areas such as cliffside dwellings, cavern networks, or dense canopies, and are fiercely guarded from outsiders.


They are omnivorous, though their diet leans heavily toward vegetation and small game. They hunt not for pleasure, but for necessity, viewing the waste of life as taboo. Their reverence for nature is profound, but unlike the Horders, who enshrine death, the Montaro celebrate life and continuity. They bury their dead rather than display their remains, often decorating graves with carved wooden totems or clay effigies to ward off spirits.


Montaro language is complex and melodic, filled with growls, throat-tones, and resonant clicks that can carry across long distances. Some Dumatra scholars claim to have deciphered fragments of their oral histories, such as songs of origin, loss, and rebirth that span countless eras.


Their territorial instinct is absolute. Trespassing is met first with warning, an eerie chorus of low, harmonic howls, which, if ignored, ensures coordinated violence. Montaro do not fight as beasts but as tacticians. They flank, ambush, and withdraw with chilling precision, using natural terrain to their advantage.


They are not a technological species, yet they possess a form of bio-engineered craftsmanship. Their dwellings often incorporate natural growths of stone, vine, and fungus that seem to respond to their presence, as if they share an instinctual connection with the environment. Some Andromanian xenobiologists suggest that the Montaro might have a low-level psionic link to the ecosystems of Dumatra, possibly evolved from ancient survival mechanisms.