Mahud

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The Mahud (possibly derived from "Mahout") is a Games Workshop name for the Oliphaunt's driver in The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Although they appear in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, little is mentioned about them.

[edit] Interpretation

The lord of the Rings strategy Battle game (Produced by games Workshop) tells us the Mahud are a feral and savage people who revere strength and physical prowess. They live in tribes which are constantly warring with each other. Due to this all Mahud are well versed fighters. Also through some quirk of parentage the Mahud are far Stronger than the men of the west. Most tribes are ruled by a tribemaster. These are among the canniest, strongest and most terrifying of all Mahud. The sight of one in combat will extuinguish all thoughts of fleeing any Mahud who see them.

The only Mahud of higher ranking than a tribesmaster is a king. Though a rarity in the history of the Mahud it has been known for the strongest of all Mahud to rise to the rank of king.
One of the things that make the Mahud such a fierce opponent to fight are the half-trolls they take into combat with them. While it is unlikely that these warriors have true trollish blood in them hey have been named so because of their size and strength which is far superior to that of even the Mahud. They are so physically robust they resemble trolls more than men.

As the Mahud live in the rough desert wastes a horse would make an unsuitable transport. The mahud instead opt to use camels to transport warriors across the field of battle. They fit huge tusks on to the sides of the camels so that any warrior charged by a Camel rider will be impaled upon the tusks.

The tusks are taken from one of the most fearsome creatures the mahud command. The war mumaks, these giant elephants are capable of holding a battle howdah on their backs. Meaing they can hold approximately 10 warriors on their backs. Instead of using bows the mahud use blowpipes as ranged weapons. While they lack the range of bows they mae up for it with poisoned tips capable of bring down the toughest of enemies.