A gnoll leatherworker repairs a harness at a roadside camp in Droaam.
Gnolls are hyena-featured people whose communities in Eberron have their own histories, loyalties, and approaches to power. The Znir Pact of Droaam is an important example: clans bound through a tradition of rejecting fiendish domination and deciding the terms of their own service.
The Znir Pact
The Pact's history centers on breaking with the supernatural masters once represented by its idols. Its clans developed a disciplined mercenary tradition and ways of settling disputes together. Collective independence matters alongside the obligations of a particular contract.
Different clans preserve different specialties and customs. Their shared traditions do not erase the work of smiths, tanners, negotiators, and other people sustaining a community. The Pact's rejection of outside masters does not mean every gnoll everywhere belongs to it.
Strength without ownership
Some Znir traditions understand dangerous supernatural impulses as something to resist or master rather than obey. That distinction matters where outsiders confuse an unusual inheritance with inevitable submission to evil. A person's choices and discipline are part of the story.
In Sharn, a gnoll can be known as a guard, craftsperson, companion, or neighbor. A House contract may offer work while raising familiar questions about independence. Others may know little about Droaam and mistake a rumor for a biography. An introduction can matter more than a label on a customs form.
Reference: Exploring Eberron, The Gnolls of the Znir Pact, printed pages 93–94.