Hellhounds

"They're nice... loyal to the people they care about... innocent, territorial, playful... horny. Horny... get it? Because of the horns."

- Fen Hellhounds (Canis tartarus infernalis) are a fictional species present in the Sunflower-verse, existing both in the Present Verse and in the Alternative Universe One. They are native from Hel and are somewhat underrepresented in the stories.

Before the Plague
Pre-Seraphic Plague, Hellhounds are creatures described as canine-like animals, borrowing physical features belonging to an important variety of other animals. They walk the earth on all fours with their hooves and a body covered in a scruffy, fireproof pelt of black fur, wearing on their head a pair of imposing horns that could rival that of a ram. While their face is reminiscent of a wolf, all of them possess a set of fangs much sharper than them, as well as piercing eyes that glow in the night, and the forked tongue of a snake. It is even believed they can breathe fire that never extinguishes, unless whatever it is burning has been reduced to ashes. On top of that, their body is so hard that it can withstand a hit of the strongest of blades without any effort, while hides at the tip of their whip-like tail a spike filled with the deadliest poison.

Hellhounds are hermaphrodites, and way unlike dogs, lay fertilized eggs that they ferociously protect until they hatch. While they also live longer than most, and approximately twice longer than the average human, they die of old age normally. Present before most modern civilizations and cultures, they have dispersed all over the world, and are notably known to be smarter than other animals, yet also more social despite the danger they can represent. They are naturally attracted to humans, studying them and evolving alongside them, without ever showing themselves too much. Unfortunately for them, they were eventually promptly seen as objects of cult in dark rituals led by sects because of their natural superiority, causing them to have bad reputation among humans for being associated with wrong things.

Current Era
Like many other animals, Hellhounds ended up being afflicted by the Seraphic Plague. However, in a somewhat similar fashion to humans, most of the affected individuals did not survive the infection, causing an important drop in their population numbers. Following that and their newfound conditions of life, things eventually evolved to the point where they became civilized enough to become proper society members, but were never fully accepted by others. Their abnormally powerful strength would set a sense of unease in those around them, resulting in their contemporary institutions of power having to monitor them. As of the 21st century, this form of ostracism ended up creating generations of Hellhounds living like social outcasts, that could usually be found enjoying themselves in rave parties or in bars, taking profit of their strong build to drink, smoke, and hit illicit drugs endlessly.

It is common belief to imagine Hellhounds have a tendency to partake into illegal activities, using their strength to get by. The reality however, is completely otherwise. Most of them struggle to land a job, even though technically all of them have the capacity to get the best there is. In truth, mafia, or anyone tied to nasty business, refuse to deal with them firsthand. After all, word in the business goes by saying that a Hellhound killing a certain amount of people will go berserk, becoming in the process something called a Sanghound.

In such a state, a Sanghound is an individual whose ability to reason has fully disappeared, and whose body has become nothing but an articulated puppet meant to murder. Unable to return to normal and as unstoppable as ever, blood will flow from their tear ducts to indicate the change that took place, leaving permanent marks on their faces while the eyes blank out. Unfortunately, there is no reasoning a Sanghound. These do not talk or act on any kind of logical thinking. They do not possess any feelings, and are just doomed to wander and kill until their body wholly stops moving, for a reason or another. After all, in this state, they will stop feeding and doing just about anything normal individuals do to live, simply dying once their body has decayed enough. This is a curse known by all people who bothered looking into what Hellhounds are, and by all of them as well, as falling to this tragic curse is nothing else than their greatest fear.

The direct origin of this curse is unknown. As a side note, it is interesting to say that Hellhounds are mostly colorblind, and have a tendency to become nearsighted at an early age, yet still process many more images per second than humans.

(Fascinating creatures, aren't they? Take a look at another species from the Sunflower Fields?)