Kro'Taruk Hound

Legend of the Krug Hounds
As the legend goes, the first Kro'Taruk were ferocious and powerful, but primitive and bestial. They were physically perfect, but lacked the intelligence and honor they sought. And so, the gods removed this bestial essence from the Kro'Taruk, and not wishing to destroy such a primal power, forged a new creature from it. As soon as the new creatures were formed, they immediately ran to the sides of the Kro'Taruk, each standing next to the Kro'Taruk from which they had been separated. Thus were created the first Krug Hounds. Soon it became clear that the Kro'Taruk retained some of their bestial aspects, but were dominantly intelligent and honorable. Likewise, the new creatures, though clearly animals, retained some of the traits of the Kro'Taruk.
The bond between Kro'Taruk and Krug is almost palpable. The Kro'Taruk respect the Krug as much as their fellows. To harm or kill a Krug in anger is considered a worse crime than killing a Kro'Taruk, because a Krug would never harm a Kro'Taruk, while the Kro'Taruk are prone to fighting amongst themselves.
Each Kro'Taruk has his or her own Krug, almost always of the opposite gender. The process of this pairing occurs in infancy. The Kro'Taruk parents bring their infant to a Krug that has given birth within the same moon cycle as the Kro'Taruk. She leaves her infant with the Krug mother and her pups for a day and a night. When the Kro'Taruk parents return, they will see that their infant, during that time, had paired itself with one of the Krug pups. Among shaman, a stick of kroturjite wrapped in leather is a common playtoy that helps the Kro'Taruk remember the pet after their death.

Krug Markings
Marking is a practice in which the Kro'Taruk will mark his or her Krug with paints, tattoos, scarrings, or pieces of armor or jewelry. They do this because they believe the Krug are as proud as they are and would wish to show signs of their clan, kills, and honor, but are incapable of doing such things to themselves. Each mark is very deliberate, and represents a specific action or deed.