Dog tasker

A dog tasker is a type of Forester who trains dogs to hunt. All dog taskers are members of the Dog Cloud. Invented by Matirei Silivi Savitar the Dog Cloud aims to produce apex predators who can control the burgeoning population of large herbivores. Dog taskers often have a hyperthalamus, an artifical auxiliary hypothalamus that allows them some limited animal senses.

History

Artificial glands were invented during the Radical Age, and were used, for example, in creating SAAFS. The hyperthalamus is a recent innovation, however. It enables the human who has it to see microexpressions, hear pulses and breathing at some distance, track by scent and smell a mood or an ailment. Dog taskers existed before Matirei but they were not tidied into a cloud and their main purpose was to train doula dogs. Matirei organised them and gave them an objective: lead your packs back into the wild.

Senses

The hyperthalamus does not actually produce mew senses, it just changes the way we use our existing ones. It particularly sharpens the sense of smell. It also allows dog taskers to 'freeze frame' actions and spot expressions and teitches. Before qualifying as a dog tasker, a person must give great proof of tolerance and stability, as the heightened senses can become a burden for some people. Not all dog taskers have hyperthalamuses, but most of the good ones do. It is extremely rare for a non-dog-tasker to take on the hyperthalamus, and most peopel regard it as an unpleasant experience. Hyperthalamuses don't come with off switches.

Dog taskers often follow a very perfunctory version of the Second and Third Adventures. They may stay on in one basha, trainign generation after generation of dogs, or they may wander with a dog or two for company in the forest. They are usually recgnised early as weirdos and left to their own devices. This suits them fine, because 'people are too noisy' as one of them said to me. Creepiiy they are like cyborgs, or even worse, werewolves. But they certainly get results: dogs seem almost able to talk to them.