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Message: <blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6943518" data-attributes="member: 6855057">Well, I wanted to wait until I had both the Fangwyrm and the Draeg gazetteers done up... but then I realized that'd be an awful lot of material to work through, so I just went with the Fangwyrms for starters. The Draeg gazetter is proceeding apace.Honestly, having sat down and written about these little...guys? Gals? What is the more appropriate term here? Anyway, despite their origins in a piece of art dedicated to something I strongly dislike, I've actually found myself getting quite attached to the little monsters. They've come out as a whole different kettle of fish to their grim and angsty kobold cousins, and pairing that sense of light-hearted affection and lazy hedonism with their vicious predator side makes for a surprisingly fun dichotomy.I've just got this fun mental image of a lost traveler/adventurer in the Jaderealm encountering a fangwyrm and not really understanding what it is, but befriending it through a combination of pidgin Kobold-tongue (need a better name for that) and sharing food, thinking it's just a cute little lizard-thing until they get attacked by giant rats, whereupon it saves his life by spitting venom in the face of one and then killing the other by crushing its skull in its jaws before swallowing the corpse whole. Then it drags itself right back over to him and cutely asks for more chin-rubs once it's sure he's safe.[sblock]FangwyrmsWho Are They?The rejected bastard children of kobolds and their many twisted experiments, the fangwyrms - also referred to by such names as chubtail kobolds, slithering gullets, gorgelizards, ever-hungers, snakebolds, and other, far less printable names - struggle to carve out a civilisation for themselves in the depths of the Jaderealm, fighting against instincts belonging to a much larger predator.PhysiologyAs their common moniker of "chubtail kobolds" - a moniker never repeated where a kobold can here - suggests, fangwyrms have not diverged that greatly from their kobold ancestry.Like all kobolds, they are small reptilian bipeds - with an average height range of 3'6" to 4'5", they are significantly larger than their kinsfolk. Colored in mottled patterns of green and/or brown, their most obvious physical difference is their distinctive tail. Roughly as long as the fangwyrm is tall and almost as broad, its wide, blunt tip and ample weight means it's no longer prehensile like that of a normal kobold, as well as causing this species to be slower than their ancestors.This tail, along with the blunter shape of their muzzle, are the most visible signs of the prominent internal differences that truly mark this species as unique. As a result of experiments infusing kobolds with serpentine essence, fangwyrms have drastically enlarged, elastic stomachs that stretch all the way from their torso along the length of their tail. Although a significant portion of its bulk is fat deposits, like certain lizard species, this oversized gullet allows fangwyrms to consume vast amounts of food, much like a serpent. Their blunter muzzles are even structured like those of a serpent, relying on powerful, elastic tendons to connect both the fronts of each jawbone and the upper and lower jaws. This means that not only can fangwyrms open their mouths to 120 degrees, they can actually successfully swallow things whole of their own size - or larger.Of course, when a fangwyrm has its mouth open, there are somewhat more immediate concerns. If not the double-row of backward-curving, wickedly serrated incisors that are continuously replaced throughout its life, earning this species the common nickname of "walking fang factories", then the powerful glands that can expel jets of virulent contact toxin some 10 feet through the air with pin-point precision. All in all, despite their small size, fangwyrms are designed to be significantly dangerous predators.However, although this species elastic gullet is the source of many horror stories, the truth is that it is not as dangerous as many make it out to be. What a fangwyrm gains in elasticity, it loses in durability; a fangwyrm could swallow a human whole, but if its meal were alive for whatever dubious reason, then it would be more than capable of inflicting sufficient blunt trauma to burst the overzealous predator's abdomen. Fangwyrms, like all except the most gargantuan of snakes, only eat prey after it is well and truly dead - although, with their wicked maws, achieving that result is not much of a challenge for their usual prey.Incidentally, the scales on a fangwyrm's underbelly, especially along the tail, are much softer and more sensitive than those of a kobold. Although touching a fangwyrm's tail without permission is a good way to get bitten, rubbing it is intensely pleasurable to them and can put them into a veritable euphoric coma. Especially if they've eaten recently..One final internal oddity shows that fangwyrms are actually more of a success story than kobolds like to admit. Fangwyrms possess a form of fundamentum, the organ that gave the dragons of old their infamous breath weapon. In their case, it allows them to release a flood of bile infused with necrotic energy into their stomachs; this reacts with dead flesh by instantly discorporating it and transforming it into a surge of raw life energy, allowing a fangwyrm to rapidly heal its injuries. The only drawback is that it produces an intense sensation of hunger after being used, which can admittedly be useful on the battlefield.Ironically, despite the extensive alterations to their digestive organs, the fangwyrms have not experienced any mutations to their reproductive organs. This means that, just like normal kobolds, the "chubtail kobolds" are still hermaphroditic. However, lacking the cultural resistance to their pseudo-breasts, fangwyrms proudly flaunt their faux cleavage if given the opportunity to develop it, seeing it as the mark of a skilled hunter.PersonalityIt is commonly accepted by those who have only heard of them that fangwyrms are mindless, vicious beasts; ruthless predators that live only to fill their bellies with whatever other living creatures they can ambush and kill.And, to be fair, that is an accurate description... of what the fangwyrms themselves dub "the ever-hungry": members of their race who, due to mental malady or sickness of spirit, have chosen to forsake their reasoning and live as nothing more than beasts. Few beings are so hated and despised by other fangwyrms, for these twisted savages regard anything that moves as prey, including their own race; if overwhelmed by an ever-hungry, a fangwyrm's only recourse is to try and present itself as a mate would, hoping that the ever-hungry will simply rape them and then leave as opposed to killing and eating them. It is these creatures, combined with kobold tales of their cousins' "savagery", that has fuelled the terrible reputation of this race.In reality, fangwyrms are nothing like their reputation. Predators, yes, but hardly mindless or vicious. As a matter of fact, despite being predators, fangwyrms are a surprisingly affable people.These reptilians are very sociable and intensely loyal, perhaps due to similar traits being present in their kobold ancestors. Unlike kobolds, however, fangwyrms are more sedate and laidback. They are fairly docile by nature when not hunting, being patient, easy-going and generally quite content with a sedentary sort of lifestyle.That is not to say that fangwyrms are all seetness and light. Even beyond their predatory instinct, fangwyrms have some serious flaws. The most obvious of which is their hedonistic streak.If Pride can be classified as the defining vice of kobolds, then Gluttony is almost certainly its equivalent amongst fangwyrms. Naturally impulsive and inquisitive anyway, the instinct to gorge themselves when presented with the chance is so prevalent in their psyche that a significant part of fangwyrm education is focused on teaching their young to control their bellies and not be controlled by them, much like how kobolds are taught the values of self-control and emotional discipline as they age.Feasting is a euphoric act for fangwyrms. There is something deeply, physically, almost sexually pleasurable about having a belly laden with food, and this makes them absolute suckers for the prospect to gorge themselves. Quality is certainly important to them as well, and tasting new things is a delight for most fangwyrms, but sheer quantity, packing themselves full and then lounging around in a blissful torpor, that's joy in its own right.But food isn't the only pleasure that fangwyrms grow addicted to. Anything that a fangwyrm comes to see as pleasurable is something that it wants to indulge in as often as possible. Even the remnants of their hoarding instincts are mostly directed towards things that please them or things that remind them of great pleasures past - a horn taken from a blood-ram that the fangwyrm managed to kill and ingest, for example, would serve as both a reminder of its huge accomplishment as a hunter and as a token to recall the feeling of the magnificent feast that ensued afterwards.Some speculate that this may even play a part in their intensely social natures. Although cultural fear of the ever-hungry may play a part in it, the fact is that no fangwyrm really likes to be alone. They are extremely loyal to friends and family, eager to make new friends, grow very depressed and miserable when seperated, and viciously rise to defend those they care about. Highly physically affectionate by nature, a fangwyrm who doesn't enjoy touching those it cares about to reaffirm their presence, or take pleasure from being petted, caressed, hugged, or otherwise touched affectionately, would be quite an oddball indeed.Whether this hedonistic streak stems from their impulsiveness or merely further fuels it, none can really say. But fangwyrms have a bad tendency to leap ahead when the consequences are not obvious enough, meaning they have a genuinely well-deserved reputation for getting into mischief and having (usually embarrassing) accidents.This impulsiveness is at least partially to blame for their gluttony in that, when it comes to food, fangwyrms are bad at foresight. Although somewhat justified by the fact they can live off the fat in their tails for a substantial period of time, it's very difficult for fangwyrms to have food and not immediately eat it.However, fangwyrms are not stupid. They are rational, thinking beings and, honestly, can be deceptive and cunning. Those who underestimate them will usually come to regret it, as fangwyrms have an all-too-koboldish love of messing with those who look down on them, and are more than willing to use peoples' misconceptions about the fangwyrms' intelligence against them.CourtshipFangwyrms take a rather straightforward approach to the idea of courtship, such that even kobolds regard them as rather scandalous. Hedonistic by nature, and rarely exceptionally shy, fangwyrms who find each other attractive usually waste little time in expressing that interest. When they feel subtle, gifts of food are offered, the most obvious signal of interest a fangwyrm can consider. When actively looking for suitors, a fangwyrm shows off,  visibly displaying its strength, skill and curvaceousness in order to showcase how desireable it would be as a mate.Once a would-be suitor approaches, a fangwyrm will either accept or reject them, depending on various factors; the more desireable a suitor can prove themselves, the more likely the object of its attentions will accept them. Rejection is blunt and summary, involving threat displays, and fangwyrms quickly back off; however, although rape is abhorrent to them and deeply taboo in their culture, there is no stigma with being persistent about attempting courtship, until either they are accepted or decisively rejected.Acception is quite obvious, as it essentially entails the fangwyrm leading their suitor aside and presenting themselves for sex. The new couple will mate as often as they like, and either choose to stay together or seperate, depending on how much they come to enjoy each other's company.There is no formal establishment of mateship amongst fangwyrms, and nor is there any taboo about monogamy. Some fangwyrms establish life-long monogamous relationships, others drift from partner to partner, and others still form stable networks of sexual partners, and all are ultimately accepted.As mentioned above, fangwyrms are still fundamentally kobolds where it comes to matters of reproduction. As hermaphrodites, any given individual fangwyrm can impregnate or be impregnated as it wills, producing a clutch of 2-6 eggs from any pregnant fangwyrm that hatch some seven months after conception and which can be voluntarily laid at any point from two weeks after conception.CultureThe basis of all fangwyrm culture is the pack, an extended "nucleus" family unit of two or more sexually mature and intimate adults and their juvenile offspring. Larger groups than this form tribes, usually based on packs that can trace blood connections to each other. Tribes are thusly usually led by a council of elders.The norm for fangwyrm culture is a Stone Age hunter-gather society, with packs roaming through the Jaderealm in search of prey and then returning to a central settlement - or else migrating nomadically between camps. This is not an indication of the intelligence of fangwyrms, but merely a result of their history and environment. In other regions, fangwyrms may well be advancing to more developed status, and they certainly will readily integrate themselves into other cultures.In truth, the tribe serves more as a support group during times of hardship and a way to organize parties. The typical life of fangwyrms is a fairly laidback one, consisting of nocturnal hunts and foraging followed by retiring to their dens at sunrise for raucous feasting and sleep. Youth learn the ways of life from their elders through song, dance, music and stories, the hunters celebrate their achievements, and in generally they relax and take delight in having lived through another night, ready to face the challenges again when the sun goes down tomorrow.Fangwyrms have little need for personal wealth, even they do adapt to the concept of money with surprising quickness amongst other societies, and so they have little in the way of crime. Most of what they consider evil acts are obvious; murder and rape, and to fangwyrms, there is only one real punishment for such evil - though some fortunates may find themselves exiled if they are judged by their kin to have not acted with deliberate malice, usually, fangwyrm criminals find themselves in the bellies of those they have wronged. A brutal and savage justice, in the eyes of most outsiders, but one that certainly seems to serve the fangwyrms well.Despite the justifiably fearsome reputation of the ever-hungry, fangwyrms do not consider other sapients to be prey. In fact, the consumption of "talking meat" is one of their strictest dietary taboos, and it is considered one of the vilest forms of murder.However, there are two things that should be noted about this taboo. The first is that fangwyrms regard cannibalism to only apply to the concept of deliberately killing a person (defined as "someone who can talk", with a good deal of common sense about overcoming language barriers besides) to then eat their flesh; consuming the bodies of those who died for completely unrelated reasons is not cannibalism, in their eyes. Thusly, fangwyrms practice funerary cannibalism, consuming the bodies of dead packmates or dear friends out of a peculiar combination of "meat is meat" pragmatism and a cultural desire to honor and remember the fallen. In fangwyrm packs, it is taught that the spirits of the dead live on the blood of those who take them into their bellies, and that is why it is a sign of great love to consume your dead family, friends and other loved ones.The second is that fangwyrms have a very pragmatic view when it comes to self-defense. Cannibalism is evil. But when a person legitimately attacks you, then they have stopped being a person and become a predator, in which case it's alright to eat them, because it's eat or be eaten. This is tempered by common sense, of course; a fangwyrm would not switch into "predator mode" as a result of a friendly scuffle between friends or a child being boisterous and play-acting as a great hero, but vicious bandits, cannibal gangsters and murder cultists have a tendency to (burp) "disappear" when  fangwyrms pass through.That said, many bartenders either outright refuse to sell alcoholic liquors to fangwyrms or strictly control how much they serve, even when this isn't mandated by law, under the not unreasonable justification that when you have a fang-mawed predator with a cultural doctrine of eating its enemies, you don't want to impair its judgement. This is usually not really necessary, as the vast majority of fangwyrms collapse into a blissful, hiccuping stupor - or start getting amorous - upon getting drunk, but still, better to be safe than sorry. There can always be exceptions, as they say.Ironically, despite having a great deal of difficulty with the concept of animal husbandry - as fangwyrms see it, if you're going to eat it anyway, why not eat it now? - fangwyrms have actually become quite adept at domestication. Because of their deeply sociable nature, and perhaps because their hedonistic appreciation of how nice it can be to pet things (especially cute fluffy things), fangwyrms can form very deep bonds with animals. These pets are deeply beloved by their fangwyrm owner, and seen almost as packmates - which means that showing off their pets is a deeply respected, even necessary, part of pet ownership for fangwyrms. Eating another fangwyrm's pet is valid gounds for a blood-vendetta, which can potentially tear a pack apart. Fangwyrms have even been known to eat each other or exile pack-members over such a crime.As loyal and caring as fangwyrms can be to their packs, however, life in the Jaderealm is never easy, and so packs often have casualties. Fangwyrms who have lost their packs or even tribes become nomadic wanderers, mournfully roaming the jungle in hopes of finding another pack to take them in - this is the primary source of fangwyrm adventurers.SettlementsFangwyrms are quite different to their kobold relatives, in that their lairs rarely make extensive use of traps. That's not to say they don't prepare some defenses, particularly in dangerous areas, but in general they consider the fact that their settlement is a nest full of venom-spitting fang factories with ravenous appetites to be deterrent enough for sapients, whilst most critters that wander in save them the effort of hunting for breakfast.Fangwyrms, like kobolds, dislike bright light, and so the primary thing they look for in a settlement beyond easy access to water is shelter from the sun. Nomadic fangwyrms often fashion temporary shelters from bark and woven grass, at least in their native environment of the Jaderealm, but caves, hollowed out giant trees, dense vine-fields, ruined cities, and similar "natural caverns" are preferred. They can and will dig out their own caves, but it takes quite a bit of work to produce a den into which a pack can comfortably fit, and so these creatures prefer to take over existing dens when they can.AdventurersFangwyrms are, in many ways, natural adventurers, being that they are brave, inquisitive, not afraid of violence, loyal and eager to explore. Sometimes, entire packs have been known to venture out of the Jaderealm, or justget themselves into typical adventurer "mischief", just to sate their own curiosity. Other fangwyrms bond with adventurers of other species, especially as a result of losing their packs or tribes or as a result of being exiled, and simply follow along out loyalty and curiosity. Barbarians: These are perhaps the most common of the "combative" adventurer classes for fangwyrms. Relying on brute force and natural savagery, it is a natural fit for this species, which comes from such primitive roots. The majority of fangwyrm barbarians are Berserkers, Zealots and Storm Heralds, with the latter two representing untamed sorcerous power or a particularly powerful fundamentum. Totem Warriors and Ancestral Guardians are both rare, but respected and admired. Battleragers are almost unheard of, and usually come from fangwyrms that were taken in by kobold tribes as living weapons.Bards: Needless to say, the fangwyrm culture's emphasis on partying and using entertainment to educate makes bards a natural fit for adventurers. Almost all "native-trained" fangwyrm bards are either Lorekeepers or Jesters, however; they lack the martial culture to make Skalds and Blades the same kind of natural fit. A fangwyrm bard who takes those paths was educated by members of another race.Fighters: Less common than barbarians due to the fact fangwyrms do not have very strong martial traditions, those who take up the path of the fighter are still very real. Often, these were fangwyrms with a particular focus on defending the pack or the tribe from bigger, nastier predators. Almost all fangwyrm fighters are either Cavaliers - who were lucky enough to befriend a pet big enough to ride, Champions or Scouts, with the remainder being Eldritch Knights who tap into their lingering ancestral magic. Battlemasters and Bannerets are completely foreign to their culture, and would require extensive training from an alien race or even growing to maturity in an alien culture.Monks: There are no native monastic traditions amongst fangwyrms. A fangwyrm monk was trained by a member of another race, and a DM is justified to request a good backstory explaining how this happened. Especially if they view the monkly tradition as demanding asceticism and self-denial, both of which are very foreign and unappealing concepts to fangwyrms.Rangers: Less common than barbarians but more so than fighters, rangers are very respected by fangwyrms for their skill at hunting. All of the Conclaves are equally popular.Rogues: Because fangwyrm culture uses barter rather than currency, fangwyrm rogues are not really a thing. Those that take up this path due so due to extensive contact with other races and coming to fully assimilate the idea of property and theft. Most fangwyrm rogues are either Assassins (where their fangs, venom and ability to devour an entire human come in handy) or Thieves (often swallowing their loot and regurgitating it in private), with a small minority of Arcane Tricksters. Masterminds are essentially unheard of.Sorcerers: The most common of the fangwyrm magic-users, unlike kobolds, there are no recorded cases of Dragon Blood Sorcerers arising amongst this race. Instead, the most common are Kobold Blood Sorcerers and various elemental origins.Warlocks: Although it's unusual for a fangwyrm to either seek out a patron or attract the interest of one, they have no cultural stigma against warlocks, unlike their kobold kin, and so these spellcasters are very much represented amongst fangwyrms. As a practical people who live in a dangerous environment, the Lifegiver and Dark Mother patrons are most preferred.Wizards: Rarest of all the fangwyrm arcanists, these either are self-taught by finding spellbooks lost in the wild or scavenged from the bodies of slain adventurers, or belong to the largest and most civilised of fangwyrm tribes. There is no particular bias about magic, but Wood, Earth and Water Elementalism, alongside Necromancy, tend to be particularly favored.Mystics: Extremely rare, and always self-taught, fangwyrm mystics are predominantly members of the Order of the Immortal, subconsciously melding physical and psychic prowess to become a more lethal predator.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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