Arcanum of the Star races for Dragonstarfinder
These races are borrowed and reskinned from Skyrealms of Jorune. - KF
The Iscin Races
Blount [Grippli variant] [
Image]
Blount are a semi-intelligent, yet primitive swamp-dwelling race that, have spread across the galaxy like wildfire! The fraal xenogeneticist, Iscin, mutated their distant ancestors, a type of amphibian, into this semi-intelligent species. Iscin wasn’t happy with how they turned out but he refused to destroy anything he created. So he found a remote world almost completely covered by swamp-like terrain and left the blount on their own too survive. They adapted well and would have lived in isolation forever, if not for Navil Andromar the xenobiologist that discovered them nearly 5,000 years later!
The blount are small bipedal creatures (with opposable thumbs), approximately the same size as t’sa. They have slick green skin and flabby, poorly toned bodies. Their knowledge of swamp-like terrain gives them an edge over larger ‘clumsy’ races, as they so fondly call others. They attack, bursting out of the stagnate waters they call home, with primitive knives or anything that they have taken from intruders.
Blount smell terrible and none can tolerate it except the shanthas, who seem to be immune. Non-intelligent creatures won’t go near a blount, even carnivores that are starving. This smell isn’t a natural odor, it is manufactured by the blount out of roots and swamp muck. They never sell it to outsiders and have learned not to have it on them when they travel amongst other species.
They have their own language, a mixture of lizard-like sounds and gurgles. Their throats quiver when they speak. There isn’t a written form of Abahth, the blount tongue. Their attempts to speak human languages are poor at best.
Blount on Navil, the world that Iscin seeded them on, live in small mud dwellings, each large enough to hold a family of five or six. Their days are spent gathering roots and various, edible plants. They spend time preparing a constant supply of their stink mixture.
Although many young, inquisitive blounts have left Navil to explore the galaxy, most members of this race tend towards xenophobia, and usually avoid planetary visitors. Privacy isn’t a concern when the intruders are too busy running away because of the smell.
The one exception to this are the fraal, something in their creation left the image of Iscin in the minds of the blount and they are instinctively drawn to any fraal they encounter. The blount’s aren’t stupid enough to think the fraal are gods. No, they simply see the fraal as honorary mentors to their species. A blount would never willing hurt a fraal that came in peace.
Bronth [Ursine (?)] [
Image]
Bronth are descendants of an ursine creature mutated by Iscin and stand upright, have opposable thumbs, and demonstrate a very high degree of intelligence. They stand 2.4 meters tall, and sometimes weigh as much as a 450 kilograms. Their bodies are covered with dark brown fur, which acts more as insulation than real protection.
The original world that Iscin took the descendants of the bronth from is lost to time and the bronth do not have a true home. They tend to live alongside humans or weren, who they feel akin to, building their own communities when they can, living in one particular section of a human city, or living amongst weren as a part of their society.
Bronth abhor slavery, and take whatever steps are necessary to crush it when encountered. Their history with the crugar has taught them that no intelligent being has the right to dominate another. They teach their children to respect other species that prove that they are honorable. Bronth willing give their lives to free slaves and many join militant groups against slavery, like the Freedom League.
Bronth are partial to having pets. They often keep terro and any sort of tame canine around. Although large and powerful, bronth can be very gentle. There isn’t any contradiction between the bronth’s hatred of slavery and their keeping of animals; all are treated with respect and dignity. Bronth do not abuse any creature without cause and often become violent when others do so.
The bronth get along well with humans, elves, weren, woffen, and the fraal. They dislike ramian for some long-standing feud that neither race will talk about. They remain civil to each other when around others and tend to ignore each other. When isolated, they shout vulgarities and tend to beat each other senseless. A ramian that finds itself at the mercy of bronth and weren, better hope for a quick death. Some have suggested that the ramian ‘ripped-off’ the bronth at some point like they did the weren.
The bronth are omnivorous, eating both meat and plants. They are fond of durlig, and have learned to grow it with human assistance. Bronth love to eat meat that comes from any piscine species. And they tend to get nervous around any fish-like intelligent species, like the deepfallen. It’s more embarrassment than anything else and the deepfallen have gone to great lengths to try and make bronth feel more comfortable around them. After all, they eat fish too. If forced to eat at the same table as crugar, Bronth always eat the same dish – kathar, a feline creature that is considered a delicacy by most. The crugar consider it an insult to eat one in their presence!
Their language, Boru, has a thick and solid sound. Although it can communicate fairly sophisticated ideas, Boru hasn’t any words of more than 3 syllables. Woffen and bronth speak very similar languages. They have a slightly different sound, but their grammars are nearly identical.
Crugar [Catfolk variant] [
Image]
Crugar are descendants of a primitive feline species from the world of Leben. Through the genetic manipulation work of the fraal Iscin, this species was altered into intelligent bipeds with opposable thumbs (like all of Iscin’s genetic creations). The most factual account of the life of Iscin states that a crugar named Choungra was responsible for the death of the xenogeneticist. In fact, the word Choungra means
assassin in the languages of all Iscin’s creations except in the language of the crugar, where it means
liberator.
The crugar body is approximately human-sized: more slender and a little shorter. The crugar’s tan hair is worn cropped close to their bodies. Only the cygra, an elite unit of crugar warriors, can wear their hair long.
Crugar are known for their unnatural cruelty towards other races. Over two hundred years ago, the crugar frigate Donner-Inneres came across the woffen transport Tiburón floating helpless in space. The Tiburón had been infected by an unknown plague and over half of its crew had died off in the weeks before the Donner-Inneres came across it. A doctor onboard the Tiburón was sure that he had found the vaccine formula necessary and all he needed was access to the right equipment. However, the crugar refused to help and mercilessly destroyed the transport with a hail of plasma fire.
Even more recent was the crugar invasion of the Zafferan Colonies. Only now, some 60 years later, is life settling down from the resulting hostilities. However, the Zafferan Colonies are still a hotly disputed region. Although the Crugar Octagonal has agreed to obey the current treaty set down two years ago, several crugar fleet captains have refused to abide by the treaty and continue to attack Zafferan colonial worlds. There are least 6 fleets of these raiders, with over two dozen corvette-sized command ships spread out amongst them. For centuries, the crugar have fought to reclaim worlds that they claimed thousands of years ago. The Zafferan Colonies are just the latest worlds that fall under that claim.
Crugar pronounce “ch” as “sh”. Most misunderstand the crugar pronunciations, assuming the “sh” sound to be the result of a slurred accent. Crugar squint their eyes when they speak, a trait often bothersome to most humans. Crugar can appear very intimidating; arching their backs and hissing, they look even more formidable than they actually are.
Crugar have short tempers that flare up easily. Although they may show restraint when deciding to fight, once they’ve decided to attack, they are committed. Crugar rarely disengage from battle once begun. Their sheer speed often helps them in combat; they receive a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls when fighting in melee (not ranged). Crugar slash out with their powerful claws, bite ferociously with feline fangs, and fight ferociously with their hooked swords. They’re also fond of using daggers, saps and cestus.
The crugar religion of Chen Ichi celebrates the glory of revenge and righteous action. They see themselves as liberators, not murderers, in their own historical records of the death of Iscin. Tauch-kie priests teach crugar-superiority and many battles and attacks, lead by the Tauch-kie, are fought in the name of Chen Ichi.
Woffen [Canidae] [
Image]
Another mutated creation of Iscin, the woffen are an intelligent, bipedal species that are descended from a primitive canine lifeform that sprung from the world of Hurga. Now the center of their civilization, Hurga is a world dominated by sparse forests and continent-spanning plains and savannas. Their height and weight are of approximate human dimensions. Woffen shed their heavy fur during the summer season (based on Hurga seasonal shift) no matter where they happen to be living in the galaxy. This shedding has a tendency to become a problem when stuck in a cold environment. Strangely enough, woffen born away from Hurga tend to go through this shedding to a lesser degree, losing about half the hair off their bodies. These woffen always shave the rest off or face the humiliation of having bald spots all over their body.
Woffen aren’t known for their hygiene. They prefer to mingle with the scents of life around them, whether posted to the remote desert world of Senoo (Relgus System) or living on one of the thousands of metropolitan-worlds in the galactic core. This is done mostly out of the desire to blend into the background and be harder to detect but woffen also prefer a more natural, unperfumed scent.
Woffen have tendency to drink a type of dark ale called stomeh to excess. Those who indulge excessively for years, and walk hunched over, are the authew, or the wretched ones. The condition can become permanent if not treated, but the effects of the ale can be reversed with hanol shots, which act as a detoxification agent in woffen
Woffen have a high regard for honor and will never leave one of their kind behind during a crisis, even the authew. They are a strongly united people, tactically organized as well. Woffen are known for their keen wit and love of good company. Their parties can last for days, making a ruckus that can be heard for miles.
Woffen mannerisms include lots of head movements and they are always scanning their surroundings. Their sense of sound and smell are superb. And when they sense an intriguing sound or odor, their ears perk up or they sniff the air, their eyes closed with contentment.
Woffen do a lot of play fighting and their welpen (children) are often seen tumbling and growling in the streets of woffen dominated cities (its frowned upon in other cities and worlds). Their tempers are short, but they fight with some restraint and almost never kill an opponent. Only crugar seem to inspire then to fight to the death.
The woffen consider both the crugar and the ramian mortal enemies. The crugar, of course, for the destruction of the Tiburón and the ramian for some unknown physiological effect that they have on woffen. Woffen become incensed and agitated with ramian nearby and are likely to attack them, even when outnumbered. Woffen tend to be the first line of defense against ramian going through the chiveer.