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    Titan in the Playground
     
    Lizardfolk

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Gender
    Male

    Default Kruthik Kingdoms

    “I watched one out run a Giant Spider in its own tree and eat it.”
    Elf Sargent Lively, the Half Gnawed.

    Kruthiks are perhaps the most overpowered living creatures in fifth edition. Consider that they are smarter then hill giants and Ogres (int 7), they grow to adulthood in 1 year, they lay 6 eggs a year, they have shells stronger then a Tortles, have a two shot bow built into their body, can tunnel through solid rock, can climb faster then spiders, and have tremorsense.
    Their newborn babies are as deadly as adult Kobolds, and the reproduce faster. Their super form is gained at the ripe age of 5, when they become as deadly as magical creatures like Umberhulks and Trolls, or a Triceratops. This means they produce human intelligence dinosaur equivalents that swim through stone faster then Goblins reach adulthood.

    However despite being all powerful juggernauts, Kruthiks aren't actually evil and don't have to be bad guys. They aren't xenophobic, living in harmony and cultivating other creatures (including intelligent ones!) in their lairs, they are perhaps the greatest builders in existence (imagine being able t carve solid rock as an infant), and hilariously populous. 6 Kruthiks would, assuming 100% survival rate, become 60,466,176 in a decade.

    Kruthik civilization is thus going to be very different from other races, as they are trading security and housing to others in return for things they can't make lacking hands and tools. Myconids, Choldrith, and Chitine are common in the deeper Underdark, while Dwarves, Hobbits, Gnomes, Goblins and Kobolds are more common near the surface. The Kruthiks also allow some of the stranger breeding creatures among them. They are at no threat from Mindflayers, who can neither consume them or use them, and they work with the Slaadi who are similar to them but stronger and fewer (and also can't use them for reproduction.) The Kruthiks don't allow Neogi (whose long enduring mind control threatens the Kruthik hierarchy) and dislike any creatures that are both carnivorous and reproduce rapidly. They can deal with Choldrith and Chitins eating some of their grubs, but Orcs and Gnolls share too much of their palatte and threaten to undermine their food supply.
    What Kruthiks trade for is literally everything else in existence. Their short lives (10 years) leaves them little time to master skills, and their lack of hands little ability to manufacture things. Chitins and Choldriths produce silky webs for them, which is their most prized good. It warms their caves, makes hangings and furnishings, provides them with comfortable bedding and keeps their young safe from intruding predators. Humanoids are prized for their painting skills, some Kruthik groups pay to be painted in geometric forms or even add gems to their carapaces. Drugs are common luxury goods, provided by Myconids or Mindflayers, as they cannot make them but like all races they enjoy altered consciousness.



    The Hay Hives:
    The Hay Hives are located under a human kingdom on a fertile plain. The Loess deposits are so thick that tunnels to the surface quickly collapse, and the Kruthiks maintain long tunnels away from the area to reach the surface rather then face massive losses by tunneling up. Their homes are built into the bedrock five hundred feet down, and they make large sideways openings into which they draw dirt to maintain their worms. The stock of worms is never sufficient for the thronging numbers of the Hay Hives, who import hay and plant materials in trade from the surface to try and raise the largest possible number.
    To offset their population growth and pay for their food imports, the Haythiks serve as builders and mercenaries for surrounding civilizations. The Loess Kingdom hires them to use as shock troops, with the Haythiks often facing each other on the field of battle. The various Hives see this as a way to weaken rivals below, whom they raid and fight frequently. Either way the money comes down to the Hay Hives, where it is used to purchase more food. The lack of stone fortresses means the Haythiks are not used in their most effective maneuver, drilling straight through walls and devouring the inhabitants within. Nor do they hollow mountains for others use.
    Below however the Haythiks are neighbors with Grell, Beholders and Mindflayers. The Haythiks dislike the Grell as a race, finding them to be direct competition with them for food. However the Grell cannot dig and the Haythiks cannot manufacture alchemical items, so construction of defensive bases and access tunnels for magic is beyond frequent. If the two had even slightly different food sources they would be partnered as the Haythiks are with the Myconids, but their roles as eaters of flesh makes them incompatible. The Grell do not hire themselves as mercenaries but do hire Haythiks, who find it convenient to maintain the balance between the other groups while enriching themselves and remaining technically neutral.
    The Beholders and the Haythiks have nothing to do with each other. Beholders carve their own walls, do not use mercenaries but mind controlled slaves, and are too dangerous to negotiate with.
    The Mindflayers are the Haythiks preferred partners. Too individually weak to threaten the teeming hives, their mindcontrol is short lived and they lack digging abilities or large numbers of bodies. They pour out a consistent amount of psychic weaponry and items to the Haythiks in return for fortresses and mercenaries, and are mutualistic. In some of the Hives the Mindflayers have been allowed to move in with them, the Elder Brains seen as less dangerous then the horrible dreams of the Beholders. Largely though they keep a barrier of space between them, as the Haythiks don't wish to be seen as taking sides between the alliance of Grell and Beholders on one side and the Mindflayers on the other. The Mindflayers also fear what a total war between them would mean, as they are certain of victory but not so certain their allies hunger would not turn on them in kind.
    A smaller but very lucrative secondary trade occurs in this system, where Kruthiks trade psionic and alchemical goods to the surface in return for magical goods to trade in the Underdark. Their neighbors above are seen as food by their neighbors below, and in reverse as monstrous demons. The Kruthiks benefit from their neutrality in this way, and their wealth and numbers make them the center of the land.

    Organizationally the Hay Hives are divided into three levels. The bottom is the House, which is simply a Kruthik Overlord and his kin. A House can number from dozens to thousands depending on how recent the last war was (famine and war are the same in a cannibalistic species.) A House lives in simple structure, with a large open central room riddled with tunnels. All but one of these is the personal room of one or another Kruthik, who come here to sleep. The final tunnel is a large access tunnel that connects to a series of rooms for eating, keeping worms, carving stone into art, and other acts. The access tunnel then connects to a yet larger access tunnel that moves to the next House in the Colony.
    A Colony is a grouping of Houses of varying size. They are not bound by the same rules of blood relations, and peace is kept by Guard Houses who maintain peace but are forbidden to raise their own food or trade. All of their life is a gift by the other Houses so they don't seek to overthrow the Colony leadership. The Colony is led by a council of all of the Houses, which means all of the Overlords in the Colony. These are constantly fighting and backstabbing, but bloodshed is avoided to preserve the peace.
    Physically the Colony is a series of houses that are connected together by a single massive tunnel. This allows trade to occur within and outside the colony, and it is in this tunnel that the non-Kruthik members of their society make their homes. Myconids are the most common, followed my humans and then Mindflayers (never both in the same colony.) Individual members or small groups of many races dwell in buildings constructed inside the Ring, as it is safe so long as they can afford the rent and there isn't a famine occurring. Each colony has tunnels running from the Ring to their farms, which take up tremendous space at the top of the rock level.

    Colonies fluctuate in number due to repeated abandonment and reacquisition during population collapses, but there are generally 10 or so to a hive. Each colony has been 20 and 100 thousand Kruthiks, when densities get higher it leads to famine and pandemic diseases due to extremely close physical spaces.

    There are only 4 Hay Hives, or organizations of colonies. There was originally six but as there is no formal way to make new ones and an old one can be exterminated the number tends to trend downwards over time.



    The Sliver of Madness

    The Kruthiks of the Zephyr Range deal with a far different and more imposing situation than those of the Hay Hives. The Zephyrians have access to far more food due to easy surface access, but also a grinding war that endangers not only the Zephyrians but also the other races of the world.
    Not long ago the Zephyrians were a multi-racial kingdom of Kruthiks and dwarves, dwelling in disharmony but much mutualistic advantage in the mountains. The dwarves were spared the ever present danger of mine collapses and uncovering monsters in the dark, as the Kruthiks dealt with both of those issues for them. The Kruthiks herded vast flocks in the mountain valleys as well as tending worms and other creatures of the earth, providing food for themselves and often a surplus to be traded to the dwarves. The dwarves in turn provided the magic items and luxury goods the Kruthiks lacked, and both maintained a relationship mixing alliances with banditry and occasional war.
    The Kruthiks know that their victory is secured as long as they can prevent apocalyptic conflicts of extermination, as they can simply out reproduce their opponents in the long run but their relative dearth of magic and weaponry leaves them exposed in an all out conflict. Better to chip away at rivals and eat dis-favorable peace treaties that allow them to recover in a decade and leave their opponents constantly starved for manpower.
    This approach changed suddenly and drastically when the Star Alatrox cast its eye on the region. As the purple light of the star bathed the land, those on the surface were instantly transformed into star spawn. The star spawn raided the underground kingdoms and dragged creatures up into the light to increase their number, and a brutal war broke out between the star horrors and the deeper Kruthiks and Dwarves. Much of the population had been on the surface celebrating a religious holiday, and the outnumbered Dwarves soon succumbed. The Kruthiks however raised the already laid eggs of the next generation and within a year had recovered some hope of victory. For 10 years they have warred against the Star Spawn, each generation raised on the meat of Kruthiks and Star Spawn brought down from the conflict above and entering the fight after laying a single clutch of eggs to ensure a fresh crop of soldiers. Their civilization is lost, their culture and customs abandoned in the heat of constant war. But the Kruthiks are slowly winning as the Star Spawn cannot reproduce, and their Seers look into the possibilities of the future with trepidation.
    Other races sent aid in the first years of the war, but now fear what will happen when the Kruthiks win. Will generations born to wage war and with no understanding of farming or herding be able to stop when they reach the end of this conflict, or will the spill out like locusts into their neighbors and swallow them?
    Last edited by Tvtyrant; 2021-07-20 at 12:00 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    Vibranium: If it was on the periodic table, its chemical symbol would be "Bs".

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