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Book One: The Orc's Head Peninsula Sourcebook

Credits:

Design & Development: Nicky Rea
Editing: Doug Stewart   
  Original Design: Bruce Heard 
Special thanks to Tim Beach, Bruce Heard, John Terra and Merle, Jackie Rasmussen, and Sean Reynolds.

Thanks to Susan A. for her help with research and mapping, to Jackie C. for proofreading, and very special thanks to Tim Beach for his help and unending patience. 

Copyright 1996, TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

RED STEEL, DM, DUNGEON MASTER, MYSTARA,  and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. AD&D and MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

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Table of Contents

Introduction, 3  
  A Geographic Overview

Character Creation
  New Character Kits: 
    Mendoo
    Shaman
    Savage Warrior
    Wilderness Warrior 
    Savage Wizard

Wallara and the Chameleon Men 
  Wallaras as PCs
  History of the Region 
  Flora and Fauna
  The Lost City of Risilvar 
  Immortal Patrons of Wallara

The Phanatons of Jibarú
  Phanatons as PCs
  History of the Region 
  Flora and Fauna
  The City of Itucuá  
  Immortal Patrons of the Phanatons 

Nimmur and the Manscorpions
  Dominions of Nimmur
  Manscorpions as PCs
  History of the Region
  Flora and Fauna
  The Star Device
  Um-Shedu 
  The Manscorpion Pantheon  
  
Denizens of the Dark Jungle
  Orcs of the Dark Jungle
  Tribes of the Dark Jungle
  Giant War Canoes
  The Overking (Pyre) 
  History of the Region
  Flora and Fauna
  The Dark Jungle Pantheon 
  
  Ee'aar and Enduks
  Ee'aar as PCs
  History of the Aeryl 
  Flora and Fauna
  The Ee'aar Pantheon 
  Enduks as PCs
  History of Eshu 
  Flora and Fauna
  Immortal Patrons of Eshu 

Other People, Other Places
  The Lizard Kin:
    Shazaks
    Gurrash
    Cayma
  The Western Orclands
  The Colony of the Horn
  Porto Escorpião
  Other Territories 

 Introduction
The Orc's Head Peninsula supplement is part of the SAVAGE COAST setting. It deals with a primitive and barbaric land mass located to the west of the Savage Coast, inhabited primarily by nonhumans. To fully enjoy these adventures, the reader should have the SAVAGE COAST campaign setting. Familiarity with the other SAVAGE COAST products is helpful, but not essential. Access to the Monstrous Compendium® Appendix for Mystara is also recommended, particularly if the DM enjoys customizing random encounters.
   The Orc's Head Peninsula can be included as part of an ongoing campaign or used to introduce new characters to SAVAGE COAST and the Savage Coast region. It is recommended that characters be from the Savage Coast or the Orc's Head Peninsula. Several new races suitable for player characters were introduced in the SAVAGE COAST boxed set, and six more new character races are available in this supplement. Included in the card sheets are six characters that can be used for this purpose or can serve as templates that players can use to generate their own characters. New character kits are also included. Though it is possible to play races, classes, and kits from outside the area covered by the SAVAGE COAST campaign, part of the area's distinct flavor will be lost by doing so. 
   Extra DM information, maps, and player handout information are also included in this electronic product. Though they are briefly detailed, neither the Kingdom of Aeryl nor the Kingdom of Eshu on the Arm of the Immortals is shown on the main area map. The plateaus upon which they lie are just to the west of the Western Orclands, with the Kingdom of Aeryl being the more northerly of the two.

Using this Sourcebook

"Character Creation" covers character creation and five new character kits. All characters should utilize either one of these kits (as appropriate for their race and class) or one from the SAVAGE COAST campaign setting. Dark Jungle orcs are not available as player characters, but should a player and the DM agree to include one, most are Savage Warriors or Shamans, and further information on generating such a character can be found in the Complete Book of Humanoids. The rest of this book is divided into chapters, each one covering a geographic location and the primary intelligent race inhabiting that area. These races may be used as player characters (with some restrictions).
   In each chapter, general information is given about the specific race of that area, followed by special knowledge that pertains to members of the race who are the player characters (or important NPCs). This information should be used in concert with "Character Creation" to provide the players and Dungeon Master with a complete picture of the race and its special capabilities and disadvantages.
   Following those entries is a brief history of the area and its people that can be used to give the player a deeper sense of the character or that might form a core of knowledge for such nonweapon proficiencies as local history or ancient history. Some of this historical information may be unknown even to the inhabitants (see "Wallaras and the Chameleon Men" on the wallara). Parts of it may be useful to the DM who wishes to further customize a campaign or generate special treasures or ruins.
   Flora and fauna provide insight into the terrain and creatures that inhabit the area. This section may be used to give descriptions to the players, to decide what random encounters are likely to occur in the area, or even as an aid to deciding what wild game is available for those characters who utilize hunting, fishing or trapping proficiencies.
   The unique territories or features of an area follow those descriptions. Whether there is a capital city or a particular magical device in the area, each entry gives information sufficient to build upon should the DM so desire.
   Finally, most chapters include a section on the Immortal patrons of the denizens of the area. These may be used as "deities" for Mendoo, Shamans, and other clerical types. Often a people's beliefs and typical behaviors can be inferred from the gods whom they worship, and the Immortals may provide such insights to the DM and players alike.
   The adventures provided in Savage Steel draw heavily on the sourcebook for specifics as to places, descriptions, and general customs of those whom the characters are likely to meet. Additionally, the history and powers of the artifact that lies at the center of the treasure hunt are found in "Nimmur and the Manscorpions" of this book. Familiarity with the chapter that covers the area the characters are traveling through for each adventure is highly recommended. The information given on Pyre in "Denizens of the Dark Jungle" is required from the very start of the first adventure and should be kept handy throughout the game.

A Geographic Overview
Clinging to the western underbelly of the Savage Coast, the Orc's Head Peninsula lies atop the Western Sea and between Yalu Bay, the Savage Gulf and Trident Bay. Shielded from the west by its fellow peninsula, the Arm of the Immortals, it is home to several primitive societies. 
   The southern part is dominated by the Dark Jungle, where barbarous orc tribes serve the whims of the great dragon known as Pyre while covertly warring among themselves. The northern portion features three distinct areas: forested Jibarú, where the ecologically-minded, monkey phanatons dwell; the outback land of Wallara, home to the mystical chameleon men known as wallaras; and the Colony of the Horn, an outpost and penal colony of Texeira, located on a sandy arm that juts out into Trident Bay.
   Rocky desert and hills known as the Forbidden Highlands form a partial barrier between Western Herath and the lands of Wallara and Jibarú. Lying to the west of the Forbidden Highlands and watered by the rivers that find their source in those rugged hills is the Kingdom of Nimmur. Once home to the spiritual winged minotaurs known as enduks, Nimmur is now under the control of evil manscorpions who stole both the enduks' land and their cultural identity. Along the western coast stretches a desolate strip of grasslands, sand, swamp, and mosquito-infested wasteland called the Unclaimed Territories. Colonies, trading posts, and human settlements are few in the Orc's Head Peninsula.
   For the most part, the peninsula is unaffected by the Red Curse permeating the lands to the east. Cinnabryl is still in demand, however, for a small part of the land near Herath still carries the Red Curse within it; cinnabryl is also coveted by the great vermilion dragon known as Pyre.
   To the west and extending farther to the south, lies another peninsula. The Arm of the Immortals is host to the mountain kingdoms of Aeryl, home of the ee'aar (winged elves), and Eshu, land of the enduks (winged minotaurs). These lie atop plateaus found deep within the sheltering slopes of high mountains known as the Great Immortals' Shield in the central portion of the peninsula. The Western Orclands are divided between three competing tribes and stretch along the eastern coast, with their jungles framing the sea hydra-inhabited Grubb Nest Marshes. To the north, seedy Porto Maldição, once a Vilaverdan trading post, now an independent backwater, abuts the dreaded Rot Swamps.

Character Creation

Orc's Head profiles several new character races. The wallaras or "chameleonmen" are wise outback cousins of dragons; phanatons are small monkeylike creatures who act as defenders of the forest; and manscorpions were once usurpers of the kingdom of Nimmur who now fight to right that old wrong. The enduks are winged minotaurs, servants of the Immortal Idu, who were once the rulers of Nimmur. There are the winged elves, the ee'aar, who befriended the enduks and who live in glass cities, high in the mountains. The three races of lizard kin—the shazaks (inhabitants of Shazak), the gurrash (who live in Ator), and the caymas (who populate Cay)—were once slaves, but now live in their bayou and woodland homes at the western end of the Savage Coast. Information on each of these races is to be found in the individual chapters. The charts for generating characters as well as information on new character kits is placed here.

Table 1.1: RACIAL ABILITY REQUIREMENTS
	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
Cayma	3/13	8/18	3/18	3/16	3/16	3/18
Ee'aar	3/18	6/18	8/18	7/18	3/18	8/18
Enduk	12/18	3/18	8/18	3/18	6/18	3/18
Gurrash	10/18	3/18	8/18	3/12	3/18	3/16
Manscorpion	3/18	3/18	8/18	3/18	3/18	3/18
Phanaton	3/18	6/18	3/18	3/18	3/18	3/18
Shazak	8/18	3/18	6/18	3/17	3/18	3/16
Wallara	6/18	6/18	6/18	6/18	8/18	3/18

Table 1.2: RACIAL ABILITY ADJUSTMENTS

Cayma	+2 Dex, –1 Str, –1 Wis
Ee'aar	+2 Dex, –2 Con
Enduk	+2 Str, –2 Dex
Gurrash	+2 Str, +1 Con, –2 Wis, –2 Cha
Manscorpion	+1 Str, +1 Con, –1 Int, –1 Wis
Phanaton	+2 Dex or +1 Dex and +1 Wis, –2 Str, –1 Int
Shazak	+1 Str, –1 Wis
Wallara	+1 Dex or Wis, –1 Str    	

Table 1.3: MULTI-CLASS COMBINATIONS

Cayma		Gurrash
Fighter/Thief	Fighter/Priest
Thief/Psionicist	Fighter/Thief
		
Ee'aar		Manscorpion
Fighter/Wizard	Fighter/Thief
Fighter/Priest	Fighter/Priest
Priest/Wizard	Fighter/Psionicist

Enduk		Phanaton
Fighter/Priest	Fighter/Thief	
Fighter/Psionicist	Ranger/Priest
Priest/Psionicist	Fighter/Psionicist

Shazak		Wallara
Fighter/Thief	None
Fighter/Psionicist

Table 1.4: AVERAGE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
	Height in Inches	Weight in Pounds
Race	Base1	Modifier	Base1        Modifier
Cayma	12/12	1d6	6/6           	1d4
Ee'aar	54/50	1d10	95/75	2d6
Enduk	66/64	4d6	220/210      2d20
Gurrash	84/84  	2d12	275/275	3d20
Manscorpion 	60/58  	2d6	170/150	1d10
Phanaton	32/30	2d8	40/45	2d10
Shazak	66/66  	3d6	200/200	5d10
Wallara	    822 	1d4	2002	2d6
1. Base numbers are listed male/female.
2. There are no female wallaras. 

Table 1.5: AGE
	Starting Age		Max. Age Range
Race	Base	Variable	(Base+Variable)
Cayma	6	1d4		60+2d10
Ee'aar	80	4d6		300+3d100
Enduk	20	2d8		200+1d100
Gurrash	10	1d4		72+3d6
Manscorpion	20	3d6		80+2d20
Phanaton	12	1d4		80+3d10
Shazak	15	1d4		150+5d10
Wallara	01	1d4		75+7d20
1. Because of the unique conditions of wallara breeding, wallara characters can be quite young, but always spend at least one year with the tribe to learn a profession.

Table 1.6: AGING EFFECTS
	Middle Age	Old Age	Venerable
Race
Cayma	30		40		 60
Ee'aar	150		200		300
Enduk	100		133		200
Gurrash	36		48		 72
Manscorpion	40		60		 80
Phanaton       	40		54		 80
Shazak	75		100		150
Wallara	38		50		 75

 Table 1.7: RACIAL CLASS AND LEVEL LIMITS
		Fighter	Paladin	Ranger	Wizard1	Priest	Druid	Thief	Bard	 Psionicist

Cayma2	8		—		—		12		8	—	14	—	8
Ee'aar		14		—		—		15		12	—	8	10	7 
Enduk		14		—		—		12		U	—	8	9	8
Gurrash2	15		—		—		6		7	—	9	—	7
Manscorpion	12		—		—		12		12	—	7	10	7
Phanaton	9		—		10		8		10	13	15	8	7
Shazak2	12		—		—		7		10	—	11	8	9  
Wallara2	12		—		15		10		10	—	11	10	9 

1. This entry covers all wizard classes; some races are restricted from some wizard classes. See the entry under each race for specific information. 
2. These races are relatively primitive, and have not developed extremely specialized professions. Thus, they have a limited number of kits available, usually only one or two per class.

Table 1.8: THIEVING SKILL RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 

Race		PP	OL	F/RT	MS	HS	DN	CW	RL   
Cayma		–10%	+10%	+5%	+10%	+10%	—	—	—
Ee'aar		—	–5%	+5%	—	–5%	+15%	–20%1	—
Enduk		—	—	—	—	–5%	+5%	–20%1	+10%   
Gurrash		–5%	–10%	+5%	+5%	+5%	+5%	—	–10%    
Manscorpion	—	+5%	—	–20%	–5%	+5%	–25%	—
Phanaton		—	–10%	+5%	+10%	+10%	—	+20%	–10%
Shazak		–5%	–5%	—	+5%	+5%	+5%	–5%	–5%
Wallara		—	–20%	+5%	+10%	—2	+5%	–5%	—

1. These beings usually fly rather than climbing, and are thus, less apt at the skill.
2. The Wallaras' blending ability makes this skill unnecessary. 

New Character Kits

The following are new or adapted character kits that are particularly suited to a SAVAGE COAST campaign, especially the area of the Orc's Head Peninsula.

Mendoo (Medicine Men)

The Mendoo are the priests of the wallaras. They are identified at birth by other Mendoo. Thoughtful, mysterious, and in some ways quite powerful, they know much about the universe and always seek to learn more. Mendoo learn their first spell when they become adults (level 0).
Character Class: A Mendoo is a priest devoted to worship of the Great One (whom they call Agundji). Mendoo also revere Barramundje (Calitha Starbrow), Genjoo (Ka), and Warruntam (Ixion).
Races and Nationalities: Only wallaras can be Mendoo; all wallara priests must be Mendoo.
Requirements: Wallaras have no social class and only one gender. Mendoo cannot be evil and must have Wisdom scores of at least 13.

Role: In wallara society, Mendoo are respected and revered, the ones to whom others go for enlightenment and spiritual guidance.
   As an adventurer, a Mendoo is quiet and thoughtful, never angry, always calm. While others might seek self-awareness, the Mendoo has it. He is sure of his place in the universe, but must sometimes seek the road needed to get there. He gives good advice if asked, but never forces his desires on others. If his path takes him elsewhere, he will leave with barely a word, returning when the time is right.
   A Mendoo is respectful of all natural things and never takes life unnecessarily. Through example, he encourages others to behave with respect as well. A Mendoo expresses dissatisfaction or disappointment with a frown and a cold look, sometimes with a shake of the head, explaining his way only if asked.
   A Mendoo may hunt and kill animals for food, but always thanks an animal's spirit before eating it. If he shares the kill with anyone, they must thank the spirit as well, and show proper respect.
Class Modifications: Mendoo cannot turn undead or cast animate dead. They are allowed all other priest spells, including those usually restricted to druids. However, they regard many of them as useless or too powerful, and do not pray for them; this is a personal decision for each Mendoo (with the DM's guidance). For example, a Mendoo seldom prays for flame blade, call lightning, or flame strike; they are too destructive. Mendoo who pray for such spells must convince the Great One of the need before they are granted.
   To cast a spell, Mendoo need a small piece of quartz or opal that is consumed when the spell is cast. This can usually be acquired in caverns, near great rocks, or in the mines of Tooburra and Wirrawa.
   To recover their spells, Mendoo must participate in corroborees, which are gatherings for sacred, festive, or warlike purposes. Singing, dancing, and the handling of sacred objects are major parts of the rituals. A Mendoo may perform alone at a corroboree, if conditions dictate, or may invite his companions to join him.
   Mendoo tend to concentrate on spells from the animal, charm, divination, plant, and protection spheres.
Weapon Proficiencies: Mendoo are restricted to wallara tribal weapons. 
Nonweapon Proficiencies: The character receives the following bonus proficiencies: Direction sense, weather sense, and fire-building. Recommended proficiencies are: Artistic ability, cooking, dancing, healing (regular or veterinary), herbalism, set snares, hunting, and weaponsmithing (crude).
Equipment: The character never owns more than he can carry. Mendoo start with only a few tribal items. They do not wear armor, but may carry shields.
Special Benefits:  Mendoo sleep lightly, in a sitting position. The presence of another person within 10 feet wakes them.
   They can detect the presence of spirits, including incorporeal undead, within 10 feet. Mendoo cannot pinpoint a specific location, but they know when such spirits are present. They can tell if a spirit has been in an area within the last 24 hours, and recognize spots frequented by spirits.
   A Mendoo's most impressive special benefit is his ability to dream, which he can do once per week. When using the ability, the Mendoo sinks into a trance and can tap into the mystical knowledge of wallara spirits. The dream can imitate the effects of one of the following priest spells: speak with animals, speak with dead, speak with plants, speak with monsters, commune, control weather, and creeping doom. To dream, the Mendoo must build a fire, let it fall to embers, and stare into the embers for a full turn as he slips into a deep trance. The spell chosen has normal range, duration, and area of effect. If a Mendoo communicates with someone by dream, that individual sees a mental image of the Mendoo and the Mendoo sees an image of the person contacted. If the trance is interrupted, the dream is broken and cannot be used again for a week.
Special Hindrances: Besides the restrictions listed elsewhere, Mendoo must spend at least four hours each day in meditation, preferably by staring into the embers of a fire.
   Because of their unusual nature, Mendoo receive a +3 penalty on reaction rolls when outside their own culture.
   At times, Mendoo are called upon by the Immortals to perform a certain task. The exact nature of the task is left to the DM, but should probably be related to the wallara's tribe or race, or some obscure bit of knowledge. A Mendoo might be asked to go see if a certain animal or person still lives, or be required to track down an enemy of his people. Every once in a while, he must return to his homeland, sometimes to perform a specific task, like choosing a new tribal chief, other times just to see that things are well. The Mendoo must do what the Immortals ask them to, but can usually take along companions, if such are willing.
Wealth Options: Mendoo gain no starting money, and do not really understand the need others have for wealth. They prefer to make their own equipment or to barter for what they cannot make.

Shaman

Also called "wise ones," these special people are chosen at birth to learn the ways of the Shaman from a very young age. A Shaman is a priest devoted to a particular tribe, stressing the needs of that tribe over all other concerns. Most priests are identified with their Immortals or religions; Shamans identify with their tribes. A Shaman is a mediator between the spirits and the members of the tribe, and a religious leader in all tribal endeavors, from war and hunting to agriculture and art. Usually only one or two are found in any primitive village. Shamans are less regimented, more down to earth, than other priests.
Character Class: Only a priest can take the Shaman kit, and is restricted in certain spheres.
Races and Nationalities: Shamans are found only among phanatons, lizard kin, and goblinoids. No other races can become Shamans.
Requirements: A Shaman, no matter how young or new to the job, is always considered a tribal leader. There are no gender restrictions for Shamans, but a village usually has either male or female Shamans, not both. Shamans may have any alignment, but are usually of the same alignment as the majority of their village.
   Shamans have no special requirements for ability scores.
Role: The well-being of the village is the most important business of Shamans, for they are the repositories of all of the lore and wisdom of the tribe. No problem is too trivial. They provide divinations, though the form is often improvised and the source of information usually dubious. They give sympathy and moral support, healing ills with skills and folk remedies more often than spells, and they teach the young how to serve the community.
   Shamans must undergo arduous rituals before taking their posts, as well as apprenticing to current Shamans. The rituals include long periods of fasting, initiation ceremonies that require some pain and suffering, and trials of courage.
   Most adventuring Shamans have a greater purpose. Some adventure to aid their tribes, while others travel as part of their initiations and have specific goals that must be achieved before they can return to their people. A few are the last survivors of their tribes; guilt-ridden because they failed to protect their people, they consider the adventuring party their new tribe. Rare Shaman PCs have rejected their tribes and seek a new one to comfort, ministering to the adventuring party in the meantime.
   A Shaman casts spells to help the group, but only sparingly. The character believes others should be tough and self-sufficient, and avoids coddling them. 	
Class Modifications: Shamans have major access to the spheres of divination and protection, minor access to the spheres of all, animal, combat, healing, and plant. If the Tome of Magic is used, they also have minor access to the war sphere. Shamans seldom pray for healing spells on a daily basis, preferring to use the healing proficiency and saving spells for major injuries.
   A Shaman cannot turn undead, and never has direct access to raise dead or resurrection spells. At 9th level, a Shaman can cast reincarnation as if it were a fifth-level spell.
Weapon Proficiencies: Shamans are limited to the weapons of their tribes. They avoid large weapons.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Shamans receive healing and local history as bonus proficiencies, and are required to take herbalism. Recommended proficiencies include agriculture, animal lore, animal training, fire-building, fishing, fortune telling, reading/writing, religion, rope use, set snares, spellcraft, veterinary healing, weaponsmithing (crude), weather sense, and weaving. Shamans cannot take read/write at 1st level.
Equipment: Shamans receive no starting money. Instead, Shamans start with one of each weapon with which they are proficient. The Shaman may also have up to 20 items of other equipment common to the tribe. The list must be approved by the DM, but might include rope, food, clothing, weapon sheathes, items important for the character's nonweapon proficiencies, and so forth.
   Shamans can also possess one unusual item specific to their culture. It might be an artifact from an ancient culture, a strange decoration from another tribe, or a piece of equipment from a more technologically advanced society. Examples include a statuette from an ancient ruin, a feathered headdress for a phanaton, or a normal lantern! The piece of equipment is something that the character received in tribute, traded for, or was given by a mentor. It is often used as a badge of office.
   A Shaman can wear only leather, padded, studded leather, or hide armor.
Special Benefits: Phanaton Shamans receive the following special benefits bestowed upon them by their Immortal patrons: Shamans of Uí may move silently and hide in shadows as thieves of the same experience level so long as they remain in trees. Mother Earth's Shamans may speak with animals. Shamans of The Huntsman receive tracking and alertness in addition to any other proficiencies they would normally receive.
Special Hindrances: Shamans are considered unusual outside their homeland, and receive a +2 penalty to reaction rolls.
   Shamans also have a special holy symbol, a gri-gri, which is the only material component needed for almost any spells they need to cast. This might seem like a benefit, but it can cause problems for a Shaman character.
   An initiate Shaman is assumed to have a gri-gri, either handed down by an older Shaman, or made by the character before attaining 1st level. It is a special item constructed of natural materials. Attached to a staff or rod, it is symbolic of the tribe and the Shaman. For instance, since phanatons consider spiders a delicacy, a phanaton Shaman might fasten a dried spider, or a spider symbol made of fur and bone, to the top of his staff. A Shaman with a name like "Snakeslayer" might attach snake skins to hers. Many Shamans use a skull, or a hollow gourd, putting stones or beads inside so it rattles when shaken. (Some even place small stones in a hollow staff so they rattle when the staff is turned upside down.) The gri-gri is used in place of a normal holy symbol and is never consumed by spellcasting. Successful adventuring Shamans update their gri-gri with items or carvings symbolic of their travels and experiences.
   If the gri-gri is destroyed, the Shaman must construct a new one and is unable to cast any spells until it is finished. Making a gri-gri requires a staff or rod and any other components the Shaman desires. Finding the materials usually involves a short quest and might take as long as a week. Afterward, the Shaman must meditate with the gri-gri, dancing and chanting as appropriate for the tribe (DM's discretion) for no fewer than eight hours without interruption.
   In addition, a Shaman learns spells in a manner similar to a Wokan. While praying for spells, the Shaman must dance and chant; many have special steps, rhythms, or chants for each spell. Memorization times and rest requirements are the same as for a standard priest.
   Finally, the Shaman must go through a special ceremony each time he attains a new spell level, regardless of any other training required by the DM. For instance, upon attaining 3rd level the Shaman gains the ability to cast second-level spells; in addition to any training required to advance a level, the Shaman must take part in a long ceremony during which he learns how to cast spells at the new level. The rite involves fasting without sleep for at least 24 hours, while the Shaman creates and performs chants and dances for the new spells.
	Wealth Options: Shamans receive no starting funds.

Savage Warrior

A Savage warrior is one from a primitive tribe, usually a tribe with no more than a stone age technology and hunter-gatherer or basic agricultural methods of food production. The character is in tune with the natural world, and usually serves as a tribal guardian and hunter. In this case, "savage" refers only to a person from a primitive tribe, and does not necessarily imply brutality, cruelty, or rudeness; in fact, many Savages of the Savage Coast are peaceful.
Character Class: Fighters can take the Savage kit. The only societies that have Savage rangers are phanatons and wallaras. There are no primitive human tribes along the Savage Coast, so a Savage paladin is unheard of—but might be possible if a human were raised under special circumstances by shazaks or phanatons.
Races and Nationalities: Savages come from Cay, Shazak, Ator, Jibarú, and Wallara. Goblinoids of the Dark Jungle and the Yazak Steppes have savage cultures, as do the Yazi goblinoids of the coast. It is possible, though very rare, for members of most other races to be captured and raised as Savages by shazaks, phanatons, or even Yazi or Yazak goblinoids.
Requirements: Savages have no real social classes, but Savage warriors are automatically in the middle and upper echelons of their societies. Savages can be of any alignment and either gender. Savage warriors must have Strength scores of 11 or more and Constitution scores of at least 15.
Role: A Savage warrior can be crude or civil, coarse or noble, depending on the character's culture of origin and the desires of the player. Phanatons, wallaras, and shazaks are almost always peaceful and noble in bearing, feeling a responsibility to their lands and disdaining cruel or devious methods. Caymas are also usually peaceful, but somewhat temperamental and occasionally shifty. Gurrash and goblinoids come from warrior cultures and avoid devious methods.
   The Savage must be played as an outsider, unaccustomed to the accoutrements of civilization, such as excessive clothing or armor, complex tools and weapons, money and materialism, and deceit and treachery. Savages, even the more warlike specimens, often serve as the "voice of the conscience," speaking out against the more base values and ethics of "civilization."
Class Modifications: A Savage ranger takes the terrain of his or her tribe (plains for wallaras, forest for phanatons) as a primary terrain. Followers of Savage rangers are almost always from the same savage culture, while their species enemy is usually whatever most threatens their tribes or an important food animal (manscorpions or giant spiders for phanatons, iguanas or wild dingoes for wallaras). The very rare Savage paladin owes allegiance to a tribe and its elders. Such a paladin gains a bonded mount (a mobat) only if raised in Shazak.
Weapon Proficiencies: At 1st level, a Savage can choose proficiencies only in tribal weapons. Tribal weapons are clubs, nets, javelins, blowguns, hand axes, and bites for phanatons; knives, spears, clubs, and boomerangs for wallaras. Shazaks, caymas, and gurrash take those weapons peculiar to their tribes. Many of these weapons are made of stone, bone, and wood.
As the Savage gains more experience with the world, he can choose other weapons, but Savages tend to stay with familiar implements as much as possible. It is a rare Savage who learns skill with firearms.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: A Savage receives bonus proficiencies in direction sense, weather sense, endurance, and survival. Recommended proficiencies include alertness, animal handling, animal lore, animal noise, animal training, boating, fire-building, fishing, herbalism, hunting, jumping, religion, rope use, set snares, tracking, and weaponsmithing (crude). A 1st-level Savage can choose only the proficiencies on the recommended list and any others the DM permits. He must have experience in the outside world before taking others.
Equipment: A Savage warrior starts with no money with which to purchase equipment. Instead the character starts with one of each weapon of proficiency. A Savage warrior can also have up to 10 items of other equipment common to his tribe. As with Shamans, this list must be approved by the DM. More complex items are common only in Shazak, so mirrors, lanterns, and the like are rare among Savages. They are restricted to armor that is common to their tribespeople.
Special Benefits: Besides the bonus nonweapon proficiencies that the Savage character receives (these reflect the Savages' struggle to survive), each warrior gains a special ability resembling a spell. The ability is not magical, so cannot be discerned by detect magic, nor does it require components of any sort. A character can use the ability once a day per level (a 3rd-level Savage could use the ability three times a day). Success is automatic.
   Shazaks and gurrash have an "alarm" ability, automatically being alerted to an intrusion within 10 feet; a sleeping Savage awakens when a creature ventures within that zone. Only creatures the size of a normal rat and larger are noticed in this fashion. The talent includes flying and levitating, invisible, incorporeal, and gaseous creatures, but not ethereal or astral beings. An active character can concentrate for a full round without distractions (such as combat or noisy companions) to enact this power consciously.
   Caymas can detect magic within 10 feet.
   Wallaras can detect evil in a monster, place, or magical item within 10 yards; like the priest spell, this ability allows the wallara to find the degree of evil and its general nature, but not its exact alignment. The DM might occasionally allow these powers to be activated involuntarily by overwhelming emanations of the appropriate type; this should not count against the number of times a character can use this ability.
   Phanatons have an animal friendship ability similar to the 1st-level priest spell. To use this ability, a Savage must confront the animal face-to-face, within the creature's attack range. The warrior can have no ulterior motives that could be detected by the creature. With this ability, the phanaton Savage warrior can make friends with a normal animal that is not angry or threatened or calm a hostile but normal animal. To make friends with a belligerent animal, the character must use the ability twice.
Special Hindrances: Savage warriors are uncomfortable in civilized clothes and armor. When wearing clothing more encumbering or concealing than tribal dress, Savages suffer a –1 to attack and damage rolls and nonweapon proficiency scores. If the character wears armor not common to his society (gurrash and wallaras do not normally wear armor, while other societies are restricted), he is uncomfortable, suffering a –3 penalty to attack and damage rolls and nonweapon proficiency scores. Natural abilities are often impaired as well. If the character ignores the discomfort and continues to wear atypical clothing or armor, the negative modifier gradually gets worse. An additional –1 per day is assessed until the character stops wearing the offensive materials. The character can stop the penalties by dropping the kit, accepting a civilized lifestyle, and losing all his or her bonus nonweapon proficiencies and special abilities.
   Savage warriors are not all that unusual in the lands of the Savage Coast, so the character does not suffer a penalty to reaction rolls.
Wealth Options: A Savage character has no starting funds, receiving necessary items as explained under "Equipment." Of the cultures described here, most rely on barter or, more often, make their own weapons and equipment.

Wilderness Warrior

These characters come from a culture that lives in dangerous or unusual environments such as plains, mountains, or deep forests. Wilderness warriors are in touch with the environment, but are often loners, people who shun settlements of more than about a dozen persons. They are familiar with the amenities of settled areas, but prefer natural, usually untouched settings, where they can enjoy nature's wonders in peace.
   It is also possible for a tribe to contain several dozen Wilderness warriors in savage lands like the territories controlled by shazaks, phanatons, and wallaras. In these cases, the entire tribe shares the attitudes of the Wilderness warriors.
Character Class: Fighters can take the Wilderness kit. Wilderness rangers are acceptable in Robrenn, Herath, and Jibarú. Wilderness paladins are acceptable in Herath and—rarely—in Robrenn.
Races and Nationalities: The Wilderness kit is available in Robrenn, Eusdria, Herath, Shazak, Jibarú, and Wallara, and for enduks and ee'aar. It is possible for characters from other cultures and races to take this kit if they have turned their backs on their homelands and spent formative years in the wilderness.
Requirements: Wilderness warriors can come from any social class present in their societies; social class is abandoned when the character takes this kit. There are no gender or alignment restrictions, but individuals tend toward neutral alignments. Wilderness warriors must have a Constitution score of at least 13.
Role: Wilderness warriors are outsiders in most civilized lands. Even if they originally come from cities, they have chosen to live in the wilderness and are uncomfortable in urban settings around people they don't know. This edginess spreads to others, who are often uncomfortable in the presence of these taciturn, nature-loving warriors who lack civilized manners.
Like the members of other kits, Wilderness warriors disdain the deceit of civilization, preferring the honesty of nature. They might also misinterpret some of the conventions of normal society.
In their home settings, Wilderness warriors reign supreme, recognizing small marks, noticing when something is unusual, and knowing all about survival. While nervous around people or in cities, these characters are confident around animals and in natural surroundings.
Class Modifications: The Wilderness kit epitomizes the ranger class in some ways; a Wilderness ranger has no special restrictions. A Wilderness paladin is usually independent, but may have a mentor.
Weapon Proficiencies: Wilderness warriors must choose from weapons available to their cultures. The Savage warrior kit discusses shazak, phanaton, and wallara weapons. Ee'aar weapons include crossbow, short sword, bolas, lasso, net, blowgun, and spear. Enduks prefer footman's mace, club, crossbow, and flight lance. If the culture has no special restrictions (Herath and Robrenn for example), the character is restricted to bows, hand axes, battle axes, clubs, quarterstaves, slings, spears, and swords.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus proficiencies for the Wilderness warrior are survival (in the character's home environment) and endurance. Recommended proficiencies include alertness, animal handling, animal training, fire-building, fishing, herbalism, hunting, set snares, swimming, mountaineering (if appropriate), and tracking.
Equipment: Beginning Wilderness warriors can only have equipment appropriate to their cultures. Most Wilderness warriors prefer hide, leather, or studded leather, avoiding metallic armors.
Special Benefits: Wilderness warriors receive a onetime +5 bonus to their survival proficiency scores for their home terrains (a roll of 20 still fails). If they later take survival proficiencies for different terrains, the bonus does not apply.
Special Hindrances: Wilderness warriors are occasionally hindered by unfamiliarity with society and civilized settings. This should be portrayed through role-playing and encouraged by the DM.
Wealth Options: Wilderness warriors receive standard starting funds.

Savage Wizards and Psionicists

Like their warrior brethren, Savage wizards are associated with primitive tribes. In some cases, the Savage is a tribal spellcaster; in others, the wizard is a mysterious hermit.
   The Savage wizard (or psionicist) is associated with a people in one of the more primitive lands along the Savage Coast. Among phanatons and wallaras, the Savage is important in the tribe and becomes the war leader when one is needed. They are respected among and helpful to their tribes. Local people refer to Savages as "wizards" (or the local equivalent), no matter what their actual character class.
   Among the lizard kin, the feared Savage wizard is an eccentric hermit who lives on the fringe of the tribe. Sometimes threatening and always mysterious, the character can help tribe members in ways a Wokan cannot. Most lizard kin tribes ask them for favors only in dire circumstances and when they are ready to pay for a favor with food, beadwork, service, or other gifts.
   Away from his or her homeland, the Savage wizard is considered unusual and a little intimidating.
Character Class: Psionicists and any wizards except wild mages, abjurers, and enchanters can take the Savage kit. Savage wizards are often elemental specialists.
Races and Nationalities: Savage wizards are found in the lands of the wallaras and the phanatons, but rarely among the lizard kin. They seldom train members of other races in their skills.
Requirements: Savage tribes have no real social classes, so the character's origin is unimportant. Among phanatons and wallaras the Savage is considered to be of the upper echelons of the tribe, while among lizard kin, the Savage is almost entirely outside of the tribal structure. Savages may be of either gender and any alignment. (Evil and chaos are common among lizard kin Savages, while good and lawful are common among wallaras and phanatons.) A Savage wizard must have a Strength score of at least 11 and a minimum score of 13 for Constitution.
Role: Savage wizards are something of outsiders in many situations; this is especially true of those from lizard kin regions. They are a voice against certain civilized manners, or persons who do not do things the normal way. Deceit and intimidation are no strangers to a Savage wizard character.
   Savage wizards and psionicists like to cloak themselves in an air of mystery. Doing so always impresses the locals, so it ought to do the same anywhere. Phanatons and wallaras with this kit are usually combatants who hold (or held) high positions in their tribes; they expect respect from their companions. Lizard kin with this kit are usually hermits who tried to dominate the local tribe with fear and who expect their new companions to pay them tribute just as the locals did.
   Savage wizards become adventurers for a variety of reasons. A character's mentor might tell his student to learn more about the world or launch the individual on a quest for a special item or spell component. A tribe might exile the character or drive him away from home for some real or imagined wrong. A character might even have performed some transgression against tribal law and been sentenced to undertake a mission to atone for it.
Class Modifications: Unlike other spellcasters of their cultures, Savage wizards can use any spells except wild magic. However, they generally avoid any spell that is not useful for survival in the wild, combat with other tribes, or the intimidation of other tribal members. A Savage psionicist can have any primary discipline, but prefers Psychometabolism or Psychokinesis.
Weapon Proficiencies:  A Savage wizard or psionicist is permitted only the weapons of his tribe, as detailed under the Savage warrior kit. However, Savage gurrash wizards and psionicists cannot take proficiency in great club, brol, or maga.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Savages receive bonus proficiencies in either direction sense or weather sense (player's choice), as well as endurance, survival, and reading/writing.
   Lizard kin read and write Shazak.
   Phanatons and wallaras come from cultures that have no literature; phanaton and wallara wizards and psionicists with the Savage kit are the only people in those cultures (other than traders) who can read and write as beginning characters. Both cultures' Savage wizards use Risil pictographs.
   Phanatons scratch their spells in bark, though they can switch to paper when they manage to find it. Wallaras generally have nonportable spellbooks, drawing or carving the pictographs on cave walls or the great stone outcroppings known as dreamstones. They can memorize spells only in that place, and such a spellbook can be shared. These "books"are almost always handed down by masters to their apprentices.
   An adventurer can create a "traveling spellbook" on flattened bark, by copying the main spellbook. The Savage can copy spells of up to two levels higher than he can learn. The character can learn copied spells on the road, but can copy new spells only at the "main" spellbook, so must return to the area periodically.
Recommended proficiencies include: animal handling, animal lore, fire-building, fishing, healing, herbalism, hunting, local history, rope use, running (for wallaras), set snares, and tracking.
Equipment: Savage wizards and psionicists receive no starting money. Instead, these characters start with one of each of the weapons in which they are proficient. Savages can have up to 20 other items of equipment common to the tribe if the DM approves.
   A Savage wizard can also have one unique item not found in his culture, like those received by Shamans. A Savage character can wear armor natural to his character class (none for wizards, leather, padded, or studded leather for psionicists).
Special Benefits: Savage wizards receive one special ability as described below:
   A phanaton can make a protective talisman once a week. The talisman is a small pouch of herbs and other ingredients hung on a leather cord worn around the subject's neck. For one day, the recipient receives the benefit of the wizard's version of protection from evil. Dispel magic ruins a talisman, permanently canceling its dweomer. It takes one hour to make a talisman.
   Lizard kin can make a small, crude figurine of a victim once a week. The figurine must contain a lock of hair or another small piece of organic material from a victim. It takes one hour to construct and lasts but one week. During that week, the Savage can attack the replicant. Making any single attack, from sticking a pin into it to breaking an arm off, causes 1d4 points of damage to the victim regardless of the attack form used or how far away the victim is; pain is felt in the affected part, though no sign of the attack is visible. Once the victim has taken 10 points of damage, the doll falls apart. It also becomes useless if dispel magic is cast on it.
   A wallara can, once a week, forecast the general fortunes of some major undertaking by interpreting natural signs as omens. To interpret the omen, the wallara must concentrate without interruption for one turn. While concentrating, the wallara notices minor things that determine the nature of the omen. If interrupted, the ability is lost and cannot be used for another week. Wallaras generally use this ability before a major battle or other significant task. Ideally, the DM should have a good enough grasp of the upcoming situation to give an accurate omen to the character.
If the wallara character is unable to make a prediction, the DM should roll a d10. A 1 or 2 indicates a very bad omen; the characters should not attempt the task that day. A result of 3 or 4 signifies a bad omen; caution is advised. One of 5 or 6 represents either a neutral omen or none at all. A 7 or 8 points to a good omen; those involved will probably succeed. A roll of 9 or 10 signifies a very auspicious omen, suggesting that great success is possible.
   If the characters ignore the warnings or omens, they can suffer the consequences. The DM should feel free to increase the strength of the opposition if they ignore bad omens or reduce resistance in the case of good omens.
Special Hindrances: Savage wizards and psionicists are odd-looking and possess strange manners; these characters receive a +2 penalty on all reaction rolls when dealing with those outside the tribe. For lizard kin, the penalty applies within the tribe as well.
Wealth Options: Savage wizards and psionicists receive no starting money. Of the cultures mentioned, only the shazaks really understand and use money; others use barter and make their own weapons and equipment.

Wallara and the Chameleonmen

The arid, grassy outback of Wallara is the homeland of the primitive wallaras, who may be among the eldest races on Mystara. Also known as chameleonmen, these tall, spindly beings have lived on the northern coast of the Orc's Head Peninsula for many centuries. The wallaras of Wallara are different from those of other lands, being slightly less primitive. 

Wallaras

Related to dragons and once the companions of the Immortals, the wallaras degenerated into a more primitive society due to a Herathian spell gone awry. Today, they have struggled back from a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence and have begun to relearn from the past. Many wallaras have settled in small villages, but most now reside in the ancient city of Risilvar, where clues to their past abound.
Appearance: Wallaras are humanoids of many colors whose 7-foot height is emphasized by their extremely slender build. They have spindly arms and legs and walk with a gangling gait that appears awkward to other races. Their skin is slightly scaly with multicolored mottled red tiger stripes, interrupted by blue, yellow, green, orange, brown, black, and white spotting. Hair is found only on their heads and may be a single color or as mottled and colorful as their skins. They wear loincloths or simple shifts, usually carry net or kangaroo bags with their personal necessities, and occasionally don jewelry.
Personality: The wallaras are a wise people who value the land and their place in it. They are physically active, sometimes walking all day while hunting or gathering food. They are also meditative and spiritual, honoring their Immortal patrons through dance and song. Wallaras can be quite serious but most of them have a humorous side as well, laughing at themselves as easily as at their fellows. Levelheaded and practical though they may be, wallaras can be very superstitious, following rituals and customs that seem nonsensical to outsiders.
   Wallaras are usually good, but quite a few are neutral. A very few of them are evil. Because most wallaras follow tribal customs and taboos, lawful alignments predominate.
Lifestyle: Wallaras can be nomadic hunter-gatherers, settled villagers who raise crops in addition to hunting, or residents of the ancient city of Risilvar. The latter study the old paintings and try to piece together clues from their past in addition to their other pursuits. Each village has a population of 20 to 80 wallaras led by a headman chosen for his wisdom. He rules along with a council of elders.
   All wallara settlements have a magical site known as a tookoo. These special caves, grottos, singular rocks or ancient trees radiate magic and provide the wallaras with a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls. When fighting for their tookoos or homes, wallaras' morale rises to Fearless (20).
   Risilvar supports over 9,000 wallaras who live in the remains of buildings and caves composing the ancient city. They are ruled by Bakaloo Sunskin, the overchief of all wallaras. There are no female wallaras; new generations are budded from the cast-off skins of elder wallaras and reach maturity in just eight weeks. Often several generations of wallaras from a particular line will live close together and make up a family grouping.
   In addition to food gathering, hunting, and fishing, wallaras make their own tools, weapons, and clothing. Some carve or paint stones, and many are honored for their storytelling abilities. Those who live in Risilvar have taken their turn at mining at one time or another. All wallara are expert trackers and can survive in the wilderness near their homes for weeks, even if abandoned with no food or water.
   Each tribe claims kinship with either an animal or a plant, which they believe guards them and grants them wisdom. They believe that their ancestors walked the earth along with the Immortals, but when evil times came, some of them grew afraid and changed themselves into animals, birds, rocks, or plants to escape destruction. Most wallara see it as their duty to care for their changed brethren who no longer walk in the original shape the Immortals gave them.
   Wallaras revere their elders, and leaders are chosen for their wisdom, proven ability and adherence to wallaran customs. Those who disobey the elders and chosen leaders of their tribes bring evil down upon all in the form of a punishing spirit known as the kurdaitcha man. This terrifying "bogeyman" kills those responsible for failures and may wreak havoc until it is appeased and sent back to the nightmare lands.
   Land is very important to the wallaras, but not in the sense of ownership. What is provided by the spirits is to be shared by all and no single person can own the land. Furthermore, though some tribes of wallaras are nomadic, they stay within certain defined territories in their wanderings because those lands are believed to house the spirits of their own changed kin and the ancestors from whom they sprang. Individual wallaras, however, sometimes succumb to a form of wanderlust known as a walkabout. Those on walkabout travel wherever their fancy takes them.
   Possessions are few and considered a necessary burden, for even settled villages uproot every few years and move to more fertile ground. For this reason, homes are not built to last. Most are crude bark shelters or huts known as wurlies.
   Wallaras have a great sense of fun and fair play. They enjoy games of all sorts, particularly races and war games that show off their weapons, skills, and agility. Even their feuds and wars are conducted like games. When a disagreement arises between two tribes or villages, they meet to decide the issue, choose a certain number of people to fight, and provide them all with the same kinds and numbers of weapons to be used. Then everyone else forms a circle around the combatants to watch their adeptness.
   Strict rules are followed in war. Each side begins standing behind a line drawn in the sand. Each warrior receives six of each type of weapon to be used. From behind the lines an individual warrior throws a spear at his counterpart, who tries to deflect it with a shield. After all the spears have been thrown once, the warriors throw boomerangs at one another. These are meant to be jumped over by the warrior on the other side. If a wallara actually throws the boomerang to harm or kill, all present set upon him for his unfair behavior.
   When all the boomerangs have been thrown, the warriors may cross the lines and engage in hand-to-hand combat with their nulla-nullas (war clubs). As in the previous weapon matches, each club may be used only once. Warriors must drop the club after one swing whether they land a blow or not. Once all the weapons have been used or whenever anyone is seriously hurt the war is stopped. Whichever side is in better shape is declared the winner and the dispute is settled in their favor. The wounded are now cared for, and everyone joins in a corroboree (a celebration that includes dancing, singing, and storytelling).
   Not all of their practices are so lighthearted. There are strict procedures for entering a village or city of the wallara. Strangers are expected to announce their presence by clapping two boomerangs together or moving downwind and carrying a lit branch from an aromatic tree or bush. Once the strangers have been noticed, they are to sit within plain sight of those in the village, but far enough away to make attack difficult, and wait for a delegation to be sent out to meet them.
   It is also considered very bad manners and gravely insulting for visitors to approach or enter the village smiling. Since visitors have no way of knowing if illness, injury, or some other difficulty has befallen the village, they should keep a grave expression until they learn that all is well. To do otherwise shows both disrespect and a lack of caring for those who would offer hospitality. Once it is clear that everything is well, smiles and greetings may be exchanged.
   Three other matters are considered very serious by the wallaras. First, the dance steps, chants, and sacred objects used in their rituals must be shown respect by all present; these may not be seen by the uninitiated. All steps and rites must be performed correctly.
   Secondly, pointed sticks or bones are items used in laying curses; they engender great fear and hostility. Wizards with wands should take particular care not to point them toward wallaras.
   Finally, the wallaras have a superstitious dread of other beings' shadows. From the earliest age, young wallaras are taught to stoop or to stand far enough away from someone to keep their shadows from falling on anyone else. Most consider it a harbinger of bad luck to come and believe that those who carelessly let their shadows cover another person deserve punishment.

Wallaras as PCs

Wallaras are distantly related to dragons. From them they inherited several innate magical powers. An adult tribesman has the ability to vanish, which is roughly equivalent to the dimension door spell. It has a shorter range (120 feet instead of 360 feet), and since it is a racial ability, wallaras never accidentally materialize into solid objects. Use of this ability counts as a full action and requires an Intelligence check every time it is used. They may use this ability each round, and usually utilize it to avoid combat or surround opponents.
   At 3rd level, a wallara can truly mimic his surroundings. The Wallara effectively turns invisible like the wizard spell. Although a wallara can use this ability at will and any number of times in a day, he must remain absolutely quiet and motionless while doing so (he cannot cast spells, talk, attack, dodge, move, or vanish).
   Wallaras have perfected the ability to remain motionless for extended periods of time (up to one hour per experience level), mimicking their surroundings. Mimicry only fools other races—wallaras can always see one another.
   All wallaras have an uncanny ability to find their way back when within 10 miles of their homes or encampments. Keen powers of observation allow them to notice tracks, note the position of the stars, find landmarks. With a highly developed sense of smell, they are even able to utilize familiar odors for tracking and location finding. They all have the tracking nonweapon proficiency and receive only a –3 penalty rather than the usual –6. All wallaras gain ancient history and local history as bonus proficiencies as well. 	Language: Wallaras speak their own language known as Risil, a curiously inflected lingo with many strange-sounding words. The changing colors of their skin reveal feelings.Proper usage of color and shade is a sign of wisdom and social status among wallaras. Although modern wallaras do not use a written language, an ancient pictographic form of Risil often found in old wallaran ruins is used by a few wallara wizards. Some few of their Mendoo also speak Common or Verdan, because of the proximity of the Colony of the Horn.
Character Classes/Kits: Because of wallaras' insular society, special breeding requirements, and racial memory, they are born with certain societal knowledge. It is very rare for a wallara to be raised outside his homeland and those who are never fit into other societies enough to take their kits. Wallaras know little about raising children, so people of other races are never raised in wallara society; any children they might find are returned to their homes or given to the phanatons of Jibarú to raise. Wallaras may be fighters, rangers, wizards, priests, thieves, or psionicists. No wallara may be multiclassed. Wallara wizards must be diviners, abjurers, or necromancers.
   There are only a few kits available to wallaras, and even those wallaras who are not raised in their homeland must take those kits. Wallaras gain no initial Legacy, as their land is unaffected by the Red Curse. Though one might choose to take the Inheritor kit, most wallaras have no desire for power and it would be an unlikely choice. Warrior kits available to wallaras are Defender, Savage warrior, and Wilderness warrior. Their wizards must take either the Mystic or the Savage wizard kit, while thieves may choose to be Filchers or Scouts. The only priest kit available to them is the Mendoo (medicine man), detailed in "Character Creation."
Equipment: Wallaras carry bags in which they stock their few possessions. Most contain a spare spear head or two, a grinding stone, sinew or twine, a few pigments such as ocher and sepia, and beeswax or sticky gum. Other than their weapons, many carry a sharpened stick for digging roots. Medicine Men might also carry bones, small stones, sharpened shells, herbs, and other secret or sacred objects in their bags. Those wallaras who have reached adulthood often carry bullroarers (a thin piece of wood threaded with string or sinew that makes a low, throbbing hum when swung around the head), the symbol of their initiation into the tribe.
Miscellaneous: Wallaras are poor swimmers (requiring a skill slot to learn how to swim), but those who learn the skill become quite adept at gleaning edible sea life from the barrier reefs that line Trident Bay. Lacking infravision, wallaras nonetheless seem to have an uncanny sense of where they are when within a few miles of their homeland and can navigate their way home even in the dark. Their natural Armor Class is 9. They harbor a strong aversion to armor, since it cancels both their abilities to vanish and to mimic.
   Wallaras use stone or bone daggers, spears with stone edges that are given extra impetus through use of a spear-thrower called a wommera, clubs known as nulla-nullas, and, typically, boomerangs. Wallaras' racial modifiers are as follows: All wallaras take a –1 penalty to Strength. All but Mendoo receive a +1 to Dexterity; Mendoo receive a +1 to Wisdom instead. Though they can have a Charisma score of up to 18, this applies only among wallaras; penalize Charisma –1 when dealing with other humanoids, –2 for demihumans and humans.

History

Wallaras are descendants of an ancient native tribe of hunter-gatherers. There was a time when the wallaras walked side by side with the spirits that created them. They were in tune with the land, so much so that wallaras equated their life and well-being with that of the land and its wealth. The wallaras viewed themselves as the protectors of nature, which had been entrusted to them by their creators. In their small city of Risilvar, which they built in the hills to be close to their Immortal patrons, they flourished and learned much about the universe.
   They were a wise people, a race that could pierce mysteries that other races did not even suspect existed. Although they were a peaceful people, the wallaras soon attracted the enmity of the Herathians, who had many dark secrets to hide. The wallaras knew of the aranean nature of the Herathian wizards, for they had often watched the intelligent, giant spiders from afar, but the wallaras saw the creatures as just another incarnation of nature, not as a threat. The Herathians never understood the wallaran way of thinking, and as the years passed the aranean's discomfort, believing their concealment was at risk, grew to be unbearable for them.
   A frightening psychosis arose among the araneans as a result. At greatest risk were the older creatures, often the most powerful ones. These great wizards created a spell to remove all knowledge of the araneans' true identity from the minds of the wallaras. The mental uneasiness prevalent among the Herathian wizards at the time caused them to miscalculate the severity of the spell's effect.
   The result was catastrophic. While removing knowledge of the araneans from the wallaran minds, the spell backfired. The wallaran racial memories kept shifting—over and over, distorting and nearly wiping them from their minds. The Herathians were at a loss to halt the spell, and the hapless wallaran civilization fell back to the stone age. Only obscure, jumbled memories and legends of their past survive in their minds.
   This tragedy caused the Great One—the Immortal patron of the wallaras—to seek revenge. A plague of dragons attacked Herath. The araneans were experienced and organized enough to survive the wrath of the Great One, although at a dreadful cost to their nation. Herath faced such horrendous devastation that Korotiku met with the Great One and explained the error of his aranean followers. It cost the Trickster dearly to persuade the Great One to halt the attacks, in addition to a promise from Herath never to interfere with the wallaras again.
   Aranean priests were informed and soon Herathians began rebuilding their nation. The Herathian priests also destroyed all traces of the spell of forgetting, and forever banned further research on its effects, for fear that someday it might be used against Herathians too.
   Meanwhile, the wallaras were condemned to become primitive nomads, seeking the secret of their past. They believed that, indeed, spirits once walked the land, but that was during the Time of Dreams, the time when the Immortals created them. They thought for a long time that the spirits lived in the rocky hills and no one was allowed to go there. Centuries later, when the Mendoo discovered the lost city of Risilvar, they found pictorial stories of their past and opened the city as a hallowed place for all wallaran tribes. Many took up residence there. Others settled in small villages in the outback, and a few returned to their nomadic ways.
   Today the wallaras are slowly relearning the past and fragments of their ancient civilization are beginning to reappear. The remainder of the Forbidden Highlands, mostly south of the Forbidden River, is still taboo. No one enters that region for fear of the evil spirits living there. Wallara Mendoo have received messages from the sky that beyond the river lies the land of the balandas, the evil spirits that steal people's souls. In truth, this reference is to the Herathians.
   The wallaras are still not as close to the Immortals as they used to be. The Immortals are convinced that closeness to them is not necessarily a good thing, as this proved to be the wallaras' undoing. Wallaras are still a wise people, but they no longer have the curiosity to see through mysteries other than those of their own land and people.
   The land of Wallara is presently at peace. Other than the Herathians, Wallara has two neighbors: the gator men of Gurr'ash at the northeastern end of the outback, and the phanaton people at the western edge. The phanatons are friendly and some trade exists between the two races—the wallaras trade opals, quartz stones, emu eggs, giant termite larvae, and crocodile skins for phanaton goods.
   For wallaras, gatormen are an embodiment of Genjoo, the Crocodile Spirit. Because of this, wallaras respect the gatormen, despite their occasional savagery. They maintain a curious trading system with the gatormen, but only the wiser tribesmen may enter the Wallaroo Grasslands bordering the gatormen's bayou, and always under the guidance of Mendoo and bardic traders.

The Land of Wallara

Capital: Risilvar (Pop: 9,500 wallara)
Ruler: Bakaloo Sunskin, son of Woy The Reamer.
Patron: Agundji, The Rainbow Serpent

Flora and Fauna

The land of Wallara lies to the south of Trident Bay, which is known to the wallaras as the Great Billabong. White sand beaches along the shore give rise to dunes and to grasslands where most of the wallaras' small villages are located. Though Wallara boasts several beautiful and surprising geological features, most of its terrain consists of a long, temperate plain covered with tall grasses and small clumps of forest. At intervals, the gnarled branches of a lone baobab or gum tree offers shade in the middle of the outback.
   For the most part, the plains area is dry, with small streams, seasonal rivers, and a few ponds and watering holes providing most of the accessible water. During dry seasons streams disappear, rivers become trickles, and smaller ponds dry up. No large rivers flow through Wallara itself, though the Xingá River forms part of Wallara's western border. The indigenous animals and wallaras know how to locate many underground sources of water, and several artesian wells, available for all, have been marked across the grasslands.
   In rainy times, the grassland comes alive with dozens of varieties of wildflowers. Spreading colorful carpets across the face of the outback, they attract small animals and insects to the area in droves. Streams fill out. Ponds overflow their banks, and gullies among the few rocky hills become access ways for seasonal brooks and tiny waterfalls.
   Farther inland lies a light woodland, primarily of eucalyptus trees, with mountain ash, acacias, mosses, and ferns proliferating where the woods grow more dense. Known as the Kookaroo Forest, these woodlands border the Forbidden Highlands.  Farther east, the forest becomes more dense and is called the Woods of Mullawong.
   Though this stark land might seem to be desolate and all but uninhabited, several types of animals and birds make Wallara their home. Noisy flocks of galahs (pink and gray parrots) and budgerigars (brightly colored small parrots) flit through the grasslands,gathering at watering holes. Crocodiles lurk beneath the surface of the billabongs, awaiting the unwary. Brightly colored cockatoos abound in the forested areas, while game birds live in the grasslands alongside tiny insect eaters. Snakes, shingleback lizards, and scorpions bask in the fierce sun. Kangaroos—nomadic gray, large red, and tiny rat varieties—leap through the grasslands and forests. Small rodents swarm through the grasslands, especially during rainy seasons. The most feared predators of the outback are dingoes, the wild dogs that form vicious packs and attack travelers and even small villages.
   The Forbidden Highlands are mostly sandstone, laced with the forgotten caves of the ancient wallaras. The red sandstone of the highlands is striated with gold, orange, black, and brown, creating an ever changing panorama of round domed hills and jagged, upthrust rock formations. The mountainous expanses thrust up from the forests below or rise in stark splendor from the cracked, rocky desert that forms the foothills.
   Some vegetation struggles to grow in the rocky hills of the highlands including patches of porcupine grass, saltbushes, and rare, stunted trees. These take advantage of the fresh water that occasionally flows close enough to the surface to feed the plants' roots. The source of the Forbidden River, the main provider of water in the highlands, lies in salted grounds. Its muddy, brackish water remains inadequate for consumption.
   A few creatures survive in the water-starved highlands by adapting to the arid conditions and lack of greenery. Lizards, snakes, insects, birds, and small rodents gather wherever food is available. Most lair underground or in the tangled foliage of dwarf bushes or trees, emerging as the afternoon sun begins its descent.

The Lost City of Risilvar

The lifeless landscape of tortured sandstone formations and crazed, broken wastelands that are the Forbidden Highlands have long served as a holy ground for the wallaras. This is the setting of the ancient lost city of Risilvar. Located above the Kookaroo Forest and north of the Forbidden River, Risilvar was built by the ancient wallaras as a link between them and their Immortal patrons.
   Taking advantage of a natural network of caverns, the ancient wallaras built much of their city below ground. Though they linked several central caves together via easily traversed tunnels, most outlying caverns were left separate to provide private quarters or meditation areas. Many wallaras believe that Risilvar once served as the place where their ancestors could meet and walk with the Immortals. They theorize that the city was actually more like a great temple, where only Mendoo dwelled.
   Many of these caverns contain quartz and opal. Unlike the minerals found in the nearby mines, these have never been harvested, nor will they ever be. They emerge from the surface of the cave wall and have been polished to bring out their beauty. The wallaras believe that they are the thoughts of the Immortals given solid form and, as such, are not only sacred but serve as foci for Mendoo meditations. As light is brought into the caverns where they grow, the polished crystals and gems glitter and flash.
   Where these are not in evidence, ocher-colored paints were used to decorate the walls with such eclectic artwork as the outlines of dozens of hands and elongated figures like wallaras with rays emanating from their heads and hands. Whether these are depictions of their Immortal patrons clothed in wallara form, drawings of ancient, wise leaders, depictions of spirit creatures, or pure fancy, no one now knows.
   As in their villages, some cave complexes house several generations of wallaras, living as an extended family, with the elders teaching the youth. Unlike in the villages, however, a great many Mendoo dwell in Risilvar.
   In ancient days, the small city of Risilvar served as a place of worship and learning. The ancients painted runes and symbols in their caves and homes that depicted stories of spirits, sky heroes, and Immortals. They complemented the stones already in the caves by decorating with quartz shards, gold nuggets, and polished opal, which they uncovered in the mines at Tooburra and Wirrawa.
   Lost along with the wallaras' memories, the city of Risilvar was rediscovered by medicine men on walkabout and today serves as a hallowed place where all the tribes may visit. Indeed, the largest tookoo or sacred place of the wallaras can be found in Risilvar. It is a glittering upthrust rock in a quiet cavern where pure, cool water bubbles up around it. Bakaloo ("Sunskin"), leader of the wallaras, rules from the city and serves as the chief Mendoo for his people. Thousands of other wallaras have taken up residence in the city as the first step to reclaiming and relearning the wisdom from their past.

Immortal Patrons of Wallara

Agundji, The Rainbow Serpent (also called the Great One): Agundji is the chief Immortal of the wallaran pantheon. Wallaras are an ancient subspecies of dragons, which explains their magical abilities (vanishing and mimicry at higher levels). Most wallaras honor Agundji as lord of all creatures and the patron of sky heroes. Agundji's sphere of interest includes the sky, the element of air, colors, and mimicry. Individuals occasionally honor other dragon rulers, depending on their alignments, local customs, and circumstances. For example, those working in the Forbidden Highlands' opal mines are often followers of the Sun Dragon. Wallaras know the lesser dragon rulers as the Sun Spirit, the Moon Spirit, and the Star Spirit. Most wallaras believe their souls join their Immortal patrons after dying on Mystara.
Barramundje, The Mother (also known as Calitha Starbrow): Barramundje's main concern in Wallara is that of the rivers and billabongs in general and fertility in particular. Her sphere of interest includes the element of water and all things that grow, such as trees and grass. Her symbol among wallaran Mendoo is a fish. One who harms her forests, abuses the wealth of her rivers and billabongs, and befouls the land runs the risk of her curse, becoming a gondaman, a frilled lizard condemned to wander the outback to perish under the hunter's boomerang.
Genjoo, the Crocodile Spirit (also called Ka): Genjoo's sphere of interest lies in the earth, the land, and magical places. Wallaras say that the rocky outcroppings of the Forbidden Highlands and the great rounded monoliths dotting the outback are the scaly warts on Genjoo's back. Such huge rocks are thought of as places of powerful magic and entrances to Genjoo's world. Paintings left by the ancient wallaras can often be found there. Medicine men who honor Genjoo often come to these places to meditate. Legends also say that when someone dies in the jaws of a great saltwater crocodile that Genjoo has claimed that person's soul and requested it to become his servitor.
Warruntam, The Eagle Spirit (known as Ixion): Warruntam is the patron of hunters, speed, and bravery. His area of interest is the area of fire. Wallaras have rarely invoked Warruntam as a patron of war, since they are a peaceful people, but the Eagle Spirit comes closest to this role among all Immortal patrons, should an actual conflict ever occur.Legends say that those who die from lightning have been claimed by Warruntam and become his servitors.

The Phanatons of Jibarú

The thickly forested land of Jibarú is home to the monkeylike phanatons. These small, furred humanoids live along the Savage Coast, especially the territory around Jibarú, and protect the wilds they inhabit.

Phanatons

Phanatons have long inhabited the Savage Coast and other areas, but only within the last few centuries have they achieved any measure of civilization—gathering into tribes, using tools, and so forth. The phanatons of Jibarú have formed a tribal confederation, developed religion and art, started using tools, and made initial steps toward a system of laws.
Appearance: Phanatons are furred humanoids about three feet tall. Looking very much like monkeys, phanatons have slender bodies, humanoid hands, dexterous toes, and four-foot-long prehensile tails strong enough to support their body weight. Membranes of skin stretch from arm to leg, and are used to glide. The creatures' fur has markings like those of a raccoon: brownish gray fur with a black "mask" around the eyes and a ringed tail. Phanatons have eyes of bright green, fiery red, or shiny yellow. They almost never wear clothing, but might wear jewelry of wooden beads.
Personality: These spiritual folk have a great love of nature. Though normally peaceful, they strive to protect their forest homes and can fight well when pressed.
   Phanatons lead a relatively harsh existence, so they tend to be rather serious. Still, they take joy from life; not jokers or boisterous carousers, they have a quiet sense of humor. Phanatons are cautious and not prone to panic, nor are they easily awed by shows of power.
   They tend to be good or neutral and are rarely evil. Most are independent, so chaotic alignments are more common among them than lawful ones.
   Lifestyle: Phanatons are settled hunter-gatherers. They live in small tribal villages, groups of family huts on platforms high in the trees. Each village has a chief who meets periodically with other chiefs to discuss policy. Because the village of Itucuá is the oldest and largest in the land of Jibarú, its chief is considered first among equals; he settles disputes among other chiefs.
   Being careful not to deplete their supply, phanatons gather fruits and roots from the area around their villages. They have made only minor attempts at agriculture, sometimes guarding a favored tree or planting a small vegetable patch. They trap more often than they hunt, with fish and small birds their most common source of meat, and giant spiders a favored delicacy.
   Gathering food is the most common task of phanatons, but religion, learning, and a few crafts are also vital parts of phanaton culture. Most phanatons tend to do things for themselves and their families, but they do cooperate on such major projects as building and village defense.
   The family is very important to phanatons, and two or three generations often share the same living quarters. Elders are greatly respected, and the young are cared for and taught by the whole family.
   They have their own language. In addition to human-type sounds, the language uses hoots, chatters, and clicks.
   Phanatons are wary of most other races, because their forests have often been harmed by them. The exception are the wallaras, whom the phanatons generally like. They tend to distrust wizards and Herathians of any race as Herath has an aggressive policy against phanatons—for no reason the forest-dwellers can fathom. Once past initial reactions, phanatons generally like elves, especially those from Robrenn, but dislike gurrash; all are dealt with as individuals.
Equipment: Phanatons do not make metal weapons, preferring wood and stone. Though they are technologically primitive, phanatons are not awed by technology; they may be unfamiliar with some of its aspects but are willing to learn about it, if unwilling to use it.

Phanatons as PCs

Phanatons can glide, usually from branch to branch, due to the loose skin between their arms and legs. The distance a phanaton can glide is equal to three times its starting height. For example, if a phanaton jumped from a height of 30', it could glide over a horizontal distance of 90 feet maximum (at the rate of 50 feet per round). When gliding, a phanaton must spread its arms and legs to catch the air; it cannot fight, cast spells requiring somatic components, or do anything requiring two hands. For every 100 cns of weight they carry, phanatons reduce their horizontal gliding range by 20 feet for the same loss of altitude as an unencumbered phanaton.
   At 3rd level, phanatons can fly—that is, maintain level flight or gain altitude—but only if updrafts or normal winds are present. They can gain 10 feet of altitude for every 60 feet of horizontal distance covered in normal winds. A strong breeze reduces the horizontal distance needed to 30 feet. Phanatons do not fly during high or extreme winds—they are too easily tossed into trees or other obstructions.
   Phanatons gain the magical ability to pass plant, like the fifth-level priest spell, at 7th level. This ability is usable once a day.
Miscellaneous: Phanatons are not good swimmers, preferring their arboreal habitat. They do not have infravision. The more common, primitive (nonsentient) breeds of phanatons are normally clumsy with their hands. When fighting, they are likely to drop objects (coconuts, branches) on their attackers, bite them (1d6 points of damage), or use simple weapons (branches, stone maces, or other blunt objects).
   Phanatons of Jibarú have learned to use small spears, short bows, and blowguns with needles dipped in a paralyzing poison (save vs. poison or remain paralyzed for 1d6 turns). Shields and armor are rarely used since they negate the phanatons' ability to glide. All phanatons are naturally agile (PC phanatons must have a Dexterity of 16 or better to qualify). Their natural AC is 9, with a +2 bonus to their AC and to all saving throws due to their small size and agility. Racial modifiers to their game statistics: All phanatons receive an initial –2 penalty to Strength and a –1 to Intelligence. All but Shamans receive a +2 bonus to Dexterity. Shamans receive a +1 to Dexterity and Wisdom. They can have an 18 Charisma, but this is only between phanatons, elves, treants, and dryads. Charisma is penalized by –1 when dealing with other humanoids, and by –2 when dealing with humans and demihumans other than elves. Phanatons and araneans have a relative Charisma of 3 when dealing with each other.
   Names & Language: Tapurú, Uruá, Maragú, Araca, Ixaitubá, Tuacá, Uapagú, Cucuí, Jarapuá, Gujarí, Ixugú, Garanuí, Axauá, Purucuí, Palamá, Tapajú, Uruxú, Itupaxingú, Macapuí, Irigí... The Jibarú language does not have the "e" and "o" sounds. Thus, the phanatons refer to themselves as Phanatu, or the people. "X" is pronounced "sh" and the last vowel in the name is accentuated. Double names are a sign of nobility, as shown in the names of the two queens mentioned later.
   The spoken language is still primitive, requiring many gestures. The written language requires an extensive library of symbols representing animals whose sounds come close to the desired syllables. Ideograms conveying ideas complete other written symbols available to Jibarú shamans. Common phanatons rarely learn to read or write, though monarchs and chiefs usually acquire the skill.
   Character Classes/Kits: Phanatons may be fighters, rangers, wizards, thieves, priests, druids or psionicists (if psionics are allowed). All phanaton wizards are mages; they may not be specialist wizards. Phanatons may be one of the following multiclass combinations: Fighter/Thief, Ranger/Priest, or Fighter/Psionicist. Multiclassed characters may take one kit that is allowed to them, though Fighter/Psionicists always take the Fighter kits, never the Wokan. Rarely, phanatons may become Inheritors. Warrior phanatons may opt for the Defender or the Savage kit; their mages may choose to be Savage wizards or Wokani. Filcher and Scout are the only kits available to phanaton thieves. Phanaton priests are called Shamans.
   Those rare phanatons raised outside the homeland may choose from among the following kits: Local Hero, Spy, Swashbuckler, Honorbound, Myrmidon, Mystic, and Fighting-Monk. However, they gain little initial respect in the Swashbuckler profession.

History

Compared to the ancient araneans of Herath, phanatons are newcomers among the civilized races. In their early years, phanatons were forest predators that fed on large insects, lizards, and small mammals. Immortals gave them a natural agility that made the phanatons well suited to hunting dangerous creatures like poisonous snakes, scorpions, and spiders. Among these, the latter were by far the most common prey in the region.
   At first, phanatons were viewed as a nuisance by other races. In their early years, phanatons hunted common spiders, and occasionally giant ones. Araneans used the latter as servants, thus the spider-folk's annoyance. It was fashionable then for affluent araneans to capture and tame young phanatons as pets. No araneans in their right minds would otherwise venture deep into the northwestern end of the Orc's Head Peninsula since the region was notorious for being infested with these pesky creatures.
   Over the centuries, phanatons grew smarter. They had been a race on the brink of becoming fully sentient. Perhaps the habit of captured phanatons to mimic their aranean masters accelerated the natural progress of their evolution. At the heart of Jibarú, there arose a new breed of phanatons who organized a society and eventually took over the region.
   They improved at spider hunting, thanks to their natural agility, but also due to new hunting methods involving bait, nets, and missile weapons. They learned to make blowguns to shoot needles dipped in a paralyzing poison made from giant spider venom. Although many spiders still dwell in the region, there are far fewer of them today. Eventually, phanatons began raising giant spiders in captivity, like cattle. In order to renew their stock, phanatons made occasional forays into Herath, whose forests were famed for their plump,juicy giant spiders.
   Some unwitting araneans were caught in their natural form and taken back to Jibarú. Amazed phanatons later discovered "humans" among their catches, and not knowing what to do with them—certainly, they would not eat them!—released them. Phanatons came to believe these spiders to be the souls of very evil beings. A prevailing suspicion among the phanatons is that the people of Herath harbor evil spirits among them.
   Survivors of the phanaton hunts returned to Herath, bringing tales of "ferocious and intelligent phanaton hordes bent on devouring the nation!" Herath dispatched a heavily armed force to probe the region beyond the Forbidden Highlands. Soon they ran into a large phanaton war band. Surrounded by what they primarily viewed as dangerous predators, Herathian officers (araneans) panicked and ordered an immediate attack. The Herathians were slaughtered almost to the last, mostly because of the phanatons' blowguns. Several more Herathian "crusades" took place over the following decades with the same horrifying results.
   After what had happened with the wallaras of Wallara, Herathian wizards were reluctant to use overwhelming magic to destroy the phanaton clans. Their expeditionary armies being systematically eradicated, they finally decided to reinforce their defenses along the Forbidden Highlands. Meanwhile, occasional phanaton raids into Herath still took place, mostly to acquire venom for their blowguns. Some hunting parties were wiped out. Others got through. These successful hunters instituted a new policy of beheading captured humans—especially officers and nobles, and thus araneans—and shrinking their heads as war trophies. Despite the fact that phanatons developed a taste for fruit, vegetables, nuts, and even fish since their primitive origins, thus lessening their demand for spiders as food, the two races have maintained a virulent hatred of each other.
   The phanatons have gotten along fairly well with the wallaras of Wallara, especially since they discovered their common fear of the Herathians. Today the two races trade with one another. For their part, phanatons barter garish piranha-bird feathers, woven spider silk, and pottery to the wallaras. Also traded are the occasional goods of human manufacture, either stolen from Herath or traded from a Texeiran outpost lying at the edge of The Horn, a sandy peninsula north of Jibarú near the Trident Isles.
   Phanatons have sensed the difference between Herathians and the colonists of The Horn, but a relative distrust still prevails. Trade with Texeiran colonists takes place but rarely and then only when the latter sail up the Jururú and Xingá rivers. Sometimes too, a handful of escaped convicts from the penal colony situated at the tip of The Horn seeks refuge among the Jibarú. If anything goes wrong during such encounters, human visitors from either place are likely to end up with shrunken heads as well. Rare tree resins, cocoa beans, vanilla, healing mosses, and silver lure the colonists to sail up the dangerous, piranha-infested rivers.
   Soon after they had organized their first society, Jibarú phanatons multiplied rapidly. They established many more "clans," usually centered around single villages of no more than 300 individuals. Rivalries and frictions grew amongst the clans until their first clan war took place. The death toll was heavy. Fearing an attack from Herath while they were thus weakened, Shamans arranged a truce during which the clan chiefs chose the greatest war-chief as their king.
   The monarch had little to do on a day-to-day basis, but when the nation was endangered, the king could summon the Council of Clans at his capital, the City of Itucuá. The clan chiefs usually voted on major issues—the king counting for a full third of the total votes at the council. If the king had more than half the votes, his wish would be respected, else, the clan chiefs would go on deliberating until a solution was found. If a war took place, the king commanded all war hordes of the Jibarú.
   Monarchy among the Jibarú phanatons is hereditary. Within the past decades, a small group of "nobility" (as medieval humans would conceive them) has grown from the ranks of Shamans, clan chiefs, and minor war chiefs. There is no social difference between males and females among the Jibarú, age alone being the way of sorting out who in a family inherits a king's or a clan leader's position.
   The phanatons of Jibarú protect the great forests that compose the bulk of their nation. They live in harmony with nature and do not tolerate any exploitation. Though they might kill those who steal the resources of their land (particularly those who attempt to ravage the acres of prime hardwoods), the phanatons usually try to scare such folk away first by playing nonlethal tricks on them or ruining their equipment. Those too greedy or foolish to heed these warnings, however, might find their heads adorning a phanaton spear.

The Land of Jibarú

Capital: Itucuá (Pop. 1,250 phanatons)
Ruler: Queen Barana-Uí (Orchid-Soul), daughter of Queen Ujiri-Xuú (Forest Whisper).
Immortal patron: Uí.

Flora and Fauna

Jibarú lies inland, to the south of Trident Bay. Its eastern border abuts Wallara; to the south it edges the Forbidden Highlands and the kingdom of Nimmur, and to the west, its lofty forests are halted by desolate unclaimed territories. 
   In the northernmost area, the land is quite similar to that of Wallara. No phanatons make their homes here, though a few hunting bands stalk the kangaroo and emu that wander in from Wallara as well as their native boars and roe deer. They trap chipmunks, rabbits and small birds. Foxes, squirrels, badgers and small wild cats share scrub areas with lizards, butterflies, bees, colorful orioles, woodpeckers, red birds, crows, and owls. Smooth snakes and insect-eating bats appear at night.
   The portions of this area fed by the Xingá and Jururú Rivers form wetlands that are home to frogs, turtles, and otters. Ducks, grebes, kingfishers, and reed warblers all make their homes in the reeds along the rivers' banks. Perch, sticklebacks, and piranhas live in the rivers, and dragonflies, mosquitoes, and gnats buzz above the waters. Green, yellow, and brown reeds line the riverbanks, broken by grassy embankments and the few hemlock and weeping willow trees that lean out over the water. Hunters often come to the wetlands to provide variety to their catch.
   Most of Jibarú is covered by forest of various types of trees. The mixture includes the more arid varieties found along the border with Wallara, the many types of deciduous trees that comprise the bulk of the country's forested area, and others that tolerate the higher elevations near the Forbidden Highlands. Unlike its neighbor to the east, Jibarú is well-watered, with the Xingá River in the eastern portion of the land, and the piranha-infested Jururú River in the west.
   At ground level, the forest is strewn with old leaves and sticks, debris left over from previous falls. This carpet of dry tinder makes it doubly difficult to move silently at ground level. Scattered through this carpet, ferns, flowering bushes, and creepers take advantage of the dappled sunlight that pours down through the branches. Game trails crisscross the area giving evidence of the small bears, porcupines, wolves, and deer found within. Raccoons, squirrels, and birds of all sorts live side by side with the larger animals. Streams and rocky rivulets cut through forest, developing into deep pools, trickling down rock faces, and occasionally pouring down from elevated heights as thin, sparkling waterfalls. Because of the heavy tree cover, rain is frequent and early morning ground mists are quite common. Though it is not hot enough to be tropical, the area is a temperate rainforest.
	Mimosa, redbud, dogwood, magnolia, crab apple, and flowering cherry all provide color, along with the low, shrubby rhododendron. Nuts can be gathered from the hickory, pecan, and black walnut trees, while fig, apple, cherry, and the occasional plum and peach trees provide abundant fruit. In the hills near the Forbidden Highlands, evergreens such as spruce, pine, and fir mingle with the deciduous trees, although the forest itself is less dense in that area. Dozens of varieties makeup the bulk of Jibarú's forest. White birch, oak, beech, ash, alder, and maple are found in profusion, with the mighty oaks serving as "home" trees for phanaton villages more often than not.
   Phanaton villages and outposts dot the landscape, though little evidence of them exists at ground level. The small tribal villages consist of groups of family huts built on platforms high in the trees. Phanaton druids persuade the trees to intertwine their limbs so as to provide support for the platforms and huts and train the leaves to help shield sight of the villages from prying eyes. Vine bridges strung among the branches give access from one area to another, though the phanatons' gliding ability makes use of them more as a matter of taste or convenience than necessity. Consequently, many are not repaired regularly. In any case, heavier beings should only trust their weight to the largest of these flimsy crossways.

The City of Itucuá

Itucuá, the capital of Jibarú, is situated in a huge grove of giant oak trees in a bend of the Xingá River. Hundreds of platforms on several different levels are connected by a network of vine bridges and swinging vines. Most platforms have vines or rope ladders that can be dropped to lower levels or to the ground at need. Many of the sturdy wooden platforms hold large huts, though some appear to be mere way-stations among the bridges.
   Some are single huts, housing only one phanaton. Many are large huts capable of supporting whole families. Usually the larger huts among the latter are those of the original family. The smaller ones are for sons or daughters and their spouses and children. Many are guest quarters. A few serve as schoolrooms where younger phanatons can learn various crafts and skills. Though families are very close-knit, all the adult phanatons of a village take some interest in and responsibility for teaching the children and seeing to it that they get in no trouble and come to no harm.
   Phanatons come and go in dizzying groups walking, gliding, sliding, and climbing among the levels of the city. As one group leaves on patrol, another arrives fresh from a successful hunt. Even some of the busy spider-breeding pens are visible in Itucuá and form a sort of suburb on the eastern side of the city. There, dozens of large and giant spiders are kept as breeding stock and poison reserves. They are well cared for and spared from becoming the main dish (except on certain high feast days). Phanaton children are taught quite early how to feed and care for the spiders. Over time, they learn spider-wrangling, and may eventually be included in raiding parties into Herath in search of new breeding stock.
   The "palace" is notably larger than any other platform, once it can be spotted (a difficult proposition at ground level due to its camouflage). Both the platform and the interconnected huts comprising the palace have been constructed of variegated wood and stained with various colors to blend in with the natural foliage of the giant oak. An ingenious series of vines with wooden buckets has been installed in various parts of the city so that clean water may be hauled up from streams below or harvested as drippings from the giant leaves.

The Phanaton Pantheon

Uí (also called Ordana): Uí is head of the pantheon. She commands the forces of nature. The patroness of the forest and protector of its people, Uí is the one who gave the phanatons the spark of intelligence so they could avoid total subjugation by Herath. Uí despises Korotiku's spider folk, and loathes what they did to the neighboring wallara followers of her friend, Calitha Starbrow.
   Mother Earth (Marau-Ixuí) (also known as Terra): Mother Earth is the patroness of birth, life and death, the cycle of years and seasons, earth and fertility. She created the primitive phanatons as natural predators to balance the aranean threat on the Savage Coast. Mother Earth is a friend of the Star Dragon and sympathizes with the neighboring wallaras. Shamans of Uí or Mother Earth usually support good relations with the Wallara tribes.
   The Huntsman (Uatumá) (also called Zirchev): The Huntsman is patron of the hunt, but he is also of the patron of bravery, charm, and success among the clan. The Huntsman is a friend of Uí. He guides the hunting parties and the war bands during times of crisis.

Nimmur and the Manscorpions

The fertile kingdom of Nimmur, once home to the noble enduks, is inhabited by the brutal manscorpions, who treacherously usurped the Kingdom of Nimmur centuries ago.

Manscorpions

Present day Nimmurians are manscorpions who usurped the land from its previous occupants, a race of winged minotaurs (enduks). The current Nimmurians are vicious, ruthless, conniving creatures filled with hatred. Pity and remorse are unknown to them. They crave the sun but they also fear it, for, due to Ixion's curse, the sun incinerates them if they are not protected from it. Ruled by an overking but split into several dominions or city-states, the manscorpions are in constant strife for personal and regional power.
Appearance: Manscorpions have a human torso and a bony-plated, arachnoid body with eight legs. Their spines stretch out to form a long tail with a wicked stinger on the end of it. Their hands have two thick fingers and a long thumb, giving them the appearance of a scorpion's claws. Though bald, they wear elaborate wigs of shoulder-length dark hair and beards (for the males). These are styled into elaborate, curled rows. The wigs are easily kept coiffured and were based upon the styles popular with the enduks.
   They used to be relatively dark skinned, with sandy-colored tails and lower bodies, but their long tenure underground and the curse imposed upon them by Ixion has turned them horribly translucent, so that their black hearts, ichor, and internal organs now show through in a repulsive vision of nature gone awry. This is not usually apparent to other races because the Nimmurians cover their bodies with a thick makeup to protect themselves from the lethal effect of the sun. Makeup ranges from brown for the lower castes, to red for warriors, and gold with embellishments for the nobility. Priests usually cover their entire bodies with silver runes over black makeup, without which they couldn't cast spells under the sun. When outside, all manscorpions wear masks featuring monstrous grimaces. The masks provide a visor and dark lenses to protect their fragile eyes.
   Clothing (usually thin wool) and armor are designed to be worn over the makeup. Most manscorpions wear elaborate shawls or tunics edged with fringes. Filets to keep their elaborate hair in place are popular for both males and females, as are necklaces, earrings, armbands, and bracelets.
Personality: Manscorpions are greedy, self-serving, and brutal. From the enduks they acquired a veneer of civilization, but the curse that afflicts them made them a paranoid, secretive, and frustrated race. They fear to let others know of their vulnerability to sunlight, though they crave its warmth and illumination. They are warlike and care little for the lives or comfort of others.
   Manscorpions are usually neutral and evil in alignment, though some few have a personal code of honor or still worship Idu (Ixion). It is not impossible to find ones such as these who are both lawful and good, it is simply unusual. Though they often appear aloof or reserved, a fierce, angry spirit forms the core of every manscorpion, and competition and aggression burn brightly in each heart. The best of them use these traits to perform great deeds, while the worst give way to their basest instincts.
Lifestyle: To some extent, the manscorpions' lifestyle is dictated by the curse laid upon them by Idu when they drove out the enduks. The Immortal made sunlight excruciatingly painful for them. Normal clothing is insufficient to stop the curse's effects. Only protective makeup and armor can shield them from the deadly rays and the pain. Direct sunlight blinds them unless they wear dark lenses to protect their eyes. Artificial light doesn't affect them.
   Because they must constantly shield themselves from the sun, most manscorpions live underground. The cities of the enduks lie atop vast underground networks of manscorpion tunnels, pits, and chasms. Only those manscorpions who have business in the overcities reside there, and even they usually have retreats below ground.
   On the surface, manscorpion cities consist of a great many mud brick houses, storehouses, slave quarters, and shops that lie at the feet of a grand palace, a series of monuments (some ruins, some intact), and a great ziggurat that serves as a place of worship. The ziggurat is usually decorated with several colors and has green trees and gardens on some of its levels. Many manscorpions live in these overdwellings, and most visitors assume that the surface picture of the city is the true one. In fact, the surface city usually only holds a fraction of the manscorpion population of the city. The majority of them live in the vast caverns underneath the structures. These are reached by tunnels and sloping ramps constructed under the houses and shops, the palace and the ziggurat. Visitors are discouraged from enquiring too closely about the interiors of these structures in order to keep the underground section of the city secret.
   The manscorpions employ large numbers of slaves for raising food, manufacturing fine oils and perfumes, and tending sheep. Manscorpions are omnivorous. Though they prefer meat when available, they can survive on carrion, if necessary. They are soldiers, artists, traders,administrators, and seekers of ancient knowledge—most particularly of lore regarding the ancient star devices, weapons of potentially great destruction, found in many Nimmurian cities. Though not quite as likely to be in positions of authority, a good number of female manscorpions rule dominions and serve as priests, administrators, or troop commanders.
   The functional star device in Er and their vast underground warrens are secrets the manscorpions wish to preserve as much as they want to hide their usurpation of enduk land and culture. For these reasons, though they have recently begun to tolerate foreigners in their overcities, they go to elaborate lengths to keep these outsiders away from their ziggurats and the monuments that are the star devices.
   The manscorpions adopted the customs, history, and even language of the enduks as their own. They so wished to assume the cultural identity of the enduks, in fact, that they destroyed a great number of the enduks' artworks and historical writings to mask the truth concerning their arrival in Nimmur and their treachery. Though almost everyone calls them manscorpions, they themselves prefer to be called "Nimmurians." Ever since they assumed the ancient Nimmurian cultural identity, they dropped their old tribal structure and in its place created a new dynasty of kings. Today, King Anupalassar II rules over smaller manscorpion provinces owing fealty to the throne of Nimmur. Provincial governors have the hereditary title of prince. The present king earned his nickname, the Firebranded, when his helm was ripped open during an ambush by the orcs of the Dark Jungle. His face was scarred by the sun's rays.
   Nimmur is an ally of Herath, although the Nimmurian clergy believe that someday the manscorpions will rule the entire peninsula. On the other hand, Herath hopes to steal the secret of the ancient Nimmurian star devices. Right now, the Nimmurians still have a problem with the unyielding orcs to the south. These orcs are savage creatures that have adapted to the thick jungle of the Orc's Head Peninsula. Nimmur also faces a dilemma with the encroachment of foreign settlers, especially lately as the affluent Herathians move into the city of Er. It is becoming difficult for the clergy to keep unwanted visitors out of the ziggurat quarters in their cities. The manscorpions hope to take the northern coastal lands but mosquito and killer fly infestations have decimated settlers and sheep flocks there in the past.
Equipment: All manscorpions cover themselves with heavy makeup to protect them from the sun and wear clothing or armor. Scribes and other officials might possess clay cylinders with official designs imprinted upon them and stylus and clay tablets for recording transactions or events. Soldiers own their armor and weapons (see below).

Nimmur's Armies

Nimmur maintains permanent, professional troops trained and paid according to precepts laid down by ancient Nimmurian generals. Although nobles compose most of the upper ranks in the army, effective authority is based on actual military rank, not social status.
   Towns of a thousand people or more are walled. Most structures are made of dried mud brick sealed against the water by being painted with bitumen. Each town pays for its own army. The troops are disciplined and organized. Each unit of troops wears the same armor and tunics within their respective armies. Conical helms with bronze masks are predominant. Manscorpion armor costs three times that of its human counterpart because of its complexity (larger abdomen and eight leg pieces, tail and sting remaining unarmored). Nimmurians do not use mercenaries.
   For every 100 troops, 20 ride mule-drawn war chariots (two mules, a driver, and a warrior per chariot; short bow, spear, and scale mail). Twenty more use long bows, short swords, and scale mail; 20 are heavy infantry with lamellar (banded) armor and Nimmurian poleaxes (that cause 3d6 points of damage); and 40 are light infantry with leather armor, large shields, spears, and short swords. The war chariots of Er are scythe-wheeled and larger than those of other cities.
   Armies break down into battle pincers of 100 troops, in turn splitting into tactical stings of 20 troops. Officers, petty nobles with simple warrior rank, and priests usually ride the smaller war chariots.

Dominions of Nimmur

Asur: Capital's population: 15,100
Army: 4 pincers
Ruler: King Dargon I, The Defender.
Dargon was the previous king of Nimmur. His army slaughtered a great orc war-horde of over 15,000 at the battle of Anusardapal, named after a hero who died there. Now a tired old warrior, he abdicated in favor of his son but retained the honorific title of king. Asur is the dynastic domain. Dargon now oversees spying activities on the Vilaverdans, hoping to capture their fortified port.

Ankesh: Capital's population: 2,500
Army: 2 pincers
Ruler: Prince Sheneser II, Iron Sting.
   Ankesh regularly sees raids from Jibarú phanatons. Hills and heavy forest present a difficult environment for Nimmurian troops, especially their war chariots. Phanatons are thought to be no more than primitive forest barbarians that present little danger to Nimmur.

Ekiddu: Capital's population: 3,100
Army: 2 pincers
Ruler: Princess Ish-mamna I, Black Heart.
   Ekiddu is trying to become a trading town. Unfortunately, its port is shallow and presents no deterrent to the Vilaverdan colonial enclave just to the south. Because of the southern competition, Ish-mamna has decided to attract foreigners to her port by offering them questionable goods and services they can receive nowhere else. Consequently, Ekiddu is where the most foreigners in Nimmur can be found.

Shubat-Nammu: Capital's population: 1,250
Army: 1 pincer
Ruler: Prince Namrud XII, Seven Legs.
   Dubbed the armpit of Nimmur, this impoverished state is all but lost in the forest. Many of the manscorpions from this state join the armies of other dominions or become bandits. To improve his state's position, Prince Namrud has recently begun touting the value of his central position among the city-states for trade and defense purposes. In light of the orc raids along the southern trade route to Herath, he has suggested diverting trade through Shubat-Nammu instead. Since his trade route ends in Ennamasur, blocked by the Ganlil River and miles away from Sur, the premiere trading town to the east, no one has taken him seriously.

Suneveh (Northern Shield): Capital's population: 18,200
Army: 5 pincers
Ruler: Prince Enshurnasirpal III, The Impaler.
   The ruler of Suneveh has recently acquired medicine that should negate the effects of killer flies on the Wind Flats. Soon, settlers will be sent to support a major northern territorial expansion. This, so the manscorpions believe, should allow them to flank the pesky phanatons and ease their takeover of the prime forest lands of Jibarú.

Sur: Capital's population: 3, 900
Army: 4 pincers
Ruler: Prince Nergil VII, Cotton Head
   All the caravans between Herath and Nimmur stop in the capital of Sur, a rich trading town. The treasures of Sur make a tempting target for the orcs of the Dark Jungle. Most of the forests in the region had been cleared of orcish infestation threatening the dominion during the campaign of Nin-Shurgon. But as King Anupalassar II prepared to cross the Ganlil River on his way back to Er, the orcs arose in ambush. The king received his facial scar during this action. Regardless of how quiet things seem, there is always the chance that an orc ambush lies in wait for the unwary here.

Southern Shield:
Army: 5 pincers
Administrator: Lord Ishme-Hursag
This dominion belongs to the throne of Nimmur. The administrator's responsibility is to patrol the caravan trail and keep it free of marauding orcs—a tough duty. There is usually no sign of the orcs' imminent ambush when it happens. Hundreds of raging orcs suddenly rise from concealed holes dug into narrow forest trails.  Others swing down on vines hanging from the trees. Attacks are sudden and deadly. The thick forest precludes the use of war chariots, relegating their use to merely patrolling the trails. This has forced the manscorpions to dispatch teams of convicts and slaves to keep the trails free of vegetation to a depth of 30 feet on either side of the trail. This is enormously expensive and dangerous. Teams require heavily armed escorts to prevent their escape and to keep the orcs from interfering with the work. Captured and wounded are taken away by the orcs and tortured for days somewhere under the dark and mysterious canopy of the jungle. Ever since the Nin-Shurgon campaign, the orcs have discovered the manscorpions' curse, and they delight in tormenting the manscorpions with sunlight.
   King Anupalassar II has declared it against the law of Nimmur to venture along the southern trail without a full military escort. Some break the law and later their twisted, charred remains are found, grotesquely propped up on bamboo sticks as a sinister warning to others.
   No sane warrior wants to be transferred to this military outpost. Bribery to escape such an assignment is common and maneuvering to have an enemy posted there is almost as frequent.

Low Realm of Apsur: Total population: 80,000 manscorpions, no outsiders
Army: 12 pincers
Ruler: Queen Tigurta I, The Taciturn.
   This is the underground kingdom of the old Sohktars. Its deep caves spread as far as the center of the Forbidden Highlands with tunnels and cracks connecting to the ziggurats of Er, Asur, and Suneveh, and a few other secret spots in the Forbidden Highlands. Although a subject kingdom of Nimmur, Apsur is at risk of breaking away. The queen is a High Priestess of Nin-Hurabi, who resents the authority of the surface king.
   Though ostensibly allies, all the dominions vie for prestige and power and none are above secret raids or nuisance attacks against the others. Political maneuvering among the rulers is the norm, and opportunistic self-advancement abounds.

Manscorpions as PCs

Though most manscorpions are low, conniving, and cruel, some few of them have good hearts and have recently helped the enduks (and the ee'aar) regain a foothold in Nimmur. Player character manscorpions must be from among the manscorpions who assisted in this retaking the city of Um-Shedu. These manscorpions have subsequently had the curse of their kind removed by the Immortal Ixion. There is one exception to this: If a player wishes to labor under the difficulties of Idu's curse, the DM could allow the playing of a nonevil manscorpion who seeks to throw off the evil associated with his kind and be redeemed through valorous and righteous deeds. In that case, the goal of a campaign (at least for that character) would be to prove his or her worth to such an extent that Idu takes notice and lifts the curse.
   To distinguish them from the common manscorpions of Nimmur, those who are player characters are referred to as Um-Shedu manscorpions. PC manscorpions are as likely to be female as male, and there is no sort of ranking based on gender or racial belief in the superiority of one sex over another. Though they no longer need to wear makeup and masks, Um-Shedu manscorpions may feel uncomfortable without them or may decide that wearing them allows them to blend in with the rest of the manscorpion population when necessary. Certainly, on any spying mission, they will not wish to draw attention to themselves by dispensing with the outer trappings all common manscorpions need to survive.
   Nimmurian manscorpions have a venomous sting that ranges from a weak sleep poison to one that is instantly lethal. Because the curse has been lifted and they are no longer so filled with vitriolic hatred, PC manscorpions' stings produce only sleep poison, though its efficacy rises with their levels. For every three levels of the character, victims of Um-Shedu manscorpion stings save vs. the poison at a –1 penalty, up to a maximum penalty of –4. Those who fail to save vs. poison when stung by an Um-Shedu manscorpion feel woozy and disoriented during the round after being stung. In the second round, they fall asleep for 2–16 rounds and cannot be roused during that time unless they receive a neutralize poison spell.
   Um-Shedu manscorpions are immune to other manscorpions' venom. They also receive a +2 to their saving throws against all other types of poison.
   All manscorpions receive the bonus proficiencies of artistic ability (sculpture, painting, and so on) or charioteering to simulate the knowledge manscorpions are usually taught. While nonwarrior PCs are less likely to have charioteering, there is no reason to limit the skill to warriors if the player prefers it to artistic ability. It is recommended that PC manscorpions have the reading/writing and local history proficiencies as well, since they probably learned of the true history of Nimmur by poring over old records. No manscorpion, PC or NPC, may begin with a proficiency in astronomy or astrology, as those arts have yet to be introduced in Nimmur. At some later time in the campaign, after they have had the opportunity to be introduced to new ideas and skills, PC manscorpions may take astronomy if they have a nonweapon proficiency slot open. This might even be of particular interest to them if they know anything of the star device in Er.
Miscellaneous: Manscorpions can hold their breath as long as normal humans, but cannot swim at all. Water dissolves Nimmurian makeup in 1d4 rounds. The manscorpions of Nimmur (and Um-Shedu) have infravision and a natural AC of 7. Addition of body armor of AC 7 or worse only improves the manscorpions' natural Armor Class by 1 point. For body armor of AC 6 or better, use the rating of the armor worn plus an Armor Class bonus of 1 point. Shield and Dexterity modifiers to Armor Class work normally. Manscorpions have the following racial modifiers: All manscorpions take an initial penalty of –1 to both Intelligence and Wisdom scores. They gain a +1 in both Strength and Constitution. Though they can reach 18 Charisma, this applies only between manscorpions; penalize Charisma –2 when dealing with humanoids, –5 when dealing with demihumans or humans. Um-Shedu manscorpions are –1 and –4 respectively.
Language: Originally, manscorpions had a racial tongue that consisted of strange hissing and clicking sounds accompanied by varying tail positions and a few words gleaned from Common. This language has all but been forgotten since their takeover of Nimmur. A few scholars still retain knowledge of the ancient manscorpion language but it is a dead language for all practical purposes. Today, Nimmurian manscorpions speak Nimmurian, the language they took from the enduk. Most who have had any dealings with those outside Nimmur also speak Common. Those who have contacts in Herath usually learn Herathi, and more recently, manscorpions living in Er have begun learning Verdan in order to fully comprehend the Vilaverdans who occupy Porto Escorpião.
Character Classes/Kits: Manscorpions may be fighters, priests, wizards, thieves, or psionicists (if psionics are used). Though unsuited to being thieves due to the inevitable clicking or clashing sound they make when moving, some do choose that class. Manscorpions do not acknowledge different schools of magic, and therefore do not become specialist wizards. PC manscorpion priests must worship Idu (Ixion) or Ilsundal (head of the ee'aar pantheon). Manscorpions can choose from the following multiclass combinations: fighter/thief, fighter/priest, or fighter/psionicist (if the class is allowed).
   Available kits include Inheritors, Nobles, or Swashbucklers, so long as they meet the class requirements as detailed in the SAVAGE COAST Campaign sourcebook. Furthermore, manscorpion fighters may become Defenders or Honorbound; wizards may choose to be Militant Wizards or Mystics and their priests may be War Priests or may choose an appropriate kit (with DM approval) from The Complete Priest's Handbook. Manscorpion thieves may opt to be Scouts, Bandits, or Spies.

History

Several millennia ago manscorpions were savages who lived in small bands and occasionally preyed upon their neighbors. They were brutal and barbaric, but ultimately scattered into dozens of small, ineffectual bands.
   About 1,700 years ago, Nithian explorers moved into the area occupied by the manscorpions, then known as Sohktars, and after coming into conflict with them, drove the Sohktars out. The Sohktars united their small bands into tribes and moved west. During the move, the Immortals removed all knowledge of the Nithians from the minds and memories of the people of the Savage Coast. The manscorpions believe that they simply migrated west, forgetting the reason for their exodus. Eventually, they reached the land of Nimmur, where the indigenous population, winged minotaurs known as enduks, welcomed them. At that time, Nimmur was engaged in a continuing battle with the orcs of the Dark Jungle and the manscorpions offered their help. Both races ostensibly worshiped Idu.
   The manscorpions learned civilized ways and adopted the enduks' language, writing, customs, and culture. New priests arose among them, however. These creatures of hate honored Menlil (Atzanteotl). Their patron's whispers led them to hate the Nimmurians and to desire all the wealth of Nimmur for their own.
   Many manscorpions began to heed this counsel. Enduks began to disappear as greedy manscorpions captured them and secretly transported them to Herath, where Herathian wizards performed experiments upon them. These aggressive, conniving manscorpions were eventually found out. The Enduks expelled the manscorpions from their cities. Swarms of manscorpions who remained hidden underground emerged and attacked, seeking to drive out the outnumbered enduks.
   The enduks achieved spectacular victories, casting mysterious rays of fire at the manscorpions from strange monuments set at strategic points within their cities. The manscorpions were amazed by these devices, which they had been told tracked the movements of the sun and stars. The star devices, as they came to be known, left fields of twisted, fiery husks, agonized manscorpions burning under the sun. But it was too late for Nimmur. There were too many manscorpions. One after another the besieged towns fell, and manscorpions massacred or enslaved those who surrendered.
   The enduks, most of whom were contemplative, religious scholars, escaped with the help of their friends, the ee'aar—the winged elves. The ee'aar took them to the Arm of the Immortals where they could rebuild their society. A few brave enduk priests remained behind to try to destroy the star devices lest they fall into the hands of the manscorpions. Runes chiseled from most of the monuments and broken pieces attest to their success. Only in one city, Er, were they unable to destroy the device before being overcome.
   One priest did make it out of Er with the key that allows voluntary control of the star device, but he vanished and its whereabouts today are a mystery. Occasionally, the stars align properly and the monuments in Er send out streams of fire that ignite unfortunate manscorpions, but their lack of astronomical knowledge makes the timing of these destructive occurrences a mystery to the manscorpions. Unknown to them, even if they knew the timing, they could not disarm the device without the key.
   The manscorpions believed for a while that they had eradicated the enduks. Destroying much of the enduks' old art and written records, the manscorpions assumed the identity of the other race and began calling themselves Nimmurians.
   Their evil deed did not go unpunished. Idu cursed them to burn in his sunlight in retaliation for what they did to the enduks. But after years of crouching in the dark tunnels through which they had reached Nimmur, they learned from Menlil how to make protective body paints, makeup that shielded them from the lethal rays of the sun. They could return to the surface, but only in a very perilous way, for the slightest removal of the makeup could blister and maim them or kill them outright. Returning to the overworld, they claimed the enduk cities for their own. Vast tunnels and underground areas were carved out underneath and between the cities.
   Once entrenched above as well as below, the manscorpions profited from their stolen property. Their large flocks of sheep, aromatic resins, exotic perfumes, fine carpets, and exquisite tapestries all attracted trade. Increased demand for goods led to increased taking of slaves. Many of these are nonhumans captured on raids; others are visitors who inquired too deeply into manscorpion affairs. Children born into their ranks are slaves as well. Sprawling slave quarters are a feature of each city, and slaves herd the sheep, build the ziggurats, tend the orchards, and do most of the physical labor in Nimmur. The threat of being chased down by the chariots of the manscorpions and having themselves and their families put to death by slow, torturous poison keeps most slaves in line.
   Having traded with Herath for some time, they realized they could not keep foreign trade out forever; the manscorpions have grudgingly allowed visitors to encroach upon their surface. Their greed for red steel weapons persuaded them to allow a Vilaverdan trading post on manscorpion land. The manscorpions' leaders believe that it is better to tolerate visitors on the surface—and even trade with them—than to fight them forever.
   Up to two-thirds of Nimmur's foreign trade is overland, to and from western Herath. Several tribes of jungle orcs secretly take bribes from unscrupulous Vilaverdan traders to raid caravan trails linking Herath to Nimmur.
   The manscorpions export spices, foodstuffs (figs, dates, nuts), salt, sheep, wool, carpets, tapestries, expensive resins, rare woods, fine oils, perfume, and dyes. They import some food (beef, rice, grain), wines, obsidian, silk, leather, iron, foreign armor (upper body only), and weapons.
   Foreigners may come and go in Nimmur, though the vicinity of the ziggurats and palaces remain strictly off-limits to outsiders under penalty of death. Visitors are otherwise safe if they don't travel alone. Behind their appearances of neutrality, the Nimmurians conceal their curse, their burgeoning knowledge of the star device in Er, and their vast underground kingdom.
   In the last decade or so they have fought actions against the orcs of the Dark Jungle and even attacked the Jibarú phanatons briefly before being driven out—their inexperience in forest and jungle fighting defeated them. At one point during the orcish campaign, the star device fired and killed several orcs who had managed to gain ingress to the city of Er. The manscorpions are now more determined than ever to unlock its secrets and use it to dominate the region. During the operation against the orcs, however, a group of enduks and ee'aar, aided by several nonevil manscorpions who wished to make amends for the old betrayal, attacked and managed to gain control of the city of Um-Shedu.
   Presently, the manscorpions are quiescent, but war may come again any time. They are unnerved at the presence of enduks and ee'aar in Um-Shedu but have thus far been unable to come up with a strategy for retaking the city. They are planning ways in which they might take the Vilaverdan trading post for their own and they wish to expand into Jibarú. For now, however, they have their hands full keeping their borders safe and their dominion leaders away from each other's throats.

The Land of Nimmur

Capital: Er (Pop: 19,700 manscorpions and outsiders)
Army: 6 pincers
Ruler: Anupalassar II, The Fire-branded, oldest son of Dargon I. Royal lands include the area around Er and the Southern shield. The family domain is Asur.
Patron: Menlil

Flora and Fauna

Nimmur is an agricultural treasure land. Approximately half the country is covered by rich farmland and pasturage. Though the large rivers are to be found farther east, the western and central portions of the country are watered by numerous streams that flow down from the foothills to the north. Nimmur is able to produce enough food to feed itself and sell its excess to other lands. For the most part, the farm and pasture lands are tamed and free of large predators. Rabbits, field mice, skunks, raccoons, foxes, and hawks are plentiful, as are songbirds, owls, and insects. Occasionally, wolves emerge from the woods to harry the sheep that provide food and clothing for the manscorpions.
   Land not under cultivation produces another necessary commodity—mud. Almost every building in Nimmur is constructed of dried mud bricks coated with bitumen. Slave laborers industriously turn out mud bricks for new buildings and repair those that have been damaged.
   Light forest covers much of the rest of the country, with a small patch of heavy forest near Ennamasur. Many of the older hardwoods and other deciduous trees have been felled and replaced by orchards of apple, cherry, peach, and even orange trees. Many other trees are valued for their aromatic resins or the rare spices they produce. Again, because this area relies so heavily on agriculture and crops, there are few large predators. Bears and wild cats have been encountered along with wolves in the more northerly woods and foothills, and raids from phanatons seeking to keep their borders safe from encroaching manscorpions are an occasional threat.
	The coast offers a few good harbors for traders, most especially at Porto Escorpião, the Vilaverdan trading port, which has claim to the best harbor in Nimmur. This fortified trading center also features a marvel: the Lighthouse of Porto Escorpião.

The City of Er

Er is the capital of Nimmur both because of its size (it was the largest city of the enduks) and because it is here that the fleeing enduks failed to fully dismantle their star device. The star device consists of two strange looking columnar monuments that stand in the courtyard of the great temple of Er. From that point, a curious pattern is formed by a series of monuments extending throughout the city.
   The city itself is a rough circle, with crisscrossing streets and numerous dwellings and businesses and a central market area. Dominating the whole is a walled area that encloses the palace and the tall, colorful ziggurat of the great temple. Foreigners are becoming a more common sight to the manscorpions of Er, but the elaborately painted, masked, and garbed manscorpions remain strange and unreal to visitors.

The Star Device

The ancient Nimmurians were granted special knowledge by Idu. The Immortal taught them how to construct a device that would capture and store the energy of sunlight,moonlight, and starlight. The energy thus stored was directed at the temple, where it was collected and changed into raw power to augment spell effects. These devices were intended to enhance beneficial and protective spells used for the good of the people. Star devices were constructed in almost every Nimmurian city.
   To keep the devices from becoming too powerful, they were constructed so as to only function during certain stellar alignments. Though they collected energy all the time, it was only during particular times that the energy could be drawn off and used. The enduks used the devices to augment healings and protections, and for light spells to illuminate their cities.
   They also served another function, known only to the priests and the ruler. The energy in the monuments could be directed outward in beams of destructive fire for use against invading enemies. Looking through a viewing crystal, the priests could locate attackers in the city and direct the beams of energy at them through a special key that controlled the device.
   This key was also used during the times when the energy was drawn off from the monuments and into a special collector inside the temple. Without the key, the devices can neither release their energy into the collector nor be directed at particular targets. Without the viewing crystal, there is no way to correctly aim the device. The one device still functioning in Er lacks both the crystal and the key. The manscorpions do not know they need them.
   There has been no way to safely release the energy since the enduks were driven out. Periodically, the monuments must expel excess energy or risk explosion. They do this by spitting out random streams of fire 12 hours after the time when they would have otherwise sent their energy to the collector in the temple. To the manscorpions, who lack astronomical knowledge, this seems a random and unpredictable occurrence.
   The energy from the star device of Er does 10d6+10 points of damage to any target caught within its ray of fire. The ray is 120 feet long and 15 feet wide. For all practical purposes, any manscorpion (except Um-Shedu manscorpions) caught in the ray, even though protected by makeup, is thoroughly crisped, burst apart, and killed (no saving throw) by the direct application of Idu's power.

Um-Shedu: The small city of Um-Shedu has recently been liberated by a determined band of enduks, ee'aar, and nonevil manscorpions. During a recent orc uprising, the group traveled to the Forbidden Highlands and struck down into the city, taking the defenders by surprise and driving them out. They flooded nearby tunnels and blocked others with strategic cave-ins, rendering them useless to the manscorpions. Using the engineering skills of the enduks, the new defenders of Um-Shedu constructed a stone and mud-brick barrier that blocks access to the city from the south, west, and east. To the north, the elevations of the Forbidden Highlands provide protection from creatures that cannot fly.
    The defenders have kept their patrols frequent and well-armed. Spies have failed to infiltrate their councils and manscorpion chariots and soldiers are stymied by the barricades. Siege maneuvers do not work against creatures who have merely to fly elsewhere and return with edibles, and the city is served by an artesian well. Manscorpion spellcasters are countered by ee'aar and enduk spellcasters; despite their best efforts the manscorpions have been unable to dislodge those in Um-Shedu. The defenders hope to fortify the city so it can be used as a staging area from which to launch attacks against the rest of Nimmur.

The Manscorpion Pantheon
The early Sohktari clergy removed all references to ancient Nimmurian patrons, save perhaps in some forgotten ruins outside the cities. They replaced them with an adaptation of their own pantheon.
   The beliefs of today's manscorpions of Nimmur reflect the duality in their lives: the dark underworld from which they come, and the sunlit world above for which they yearn—but is deadly. Death under the sun represents a mystical cycle that started with the break from Idu-Ixion and a return through his flames.
   Beyond those listed below, many minor Immortals have places in the Nimmurian pantheon, representing various aspects of Nimmurian life. According to ancient beliefs, they are all thought to travel in magical cloud chariots.
   The spell effects noted below for manscorpion priests are special powers, not actual spells.

Menlil (Atzanteotl): Menlil is the Immortal who whispered to chosen Sohktars during their aimless journey through the caves of Mystara. He promised them Gilmun, a land of sun and light where they could dwell. It was he who encouraged the manscorpions to turn against the enduks and drive them out, and when they were cursed by Idu for doing so he taught his followers how to fashion protective makeup to shield them from the sun. Menlil is now the patron of Gilmun, the "land-above." Also called The Guide, he stands as the patron of war and revenge, and the chief figure of today's Nimmurian pantheon.
   Manscorpion priests of Menlil can cast a cause light wounds spell three times a day.

Nin-Hurabi (Nyx): Nin-Hurabi is the patron of Apsur, the dark underworld beneath Gilmun. She represents earth, fertility, birth, the safety of the caverns, and ultimately, darkness. Nin-Hurabi bears no ill will toward the manscorpions. She only seeks to protect them and believes they should remain in the caves of Mystara. Nin-Hurabi opposes Idu, who is the embodiment of light. She despises the way he cursed the manscorpions. She also frowns on the way Menlil cheated the manscorpions with his shabby makeup trick and how he manipulated them into taking over ancient Nimmur.
   Manscorpion priests of Nin-Hurabi can cast a darkness spell three times a day.

Idu (Ixion): Idu was the name ancient Nimmurians gave Ixion, their chief Immortal, who represented the sun. For the manscorpions of today's Nimmur, Idu has become the prince of perversity, an "evil" figure that no one should honor. His perversity lies in the fact that all manscorpions seek Idu's mighty fire and light, the attainment of which brings only destruction. To them Idu is the Immortal who betrayed and abandoned the manscorpions, but also he whom the manscorpions hoped they could honor again. Dying by his flame is both a horrible fate and a highly spiritual act, for it represents the end of a manscorpion's quest and a return to Idu's mythical realm.
   Manscorpions honoring Idu are considered evil heretics by the established clergy. A few exist who suspect Menlil influenced their Sohktari ancestors into mistrusting Idu. They also resent Menlil's misleading promise of sun and light.
   Manscorpion priests of Idu can cast a produce fire spell twice a day. They also receive +1 to their rolls when trying to turn undead.

Denizens of the Dark Jungle

The deep and forbidding jungle that covers the lower part of the Orc's Head Peninsula is home to several savage orc tribes and their ruler, an ancient vermilion dragon known as Pyre. Though often at odds with one another, the tribes cooperate rather than face the dragon's wrath.

Orcs of the Dark Jungle

Although they may seem unintelligent to outsiders, the orcs of the Dark Jungle are cunning, ruthless warriors. Organized into several tribes, the orcs raid caravans, prey upon passing ships, and constantly seek to expand into Nimmur and Herath.
   Their success in keeping the more civilized countries from overcoming them can be attributed to their cunning use of the jungle as cover for their attacks and as camouflage for their strongholds, and to the guidance of an ancient vermilion dragon named Pyre.
Appearance: Though they resemble orcs from other parts of the world, orcs of the Dark Jungle have very different modes of dress and decoration. They cover their bodies with the sap of certain plants to turn their skins green or brown and their shamans often draw lines or paint stripes on warriors' bodies to imitate the foliage in which they hide. These dyes leave stains on the skin for several weeks even under rainy conditions. Sometimes the orcs add leaves or mosses to their camouflage. When engaged in warfare, many paint death's heads on their faces. Besides their tusks, many also file their teeth to sharp points.
   When not raiding, they frequently adorn themselves with brilliantly colored feathers and clinking jewelry fashioned from shells, river rocks, and stained wooden beads. Among female orcs, scarification of the arms is common, as is tattooing of the chin and brow ridge. Males who have achieved a certain number of kills or who have achieved status in some other way tattoo their entire faces.
   Many of those who raid the seas adorn themselves in captured finery and outland weaponry. In general, however, blistering hot temperatures and constant moisture take their toll on fine materials, rendering them useless after even a few days of wearing them in the jungle. Many orcs clothe themselves in woven grass and reeds for everyday wear.
Personality: The orcs respect strength and disdain weakness. Life in the jungle requires toughness and resiliency. Those who cannot survive on their own are preyed upon, abandoned, or killed. Even their kings change frequently, as younger, stronger orcs challenge their elders for the right to rule. It is unusual for a king to rule for more than 12 years.
   The orcs know very well that they would not be tolerated elsewhere along the Savage Coast and have no chance of ever living peacefully with their neighbors. What might seem like aggressive, ruthless behavior is mere practicality to the orcs. The jungle provides them with plenty of food but little in the way of luxuries—for those they must raid. That this is also Pyre's bidding is only greater incentive.
   Because cooperation within the tribe is essential to their survival, whether hunting, gathering food, or raiding, they are mostly of lawful alignment. Their cruel actions and disdain for sentient life, however, mark most orcs as evil. Some, though, hold to a personal code of honor and almost all can be reasonable if offered something beneficial.
Lifestyle: Several factors determine the lifestyle of the orcs of the Dark Jungle. Most notably, they live in a rainforest. Heat and humidity are extremely high, making heavy armor or clothing a burden rather than a blessing. What sunlight penetrates the upper and lower canopies of the forest is filtered and green; many areas remain dark even at the brightest part of the day.
   Perhaps the dark, oppressive atmosphere lends itself to superstition and dread but the orcs believe that the spirits of the dead remain in the trees of their jungle. For the orcs, however, evidence that their beliefs are real is not difficult to come by. Indeed, it is not rare for ebon statues of warriors or influential tribal members thought lost in the jungle to be discovered on some remote trail. The shamans say that the forest spirits have captured their souls.
   The orcs build great wooden forts, especially near the entrances to their ancestral caverns. They cut down trees in some areas, haul the trunks to the top of forested hills, and build the structures among the growing trees. These fortifications are very difficult to spot until one is quite close to them. Shamans often direct the builders to carve on the forts' logs the screaming, demented faces of tribal ancestors known to have been taken away by the forest spirits. There are often hundreds of faces for each tribe, some dating back several centuries. Shamans also take the ebon statues found in the jungle and incorporate them into the walls of the forts and temples. This is part of the orcs' ancestral lore.
   About half of the Dark Jungle population lives in caverns. These caverns connect to the ancient caves of the Sohktars and to those of the Herathians. The connecting caverns are fortified and heavily guarded by the orcs and the forces at the tunnels' other ends. Because invading one another's territories through these tunnels is virtual suicide due to the heavy guard each race posts, there is very little raiding back and forth through what would seem to be the perfect conduit for waging warfare.
   Their success in ambushing Nimmurian and Herathian caravans stems from their ability to conceal themselves cunningly within the foliage along the caravan trail. Dark Jungle orcs have the ability to hide in the forest as a thief can hide in shadows (30% chance either individually or in groups). If the orcs have enough time to set up an ambush, if they use all camouflage usually available to them, and if they remain perfectly motionless, their chances go up to 60%.
   Nuts, fruits, roots, and tubers are easily gathered by the nonwarriors of the tribe, and dozens of animal species make for fine hunting. Several varieties of fish, frogs, and turtles live in the streams, minor rivers, pools, and small lakes found throughout the jungle. Some tribes even feed on the large insects that infest the lower canopy. Much of the tribes' time is spent gathering and hunting the bountiful food the forest provides. When they are not engaged in food-gathering activities, the orcs make weapons, hold mock fights, dance, plan raids, and prey upon caravans and ships.
   All of the major tribes are independent of and to some extent competitive with one another. Dozens of subtribes owe fealty to the kings of one or more of the larger ones. Despite the jungle's abundance, resources within the tribal areas cannot keep up with the demands of burgeoning populations. This results in some fierce competition among neighboring tribes for resources or potential booty. Major efforts from Herath and Nimmur to reduce the orcs' power have prompted tribal kings to ally against outside threats, however.
   Because of the constant need for warriors most of the orcs are able to fight well. Though females are generally accorded little respect among their society, some few do rise to the rank of warrior or shaman and most can fight when necessary. Though there is intertribal raiding and minor warfare, major altercations are deterred by the cloud of Pyre's wrath. The dragon looks unfavorably upon those chiefs who engage in large scale, intertribal warfare; both chiefs involved in such are usually executed for their foolishness.
   Most of the tribes are sea raiders, sailing out to attack coastal shipping in giant outrigger canoes utilizing both sails and paddles.
   The tribes living along the shores of the peninsula have acquired a cunning knowledge of the sea and maritime weather. Their shamans have been granted the magical ability to predict weather. Within the past decade, the substantial increase of merchant traffic between the Texeiran Colony of the Horn, Nimmur, and Slagovich has greatly encouraged the orcs to practice piracy—so far with great success.
   Their giant outriggers can hold up to 120 warriors, each of whom paddles when necessary. Fully manned, such war canoes can easily reach twice the speed of a large sailing ship for a short time. The orcs' knowledge of tactics and wind conditions allows them to capture ships easily. Once seen from the shore, the passing ship is hounded by swift-moving orc outriggers taking positions both fore and aft of the ship to block escape maneuvers. Once in place the war canoes come close enough to fire the powerful ballista-mounted harpoons that stick in the ship's hull and rigging. The orcs then tug on the lines attached to the harpoons, pulling themselves closer to the ship. Under scores of arrows fired from the canoes, the target ship's sailors cannot effectively sever the harpoon lines. Eventually, all the canoes come close enough to mount a boarding action. Those on board usually do not survive, though occasionally some are taken as captives for torture or for slaves to give to Pyre. The orcs then quickly plunder the cargo, scuttle the ship, and return to the safety of their jungle lagoons.
   The only defense against their raids is either to set out with several well-armed ships or to stay out of sight of the coast. The orcs' ambushes at sea can be as swift as they are unexpected. They operate both in broad daylight and in the middle of the night, homing in on the lanterns of unwary vessels.
   The final determining factor in the orcs' lifestyle is their overlord. Pyre has subjected all the orc tribes to his power. Every moon, tribal kings pay tribute to Pyre, in slaves, food, and treasure. In addition, when Pyre desires it, the tribes unite and conduct massive invasions against their northern foes. Pyre plans many of these successful raids as well as helping the orcs defend themselves from those who would steal their land. Their apparent unity and success, therefore, owe a great deal to the dragon's planning. Without Pyre, they might return to their old feuds and defeat themselves, laying the Dark Jungle open to exploitation by Nimmur or Herath.
Language: The orcs of the Dark Jungle speak Yazug, one of three related goblinoid languages. About half the words in this language can be understood by someone who speaks Yazaka, the language used by the goblins of the Yazak Steppes. Many orcs know snippets of Herathi and Nimmurian, learned from captives. An orc who can speak Common is extremely rare.
Equipment: All orcs, including children, carry weapons. Warriors wear no armor, but carry shields made of wood and covered with the skins of giant forest rodents. They fight with short bows, spears, and stone axes. All warriors make their own weapons. Though many carry snares, most do not bother bringing food or water with them on journeys, knowing that these are plentiful in the jungle. All of them carry some sort of pouch that holds their personal effects—camouflage paint, a lucky rock, an extra spear head, some waxy leaves to keep their swords from rusting, or whatever else strikes their fancy.

The Tribes of the Dark Jungle
Except for the Green Slayers, all Dark Jungle orcs know how to maneuver their giant outrigger canoes in high wind conditions and worse, using both sails and paddles. Their shamans also know how to cast predict weather as if they were 1st-level druids.
   Orc fighting units break down into hordes of about 1,000 orcs, then into war-bands of approximately 100. Up to 75% of a tribe's adult population, including females, can muster during a war.

Tribe of the Black Orchid (Northwest)
Main tribal camp: F'faug (Pop.: 1,500 orcs, 310 troglodytes)
Subject Tribes: 4
Hordes: 7 (30 war canoes on the coast and along the last 80 miles of the Ganlil River)
Ruler: King Qreebak, The Dreamer
Symbol: Black orchid on a crimson field
Patron: Ait-tha (also known as Talitha).
   The Black Orchid shamans are reputed to be the most skillful among all the tribes in herbal knowledge. They concoct the black paste in which their warriors rub their arrows. The paste, made from a black orchid found in this region of the Dark Jungle, causes fever within an hour to those wounded by it (save vs. poison allowed). The fever lasts for 1d6+4 days, during which the victim is amnesiac and prone to follow any order whispered into his ear. The Black Orchid tribe favors the Sea Plague tribe, but dislikes the Green Slayers, who have allowed their dreaded green slime to infest the shores of the Ganlil River.

Tribe of the Silent Death (Northeast)
Main tribal camp: Ol-omöi (Pop.: 4,100 orcs, 570 lizardmen)
Subject tribes: 10
Hordes: 20 (45 war canoes, half of which prowl the Forbidden River)
Ruler: King Bratagh, The Impervious
Symbol: Mouthless yellow skull on a black field
Patron: Karaash.
The most powerful tribe of the Dark Jungle, it is also the one with the biggest problem: a long border with Herath. The Silent Deaths are notorious for sailing up the Widow River in war canoes and slipping deep into Herath. They hide during the day and travel at night, pillaging every village and caravan camp they find. The orcs of this tribe have developed the ability to move silently (40% chance on foot or in their war canoes; roll for every 120 orcs or single canoe involved).
   Silent Deaths view themselves as the exemplars of orcish kind and demand that all other tribes bow to their authority and to the patronage of their great orcish Immortal, Karaash. The Silent Deaths dislike the Green Slayers and the Storm Bringers, who have resisted the Silent Deaths' attempts to make them subject tribes. The Silent Deaths, however, occasionally join major sea raids initiated by the Storm Bringers, to loot and to demonstrate Karaash's powers.

Tribe of the Green Slayers (North-central)
Main tribal camp: Argak (Pop.: 2,200 orcs, 230 swamp trolls)
Subject tribes: 6
Hordes: 10 (9 war canoes, mostly in the swampy maze around Argak)
Ruler: King Haitar Wood-Crawler
Symbol: White eyeless face on a dull green field 
Patron: Na'al (Nyx)
   These orcs have learned to capture and raise green slime in large stone vats. Before a battle, they fasten clay jars containing green slime (three 2HD slimes per jar) on ballista-fired javelins. They can fire the javelins up to half the normal ballista range. On impact, the slimes are released and randomly scattered. Slimes are only used once during an ambush (the first round of javelins). The ballistae are usually installed at an ambush site and camouflaged under fresh foliage or mounted on war canoes. Green Slayer shamans know how to prepare the slime-repellent paint that protects flesh from the green slime's corrosion.
   The Green Slayers are the only orcs who know how to get around the dark bayous of the swamps surrounding their main tribal camp. The other tribes avoid this area for fear of the deadly green slime ambushes set by the Green Slayers. This tribe favors the Sea Plague tribe, but dislikes the Black Orchids for attempting to steal the secret of their protective paint. They fear the power of the Silent Deaths, their ancestral rivals. They owe their freedom from the Silent Death's overlordship mostly to their knowledge of green slimes and the aid of their swamp troll allies.

Tribe of the Sea Plague (Southwest)
Main tribal camp: Zrag (Pop.: 1,800 orcs, 250 snappers)
Subject tribes: 5
Hordes: 8 (53 war canoes scattered on the coastline)
Ruler: King Ukul, Harpoon Hand
Symbol: Red harpoon on a dull blue field
Patron: Oruguz (also known as Orcus)
Ukul is a despicable monster with a powerful personality who replaced his severed hand with a harpoon head.
   Once per moon, Sea Plague shamans can cast a cloudkill spell as if cast by a 9th-level wizard. For this, at least 12 shamans must howl and dance for an hour. Shamans can perform the ceremony at sea if all are aboard the same canoe. The spell can neither be cast in the jungle nor at sea in high winds or worse conditions. When the spell is cast, greenish bubbles burst at the surface of the sea, releasing the cloudkill's deadly vapors. Upon reaching a ship, the vapors sweep the outside decks, then sink into the ship's lower levels. The spell can be used against only one ship.
   The Sea Plague tribe favors both the Black Orchids and the Green Slayers, during whose disputes they often act as mediators. They hate their ancestral rival to the east, the Storm Bringers, who can call upon high winds to dispel their cloudkill spells.

Tribe of the Storm Bringers (Southeast)
Main tribal camp: Ugmar (Pop.: 2,800 orcs, 290 ogres)
Subject tribes: 6
Hordes: 11 (73 war canoes, of which 53 are scattered on the coastline and 20 control Red Lake, where their main camp is located, and the downstream segment of the Forbidden River)
Ruler: King Orogi the Half-Ogre
Symbol: Black foot on a brick-red field
Patron: Crakkak of the Sharp Tooth
Shamans of Crakkak have the ability to cast a weather control spell for the exclusive purpose of summoning or dispelling high winds at sea. They can do so once per moon; this requires at least 12 shamans howling and dancing for an hour. The shamans can perform the ceremony at sea if all are aboard the same canoe. They use the spell to break up large enemy fleets, flee a battle, or disperse cloudlike spells.
   The Storm Bringers occasionally accept war canoes from the Silent Death tribe during major sea raids against the eastern kingdoms of the Savage Coast, mostly to bolster their overall strength. Storm Bringer shamans arrange for Silent Death war canoes to be in the first lines of combat. They also hate the Sea Plagues, with whom they've had numerous clashes at sea when trying to intercept the same merchant ships.

Giant War Canoes

These are huge outrigger canoes comparable to Viking longships, which the Dark Jungle orcs use to wage naval warfare and conduct river raids. Each canoe requires 100–120 orcs with paddles for maximum speed, but otherwise use normal sails for long-distance navigation. Each comes with a ballista capable of shooting a solid harpoon attached to a rope. Tents can be pulled over the rowers to protect them from the sun.
   Cost: 4,000gp; crew: 100–120 orcs; capacity: 30,000; move (miles/day): 18/90; move (feet/round): 90/150; maximum speed: 240 for one turn; hull points: 40–60; AC 8.
   After a full turn at maximum speed, the orcs are exhausted and must stop. If attacked then, the orcs fight at –3 to attack and damage (1 hp damage minimum) for the rest of the encounter.

The Overking

The overking of the orcs is Pyre, a huge, ancient vermilion dragon. Exclusive to the Savage Coast, and possibly unique, vermilion dragons are red chromatic dragons that have been affected by the Red Curse and ingested cinnabryl. Rather than gain only one Legacy, these dragons gain several and hold off the side effects through the cinnabryl they've eaten. They even have the advantage over others in that the acquired Legacies cost them nothing in terms of their abilities. They lose no Strength, Intelligence, or other assets when a new Legacy is gained. Furthermore, even after leaving the area affected by the Red Curse, the magical nature of the dragon combines with the cinnabryl to make the change permanent. They breed true once changed.
   Though they still require cinnabryl occasionally, the dragons can live outside the affected area and maintain their powers. They even live longer than normal dragons. The main penalty for them seems to be a tendency to sleep for longer periods of time in between awakenings and to sleep more deeply when at rest.
   Pyre was once a normal red dragon with the ability to cast spells. Originally from Robrenn, Pyre gorged himself on cinnabryl when affected by the Red Curse and contaminated himself with the substance in order to gain powers like an Inheritor but without incurring any bad side effects. Because he still has need of cinnabryl, Pyre frequently demands that his orcs raid caravans and ships carrying cargo including the metal or goods that can be easily traded for it.
   He has acquired the following Legacies: Anti-Missile, Displace, Duplicate, Feel Magic, Phase, Regeneration, Repel Metal, and Spell Shield.
   Pyre has access to a great number of magical abilities as well. Due to his venerable age, he is able to use the following three times a day: affect normal fires and pyrotechnics. Once a day he can use heat metal, suggestion, and hypnotism. Rather than being able to detect gemstones three times a day as a normal red dragon can do, Pyre is able to detect cinnabryl when within 100 feet of it three times a week.
   Besides these advantages, Pyre has a magical artifact that gives him enormous power. This item is known as the ebon eye.
   An ancient king of Robrenn once went on a quest to destroy Pyre. He died in his quest but not before wounding the dragon and causing him to lose an eye. Pyre fled, but before leaving Robrenn he stole a sacred object from the druids, an eye made of ebony. This eye was a key item in the Robrenn mythology.
   Pyre placed the item into his empty eye socket as he left. The eye bestows upon its user the ability to turn foes into ebony statues. The druids had used it for centuries to punish criminals and heretics. It is said that a victim's soul remains in the statue until it is destroyed or until the statue is returned to flesh.
   The missing ebon eye has become the object of many quests since it was stolen. The Military Order of the Ebon Eye was established by the druids with the sole purpose of recovering the sacred object. Many of the order's young knights have sworn to find the ebon eye and have left on lifelong quests. So far, none of these popular heroes have returned. It is a great honor among Robrenn warriors to become such a knight, or even to have such a knight in the family.
   Pyre uses the eye's magic to help control the orc tribes at his command. The orcs believe it is a forest spirit that turns unfortunates into ebony statues. Actually, Pyre uses this ability to punish those who displease him. Anyone gazing at the dragon can be changed into an ebony statue if Pyre so wills it (a save vs. petrification is allowed). Removing the ebon eye (manually or with a wish spell) from his head would cause Pyre to suffer 3d6 points of damage (no save).
   In addition to all his other advantages, Pyre owns a great many magical items. Among them is an ankle bracelet of shapechanging and a crystal ball with clairaudience. He uses this to check up on the various tribes and to watch events transpiring in the north. The crystal is not actually shaped like a ball but more like a four-pointed, flat star. Though mostly clear, the crystal has strange hieroglyphics etched into its surface. They form an incomprehensible pattern.
   This is the viewing crystal needed to fully utilize the star device in Nimmur. Pyre has no idea of its true value, utilizing it to further his schemes without examining it too closely. If he did care to study the device more fully, he might be able to discern that the etchings are actually written Nimmurian and refer to focusing the device in tandem with a key.
   Pyre's lair is reputedly found underground at a secret location that has hidden accesses to all of the orcs' caverns. Rumors say that he keeps hundreds of slaves there mining for gold (or diamonds, reports differ). None of the tribes knows exactly where Pyre's lair is. They know that it lies in a mist-covered valley somewhere within the Dark Jungle but none have ever traveled there and returned to tell the tale. Pyre meets with them at prearranged places. When they have need of the dragon, the tribes beat upon huge drums made from the shells of hollowed-out trees. If this awakens the dragon and if he chooses to respond, the tribe that called him had better have a very good reason for the summons or be willing to part with a large percentage of their members to assuage his anger.
   If not sleeping or spying on his underlings, Pyre is likely to be secretly traveling the northern nations utilizing a hat of disguise. He usually assumes human shape and travels the lands outside the Dark Jungle to spy out secret places in Herath, Nimmur, and Robrenn. He steals precious magical items and kills rulers and key military leaders.
   With all his abilities, this is one of the most powerful dragons on the world of Mystara. He is also very intelligent. His long life can be attributed to genius as well as power and luck, and he should not be underestimated.

History

Long ago, the tribes of the Dark Jungle were small and scattered. Orc tribes lived throughout the Savage Coast, as evidenced by the similarity of their language to the goblins of the Yazak Steppes. As the land was claimed by humans and near-humans, the orcs were driven farther west and south. Those who adapted to the Dark Jungle survived. They were assisted by the orcs already living there.
   These "natives" held knowledge the newcomers needed to survive and were thus able to subjugate the new arrivals. The native tribes became the five main tribes of the peninsula. Many newcomers, especially proven warriors, were allowed to join one of the native tribes. Others had to form their own smaller tribes and bow to the authority of the larger ones.
   All were ruled by an overking, the great vermilion dragon Pyre. Through his cunning and leadership, he taught the orcs to ally with one another and use their numbers and abilities to hide within the jungle in making raids against their neighbors to the north.
   One such war was waged against the Nimmurians, the enduks who were aided by the newly-arrived manscorpions. The orcs were beaten back into the jungle in that engagement but not eradicated. Another great raid was known as the Great Sea Terror. Thousands of orcs in their giant outriggers terrorized the Savage Coast, raiding and moving on too quickly to be contained. They raided as far as the Gulf of Hule before their booty got so heavy their boats became easy prey themselves. Of the thousands of orcs who dared that venture only a thousand or so survived and returned with loot. From that raid, the rest of the Savage Coast became quite aware that savage orc tribes inhabited the peninsula to the west.

Flora and Fauna

The Dark Jungle is a teeming cauldron of life filled with hundreds of kinds of trees, insects, birds, and animals. It is always hot, humid, and rainy. During the dry parts of the year, the two great rivers that snake through the area remain mostly within their embankments. During the rainy season (the winter months), it rains daily, sending the river waters flooding across the flat portions of the jungle and covering some areas up to 16 to 20 feet deep for miles on either side. Trees, vegetation, and animal life have all adapted to this yearly inundation.
   The rivers provide homes for dozens of varieties of fish, including piranhas and hatchet fish. The latter are the only true flying fish, as they flap their fins and rise out of the water in pursuit of flying insects. Lizards, frogs, and turtles live along the river, as does the dreaded giant black caiman, an aggressive crocodile over 18 feet long. Wading birds like the scarlet ibis share the river with gentle manatees.
   Hundreds of types of birds—most boasting bright plumage that the natives use to decorate themselves—and small creatures such as beetles, bees, and butterflies make their homes on the bark or in the leaves of the great trees. Capybaras (large piglike animals) and anteaters move along the game trails, spotted cats laze upon the branches of the lower canopy, and bluewing butterflies flit in the few beams of bright sunlight that filter down through the overhead canopy. Army ants forge their ways through the detritus on the ground in columns that are miles long and hundreds of feet across.
   The trees themselves are giants, towering as much as 100 feet before spreading out in branches and leaves to form the lower canopy. At this level, the branches stretch out toward one another to provide a solid, nearly unbroken trail along which many of the jungle's animals travel. Shallow-rooted, the trees form large buttresses of their roots to anchor themselves in the soil. Twined around and hanging from most of the trees are lianas, thick, strong vines that help the trees anchor themselves together near their crowns. Travelers should beware of the lianas, however, for many are actually large jungle snakes such as the anaconda.
   It is impossible to travel far in the jungle without having to cross streams or pools of water. Many of these backwater pools are filled with giant water lilies. Piranhas tend to congregate in these areas. Clouds of fog and mist hover above and among the trees. The rainfall, absorption by the leaves, and hot sunshine conspire to create a damp haze over great portions of the forest.
   The central area of the jungle is a cloud forest. The area is a combination of jungle and deciduous vegetation atop hills. The higher elevation means that the air is slightly cooler, with the resulting ever-present fog. In the midst of that area lies a lower elevation along the path of the Forbidden River. This region lies below sea level and stretches to either side of the river in a bog or marsh. Cattails, reeds, and other marsh plants grow in abundance, as do mosquitos and other insects. Mangroves raise their roots above the water, providing homes for poisonous spiders and snakes. Turtles, crabs, and fish live in the bayou waters, while cicadas and warblers sing without pause from the grasses along the banks. This area is also home to the green slime raised by the Green Slayer tribe.

The Dark Jungle Pantheon

Ait-tha (Talitha): This Immortal stands as the patron of thieves and victory by deception. Her shamans are the ones who ordered the Green Slayer's slime-repellent paint to be stolen. They capture isolated Nimmurians or their slaves. Using the amnesia induced by the black orchid, Ait-tha's shamans plant secret orders in their captives' minds to steal some precious object from their Nimmurian masters or to set Nimmurian rulers against each other. (Pyre provides the information on the objects to be stolen). Orcish shamans of Ait-tha can also pick pockets as 1st-level thieves.

Crakkak of the Sharp Tooth: Storm Bringer orcs adopted Crakkak as their chief Immortal after witnessing numerous ravenous sharks attacking helpless human sailors from a group of sinking ships. So impressed were the orcs with the sharks' feeding frenzy that they began honoring the "great shark spirit." This caught the attention of Crakkak, who created a new following of Shamans by sending dreams and visions. He rewarded his followers with the tribal ability to affect high winds at sea and with a new protection spell. Orc shamans of Crakkak can cast this unique protection from sharks 30' radius spell in addition to their normal complement of spells. There is a 10% chance of sharks being present at any naval battle near the Orc's Head Peninsula (1d4 sharks per ship or war canoe in the battle). This is a sign of luck for the Storm Bringers, who then receive a +1 bonus to their Morale. Those orcs eaten by sharks anyway are believed to have been called to serve Crakkak.

Karaash (Ilneval): Karaash is the patron of orc warfare. He also defends the traditional values of the orcs and backs their struggles against not only Herath and Nimmur, but also against Pyre. The antidraconic sentiment remains well hidden, but Shamans of Karaash might secretly back a serious attempt at destroying Pyre if they were convinced of its success. They know of the Order of the Ebon Eye and its purpose. They don't believe these knights have a chance against Pyre but they do not interfere with the knights' efforts.
	Karaash is honored to various degrees in most tribes of the Dark Jungle. His following is strongest among Silent Deaths. If there could be such a thing as "orc-paladins," devout followers of Karaash are it. They constantly seek to demonstrate the greatness of Karaash's precepts and the value of orcish supremacy. Karaashite zealots gain a +1 to attack and damage rolls when fighting unbelievers. These Shamans can also use crossbows.

Na'al (Nyx): As the patroness of darkness, Na'al is often honored among orcs of the caverns. The foggy region of the swamps around Argak is dark and dismal enough to remain a haven for her followers. The Green Slayers' attempts to raise green slime as pets and teach them tricks caught Na'al's attention. This unique and totally hopeless endeavor to raise the level of consciousness of green slime received her utmost sympathy. As a reward for the Green Slayers' work in this field, she granted their Shamans the knowledge of various slime-repellent recipes. Orc shamans of Na'al can also cast a darkness spell once a day in addition to their normal complement of spells.

Oruguz (Orcus): The orcs of the Sea Plague tribe started out as pig-herders centuries ago. The tribal kings of the Sea Plagues were then (and still are) evil devil swine. This secret community of lycanthropes manages to keep the tribal throne thanks to their charm ability.
   They are responsible for the tribe's worship of Oruguz. Oruguz grants his followers the cloudkill spell, making them more powerful sea-raiders. This earned them the enmity of the Storm Bringers, who became direct rivals. Orc Shamans of Oruguz also receive a bonus of –2 to their Armor Class when fighting demihumans (dwarves, elves, and halflings).

Ee'aar and Enduks

The high mountains of the Great Immortal's Shield are home to the winged elves known as ee'aar.

Ee'aar

These winged elves, known as avariel or al-karak-elam in some areas, are not native to the Savage Coast, so they are rare as player characters. Ee'aar come from Aeryl, a kingdom on the Arm of the Immortals, a peninsula several miles to the west of the Orc's Head Peninsula.
Appearance: Ee'aar look much the same as regular elves, but appear even more delicate with more angular facial features and slightly larger eyes. Ee'aar also have large, feathered wings with a span of 12 feet when unfolded. When folded, the wings stretch from their heels to a few inches above the head, and they cannot be concealed except through magical means.
   Ee'aar usually have white or silver hair, though some have hair that is black or a shade of gray; ee'aar wings are about the same color as their hair. Their eyes are amber, violet, or deep green.
Personality: Typical ee'aar are reclusive, preferring the company of their own kind. Those who choose to adventure on the Savage Coast have overcome this tendency enough to associate with others but still tend to be very private. Ee'aar are curious and regard all nature as wondrous and worth protecting. They pity those who cannot fly and do not understand people who voluntarily spend time beneath the ground, away from sky and sun. Most ee'aar are very vibrant, full of humor, and unafraid to show their emotions.
   Ee'aar tend toward good and chaotic alignments, with few lawful individuals and even fewer who are evil.
Lifestyle: An ee'aar on the Savage Coast is away from home, where beautiful, fragile looking cities rise to great heights among the mountains. They are accustomed to cold and all forms of weather but only the most daring fly during storms and high winds.
   In ee'aar society, male and female are considered equal but there is another dichotomy. About half of the ee'aar have trained for combat and hold to a strict warrior's code. The others know little of war and concentrate more on art and philosophy. It is generally the more martially minded ee'aar who seek adventure on the Savage Coast.
   Neither type of ee'aar completely ignores the other side of their personality and it is common to find warriors with artistic talent and thinkers who can defend themselves. Similarly, all ee'aar tend to be very religious without trying to serve as missionaries to the unenlightened.
   Ee'aar buildings are composed mostly of glass and are open and spacious. They usually have tall foundations of glass or stone, with open living quarters that can be accessed only from great heights. They seldom have doors, just wide openings for ingress and egress.
   Ee'aar sometimes bond in a ceremony similar to marriage but that can be dissolved if both partners agree. Children are cared for by both parents and are rare and therefore precious to both the parents and the community.
Equipment: Technologically advanced in the field of architecture, ee'aar are skilled glassworkers and they create buildings and weapons from glass, which their most powerful wizards enchant with glassteel. An ee'aar character, when created, can purchase weapons of enchanted glass instead of metal, such as a glass short sword or a spear with a glass head. These weapons cost the same as a normal weapon of that type, if purchased by an ee'aar in the ee'aar homeland.

Ee'aar as PCs 

The ee'aar have adapted to the cold environment of their high mountains. They rarely wear more than light, down-lined tunics, leggings, and soft leather boots. If caught in a severe storm, ee'aar can kneel in rocky recesses and protect their bodies with their wings. It takes months of discomfort for an ee'aar to become used to the warmth and humidity of the lowlands, especially in tropical regions.
   Most ee'aar have had little contact with races native to the Savage Coast, so they have no preconceived notions or pronounced racial preferences. They are friendly with enduks,who also now live on the Arm of the Immortals. They tend to like phanatons and wallara and pity the wingless elves and half-elves. They sometimes slightly fear gurrash, lupins, and rakastas, because they resemble creatures that prey on birds, creatures that would prey on ee'aar if they could. They do not care for manscorpions due to those creatures' betrayal of their friends, the enduks.
   For combat, ee'aar prefer small weapons that can be wielded with one hand. Their favorite weapons are short swords, bolas, lassos, nets, blowguns, and spears. Ee'aar cannot effectively use medium or large slashing weapons (such as the battle axe and many swords), because their wings impede their use. Similarly, ee'aar cannot utilize long bows and very seldom use short bows, although crossbows are sometimes employed. Flight lances are popular among organized fighting groups, but other large weapons are avoided because they are too unwieldy.
   An ee'aar can still fly while wearing leather or studded leather, but not anything bulkier. Special elven chain mail (made with glassteel enchanted glass) can also be worn without impediment. If purchased by an ee'aar in Aeryl, this special elven chain mail costs the same as normal chain mail (75 gp). Ee'aar rarely use bulky armor and never use shields, because their desire for mobility is quite strong.
   Special Abilities: The most important special ability of an ee'aar is flight. Ee'aar can fly at a speed of 18, with maneuverability class B. They can carry half their body weight without penalty; carrying more weight reduces maneuverability class to C. An ee'aar cannot fly if carrying weight greater than the character's body weight or if wearing armor bulkier than leather, studded leather, or elven chain mail. 
   Ee'aar must make a Constitution check for every hour of flight. If an ee'aar fails the check, he must land and rest a half-hour for every two hours of previous flight. The Constitution check is subject to a penalty of –1 if the ee'aar is carrying weight over half that of his or her body weight. If favorable winds are present (like updrafts in the mountains or a strong sea breeze), ee'aar can simply glide, in which case they receive a +4 bonus to Constitution checks. They suffer a further penalty of –1 to the checks for every 5,000 feet of altitude above the first 5,000 feet. They cannot fly above 20,000 feet.
  Ee'aar's wings are AC 9 minus any Dexterity bonus and cannot be hit in a frontal attack unless the attacker is taller than the PC. If a flank attack misses but is still good enough to hit the wings' AC, the wings are hit. Back attacks are always made against the wings.
   An ee'aar that loses 50% or more of his normal hit points cannot fly, but can glide until 75% or more points have been lost. Even a grievously wounded ee'aar can jump to a height of 10 feet from a standing start.
   Ee'aar wings are especially vulnerable to fire and burn quickly when ignited. An ee'aar who is hit by a flaming arrow or similar weapon or who fails a saving throw against a fire-based spell, must spend 1d4 rounds extinguishing the wings immediately or the feathers burn. The ee'aar takes an additional 2d6 points of damage and loses the ability to fly for a month while the feathers grow back.
Miscellaneous: Ee'aar suffer from claustrophobia and cannot bear to be in enclosed places, especially underground. If confined in such a place, an ee'aar must make a Wisdom check each day of confinement, with failure indicating a neurosis: The ee'aar becomes somewhat violent, very lethargic and mostly unresponsive, or extremely nervous. The neurosis disappears when the ee'aar reaches open air. An ee'aar who fails five or more Wisdom checks during a single sojourn into an enclosed space takes on a psychosis, becoming very violent, catatonic, or panicked; this condition lasts until cured by heal or cure disease.
   Ee'aar receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls when using a short sword, bolas, or lasso. They have infravision to a range of 60 feet and have excellent normal vision, being able to notice details from more than a mile away.
   After reaching maturity, all ee'aar become the recipients of a controllable light spell, which is cast in the center of the individual's chest; the ee'aar can use this to surprise enemies or light the way for travel. This variant of the continual light spell allows the magical light to be turned on or off at will or to flicker at a specific rate. Ee'aar use the lights to communicate with one another during the night and to blind or frighten nocturnal monsters. Each family within a clan has a specific blinking rate that identifies them to other clans; it is their version of heraldry.
   Another use has recently been found for their lights. Ee'aar have been flying off the coast of the Arm of the Immortals, flickering their lights to imitate certain stars. This is to fool sea captains into sailing farther away from the ee'aar homeland but it has caused several ships to run aground in dangerous, orc-infested regions.
   An ee'aar is 30% resistant to sleep and all charm-related spells.
Language: Ee'aar speak a dialect of the elvish tongue called Aeryla and can communicate with little difficulty with those who speak standard elvish. Ee'aar curiosity often encourages them to learn the languages of other races.
Classes and Kits: Ee'aar are usually fighters, priests, wizards, or some multiclassed combination of those classes. Only a very few are thieves. Ee'aar wizards may be mages, enchanters, illusionists, diviners, transmuters or air elementalists.
   The following kits are appropriate to ee'aar: They may be Nobles or Swashbucklers. Warriors may be Defenders, Honorbound, Wilderness Warriors, or Myrmidons. Though uncommon, ee'aar wizards may choose to be Militant Wizards. The most popular wizard kit among the ee'aar is the Mystic. War Priests are common, and the few thieves among them usually become either Bandits or Scouts. They have no bard kit that is exclusive to the Savage Coast.
   An Inheritor kit can be used by an ee'aar who begins a career on the Savage Coast (and thus does not have ready access to special racial equipment, unless, for instance, such items are inherited from parents who lived and adventured on the Savage Coast). Ee'aar gain no initial Legacy when created.

History

The history of the ee'aar is shrouded in mystery. It is known that they are not native to the Savage Coast and that centuries ago they migrated from a far land called Davania in order to reach the Arm of the Immortals. What prompted the ee'aar to abandon their old home and undertake this dangerous exodus is unknown, but they believe it was to enable them to found a homeland where no one could find them.
   Most of the ee'aar died on the way; the survivors claimed the high, desolated mountain lands where no foe could easily reach them. Ee'aar myth tells of a lone hunter named Aeryl who trod upon the clouds to reach a magical spire and thereby entered the Realm of Faerie. She lived so long among them that wings grew on her back and she learned much from her faerie friends. Being homesick, she returned and was welcomed back by her kin, who marveled at her wings. She married and passed the wings on to her descendants, until today, centuries after her death, all the ee'aar bear wings and they named their kingdom in her honor.
   Long ago, the ee'aar were contacted by the Nimmurians (enduks) and established friendly relations. When the enduks were driven from Nimmur, the ee'aar helped them escape. Using large nets slung between their giant eagles (see below), the ee'aar assisted the enduks in crossing over to the Arm of the Immortals (since the distance was too great for enduks to fly all the way) and founding a new home there. Today, some ee'aar are helping the enduks attempt to retake the land of Nimmur from the usurpers and have recaptured the city of Um-Shedu as the first step.

The Kingdom of Aeryl

Capital: Ithuín (Pop. 12,100 winged-elves, some pegataurs)
Army: 12 Wings
Ruler: Enerin II, The Gaunt, oldest son of Syrond I. Royal lands include the area immediately adjacent to Ithuín. The family domain includes the city of Mythror and immediate lands.
Patron: Ilsundal.

Aeryl lies among some of the highest peaks of the mountains known as the Great Immortal's Shield. It consists of four clans and royal lands belonging to the throne of Aeryl, which together surround a grassy plateau called Oethrun. The plateau is part of a commonwealth available to all citizens of the kingdom and serves as both a garden and hunting grounds for the ee'aar, the greatest source of food in their kingdom. They maintain a careful balance between hunting and gathering and tending wildlife in order to avoid straining Oethrun's fragile ecology. Because of this and their need to remain flight-worthy, ee'aar never consume more food than is necessary for their health. It is unheard of for an ee'aar to be overweight.
   Royal responsibility includes defense of the nation from monsters and invaders. King Enerin is also the clan leader of Mythror, which he rules from Ithuín. His present task is to waylay the explorers from Porto Maldição who are searching for a way to get across the Great Immortal's Shield. The former Vilaverdans, who have now claimed their independence, are seen as loud, greedy, overfed wastrels who will eventually cause trouble for the quiet kingdom of Aeryl.
   Troops serve on a voluntary basis for one year every 20 years, which means that 5% of the whole adult population is serving in the army at any time. Clan nobility commands the troops. Armies break down into battle wings of 50 troops and five giant eagles, which then break down into hunting wards of 5–10 troops and one giant eagle. The capital has 12 such wings. The other four cities of Aeryl rely on another eight wings each, for a total of 2,200 ee'aar warriors and 220 giant eagles. For every 50 troops, five commanding nobles ride the giant eagles and carry short bows and swords; 20 fight with the clan weapon of their city (nets, bolas, and so on); the remaining 25 fight with normal swords.

Flora and Fauna

The high peaks of the ee'aar homeland radiate outward from the central plateau. The plateau is covered with grasslands and trees reminiscent of an alpine meadow environment with various nut trees, berry bushes, and a few fruit trees providing food for both the ee'aar and some of the animal inhabitants. The ee'aar also grow hardy grains on part of the plateau and gather honey from the bees that have adapted to the region's cool air. Deer, small pigs, and mountain goats all provide meat for the clans, though many goats are kept for their milk to make goat cheese. Game birds such as pheasants live in the area and the upper lakes are a stopover point for migrating wild geese.
   Predators include bears, foxes, mountain lions, and giant eagles. Trees are deciduous rather than tropical due to the coolness.
   Above the plateau, the mountains rise above the tree line and are often ringed in clouds; below, the mountain slopes descend into heavy growth forest.

The City of Ithuín

The capital of Aeryl is an elegant and refined city set among the high mountain ledges and cliffs. It is a place of slender glass towers with graceful arching walkways that hang outward from the mountain and blend in with the snow and icicles that linger year round. Portals open half way up the towers and a few crystalline balconies overlook the grassy valley below. The palace is slightly larger than the other towers and has an icy, silver-blue tint to it. Ee'aar come and go, flying, gliding, and gracefully walking along the arched walkways. Here and there, guards with glass flight lances stand before open doorways. Because the buildings are constructed of glass and shaped to blend in with the icicles and ledges of the snowy mountain, it is possible to mistake the city for a natural formation until coming quite close to it.

The Ee'aar Pantheon 

The Guide (Ilsundal): Ilsundal is the chief Immortal patron of the ee'aar. He represents peace and serenity as well as wisdom, law, and trust. The ee'aar believe it was his will that led them to the high mountains and that he requires the ee'aar to live there in quiet seclusion from the rest of the world.

The Guardian (Mealiden Starwatcher): Mealiden is the one who protects Ilsudal—for the ee'aar that makes him the patron of war and the defender of Aeryl. He likes bold, mocking, light-spirited adventurers. His priests are the ones who provide the ee'aar with their special controllable light spells.

The Adventurer (Eiryndul): He represents jokes, amusement, relaxation, and freedom. Eiryndul is an inquisitive maverick who breaks the rules to unveil secrets. Those with a particular interest in new magic, who are curious about the world beyond the mountains (like ee'aar Scouts), who are impulsive and curious, and those who do not fit the traditional ee'aar culture revere him. Most of his followers become wanderers or adventurers.

The Kingdom of Eshu

The high plateau of Eshu serves as the homeland for the displaced enduks, winged-minotaurs driven from their original home in Nimmur by the dreaded manscorpions.

Enduks 

Enduks are winged minotaurs, the only "true" minotaurs according to their history and legends (others are cursed versions that lost their wings when they turned to evil). Like the ee'aar, enduks are not native to the Savage Coast but come from the Arm of the Immortals, so they too are rare as player characters. The enduk homeland is the Kingdom of Eshu. Enduks once inhabited the Kingdom of Nimmur, but were betrayed and displaced by the manscorpions.
Appearance: The enduks look like minotaurs with wings. They are humanoid, appearing to be furred humans with heads like those of bulls. Their fur is usually light brown, ranging to black but a very few have creamy-white fur. Enduk wings are feathered black, white, or a shade of gray or blue-gray. Hair (and beard, for males) is coifed into curled rows.
   They stand 6 to 7 feet tall and are often well-muscled; enduks who are taller than 7 feet are considered Large creatures and take damage accordingly. Both males and females have horns; these stick out from the sides of their heads (rather than curling close) and are usually ivory-white, though some are yellow, light brown, or gray. White-furred enduks have pearly horns. Horns are 1d6+12 inches long. They typically have brown eyes, though some have black irises.
   An enduk's foot has only two large toes, both with hooflike coverings. Their hands look human but have thick, black nails. Enduks are carnivores and have sharp teeth.
Personality: The typical enduk is a religious individual; most are lawful good. They are not very trusting and seldom make friends among the wingless. Enduks are honorable and go to great lengths to keep any promises they make.
Lifestyle: The land of the enduks is closed to most other folk. Once they ruled Nimmur and welcomed all peoples. They opened their kingdom to manscorpions, and later were betrayed by those creatures. Enduks in general want to recapture Nimmur and most enduks who adventure on the Savage Coast try to organize missions to Nimmur to spy on and harass the manscorpions.
   Because of their experience in Nimmur, enduks are distrustful of most strangers. The ee'aar are exceptions and are viewed as friends. Enduks hate manscorpions and wingless minotaurs. With most other races, enduks are hesitant and tend toward distrust, but they are generally willing to give each person a chance. Once befriended, they tend to trust more easily; once betrayed, they never forget.
   The Kingdom of Eshu is on a large plateau surrounded by towering mountains. The ruler of the land is a priest-king who guides his subjects in religion and in secular life. Eshu is a peaceful land, but is always ready to defend itself against enemies. Most common enduks are farmers, scholars, and artisans, but all are part of the militia.
   Enduks walk about as much as they fly. Though they often fly to battle and use flight for strategic advantage, they prefer fighting on the ground.
   They live in stone structures close to the ground. Their homes are simple and practical but tend to be large, with huge doorways, because of the enduks' size and wingspan. Enduk buildings have doors, but these are left open unless strangers are present or in the case of some threat. Most enduk structures also have trapdoors on the roofs.
   Enduk priests choose lifemates for their people. An initial "marriage" takes place when the enduks are about 12 years old, though the pair can put off cohabitation for as much as two decades, to give them time to get to know one another and to seek adventure if they so desire. Once the final ceremony takes place, the enduk couple bonds for life. Any children are cherished and raised in a loving, deeply religious household.
Equipment: Enduks are usually equipped with a footman's mace or club, a net, and/or a flight lance. They have leather armor or bronze plate mail and carry net bags for personal effects, hanging them from their belts to leave their hands free.

Eshu's Armies 
The organization of Eshu's armies is similar to that in present day Nimmur, since the manscorpions copied enduk practices. Armies break down into battle storms of 100 troops, in turn splitting into tactical warbolts of 20 troops. The capital city of Sardon has 12 storms. Erdu and Gildesh have six storms each, and Masur and Enveh have another three each, for a total of 3,000 soldiers.

Enduks as PCs

Enduks are about as technologically developed as the other cultures of the Savage Coast and the Arm of the Immortals. They are generally good engineers if they choose to take the appropriate skills. Though they once were highly decorative in their architecture, now they choose practicality rather than art as the guiding factor in designing their buildings and crafts.
   In combat, enduks like bludgeoning weapons that can be wielded with one hand. The footman's mace is preferred. An enduk must spend one weapon proficiency on a mace or club at 1st level; an enduk wizard is allowed the use of a club but otherwise has the same weapon restrictions as other wizards.
   Nets are also popular among enduk warriors. With the exception of the crossbow and the flight lance, enduks cannot take a proficiency for a piercing or slashing melee weapon until they are 3rd level or higher. Enduk fighters, priests, and fighter/priests can take a proficiency in flight lance.
   Enduks prefer crossbows and cannot use long bows or short bows. Like ee'aar, they cannot effectively use medium or large slashing weapons (such as the battle axe and many swords), because their wings impede their use. Other large weapons are avoided because they are too unwieldy.
   Typically, enduks wear leather armor or bronze plate mail. They cannot fly with anything bulkier than bronze plate and, because they are naturally Armor Class 6, most lighter armor gives them only AC 5, so they are better off wearing leather armor. Banded and splint armor is not made in the enduk homeland. Enduk Defenders can buy bronze plate mail for 100 gp from the church organization in Eshu.
Miscellaneous:  Enduks' horns cause 1d4+1 points of damage on a successful attack. They have excellent vision and are able to note details from as far away as half a mile.
   Enduks can fly at a speed of 12 with a maneuverability class C. They can carry weight equal to that of their body weight without penalty; carrying more weight reduces their maneuverability class to D. Enduks cannot fly if carrying a burden greater than twice their own body weight or if wearing armor bulkier than bronze plate mail. Though they are strong fliers, they cannot fly great distances. They must make Constitution checks every turn of flight after the third. If the check fails, they must land and recover for one turn for every three turns spent in prior flight.
   Enduks who lose 50% or more of their normal hit points cannot fly, but can glide until 75% or more of their points have been lost.
   Like ee'aar, enduks' wings are especially vulnerable to fire and burn quickly when ignited. Enduks struck by fire or who fail their saving throws against a fire-based spell must spend 1d4 rounds extinguishing their wings immediately or their feathers burn, doing 2d6 additional points of damage and preventing them from flying for a month while the feathers grow back. Unlike the ee'aar, enduks do not have claustrophobia and suffer no disability when underground.
   Enduks cannot fly above 10,000 feet, but could glide from that altitude, if necessary.
Language: Enduks have their own language, a beautiful and complex tongue known as Nimmurian. This language has been adopted by the manscorpions, but never spoken so fluently by them as by the enduks. The enduks consider most other languages simple and learn new languages quickly.
Classes and Kits: The vast majority of enduks are fighters, priests, or fighter/priests. Enduks can become skilled wizards, but seldom pursue that profession, most preferring religious and martial activities. It is extremely rare to find an enduk who has become a thief. If psionics are used in the campaign, psionicists (and multiclassed psionicists) are about as common as wizards or thieves and enduks have twice normal chances of having a wild talent.
   The following kits are appropriate for enduks: It is rare, but possible for enduks to become Inheritors. They may be Local Heroes and Swashbucklers; fighters may be Defenders, Honorbound, Wilderness Warriors, or Myrmidons. Enduk wizards may opt for the Militant or Mystic kit and their priests are almost invariably War Priests. Those few who choose to be thieves may be Bandits or Scouts. White-furred enduks are usually inducted into the Order of Eshu, a group of honorable knights (fighters and fighter/priests) who use the Defender kit.

History

Long ago the enduks were created when a herald of Idu rendered a great service to his patron. As a reward for Gildesh, his servant, Idu formed a race with some of Gildesh's features. Gildesh was a shedu, a winged bull with a human head, and he ruled over Idu's newly created followers, who for practical reasons had been given winged humanoid bodies and the heads of bulls. These were creatures of exalted goodness who lived to serve Gildesh, which means the defender in their language, and further the ideals of Idu—the sun. Centuries later, Gildesh had enough followers to found a kingdom in the western part of the Orc's Head Peninsula. It was called Nimmur, which means the homeland.
   Over the centuries, envoys of other Immortals quietly influenced some of Gildesh's followers, introducing greed and violence to the Nimmurians. One of those, a warrior known as Minoides, betrayed Gildesh over a holy treasure and killed him. As he died, Gildesh cursed his murderer and his treacherous lackeys, who fled Nimmur and lost their wings. They became the evil minotaurs of the world.
   Gildesh was not truly dead, just banished to another plane by the death of his mortal body. Idu suggested that he give his followers time to learn and grow on their own and Gildesh agreed to return only every third century. During his absence, the manscorpions arrived and were welcomed by the peaceful Nimmurians. They were beset by the orcs of the Dark Jungle.  The manscorpions aided them during the struggle, only to turn against their allies once that fighting was done.
   When the manscorpions overran their cities, the enduks were forced to flee and with the help of the ee'aar, they relocated to a vast plateau hidden in the mountains of the Arm of the Immortals. The Eshu plateau was infested with monsters but the enduks and ee'aar working together eradicated them. The enduk were ecstatic about their new, secluded land where they could honor their Immortal patron, Idu, and their spiritual leader, Gildesh.
   The kingdom was named for the priest-king Eshu, who ruled ancient Nimmur at the time of their flight to the Arm of the Immortals. Upon pacifying the northern end of the plateau, he had the great fortress of Gildesh built to hold its entrance. He died several years later at the Battle of Urduk, when several hordes of orcs attempted to find a way onto the plateau. Idu's herald Gildesh returned a decade ago and is now ruling for another mortal lifetime.
   Today, the enduks are a peaceful race of farmers and soldiers who live simply. They grow crops in the rich soil, hunt boar and deer and fish in their many rivers. As before, they build villages, cities, temples, and fortresses, though not such grand ones as they once constructed in ancient Nimmur.
   It is a particular goal of the enduks to try to retake Nimmur. To that end they often send adventurers to the Savage Coast to harass the manscorpions and plan raids. In the last decade, heavy attacks by the orcs of the Dark Jungle, which occupied much of Nimmur's army, created an opening that allowed a combined force of enduks, ee'aar, and a few repentant manscorpions to seize the city of Um-Shedu. Thus far, they have held the city and hope to use it as a staging base from which to retake the whole country.

The Kingdom of Eshu

Capital: Sardon (Pop. 11,200 enduks and a handful of visitors from elsewhere)
Royal Army: 12 Storms
Ruler: Priest-King Gildesh II, Herald of Idu
Patron: Idu

Flora and Fauna

The land of Eshu occupies a vast plateau similar to Aeryl's Oethrun. It is a heart-shaped grassland that slopes down toward a northern bottleneck, the Gildesh pass. Eshunite rivers drain toward the pass, eventually forming a very high waterfall at the eastern edge of the Great Shield of the Immortals. High mountains surround the kingdom, preventing neighboring populations from reaching Eshu.
   Like Aeryl, the region is rich in farmland and hunting areas. Although it is very well watered, thus having richer soil, Eshu supports almost exactly the same flora and fauna as Aeryl.

The City of Sardon

Though large, the city of Sardon is remarkably uninteresting. Architecture is spare and practical, and the streets are straight and wide. The only buildings of real interest are the palace and temple complex. These are built along patterns established in Nimmur, the large palace intended to serve both as a court and as a counting and storage facility and the temple resting atop a three-tiered ziggurat. 

The Enduk Pantheon

Idu (Ixion): The enduks are essentially followers of Idu, which is what they were created to be. Idu represents fire and the sun as well as a balance of passion and wisdom, power, and scholarship. Enduk priests of Idu have the following special powers: They can cast a produce fire spell twice a day and receive a +1 to their rolls to turn undead.

Other People, Other Places

The Lizard Kin

At the western end of the Savage Coast lie three kingdoms inhabited by lizard kin. The three races that inhabit Shazak, Ator, and Cay were originally created by the mages of Herath to serve as slave-warriors and servants. Having proved unsuitable, they were released into the bayous and woodlands that today form their kingdoms.

Shazaks

Shazaks are very similar to lizardmen (as found in the Monstrous Manual). For the most part, they are peaceful primitives who have only recently begun to develop art and a written language. Many are used by Herathian nobles as mercenaries and they have served as front-line troops for Herath in times of war.
   Shazak feels the pressure of an ongoing conflict with Bellayne, which contests their rights to the forested area between Ah'roog (the shazak capital) and Bellayne's Marches of Wyndham. They are also beset by gurrash incursions that are savage and all too common. The gurrash think of the shazaks as tasty fare.
Appearance: Shazaks stand six to seven feet tall and weight from 200 to 250 pounds. Their skin tones range from dark green to a grayish brown, with their scales giving them a flecked or dappled appearance. Their tails average three feet long and are not prehensile. Shazaks usually have golden yellow eyes with slit pupils much like those of cats; occasionally, a shazak is born with brilliant green eyes, and these are marked to become Wokani or Shamans. There is little overt physical difference between male and female shazaks to the unpracticed eye.
   Shazaks usually wear loincloths and a harness that holds their weapons. They like jewelry, particularly jewelry with quartz and opals. Those in service to Herathian nobles wear whatever armor they are given to wear.
Personality: Though they can be fierce when aroused, shazaks are for the most part peaceful. They are both tough and cunning, having been first abandoned in the bayous, then forced to move to the woodlands and adapt when the savage, brutal gurrash moved in and began to hunt them. They have formed a stable government, begun the production of art and goods, developed a written language, and learned the rudiments of trade. They make dependable mercenary soldiers. In the last century, shazaks have domesticated  huge bats that are used as mounts by their Beast Riders, important Wokani, Shamans, or the Shaz (their equivalent of a king.)
Lifestyle: The shazaks are survivors and adapters. When turned out by the Herathians, they banded together under a war leader named Shaz, adopted others into their tribes (rather than killing them and thereby wasting their potential), and created a synthesis of those who could survive—those who had learned more advanced skills living in the Herathian cities. Shazaks live in family groups within larger tribes. Many are potters, woodsmen, fishers, and hunters. Others are various sorts of warriors, thieves, wizards, and priests. All fulfill their roles within their tribes. Females are held in as much esteem as males, perhaps because their original war leader was female.

Shazaks as PCs

Shazaks are probably best described as strong, tough, and stolid. They are dependable and usually reasonable. Though they are not as ferocious as gurrash, they are more highly advanced and able to comprehend and implement more complex plans. They do not care for rakastas, having encountered them too often in battle to feel really comfortable around them, and they greatly fear the gurrash raids that plague them all too often.

Miscellaneous: Shazaks have a natural affinity for water and receive swimming as a bonus proficiency. They have a natural Armor Class of 5 due to their inherent toughness and scales.
Language: The shazaks have their own language (known as shazak) that is nearly identical to the Malpheggi language used by the more civilized lizard folk in the rest of the world. It has a syllabary used by shazaks, some caymas, and a few gurrash wizards. Common is little spoken among the shazaks, though some do speak it because of their trade dealings with Herath.
Character Classes/Kits: Shazaks are still fairly primitive. As such, they have not yet developed a great deal of job specialization in their society, which is reflected in their relatively few choices in kits. They can be fighters, wizards, psionicists (if allowed), priests, thieves or bards. Multiclassed shazaks may be fighter/thieves or fighter/psionicists (if the class is allowed in the campaign). Those who are native to Shazak may choose from among the following kits: Inheritor (rare), Spy, Beast Rider, Defender, Honorbound, Savage, Wokan, Shaman, War Priest, Bandit, Filcher, or Scout. Multiclassed shazaks are allowed to choose a single kit; they cannot take kits in both classes. Shazaks raised in other cultures may choose from among the following kits: Local Hero, Swashbuckler, Myrmidon, Militant, Mystic and Fighting-

Monk. They are never Nobles, Gauchos, Mendoo, Heralds, or Skalds,no matter where they were raised.

Gurrash

Savage and hardy, with a bloodthirsty streak bred into them by the Herathians when they crossed them with alligators, the gurrash of Ator are a crude but powerful people. They escaped Herathian control long ago and fled into the bayous, where they bred so quickly that the Herathians were unable to eradicate them. Their favorite prey were the shazaks who lived in the bayou. The shazaks were soon forced to abandon the bayou to the more ferocious gurrash.
Appearance: Gurrash stand seven to eight feet tall and weigh close to 300 pounds. They are covered with deep green scales. Their heads resemble those of alligators, with large mouths filled with sharp teeth and slitted pupils in their eyes. Eye color ranges from an almost toxic-looking yellow to a deep red. They favor simple clothing such as loincloths and tunics and may wear bandoliers to carry their equipment and weapons.
Personality: Something savage always lurks just beneath the surface in even the calmest and most civilized gurrash. Many are evil-tempered and prone to excessive violence, though some are more controlled and reasonable. Gurrash are not as advanced as shazaks and, indeed, tend to view them as tasty snacks. Some few among the gurrash have learned to control their harsher natures and violent impulses enough to become adventurers.
Lifestyle: The gurrash hunt and fish in the bayou and defend their home from all interlopers. They are more likely to kill strangers than open a dialogue with them. They are beginning to develop the concept of family and tribal unity beyond that of monarch and subjects, though monarchs still rule through fear, brutality, and the support of the Shamans. Any monarch who is outdone in savagery by a lesser gurrash can look forward to a challenge for the right to rule the tribe.
   The gurrash trade with the wallaras, though they do so almost accidentally. They have found that if they leave certain items at designated places along the wallaran grasslands, other items that they need appear in their place. Because the gurrash believe that the grasslands are the home of their Immortal patron Goron, they do not venture there, allowing the wallaras (utilizing their camouflage abilities) to make these switches without the gurrashes' knowledge.

Gurrash as PCs

Though gurrash are able to assume many roles within an adventuring party, they must be treated with caution. At any time, a gurrash may lose control and become terribly savage, even turning against his companions. Besides this, they have a tendency to be far too direct and brutal in their dealings, and this may cause problems for parties, especially if they are trying to be diplomatic. Nonetheless, once a gurrash joins a party, he regards the party members as blood kin, to be supported in all situations (of course, the gurrash's understanding of the situation—or lack thereof—may cause a few problems, even then).

Miscellaneous: Gurrash automatically receive swimming as a bonus proficiency. Beginning gurrash characters may not take the reading/writing proficiency unless they are wizards. They have a natural Armor Class of 5.
   Gurrash have trouble controlling their tempers and suppressing their inherently violent and savage natures. Any time a gurrash is placed in a situation that he or she cannot understand or that is frustrating, the character must make a Wisdom check at –2. Failure indicates that the character has become enraged (like the "courage" entry under the 4th-level wizard spell Emotion) and remains so for five rounds or until the rage is countered (by magic or through removal of the frustration). Success indicates that the character has controlled his or her temper and may choose actions other than blindly striking out in rage. Whenever the gurrash receives at least 8 points of damage from a single blow, the character must make the same roll as above or throw caution to the winds in his single-minded attack on whoever caused the wound. In this case, the rage can only be stopped magically, when five rounds are up, or by the death of the target.

Language: Gurrash speak a variant or dialect of the shazak tongue. A few of their wizards can write, using the symbols of the shazak written language.

Character Classes/Kits: Gurrash may become fighters, priests, wizards, thieves or psionicists (if the class is allowed in the campaign). Natives must choose from among the following kits: Inheritor (rare), Defender, Honorbound (uncommon), Savage, Wokan, Shaman, War Priest, Bandit, Filcher, or Scout. Multiclassed gurrash may be fighter/priests or fighter/thieves. Gurrash priests must be either Shamans or War Priests; multiclassed fighter/priests must take either the Shaman or War Priest kit (and should take the War Priest). They cannot choose to take a fighter kit because they must choose the priest kit in order to be a priest at all. Gurrash raised in other cultures may be Local Heroes, Myrmidons, Militant Wizards, or Fighting-Monks. Gurrash may never become Nobles, Spies, Swashbucklers, Beast Riders, Gauchos, Mystics, Mendoo, Heralds or Skalds, regardless of the culture in which they were raised.

Cayma

The third in the experimental creations of Herath, the cayma was their attempt to create servitors who would become their builders and slaves. Having failed dismally to produce large warrior types, the herathians chose to make the caymas small, agile, and intelligent. Unfortunately, in so doing, they wrought creatures whose pride in their work kept them from admitting faults within the structures they built. After several disastrous collapses, the herathians gave up and dumped them north of the bayou. The cayma have established their own monarchy and expanded into the open lands to the north. 
Appearance: Caymas are around 12 to 18 inches tall and weigh 6 to 10 pounds. They are quite dexterous, but most lack any real strength. They have skin tones that range from a dull brown to a rich green and have black eyes in which the pupil cannot be seen. When not in combat, caymas prefer to wear tuniclike wrappings and feathered headdresses. They like small bone and feather jewelry as well.
Personality: Caymas are peaceful and avoid combat whenever possible. Their small, agile frames are far more suited to thievery than fighting. When defending their homes and villages, however, they can become quite fierce. In general, caymas are a proud people, easily hurt by the slights other races unintentionally bestow upon them. Often, they are not taken seriously and the Herathian judgment that they were poor builders has led them to frenzied attempts to construct complex structures despite their lack of understanding of architecture and engineering. On the other hand, they are endlessly enthusiastic and certain that they can succeed.
Lifestyle: Aside from their building projects, caymas give most of their attention to herding and trade. They have been herding wild aurochs for some time; more recently they have domesticated small lizards that they harness to war chariots to use in herding. Though some few among them have proposed using the chariots as actual war chariots, the general consensus is that they are too small to be effective. Some caymas forge metal, though their methods are as yet primitive, but they trade cinnabryl and auroch meat with the shazaks.

Caymas as PCs

Caymas can be useful additions to a party. They are small and stealthy and usually willing to risk themselves to prove that they are as good as the big folk. Foes often underestimate cayma fighters, and while many people know of their abilities as thieves, very few are aware that they make very talented wizards.

Miscellaneous: Caymas have 90-foot infravision and receive swimming as a bonus proficiency. They may choose to take a nonweapon proficiency in either architecture or engineering as another bonus proficiency, but gain only half the usual ability with it, rounded down. For example, since engineering is based on Intelligence –3, someone with a 16 Intelligence would normally receive the proficiency at 13 but a cayma with a 16 Intelligence would have the proficiency at half that, or 6.
Language: Caymas speak a variant of the shazak tongue. Some few among them speak Common as well.
Character Classes/Kits: Caymas may be fighters, wizards, priests, thieves, or psionicists (if that class is allowed). They may be multiclassed fighter/thieves or thief/psionicists. Native caymas may be Inheritors (rare), Defenders, Savages, Wokani, Shamans, War Priests, Bandits, Filchers or Scouts. Those raised elsewhere may be Local Heroes, Myrmidons, Militant Wizards, Mystics, or Fighting-Monks. They never become Nobles, Spies, Swashbucklers, Beast Riders, Gauchos, Honorbound, Mendoo, Heralds, or Skalds, no matter where they were raised. Cayma warriors are often accorded little respect initially.

The Western Orclands 

Spread along the eastern shore of the Arm of the Immortals lies another jungle area known as the Western Orclands. The Ghonam, Yamekh, and Sulkar tribes of orcs rule this jungle. They prey upon ships brought too close to the coast when the navigators become confused by the ee'aar's controllable light spells (this has earned the Vilaverdan port its gloomy name, Porto Maldição, or Port Malediction).
	Originally from the orc tribes of the Dark Jungle, the three tribes that inhabit the rainforests of the Arm of the Immortals are the descendants of smaller tribes who refused to be subjugated by larger and more powerful ones or they spring from orcs that were lost at sea in their giant outriggers during raids. Because of a shortage of female orcs among the western orc tribes, females are held in high regard by the tribes and often serve as tribal chiefs or advisers.
   The Sulkar tribe claims the southern jungle that lies below the Grubb Nest Marshes. Though there are two good grassland beach areas where ships might land, they are divided by an area of hidden reefs and sand bars that have wrecked many fine vessels that sailed too close to the shore. Much of the rest of the Sulkar lands are forested hills, which form part of the eastern framework for the mountain range known as the Great Immortal's Shield.
   The Sulkar have no main fortress, relying on quick strikes and moving their villages to keep the Yamekh from gaining mastery over them. Their current chief is Tookala One Eye, a savvy female who rules by right of having slain the last chief. The best approximation as to the Sulkar population is 1,000 orcs.
   The Yamekh tribe to the north also claims an area of coastal grasslands and interior forested hills. Their land lies just north of the swamp and includes several mountains, including Mt. Ej-Täar, an active volcano, and a mine that produces gold. Foreign captives and orc slaves from other tribes are put to work in the mines, while especially intriguing captives may be reserved for sacrifice to the spirit of the volcano, to appease its hunger and keep it from doing more than smoking.
   A small jungle area just to the west of the marsh is disputed territory, which both the Sulkar and the Yamekh claim as their own. Both tribes hunt in the area.  Both lay traps for the others' hunters, and border clashes between the two are frequent. Like their cousins to the east, the Yamekh have constructed a wooden fortress-city called Yamekh-Pyrr.
   The leader of the Yamekh is Furul Fire-breath, though younger challengers are threatening this older orc's position almost daily. He rules from the fortress of Yamekh-Pyrr, which is set among the hills north of the mines. There are approximately 2,200 orcs who claim to be Yamekh.
   The Ghonam tribe is the largest and has the most land. Unlike their brethren to the south, the Ghonam's land is mostly low altitude rain forest and a few miles of hilly jungle in the interior. Their main fortress is Ghonam-Pyrr. Led by the half-orc priestess Sutunu, the Ghonam number about 3,000 orcs.
   The Ghonam must also contend with a foreign colony along their northern border. Mato Grande and Porto Maldição together form an enclave of civilization. They serve as trading posts for goods to and from the Kingdom of Nimmur, the Colony of the Horn, and many of the countries that makeup the Savage Coast. The Ghonam have repeatedly tried to overrun either the fortress and village of Mato Grande or Porto Maldição for the riches the colonial port represents. The rest of their northern and part of their western border are formed by the Rot Swamps.
   At one time, the Ghonam tried to find a way onto the Eshu plateau. The resultant Battle of Urduk cost many hundreds of orcs their lives. Though many would like to expand into the grasslands to their southwest, the memory of the battle of Urduk is fresh in their minds, and they have given up the idea of trifling with the enduk kingdom.
   More recently the Ghonam have been trying to extend their southern border a little farther south, in order to directly threaten Yamekh-Pyrr. They believe that if they can take the fortress, they can subjugate the Yamekh and take over their lucrative mines for themselves. Also, when the Yamekh are no longer in the way, expansion into Sulkar lands will be much easier.
   All of these orc tribes have been being pressured to submit to Pyre's overlordship. Thus far, representatives of the dragon have attempted to urge their acceptance but the tribes have been resistant. Though the dragon seems far enough away to ignore, Pyre has simply not stirred himself to action as yet.

The Colony of the Horn

The Colony of the Horn consists of the small village of Bom Jardim and the Fortaleza da Boa Vista, a combined fortress and prison. Located on the extreme tip of the sandy arm of land that juts out into Trident Bay, the Colony of the Horn is a dumping ground for Texeiran misfits, criminals, and political dissidents.
   Half the population of the colony are prisoners, many of whom are afflicted with severe physical deformities due to their forced removal from lands affected by the Red Curse and the confiscation of their cinnabryl. They provide the labor for the colony, from building structures to hauling in fish and attempting to farm what little fertile ground exists there.
   Their guards and administrators are little better off. Whether lazy, inept, corrupt, or just plain stupid, these Texeirans have earned their placement in the "pit of misery" known as the Colony of the Horn. Like the prisoners they guard, they have undergone the painful withdrawal from the Red Curse and its protective cinnabryl. Unlike the prisoners, most of these were given the benefit of magical healing to ease the transition and recoup their lost abilities.
   Nonetheless, they realize that they, like the criminals they oversee, are for all practical purposes exiled to this backwater. Most are too old or too debilitated to risk returning home and once again undergoing the stresses of the Red Curse.
   The village of Bom Jardim arose around a missionary clinic founded to provide relief to the Afflicted or immigrants from the lands in which the Red Curse is active. The priests there help to reverse the horrid transformations and cushion the recovery from the curse's manifestations. Unfortunately, though they would like to be able to offer their services for free, they cannot do so. Texeira will not fund them because those in charge have no wish to see the dregs of their society return to their homeland—much less will they spend money to "coddle" criminals and misfits.

Porto Escorpião: Almost a quarter of Nimmur's foreign business passes through Porto Escorpião, the Vilaverdan colonial enclave and best port facility in the country. Paying the manscorpions 15,000 nuggets of red steel for the privilege, Vilaverde acquired a promontory near Asur, which overlooks a protected cove. There they were allowed to construct a trading post, a colony of Vilaverde, to which they hold full ownership for a century.
   A stone stronghold has been constructed as well as a lighthouse. Several Vilaverdan soldiers and scribes under the command of Don Jorge de Vilaverde (elder son of Baron Jorge, ruler of Vilaverde) maintain order and conduct the business of the port. Porto Escorpião was granted independence two years ago and most of its troops recalled. Some stayed loyal to Don Jorge and remained. The baron recently gave complete control over the holding to his son. Vilaverde and Porto Escorpião maintain cordial relations and trade, but Don Jorge is beginning to feel abandoned and wonders if he will be his father's heir or not.
   Vilaverde arranged for rival traders to be virtually locked out of Nimmur by levying a 33% tax on everything shipped by anyone except Vilaverdans through Porto Escorpião. What little remains of maritime trade involves scores of private traders between Bellayne and Slagovich, the shallower ports along the coast of Nimmur. The Nimmurians have no ships of their own. For all practical purposes, Vilaverde has a monopoly on trade from Nimmur.
   Rumor says Don Jorge is an Inheritor who maintains his Legacies and fends off cinnabryl poisoning with a wondrous magical ring.

The Unclaimed Territories

Stretching along the western coast of the Orc's Head Peninsula from Nimmur to the Colony of the Horn is an area collectively known as the Unclaimed Territories. The Wind Flats is an area of sparse grassland that Nimmur hopes to claim soon. Aided by a new treatment against the black killer flies that infest the region, the manscorpions plan to use the grassland as pasturage for their flocks of sheep.
   Low, barren hills partially screen the Wind Flats from the Gray Swamps. The swamps derive their name from the silvery-gray reed that grows abundantly along every water course. The reeds, known as gray slicers, have sharp edges that easily cut through clothing and skin, leaving a thin, painful slit. Slime mold, which coats the reeds and gives them their distinctive color, enters the wound as it is made. A powerful decaying agent, the slime causes the wound to fester and become infected within mere hours.
   To the north of the swamp area is another region of sparse grasslands known as the Mosquito Land. Heavy rainfall in this area creates many pools of stagnant water. Mosquitos breed so quickly and abundantly here that there are hordes of these insects, which literally look like dark clouds moving across the sky. They carry disease in their bites, most notably "the fever," which causes alternating periods of high fever and terrible chills. Many victims of "the fever" suffer periodic bouts of the illness, debilitating them terribly and eventually causing death if left untreated.
   Lastly, there is a large territory called the Land of the Shifting Dunes. This stark, sandy area holds miles and miles of nothing but sand and scorpions. The few sea grasses that manage to survive are hardy, but poisonous. No one has officially laid claim to any of these territories as yet.

Porto Maldição

Once a Vilaverdan trading post, Porto Maldição proclaimed its independence when Porto Escorpião became autonomous. Since this small fortress and village were very far away and unimportant, Baron Jorge raised no objections. It is a rundown, seedy port filled with lowlife searching for a quick profit and not too squeamish about how they get it.

Grubb Nest Marshes
The best thing that can be said for the marsh is that it provides a marvelous wetland sanctuary for hundreds of birds and small creatures. The sea hydras, who also make this area their home, prey upon passing ships and the occasional luckless adventurer who strays into their territory. Rot grubs, for whom the swamp is named, infest much of it and usually kill those that the sea hydras miss.

Rot Swamps

Although one might think that this swamp was also infested with rot grubs, it is named for the miasma that hovers over the area. Horrible sulfuric odors, decay, and dead fish combine to create the nauseating stench that permeates the swamp. Those who enter the swamp must successfully make saving throws against petrification upon first entering and every hour thereafter for the first three days of travel, to avoid collapsing into retching. Quicksand and vicious black caimans (crocodiles) are the swamp's other attractions.