Sons of Jaki and Sons of Zuwal (monsters)

[shart2069]

It appears nobody has released a decent OGL substitute for the Yuan-ti, unlike many other monsters that WotC reserved as Product Identity.

So I decided to write up some thoughts that have been floating about my head for 25 years, based upon something from the backstory of my Danarbi campaign setting. Basically, the degenerate descendents of two warring cities with a Mayan / Aztec sort of culture. It all began when the Goddess of Strife and Madness showed up in the dreams of two brother princes...

More about the setting can be found at my blog:
https://almostoldschool.wordpress.com/c ... d/danarbi/

I didn't go into specific monster stats yet, but I'd appreciate any feedback on the concept if you've got any.

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The Sons of Jaki and The Sons of Zuwal
(September 9, 2013)

The Sons of Jaki and The Sons of Zuwal are humans that have been corrupted by Chaos. They have been mutated into forms that mix human and animal features, the result of generations of inbreeding and worshipping dark and sinister forces. As an individual grows in power, he changes further and further into a Chaos-spawn, eventually losing the ability of reason and becoming a purely monstrous horror. Although generally referred to as Sons, they may be either male or female. Sons of Jaki and Sons of Zuwal are mutual enemies, and will always attack each other unless some more powerful force prevents them from doing so.

The Sons of Jaki mix human and bat features, while the Sons of Zuwal mix human and snake attributes. There are several general categories of Sons, based upon individual power levels and sharing a certain similarity. At the highest levels, however, the power of Chaos introduces an ever-increasing amount of randomness of appearance, so that two individuals of similar power may differ wildly in numbers of limbs, tails, and even heads.

INITIATE: This lowest category of Son is the result of a ritual performed upon a pure human, or the offspring of an Initiate and a pure human. They appear as humans, except for one or two cosmetic animal traits. They may have large, furry ears; fangs; spindly hands; scaled skin, etc. These features do not grant any special abilities or attacks. 1HD.

FOLLOWER: This second category of Son is the result of a ritual performed upon an Initiate, or the offspring of two Initiates, or the offspring of a Follower and a pure human. They will have one or two major animal features. They may have bat wings instead of normal arms; the head of a snake; the head of a bat; the lower body of a serpent instead of legs; etc. These features will grant some form of special ability or attack. They may gain the power to glide, a bite attack, echolocation, etc. as appropriate. 3HD.

SON OF [JAKI or ZUWAL]: This third category is result of a ritual performed upon a Follower, the offspring of a Follower and an Initiate, or the offspring of a Son Of and a Follower. No longer do they deign to mate with lowly humans. The animal form is dominant at this stage, with one or two human features. They may have a human head; human arms; human legs; or a human torso, but with all other features of an bat or snake. They gain special abilities and attacks as appropriate. Flight; a venomous bite; sonic attack, etc. 5HD.

CHOSEN OF [JAKI or ZUWAL]: This fourth category is result of a ritual performed upon a Son Of, the offspring of two Sons Of, or a Chosen Of and a Son Of. At this category, they appear as huge examples of bats or snakes (mass about twice that of a human), but still maintain human-level intelligence. They have all the abilities and attacks of the animal, with extra effects due to their size. 7HD.

ELDER: This fifth category is normally the offspring of two Chosen Of, although rarely the result a ritual performed upon a Chosen Of. In appearance they retain the basic form of a gigantic (mass about four times that of a human) animal, but Chaos has manifested itself. They may have two heads; an extra pair of wings; several tails, etc. Their ability to reason has fallen to sub-human levels, so they often act on instinct. 9HD.

ANCIENT: This sixth category is almost always the offspring of two Elders, although it is possibly the result of a ritual performed upon an Elder. In appearance they are further mutated, with multiple extra limbs, heads, tails, wings, and at least one feature from some other creature entirely. They may possess certain spell-like abilities. They mass about six to ten times that of a human, and are purely beastial in mind. 11HD.

[greyarea]

I like it

[shart2069]

Guess what gelled the concept enough for me to write it down is that I've just started re-reading Michael Moorcock for the first time in 15 -20 years. Just about finished with the 3rd book of Corum, The King of The Swords. All them twisted servants of Chaos and beast-men and such I guess.

[artikid]

Very nice!

[petespahn]

Yes, very nice! It would make a great article for the next issue of Brave the Labyrinth, if you'd care to submit it. Given the cultures, I'd have expected a jaguar hybrid moreso than a bat. If the culture was more Egyptian derivative, I'd expect crocodiles. This could even fit in with the origins or avatars of the whole Egyptian pantheon.

[shart2069]

Let's just say it was kind of a kitchen-sink setting. I was only 15 or 16 at the time.

Actually, the setting started out as more African-inspired, but I had no clue how to handle that back in 1985. So I turned it into "Latin American mishmash" as only a 16-year old with half-remembered memories from elementary school could.

Bats more scary & evil than jaguars...