Spriggan
When the gnomes first emigrated from the First World so many eons ago, some found the Material Plane so strange and terrifying that they lost their sense of joy. Seeing only the threat of the new world and none of its wonders, these gnomes grimly resolved to survive no matter what the cost. Their innate magic responded to this goal by twisting them in mind and body over the course of many generations, eventually transforming them into the creatures known today as spriggans.
Love, happiness, and beauty have no meaning for nearly all spriggans, for their minds have long since abandoned the capacity to understand and enjoy such positivity in the world. Violence, malice, and distortion have expanded in spriggan society to fill the aching voids left behind by their ancient expunging of positivity. Today, the best a spriggan can manage in place of positive emotions is a muted satisfaction when they make another creature suffer.
Spriggans resemble muted, hairless gnomes with oversized, pointed ears and an alien, feral appearance. Many of them are gaunt and haggard. Skin tones vary across all different shades of blue, from a pale sky color to a deep midnight. Unlike their more cheerful and optimistic kin, spriggans do not become afflicted by the bleaching, a fact that many of their kind smugly hold up as proof that their ancestors’ choice to abandon joy was the right one.
While spriggans can specialize in a wide range of skills, one feature they all share is the capacity to transform into lumbering, hulking incarnations of their normally small frames. By drawing upon the void left behind in their souls, they reflect the anger and cruelty in their minds and physically transform into giant versions of themselves akin to ogres in stature; however, this rage-induced change takes a toll on their bodies. The longer a spriggan remains in giant form, the more pain and agony they have waiting for them when, inevitably, they revert to their true size. Yet this promise of pain does not deter a spriggan from using their power to grow in size, for it’s only when they assume gargantuan proportions that they can truly feel joy and satisfaction. That spriggans feel these emotions only when they are bullying smaller creatures, fighting enemies (or even allies), or inflicting pain on victims speaks to the depths of their corruption.
Love, happiness, and beauty have no meaning for nearly all spriggans, for their minds have long since abandoned the capacity to understand and enjoy such positivity in the world. Violence, malice, and distortion have expanded in spriggan society to fill the aching voids left behind by their ancient expunging of positivity. Today, the best a spriggan can manage in place of positive emotions is a muted satisfaction when they make another creature suffer.
Spriggans resemble muted, hairless gnomes with oversized, pointed ears and an alien, feral appearance. Many of them are gaunt and haggard. Skin tones vary across all different shades of blue, from a pale sky color to a deep midnight. Unlike their more cheerful and optimistic kin, spriggans do not become afflicted by the bleaching, a fact that many of their kind smugly hold up as proof that their ancestors’ choice to abandon joy was the right one.
While spriggans can specialize in a wide range of skills, one feature they all share is the capacity to transform into lumbering, hulking incarnations of their normally small frames. By drawing upon the void left behind in their souls, they reflect the anger and cruelty in their minds and physically transform into giant versions of themselves akin to ogres in stature; however, this rage-induced change takes a toll on their bodies. The longer a spriggan remains in giant form, the more pain and agony they have waiting for them when, inevitably, they revert to their true size. Yet this promise of pain does not deter a spriggan from using their power to grow in size, for it’s only when they assume gargantuan proportions that they can truly feel joy and satisfaction. That spriggans feel these emotions only when they are bullying smaller creatures, fighting enemies (or even allies), or inflicting pain on victims speaks to the depths of their corruption.
