Sahuagin (sah-HWAH-gin)
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
Sahuagin are a fish-like monstrous humanoid species that live in oceans, seas, underground lakes, and underwater caves.
The Sahuagin, by all accounts, are savage fighters that ask and give no quarter. When swimming, a sahuagin tears with its feet; they strike with their talons or a weapon. Spears and tridents tend to be their favored weapons. About half of any group of sahuagin are also armed with nets.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Sahuagin are usually green skinned, darker on the back and lighter on the belly. Many have dark stripes, bands, or spots, but these tend to fade with age. An adult male sahuagin stands roughly 6 feet (1.83 meters) tall and weighs about 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Sahuagin are highly fish-like, with webbed feet and hands, gills, and a finned tail. There's additional webbing down the back, at the elbows and, notably, also where humanoid ears should be.
Genetics and Reproduction
Multiple births are frequent among sahuagin, and they deal very harshly with offspring who are not robust or aggressive enough, eliminating them through compulsory fighting to the death between young sahuagin. Sahuagin seem fixated on all aspects of consumption, and are eager to weed out anything they see as weak or unworthy to compete for resources.
About one in every 216 hatchlings possesses four functional arms. These four-armed mutations are usually black, fading to gray in color. While sahuagin usually kill off defective hatchlings, they allow these to live.
Civilization and Culture
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
When going to war, Sahuagin follow a certain code called the Laws of Battle. Sometimes however, a group of the sea devils might form a so-called Wild Hunt, which goes on a frenzied rampage ignoring all rules. There is a speculated relation to Menas.
Common Myths and Legends
Sahuagin worship Sekolah, god of sharks, as their patron deity and the father of their race. They also perceive him as the ultimate adjudicator and incarnation of punishment, officiating over an endless struggle between mythic figures. These figures are the hunter: “He Who Eats”, and the hated: “It That Is Eaten”, with the struggle between them reflected in every aspect of life. Because of this, sharks are seen as holy creatures to them, and dolphins are hated for their friendship with aquatic elves. The sahuagin make regular, living sacrifices to Sekolah by feeding the sacrificed being to the sharks that follow every sahuagin priest.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Sahuagin are natural enemies of sea elves and lizardfolk. Elves and sahuagin virtually can not co-exist peacefully, and wars between them are often prolonged, bloody affairs that occasionally even interfere with shipping and maritime trade. Sahuagin tolerate lizardfolk much more than they do the elves. Sahuagin have an only slightly less vehement hatred for tritons. Exactly why the two races hate each other so much is unknown, but what is known is that the presence of an aquatic elf community within several miles of a sahuagin community occasionally causes some sahuagin to be born as malenti, mutants who resemble aquatic elves.
They also hate the kuo-toa and the morkoth, though it is not unheard of for these races to ally.
They also hate the kuo-toa and the morkoth, though it is not unheard of for these races to ally.
Geographic Distribution
Comments