Grung
Grungs are a race of bipedal, tree-dwelling, frog-like creatures that inhabit the lush tropical rain forests and jungles of Trorune. They are a tribal species with a color-centric caste system where the Grung's skin color dictates its duties, role, and overall position in the tribe's strict hierarchy. There are six colors of Grungs: The lower caste include Green Grungs which are the tribe’s warriors, hunters, and general laborers and Blue Grungs who work as artisans and in other domestic trade roles. Purple Grungs supervise and guide both these lower caste groups while also serving as administrators and commanders.
Red Grungs are the tribe’s scholars and magic users. They are unique in their caste position as they are superior to Purple, Blue, and Green Grungs, but they are also given proper respect by Grungs of higher caste status due to their magical capabilities. These Grung often take roles as shamans and priests within their tribes often serving as council to the upper Grung castes.
The higher caste Grungs consist of the Orange Grungs, which are the tribe's most elite warriors. They have authority over all lesser castes of Grungs. Finally there are the Gold Grungs, which hold the highest leadership positions in the tribe, including the sovereignty of the tribe; a tribe’s sovereign is always a Gold Grung.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Being of an amphibious nature, Grung need to keep their skin moist and need to soak and bathe themselves in water daily. Their moist skin continuously secretes a poisonous substance that, while harmless to them, is extremely potent to other creatures that come in contact with them or drink from water sources they soak in. The secretion is quite sticky and viscous, and Grungs will wipe their weapons on their own skin to coat them in this potent toxin. When exposed to air, the poison breaks down fairly rapidly, making it extremely hard to harvest and bottle. Their saliva contains the same but highly diluted version of this poison.
Genetics and Reproduction
Like other amphibians, Grungs reproduce by laying eggs in water via their Grung Hatcheries which are well-guarded ground-level pools of water. About three months after hatching, a Grung tadpole takes on the shape of an adult. It takes another six to nine months for a juvenile Grung to reach maturity.
Each Grung caste will lay their eggs in a separate hatching pool, and juvenile Grungs join their caste upon emergence from the hatcheries. All Grungs are a dull greenish gray when they are born, but each individual takes on the color of its caste as it grows into adulthood.
Ecology and Habitats
Grungs tend to inhabit the tropical and subtropical regions of Kalbela and Greater Trorune, primarily in swamps and marshes.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Grungs live in tribes and have a strict caste system based upon their color. It is rare for a Grung to change its caste, but an individual can earn an invitation to join a higher caste; which will involve a magical ritual and the ingestion of a cacophony of herbal tonics. Afterwards, the Grung, and all of its future offspring, will be Grungs of the initiate's inherited color.
Civilization and Culture
Major Language Groups and Dialects
For the overwhelming majority of Grungs, they rarely speak or write anything outside of their native Grungian, sometimes called Frog-Tongue, as they tend to be isolated from move advanced races such as the likes of men, the Dwarves, and the Elves; even the most mundane usage of Common is foreign to the lower castes.
The spoken Grungian is quite literally the "chirping of a swamp or jungle" according to most scholars that have written about the Grung. It is agreed upon that non-Grungs cannot "fully embrace" spoken Grungian as it goes far beyond the frog-like clicking and croaking, but it also encompasses body language, posturing, and tonal shifts of their caste-colored skin.
Written Grungian is pictographic: a mix of spiral patterns, leaf-like sigils, and dot clusters carved into bark, stones, or painted with natural pigments. Symbols can represent a word, concept, or entire phrase, their context and placement determine the precise meaning of the pictograph. Outsiders often misinterpret them as simple cave or forest art.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
The hyper-ridged caste system of the Grungs ironically bleeds out in their interactions with other creatures, particularly creatures the Grungs are stronger than. This leads them into a naturally occurring slaver-role as Grungs are always on the lookout for creatures they can capture and enslave. Grungs will use these captives for all manner of menial tasks, but mostly they just like bossing them around. These slaves are fed mildly poisoned food to keep them lethargic and compliant.
Scientific Name
Rana iris
Lifespan
~50 years
Average Height
2.5-3.5 ft.
Average Weight
~30 lbs.
