The Symoi (SEE-MOY)
That's a lot of Monkey Kings...
In the old days before the fall of the nobility in Gurvangoth, troupes of Symoi could be frequently encountered on the roads or in the forests peddling wares and even offering sweets to inquisitive Human children. Once Beastlord rose to power, the formerly-benevolent monkey-men quickly turned on the Humans who once considered them friends. While they abstain from active combat and to not view themselves as part of the Menagerie, they just as readily cater to Beastlord's needs by providing fresh Human captives as either slaves or sustenance. On the surface they have a friendly countenance, but once they bare their sharp fangs their true selves become evident.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The Symoi have the hairy arms of an orangutan, long prehensile tails like monkeys, and the facial features of chimpanzees. They are quite dexterous able to hang upside down from trees via their tails without suffering adverse effect and able to use their hands and feet in equal capacity in combat. They are quite small standing little more than half as tall as a Human.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Much like conventional primates, Symoi travel in troupes numbering several dozen. If a handful are encountered, far more are sure to follow.
Facial characteristics
Symoi have beady eyes nestled under thick heavy hairy brows and small noses above wide lips. They are described as looking somewhat like The Grinch. Their ears are small and round and coarse fur surrounds their cheeks, jaws, and brow. Their lips appear soft but can peel back to reveal wickedly sharp canines.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Symoi primarily come from the mainland in Gurvangoth but have since traveled to the Hawaiian archipelago in search of profit and prisoners.
Average Intelligence
Extremely cunning and resourceful, Symoi make use of technology forgotten by the arrogant nobles. They developed a safe means of handling cords fashioned from metal capable of draining the strength from a captive. They know the dangers of the metal used well enough to wear protective gear and keep the cables in special shielded satchels.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Symoi are adept trackers and can hunt quarry over many miles whilst remaining undetected.
Civilization and Culture
Relationship Ideals
Once on friendly terms with Humans, the Symoi quickly betrayed them in favor of gleaning profit. They remain aloof from the bulk of the Menagerie but peddle supplies when able. When physically outmatched, they resort to using their irradiated ropes. If faced with staunch opposition, they attempt to overwhelm their foes with sheer numbers. They are considered hostile by the Kurtora and the Rangers.
Much like other members of the Menagerie such as the Avar, the Symoi believe themselves superior to Humans and resent the idea of Humans even attempting to fight back. If faced with a losing battle, a Symoi will whine and screech rather than simply retreat.
Average Technological Level
Aside from their irradiated snares and cuffs, Symoi rely on cloth armor to shield their bodies and the element of surprise. They will make use of swords and polearms if the situation calls for it.
History
The monkey-men have butted heads with the Kurtora's Rangers frequently in the recent past with Rangers ambushing their camps to rescue prisoners and the Symoi attempting to sabotage resource-gathering missions. Due to their sheer numbers, the Rangers have made little headway against their wickedness. A decisive blow to their greed would not be dealt until the arrival of strange Humans traversing the rifts...
It is unknown how well the Symoi will honor the truce brokered at the Tower of Fire. Both Rvembeth and The Queen agree that any beasts who willfully violate the terms of the truce should be hunted with impunity by the Rangers.
“Whatever the case, I’m sure he’ll fetch a fine price once we sell him.” Kento blinked upon hearing that and he turned to face the first creature, clenching his fist and baring his teeth. “What was that?” he growled. The creature raised an eyebrow and grinned toothily. “Oh ho! He speaks! This one has a set of wits about him! That should raise the price a pretty penny.” “Yeah, I’d like to see you try…” Kento snarled and raised his fist. He made a puzzled grunt when he felt something wrap around his arm and looked down to see one of the creatures holding a thin, golden rope it had lassoed around his left arm. It wore heavy cloth gloves. “You think that flimsy thing’s gonna hold me?” Kento tugged, intending to send the creature flying. He frowned when his arm didn’t budge. He tugged again but his arm refused to move. The creature grinned gleefully and Kento growled deeply, reaching over with his right hand to wring the critter’s scrawny neck. Another rope snagged his right wrist. “Hey! What-What is this?! Rrgh! Let go!!” Kento demanded and struggled. Something about the ropes made his arms feel numb and no matter how hard he thrashed he could barely flinch. The other creatures looped coils of golden rope around his legs and waist. “LET GO OF ME!! ARRAAAHHHHNNN!!!” Kento screamed and writhed. He gagged when another rope wrapped around his neck. The creatures had him surrounded and completely restrained. Panic started to set in. “Quiet yourself, beast! The last thing we need is the Kurtora’s Rangers getting on our case again. Get the cuffs on him!” One of the creatures stepped forward holding a small metal chest. “I hear Beastlord returned from his campaign. Seems he suffered a great setback. No doubt he’ll be looking for fresh ‘conscripts’.” Kento opened his eye a crack to see the creature approaching with the open chest. A pair of inscribed golden manacles rest inside. He remembered too well what happened last time. “He must be with that group of humans we’ve been tracking. I wager they gave the wyverns quite a fright. The female among them should fetch almost double the price of this fellow!” Kento’s eyes snapped wide open and he let out desperate shrieking bellow. The rope around his neck tightened as the creature holding it yanked sharply and Kento gurgled, unable to harden his skin against the restraints. “That’s enough from you. Come along now, and be a good little beast!” the creature restraining his neck taunted. The creature holding the cuffs inched closer, snickering all the while. GUYS! HELP ME!!! Try as he might, Kento simply couldn’t move. “haaaaAAAAHHHH!!” Kento’s eyes remained squeezed shut so he couldn’t see Rowen use his Sidewinder Slam technique to send the creature carrying the cuffs flying. He landed feet-first against a tree trunk and sprang away, bashing another creature in the face with his elbow. “Kento! Hang on! We’re here for you!” Rowen assured as he passed by Kento. Kento opened his eyes a crack as he could hear the other Ronin arrive. While they refrained from using Armor, they still had a wide variety of martial arts skills to deploy against the creatures. Dais used a roundhouse kick to send the creature holding Kento’s left arm flying, and Anubis moved forward to untie the rope around Kento’s wrist. He grunted when something hit him from behind and threw him face-down on the ground. He turned his head to the side, stunned to see one of the creatures screeching angrily and hopping up and down on his back, pounding his shoulders with its fists. Anubis scowled in disgust and moved his arm under his chest before pushing mightily, rolling like a corkscrew and tossing the creature off balance. He grabbed the creature by the neck as he rose to his feet. The creature squealed and flailed its arms, trying to claw at Anubis’ face with dirty fingernails. Anubis leaned out of reach and quickly tired of its incessant thrashing, moving his free hand under it’s jaw before wrenching sharply. With a loud wet crunch, the creature let out a gurgling grunt and Anubis tossed its body to the ground. More creatures arrived from the forest, hooting angrily at the defiant humans. The other Elders showed far less restraint than Anubis. Sehkmet reached up to grab a low branch with both hands and lashed up with both feet, catching a creature by the head. He swung the creature to the side, smashing it head-first into a tree trunk. Cale performed a sweeping kick to trip the creature restraining Kento’s right arm, causing it to land against a fallen log. The creature screamed up at Cale, lips peeling back over long sharp canines. Cale brought his heel down swiftly on the creature’s head with a satisfying crunch, grinding his heel for good measure. Sage feinted backwards, avoiding blows before lunging under a creature’s long arms and burying his fist between its brow and nose. “YOU! FUCKING! MONKEYS! MAKE! ME! SICK!” Tanya screamed, using her Windmill Kick to toss a creature into the air before sending it flying with a smashing heel to the face. She yelped when another creature lunged at her swinging a curved sword. The creature chased after her, and she avoided slashes by ducking behind a tree trunk, causing the blade to become buried in the bark. “Hey! Leave her alone!” Ryo shouted, grabbing the creature by the topknot of fur on its head and pulling it away before it could retrieve its sword. The creature let out a puzzled grunt, as if unable to comprehend that a human fought back, and reached up with both arms, screeching angrily. Ryo leaned away and his face contorted in revulsion. He grabbed the creature by the shoulder and flung it against a tree once before grabbing it by both shoulders and slamming it again. “I. Said. Don’t. You. TOUCH. MY. SISTER!!” Ryo began punching the creature in the face repeatedly, again and again so much that it’s eyeballs and teeth dangled from their sockets like a bloody Newtons’ Cradle. Cye held a creature by the collar and prepared to serve it a knuckle sandwich. He paused and watched Ryo, appalled. His jaw hung slack. The creature Cye held saw what Ryo did and apparently assumed Cye had the same treatment planned for it and promptly fainted. Cye blinked in shock at Ryo as he buried his fist into the creature’s face long after it had stopped thrashing. Only one creature remained keeping Kento restrained; the one holding the rope snared around his neck. It snarled and bared its teeth at the other Ronin, indignant at these humans trying to steal its prize. Kento clawed desperately at the rope, unable to pry it loose. Dais surprised it from behind and grabbed it by the shoulder, spinning it around to face him before grabbing the sides of its head and driving his knee into its face. The rope went slack and Kento finally managed to reach up and tug each rope loose. Kento finally removed the troublesome rope around his neck and flung it to the ground. He grunted in complaint when a creature tackled him from behind, wrapping its arms around his head and clutching at his face. One of its fingers found its way up Kento’s left nostril. His eyes popped wide open: he didn’t want to know what the creature had been doing with its hands previously. “Get your damn dirty, stinky, smelly monkey paws off me!” Kento reached up and grabbed the creature by the scruff and flung it away. Instead of striking head-first, the creature swung its body around and landed feet-first against the tree and sprang back towards Kento. He noticed out the corner of his eye and reached behind him, seizing the creature by the neck. “Oh no you don’t!” It writhed furiously and lashed its tail, clutching at Kento’s wrist and arm with its hands and feet. SLAVE! Kento blinked when he caught the thought. He hadn’t been able to sense the creatures thoughts earlier when they surprised him, but now he could pick up frantic impressions. MINE!! For every one creatures that had arrived, the Ronin had dispatched of two. It could not possibly win the fight, and yet it kept clawing and scrabbling with its filthy fingers. ...stop it... Kento’s eyes flickered white and he growled softly as his grip on the creature’s throat tightened. Even this close to death, it refused to relent, baring its teeth at this defiant human. STOP IT... Kento’s hair bristled and he growled deeply. The creature let out a strangled snarling squeal. “I SAID STOOOPP IIIIITT!” Kento reached up with his other hand and wrapped it around the creature’s neck. He pressed his thumbs under its jaw and squeezed powerfully. *SPLUCH!* Upon seeing this, any creatures remaining conscious shrieked in horror and fled into the trees, leaving the ground littered with the bodies of fallen creatures: unconscious or otherwise. Kento stood there, arms raised and fists clenched, chest heaving with deep rattling breaths. “You keep doing that and people are gonna start thinking you have a fetish.” Kento’s gaze snapped to the side at Tanya as she sauntered towards him. “Whoa, you alright?” she paused and raised an eyebrow. He seemed on the verge of going berserk. Kento stared at her several moments, his blood still flush with adrenaline. His heart felt like a piston in his chest and it seemed to take great effort to relax his gums and close his mouth. His eyes dimmed and he took multiple deep breaths to try and calm himself.
When he stood back up, he came face to face with a creature so bizarre in appearance he let out a startled yelp and dropped the entire load of branches he’d been carrying, staggering back a step and windmilling his arms. The creature chuckled in amusement, and looking at it, Kento wondered if he’d come face to face with the Monkey King from the old stories. It wore woven garb and currently hung upside down from a long furry tail wrapped around a branch. “My my, what do we have here?” “A rather curious-looking specimen, wouldn’t you say?” Kento glanced to the side when he saw another creature descend from the canopy, also hanging by its tail.
I had a pack of wyverns try to eat me, almost got kidnapped by a bunch of monkeys, now my girlfriend almost had hot oil dumped on her: I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO PUT UP WITH THIS SHIT!!
Average Height
3' 6"-4'6"
Average Weight
150lbs
Average Physique
The monkey-men appear lanky but possess a shocking amount of strength and can pin down an adult Human with minimal effort.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Their fur comes in a variety of colors ranging from black to brown to auburn to gold. Piercings and tattoos are common. Having ransacked most of the nobility's estates, Symoi are quite fond of bling and are agile enough to mask the sound of jingling jewels and gilded chains.
“What can you tell us about the monkeys? Our friend here had a run-in with them in the forest,” Dais asked and jerked a thumb at Kento. The Queen scowled, anger flashing in her bronze-brown eyes. “The Symoi are scoundrels, and nothing more! In the old days they acted as benevolent scouts, selling information and peddling wares, but after the fall of the nobles they took to intercepting refugees, promising safe passage only to deliver them straight into Beastlord’s grasp.” “My scouts tell me you dealt them a mighty blow. It is good you put an end to their villainy, if but for a time,” Slayer complimented with a crooked grin. Kento clenched his fist at the thought of those vile little monsters kidnapping innocent people…
“Those Symoi used these ropes to restrain Kento. We were wondering if you could tell us about them.” Sage produced the pouch he’d taken from a fallen Symoi and opened the flap. “Ahh, yes, the Symoi fashion these from metal taken from the Tower of Fire. They emit a form of energy which saps the body, reducing the mightiest warrior into a docile pup. The Symoi keep their victims bound with these ropes, or special manacles crafted from such metal. They prefer obedience to strength, and over time the metal causes loss of hair, tooth, and sinew-” Monster Slayer blinked and looked up, surprised to see the Ronin had all but sprung out of their seats, giving the pouch a wide berth. Cale remained in his seat, confused by their actions. “Those things are fucking radioactive!” Tanya exclaimed. Cale did a double take and crouched on the very back of his seat.
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