Khepri

The khepri are a race of women with enormous beetles for heads, who must communicate with other races via sign language. The males of the species are small and animal-like. Khepri are not native to the Rohagi continent. The first small band of khepri arrived about seven hundred years ago, not long after the first recorded human expedition was sent to the Bered Kai Nev continent, far across the eastern sea. It wasn’t until one hundred years ago, though, that a massive wave of khepri arrived on the shores of Rohagi, an exodus consisting of hundreds of ships known as the Tragic Crossing.
An unknown catastrophe, referred to as the Ravening, nearly wiped out the khepri civilization on Bered Kai Nev, and the last desperate survivors set sail across the ocean to Rohagi. No khepri alive today knows the nature of this disaster, as the original survivors refused to speak of it. In fact, they went as far as to purposefully forget ten thousand years of khepri history. The most popular theory is that human explorers unwittingly introduced a disease to the khepri, although in truth nobody knows the cause of the Ravening for certain.

Personality

As a society, khepri place less value on immediate family and more on clan and extended families. These large units are called hives and their subdivisions are called moieties. Khepri society is also deeply sexist and matriarchal, because its males are far too stupid to contribute to civilization in any way. Most khepri sisters treat male khepri with contempt, kicking them out of the way and regarding them as animals. However, typical khepri have no opinion on the males of other species. Individually, khepri are capable of integrating with other societies, but even then they prefer to live and interact with their own kind. It is uncommon for an individual khepri to live with no other khepri in her life. Female khepri brush their antennae in greeting to one another, much as humans shake hands. The leaders of khepri communities are called broodmothers.

Physical Description

The males and females of the khepri race differ dramatically. The males are small, insectile animals, essentially mindless 2-foot-long scuttling things unable to do more than feed and reproduce. The females, on the other hand, are humanoid in appearance. In fact, from the neck down, they are nearly identical in appearance to a human female. Their heads, however, are different entirely. The female head consists of a 2-foot-long headscarab which resembles an enormous beetle, complete with wiggling legs, vestigial wings beneath powerful casings, mandibles, antennae, and compound eyes. Their mouthparts cannot communicate in Ragamoll or any other tongue, and khepri are forced to communicate with other races via sign language or written notes. Among themselves, the khepri converse by scent and complex chemical gusts which other races can smell and taste, but cannot understand.

Uniquely, female khepri are capable of extruding a pliable, waxy substance from the back of their headscarabs, (called “khepri-spit,”) which is used as a construction material. All khepri buildings and structures are comprised of this substance, giving khepri dwellings a distinctive hive-like appearance. Khepri are even capable of altering the color and consistency of khepri-spit, depending on their diet, and use it to create striking pieces of sculpture artwork. Relations The khepri have no centralized government or organization. Individual khepri communities often find life difficult, delegated practically to second-class citizens, as their alien characteristics put off many other races.

Khepri Lands

As recent arrivals in Rohagi, khepri have not yet spread much further west than New Crobuzon, but they already make up a sizable minority in all of the settlements of the region. New Crobuzon itself is home to several khepri ghetto communities.

Religion

Unsurprisingly, the khepri pantheon is completely female. As the surviving immigrants of the Tragic Crossing tried their best to distance themselves from their past, many of the original khepri goddesses have been forgotten and lost to time. A few have remained in their racial memory, however, including Awesome Broodma and the Tough Sisters. Temples and shrines to these deities are becoming common in khepri urban hives. Unfortunately, the forgetting of their old deities has caused a growing spiritual void, which is being filled with a new generation of radical cult goddesses, including the Air Harvester and the Insect Aspect.

Language

The khepri language consists of scents and extruded airborne chemicals. The written form of the language is sometimes referred to as “High Khepri.” As khepri mouthparts cannot communicate in Ragamoll or any other tongue, and khepri are forced to communicate with other races via sign language or written notes. Torque & Thaumaturgy

Torque & Thaumaturgy (Magic)

It is known that the original khepri civilization on Bered Kai Nev was ancient and successful, and it is difficult to imagine such success without any thaumaturgical skill, yet any racial knowledge or abilities the khepri might have possessed was lost in the Tragic Crossing. Khepri are more than capable of studying thaumaturgy in general, if given the opportunity.

Special Abilities

Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution, -2 Charisma.

Size

Medium
As Medium creatures, female khepri have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Speed

Khepri base land speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Khepri can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but is otherwise like normal sight, and khepri can function just fine with no light at all.

Unique Minds

+2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment (mind-affecting) spells or abilities: Khepri minds are different enough from most creatures’ minds that their thoughts are difficult to control.

Evolved Eyes

+4 racial bonus on saving throws to resist gaze attacks: The insectoid eyes of the khepri headscarab filter many harmful sight-based effects.

Weapon Familiarity:

Khepri may treat stingboxes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.

Automatic Language:

High Khepri.

Bonus Languages:

Common (whatever area they are from eg. Ragamoll for northern Rohagi regions (written and sign language forms only.) and sign

Difficulty Level:

1 (of 9). The main difficulty for khepri lies in communication, namely being forced to communicate via written notes and sign language.