Zoog

Menacing inhabitants of the deep woods, zoogs are widely dreaded and sometimes mocked from a safe distance. Unlike many feared races, the superstitions and legends about zoogs are well-founded—they are not “misunderstood,” but are just as dangerous and unsettling as the tales tell. Small rodent-like humanoids, zoogs lurk in shadowed forests and burrows, waiting for unwitting prey. Terrifying puppet masters, the zoogs flutter threats and taunts as they lure victims ever closer to their doom. At the same time, much of a zoog’s capacity to evoke terror is situational and atmospheric. Beneath the benighted treetops, their small size and natural grace let them hide almost anywhere and strike from any angle.
Caught in the open or confronted outside their natural environment, they seem more like oversized rodents that are almost laughable. For this reason, zoogs stay out of sight, relying upon misdirection and confusion before they strike. Surrounded by an unknown number of allies in the woods, chittering from all directions and echoing in the darkness, zoogs can be truly terrifying. Most zoogs are content to dwell in their forest homelands, but they are curious beings and are known to roam far abroad. Zoogs often accompany members of other races, hoping for protection. Occasionally, they make a major foray into the outside world or decide to colonize another wood. Anyone who knows of zoogs and their ways would do well to treat news of harassment in the forest and unexplained disappearances as a cause for alarm.

History

Zoogs have no tradition of documenting their societal past and only keep records of current agreements and treaties—which are considered sacrosanct. Neither do they share oral histories among their own people, as they have no interest in dwelling on what has gone before. For this reason, the “history” of these unsettling people is often whatever the zoogs decide to tell a human they have chosen to trick or befriend. The zoogs make a major exception when it comes to genealogy. They determine social class based upon generation-spanning family connections, and so keep meticulous track of family trees for chosen zoogs and their chosen ancestors. How exactly they track this information is a secret unknown to other races, since they tell few tales and keep records even more rarely.


Masters of their environs, zoogs tend to make their homes in dark and haunted forests. Far worse creatures than zoogs often dwell therein, and the zoogs learn caution near a lich’s fortress or a troll den. Larger and more powerful beings often ignore the small and comparatively weak zoogs, who can then take advantage of their proximity. 
Zoogs have a history of making direct pacts with monstrous creatures for mutual benefit, the way a crocodile might allow small birds to pick its teeth clean. For example, in a forest containing a dragon, the zoogs are adept at luring raiding parties of adventurers into the dragon’s lair. Generally amoral and opportunistic, zoogs have few objections to working with evil monsters, but they also recognize the danger such creatures pose. In some cases, if a particularly dangerous creature moves in, the zoogs may seek the assistance of a party of adventurers to rid their forest of the risk. This must be done before the zoogs forge a treaty with the monster, however, as zoogs always keep their word.

Playing a Zoog

Other races are both fascinated by and a little fearful of the curious and furtive zoogs. They have developed a reputation for mysterious powers, cunning, and their specific form of faithfulness.

If you’re a Zoog, you likely...

• see small animals (even pets or familiars) as potential food.
• are attracted to creepy and uncanny places and things.
• remember and honor your personal treaties and those that your forest has signed.
• like to hide in dark corners and explore tunnels and burrows.
• are curious, inventive, and cunning.
• are extremely interested in traps, both magical and physical.
• don’t share your secrets.

Others Probably...

• are nervous around you.
• view you as a possible threat to children and small
• animals.
• are interested in making a treaty with you.
• are afraid you might lead them into a trap.
• consider you to be wise in dark, unearthly lore.
• are ignorant of your people’s complex social structure

Physiology

Zoogs are marsupials. Both males and females have two, small, forward-opening pouches on each side of their abdomen. Female pouches expand significantly when they house a litter of pouchlings. The typical zoog is about the size of a small human child, yet their quadrupedal stance keeps them low to the ground. All four of their limbs terminate in hand-like paws capable of fine work or wielding weapons. In addition, they have long, bare, prehensile tails that give them even more options for manipulation. Their mouths have needle-like teeth, and their faces are adorned with small prehensile tentacles, which they primarily use to manipulate food but can also use to grasp small objects or help with delicate tinkering. They have round, bulging eyes and large ears that grant senses as keen as those of a cat, if not keener. Though zoogs are naturally nocturnal, bright light does not harm or hamper them. They can swim when they must and can climb as well as any monkey. While they can use tools and often keep useful objects in their burrows, zoogs cannot easily carry more than two such items around with them at a time (one in each pouch).
Zoog voices are thin and breathless, most often described as “fluttering.” They cannot shout or make loud noises (except for an occasional frightened involuntary squeal), but they can pick up other languages and are fast learners. They speak their own tongue, which is only taught to outsiders who have signed a treaty with the forest. All zoogs, regardless of their forest, speak the same language, which is instinctive rather than learned. Hence, even a zoog raised by humans will grow up able to communicate with its own kind perfectly naturally, even if it has never interacted with another zoog. Zoogs are technically omnivorous, but they function best on meat. While they are able to eat some fruits and vegetables (usually raw), prolonged reliance on plant matter tends to make them listless and sick. Fresh meat is always a treat, preferably eaten raw. They enjoy all types of animal flesh and even eat other humanoids when they get the opportunity.
Zoogs are able to produce a musk-like substance from glands on their heads, which they often smear on trees or rocks to leave a trail for others of their kind to follow. Some merchants sell “zoog musk,” which they claim can be used to confuse or distract zoogs and thus make it safer to move through a zoog forest. In truth, zoogs are rarely duped by such attempts at trickery.

Family

Zoogs normally live in hollow trees or burrows which they dig themselves or steal from other burrow-makers (such as foxes or badgers). They prefer dark and damp conditions. They typically dig a large network of tunnels with at least two concealed exits in addition to the main entrance for a quick escape at need. When zoogs show affection, they grab and caress their beloved or friend with their cold, clammy face tentacles. Humans generally find this quite unsettling, but those that become friends with a zoog learn to endure it as best they can.
Romance between zoogs tends to be informal and flirtatious, but rarely lasts longer than a few months. Zoogs commonly return to the same romantic partners repeatedly, but there is no social or biological imperative to do so. If two tightly bonded zoogs produce offspring, the pair typically moves into the same burrow for a time. The father traditionally helps to protect and feed the mother (and their babies) until their progeny have grown big enough to leave the family unit. This process typically takes a few years. Once the babies are on their own, the parents separate, dissolving their personal bond but maintaining emotional ties to their offspring. Within a year or two(or sometimes just a few months), the parents find new objects of affection and the cycle begins again.

Society

Each individual zoog forest is its own independent nation, established on the backs of iron-clad treaties with surrounding societies. Zoogs never go to war with other zoogs; indeed, they are bemused that other sentient races fight amongst themselves. Not engaging in such strife does not preclude them from taking advantage of it, however, and zoogs happily seize the opportunity to exploit a conflict for their own gain. Zoog society and social importance are closely tied to their biology. Zoogs raised in their mother’s preferred pouch are the chosen, promoted and trusted as the upper tier of zoog society, while those raised in the inferior pouch are the off-pouch and are considered lower class. As a matter of biological fact, there are almost never more offpouch than chosen and vice versa in a given zoog forest, notwithstanding death and infant mortality. The chosen vs. off-pouch hierarchy is the most fundamental differentiation in zoog society, and it forms the basis of their system of nobility.
Though they belong to a lower social class and never become leaders, off-pouch zoogs are still full members of zoog society. They may provide valuable labor and services, and they are neither mistreated nor enslaved by other zoogs. Zoogs are puzzled when other races take offense to their system: after all, humans, elves, and dwarves have hereditary systems of government as well, often incorporating serfs, a middle-class, and nobility. The zoog system is superior, they feel, because the chosen zoogs are hand-selected by the mother for superiority. After all, in many humanoid societies, nobility is inherited regardless of merit or ability. Zoogs, unlike many other humanoids, do not segregate by social class when mating. When two chosen zoogs mate, however, their own chosen young are termed second-generation, and are considered upper-class. When two second-generation chosen zoogs mate, their chosen offspring are third generation. This process continues up to the eighth generation, and of course can go beyond, but the zoogs don’t often keep track past that point. Even eighth-generation chosen zoogs are vanishingly rare. If a higher-generation zoog mates with a lower-generation noble, the offspring are considered to be the same as if the lower-generation zoog had mated with its own kind. Thus, if a fifth and a second generation zoog mate, the chosen babies are considered third generation. It sometimes seems odd to humans that zoogs make no attempt to mate higher generation zoog together, but the zoogs are happy with their system, and it seems to work for them.
However, an off-pouch zoog born even to a sixth-generation zoog is still just off-pouch. It has no counted generation and no special privileges, though it may enjoy advantages based on family ties. For example, a high-ranking zoog noble often has family guards and aides chosen from among off-pouch siblings. Second-generation zoogs are considered the upper-ranks of society but are not necessarily leaders or nobles. Each successive generation is more highly ranked. Third generation and higher zoogs are the zoog nobility, and these individuals are not only rare but valued by zoog society for their superiority and leadership qualities. Each zoog forest is run by a council of nobles, who consult one another to make all decisions. Zoogs don’t have monarchs or any sort of head zoog. Instead, the various nobles gather together when major decisions need to be made and debate. In their councils, the higher-generation nobles speak with greater weight, but all voices are considered. Due to the fact of group births, there are rarely fewer than four zoog siblings of the highest generation. Zoogs are not stupid, and the nobles are perfectly willing to take advice and suggestions from less-prestigious zoogs—even off-pouch zoogs may be called to participate in councils. For instance, if a well-traveled off-pouch zoog has key insights into the surrounding world, that zoog might be called upon to speak to a council that is dealing with an impending conflict. A single noble may lead a group of zoogs in some major task—for example, constructing a large trap designed to capture a large animal—and rely upon the experience of a less-prestigious zoog who has some expertise in that field.

Zoogs also have an equivalent to human guilds, in which all like-minded zoogs within a forest share wisdom or work on large projects. Typical zoog guilds include trap-makers, magical researchers, alchemists (a generic term for all tinkerers), loremasters, and animal tamers. Unlike human guilds, these are traditionally led and ruled by one or more noble zoogs and advised by the rest. The nobles are not necessarily the most experienced workers in the trade, but they do receive training and are expected to be willing to listen to other, more skilled zoogs, regardless of rank. Young nobles are assigned as apprentices to the various guilds so that they can learn the trade and be ready to take positions of leadership.

Venturing Beyond the Wood

The natural, most comfortable habitats for zoogs are dark, deep woods. Often, when zoogs wish to colonize a new region, they must travel through the outside world, which is a dangerous proposition. They may try to avoid trouble by moving only at night, or else bargain with fey to gain access to their strange magic or mysterious portals. Occasionally, zoogs make a treaty with groups whose lands they must travel through, offering to gift their hosts with magic or unusual forest herbs in exchange for protection. Protection deals can involve adventurers, who may be tasked by their kingdom or their friends to travel with the zoog host and keep them safe from enemies and ambushes. Herding along a large mob of small, ferocious zoogs while wolves, trolls, or other natural foes try to pick off some of the troop could be a challenging but rewarding trek. Hazards might include bandits hoping to kidnap a zoog noble or a family, bitter about past zoog predations, lusting for vengeance.

Warfare

While zoogs are known to go into battle, these excursions would not be considered a “war” by human standards. Instead, the zoogs treat their attacks as an extension of their clever tricks, and usually try to encapsulate the whole conflict within a single huge ambush or trap. Hence, a typical zoog war lasts only a day or two and ends in a complete victory for one side or the other: either the zoog ambush works or it doesn’t. Zoogs are highly protective of their high-ranking nobles because they take so many generations to produce. Their wars are almost always triggered by the death (accidental or otherwise) of a noble zoog or zooglet. Conflict rarely harms a zoog society in the long run. Zoogs recover populations decimated in war more quickly than other sentient races, thanks to their fast breeding cycle. As a result, they are not particularly deterred by the threat of losses, except the loss of nobles.

Treaties

One of the best-known features of zoog law is their universal recognition of treaties. A given treaty is only made with one entity or organization at a time. A treaty may be agreed between the forest and a nation, race, village, or even just a single person. If two villages each want a treaty with the zoogs, they must negotiate separately. While treaties can cover a wide number of topics, typically the arrangement is for the zoogs to permit free passage through their forest in exchange for some consideration from the other party.
Treaties are not written down (at least, not by the zoogs), since every zoog in the forest is required to memorize every treaty to which the forest agrees. Still, an old treaty may be unknown to younger zoogs, and over time, treaties can “wear off.” This can happen in only one to three decades, considering the condensed breeding cycle of zoogs. When a treaty is being considered, the zoog council of nobles debates it. If they reach a favorable decision, the other party is brought into the zoog colony, and all the zoogs convene to identify and learn to recognize that individual or group. For example, when the zoogs of Blackwood made the Treaty of Eternal Friendship with the gnomes of Willendilly, the gnomes sent several dozen gnomes, of all ages and walks of life, to Blackwood so the zoogs could memorize their appearance and dress, and thus refrain from preying upon residents of that land. This treaty was eventually broken unwittingly by the zoogs when they captured and devoured three gnomes from Willendilly that had traveled and picked up styles of dress from elsewhere, unaware that these gnomes were residents of Willendilly.
Treaties can be predatory in nature and they consider exploitation of loopholes to be extremely fair. Zoogs rarely break treaties on purpose, but they are known to abuse them to an extreme. In one case, the zoogs of the Screaming Woods had a treaty with a particular family. The oldest son of this family took a band of his friends into the deepest part of the forest, expecting that the zoogs would honor the family treaty, and thus grant them safe passage. The zoogs trapped them all, cut up the friends’ bodies, and served them at a great feast. The son alone was spared, but they forced him to partake in the feast. When they sent him home, he was physically uninjured, but stark raving mad. Since they had not killed him, the zoogs considered that they had fulfilled their obligations to the letter.
While a given treaty only applies to a particular zoog forest, if someone who participates in such a treaty can demonstrate this to another zoog forest, it often eases their path toward acceptance and safety. Once a village or person signs a treaty with one zoog community, other zoogs often fall into line quickly and easily.

Personal Treaties. Even as a single person can make a treaty with the zoogs, a single zoog can make a treaty with a humanoid or group of humanoids. This is typically how an audacious zoog manages to join a group of adventurers, so when playing a zoog, be sure to write up the terms of the treaty (though your character will have committed them to memory, rather than written them down). Some common elements in such a treaty might include:
• the zoog will not eat party members. • the zoog will not eat pets or familiars belonging to the party. • the zoog will assist the party in diplomatic negotiations with other zoogs

Faith

Zoogs are not very religious. They recognize the existence of gods and godlike entities but are generally only interested in them as potential sources of power or as threats. They are always, at their core, pragmatists in any kind of religious devotion, though they are able to parrot belief in order to comfort or fool humans or other races. Zoog druids draw strength and power from the forests as a practical measure, rather than out of devotion to nature as an entity.

Zoog clerics exist, largely out of a desire to placate a more powerful entity. When a zoog forest hosts a perilous and powerful spiritual creature, the zoogs typically build a shrine and appoint a priestly class to pay homage to this “deity” and perform whatever sacrifices and rites are needed to minimize conflict. For example, zoogs living in a forest at the base of a powerful red dragon’s mountain might set up a shrine to the dragon and kidnap sacrifices from surrounding hamlets that they might offer them up to the dragon to prevent the creature from attacking their forest. While humans, naturally enough, see this activity as evil, the zoogs view it as highly practical. They don’t have the ability to slay the dragon, so they do what they can to avoid trouble, at minimal cost to their community.

Because of this pattern of appeasement, zoogs have gathered a reputation for worshiping evil and unholy beings. This reputation is deserved to an extent: benign forces don’t threaten the zoogs, so they don’t feel a need to appease them in this way. But even zoogs who worship at the shrine of a powerful devil are not necessarily evil themselves. They worship out of pragmatism rather than fervor.

Culture

Zoogs often tame and domesticate other forest-dwelling animals. For example, they might train badgers to dig tunnels, foxes or owls to serve as an early-warning system, or pine martens as hunting animals. With their carnivorous tendencies, there is always a chance that the zoogs might eat their “pets” in a time of emergency. Adventuring zoogs often keep animal companions.

The zoog language has no written counterpart, but zoogs can learn to read and write the languages of other races. They are particularly interested in magical or occult languages and the power that can be obtained by their use. They are not nearly as interested in works of fiction or mundane knowledge. Zoogs rarely engage in artistic enterprises, though they do practice magic and the creation of magic items. They create tools and can even perform metal-working, focusing on detail and precision rather than the creation of large objects (such as a blacksmith might create). They often prefer to purchase items created by the labor of other races. Their supple hands, dexterous face tentacles, and inherent intelligence allow them to produce utensils of amazing delicacy and grace.
Since their size renders them largely incapable of heavy building projects, zoogs prefer to adapt existing structures or natural formations to their own uses. Thus, rather than chop down a tree for lumber, they might hollow out its limbs and add peepholes, grow magical fruits from it, or direct its growth so its roots emerge aboveground and tangle with other nearby trees to form a nigh impenetrable barrier. This is not out of any reverence of nature but simply because these adjustments are relatively easy for the small but clever zoogs to accomplish.

Tricks and Traps

Because zoogs are ambush predators who hunt in teams and because they are so small, they typically use snares, ruses, and deceptions to catch prey or defeat enemies. They are keenly interested in related devices, and an entire zoog profession is made up of trap-makers, who are usually organized into a guild. Zoog forests often boast extremely elaborate traps that incorporate magical, physical, psychological, and living components, typically laid out in a series: the first set of traps designed to terrify or herd victims into a particular spot where other, deadlier traps await. Humanoids grow rightly suspicious of zoog forests and wary of traps, so zoogs usually lay multi-layer traps to maximize efficacy and lethality. When folk eventually learn to anticipate their technique, zoogs are always ready to escalate their traps to double or triple bluff hapless intruders. They think several steps ahead of their potential victims, leading them sometimes to overthink their traps, as they expect trespassers’ minds to be as devious and byzantine as their own. For instance, when outsiders encounter a zoog trap in a forest, it might not be real. But it could be real, after all, because the zoogs know they’ll think it’s not real, so they make it real. And even if someone evades that trap, the real peril awaits once they lower their guard.

Relations

Fundamentally, zoogs are pack ambush predators, and have no cultural or biological bias against eating sentient beings. Because of this, they are often feared and avoided. On the other hand, they are not innately hostile, and have useful lore, magic, and artifacts, so their hard-won friendship can be quite valuable. Folk who live near zoog woods naturally avoid the trees, and sometimes even try to erect fences against the forest. Such efforts don’t keep the zoogs away, but they at least render it less likely that an animal or a child will wander by mistake into zoog territory.
No other civilized race is allowed to live as a group within a zoog wood. Zoogs do not typically “share” their forest with a tribe of elves, though disorganized fey or perhaps a family of half-orcs might be tolerated, particularly if they are beneficial to the zoogs. If it is a large forest, sometimes part of the area is the zoog wood, and the rest might be owned or dominated by some other group.

Adventurers

Zoogs are curious, practical, and inventive, so it’s not uncommon for zoogs to venture outside their woods in search of new knowledge. When this happens, the zoogs, being small and physically weak, tend to join a party of the big people. Given their size, even some gnomes and halflings are big by zoog standards. Zoogs always defer to their own kind if a party of adventurers comes into their territory. For example, if a zoog is with a group of captured adventurers, that zoog would be interrogated at the council, and his testimony may well determine the fate of those adventurers. For this reason, travelers would do well to have a zoog among their party when traveling the forest—and a trustworthy one at that.
Zoogs can prove highly useful members of an adventuring party. Their delicate hands render them excellent magicians and rogues, and the ancient lore they have access to can help the party to find places to explore. Considering their size, they rarely seek out large magical treasures such as staves or swords, gladly deferring to the larger members of the party.

Zoog Familial Terms Whatever language they’re speaking, zoogs use specific phrases and unusual concepts to describe family and the roles of other zoog in their society. Some examples are listed below.
Generation. Zoogs use this word to determine the ranking of a zoog in their society. He-Zoog. A male zoog. She-Zoog. A female zoog. Zooglet. A young zoog, furred and capable of leaving its mother’s pouches. Pouchling. An infant zoog, naked, blind, and helpless. Normally never leaves the pouch. Chosen. An adjective used to describe those zoogs raised in their mother’s preferred pouch and thus generally considered superior to other zoogs. Off-Pouch. An adjective used to describe zoogs raised in their mother’s less preferred pouch and thus generally considered inferior to other zoogs.

Zoog Traits

• Your zoog character is a flexible rodent-like humanoid with the zoog tag.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Age. A zoog reaches adulthood at age 5 and rarely lives more than 40 years.
• Alignment. Zoogs obsess over creative problem-solving, trickery, and clever ways to outdo each other. They tend to be chaotic and are rarely good.
• Size. Zoogs are usually about 2 feet long and weigh roughly 20 pounds. Your size is Small.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. In addition, you have a climbing speed of 25 feet and a burrowing speed of 10 feet. You don’t need to spend extra movement to climb. You can burrow through sand, earth, mud, or ice. You don’t leave a tunnel while burrowing except in particularly stable material. You must hold your breath while burrowing if you choose not to leave a tunnel. Because all of your limbs end in hands built for climbing rather than walking, you must use at least three hands to use your full walking or climbing speed. When walking or climbing on two hands, your speed is 15 feet. You can’t walk on hands holding items, but you can transfer items between your facial tentacles, tail, and hands without using an action or using your free interaction with an object for the turn. You can wear boots or gloves on any of your hands.
• Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
• Bite. You can bite as an unarmed strike if you could not already. When you make a unarmed strike with your bite, it has the light and finesse properties and deals 1d4 piercing damage. You can use your bite in two-weapon fighting.
• Facial Tentacles. Your facial tentacles can hold and manipulate one palm-sized object like a coin, piece of jewelry, or even a wand. They cannot wield weapons except for a blowgun or similar device.
• Prehensile Tail. Your long tail can carry objects as easily as an arm but can’t be used to wield weapons or shields. It can manipulate objects finely enough to use tools effectively.
• Pouches. You have two small pouches, each of which can fit a cup-sized object or four palm-sized objects. You an use the Use an Object action to retrieve an object within as a bonus action using your tail or facial tentacles.
• Trap Culture. Whenever you use artisan’s tools to create a trap or use thieves’ tools to disable a trap, you are considered proficient with the tool. Whenever you make a saving throw against a trap, you are considered proficient in the saving throw.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and speak Zoog (which has no written form).