Zuqalb

The fearsome, blood-sucking batfolk whose terrifying appearance belies their pacifistic nature

"So, the so-called Kingbreaker denied our plea for a 'protected species' status. Surprising, yet at the same time...somehow not."
"The Cruor Kings had hoped, it seems, that this new Suzerain would prove understanding to our plight...and while I personally did not put much stock in such things, it breaks my heart to see the citizens of these caverns have such hope, yet have it dashed all the same. I had not seen these caverns so awash with hope in decades..."
"The fault unfortunately lies with the company The Beast-King keeps, it seems. The Regency poisoned his ear to our struggles long before we could gain an audience...not to mention the Children of Sun and Moon, those monsters. They'll die before they let the hunting rights to the last unprotected species on this continent of theirs expire."
"So, all hope is lost..."
"...was it ever truly found?"
"..."
"......I will miss the cheers of the people. They made this dreary cavern almost bearable, for a time..."
"...I think I will miss the lanterns the most. The hatchlings laughter during the festival will be a memory I will carry with me until my dying days."

— A conversation heard between two Zuqalb in the Cavern-City of Uqaanta

Base Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: (+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom): Zuqalb, forced to survive from the very moment of their birth against enemies on all sides, invariably grow up hardier than most and with a wise humility born from lifetimes of suffering.
Size: Zuqalb are medium sized creatures and thus gain no benefits or penalties due to their size.
Type: Zuqalb are monstrous humanoids with the Zuqalb subtype. Zuqalb are affected by all spells and effects as if they were also humanoid creatures.
Speed: Zuqalb have a base land speed of 30ft and a fly speed of 30ft with perfect maneuverability. They also gain the Jet(240ft) universal monster rule usable only in air while flying. Thanks to powerful legs and claws on their feet and wings, they can anchor themselves to surfaces as if under a constant Extraordinary Spider Climb effect.
Vision: Zuqalb possess a unique form of echolocation that allows them to gain Blindsense 90ft for 1 round by unleashing a subsonic wave from their mouths as a move action that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity. The range of this blindsense doubles in confined spaces such as caves, buildings, etc, is blocked by obstructions that would block sound, and cannot be used while they are silenced. This can be used for free when using the Jet UMR.
Languages: Zuqalb begin play speaking Zuqali ONLY. A Zuqalb with high INT can select from Tiwanga, Low Ironite, Aklo, Tenebran, Abyssal, Draconic, and Necril as Bonus Languages.
Light Blindness: As beings native to dark caves and deep underground caverns, Zuqalb have grown to live in the light but nonetheless are ill-suited to it - they are blinded for 1 round if suddenly exposed to bright light, take a -4 penalty to perception checks in areas of normal or bright light and are dazzled in areas of bright light. This functions as Light Blindness for effects that suppress or negate it.
Profane Alteration: With unholy texts scribed onto the inside of their leathery wings, Zuqalb can use these blasphemous texts by wrapping their wings about their bodies to take on the appearance of either a mundane Vampire Bat or the form of another species of their choosing(Chosen at character creation and cannot be changed) that often corresponds to the race the Zuqalb spawned from. These transformations are Extraordinary in nature, and require a move action that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity to activate and deactivate. Taking any lethal damage will automatically revert the transformation.
Scything Nails: Zuqalb gain two claw attacks as primary natural attacks that deal 1d8 damage with a x3 critical multipler. They may make both of these claws at the end of a charge attack, treat their claw attacks as if they had the Wounding Weapon special quality. If they hit the same target with both claw attacks within 1 round's time, they may deal 1 point of constitution damage to the target as they sink their teeth into a vital artery and drain some blood. Creatures that would reach 0 CON in this manner do not perish - instead, their CON instantly returns to its normal value and they are afflicted with a disease known as Black Hunger(See below).
Exsanguination Engine: All creatures suffering from bleed damage within 30ft of a Zuqalb have their fast healing and regeneration(Except Regeneration Untyped) suppressed until the bleed is healed or until one round passes after they leave this radius. Additionally, the amount a creature is bleeding for increases by an amount equal to half the Zuqalb's HD(Minimum 1) each round they remain within this radius.
Occultic Medicine: Despite their natures(Or perhaps in spite of), Zuqalb study extensively to one day free themselves from their own natures - as a result, they gain Heal and Knowledge(Arcana) as class skills and gain a racial +2 to both. Zuqalb automatically succeeds Heal checks to stabilize dying creatures and end HP bleed effects(and can do so as a standard action with a range of 20ft), and when doing so automatically brings them to 0HP if their HP was lower than 0. By spending a full-round action that provokes Attacks of Opportunity using the heal skill while adjacent to a formerly living creature that perished in the past round, a Zuqalb can return them to 1 above their death threshold and stabilize them - though doing so deals 1d4+1 CON Damage to the target(And infects them with Black Hunger if it would drop their score to 0 as their Scything Nails Trait) to fuel the occultic medicine rituals to return them to life.
Hematic Constitution: Each time a creature besides themselves within a radius equal to 10ft + 5ft per HD the Zuqalb possesses suffers from Bleed Damage, the Zuqalb heals for an equal amount of damage as the blood flows to them and knits their wounds back together. Each point of Ability Bleed or Constitution Damage dealt in the same manner within this radius instead heals them for 5HP.
Ward of the Incarnadine Crypt: Each Zuqalb, before they can become an adult, must endure the trials of the Incarnadine Crypts to earn the right to have the Profane Hematic Protections burned onto their leathery bodies and into their very souls - however, thanks to these same wards which glow softly on their skin, Zuqalb are uncomfortably familiar with the aberrant horrors that lurk in the dark. Zuqalb automatically identify all creatures of the Aberration and Undead types on sight and by sound(Gaining vague insight into their most common or notable abilities as well), grant a +2 on all saves made to resist Sonic, Language-Dependent, or any other spell or ability that functions via sound to themselves and adjacent allies as they wrap their wings around them to blunt the effects. This bonus doubles against such effects that originate from creatures of the Aberration or Undead types, or any similar effect that operates off profane speech, unholy chanting, etc(Such as the "Gibbering" ability of the Gibbering Mouther, GM Discretion).
Ultrasonic Screech: As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a Zuqalb can emit a sonic scream so intense that it can rend flesh and break bone, choosing to either target a single creature they have line of sight and effect to within 120ft OR choosing to release a 30ft cone. If targeting a single creature, the target must succeed at a Fortitude Save(DC based off CON) or take 1d6 points of sonic damage per HD the Zuqalb possesses(Half on success). Creatures caught in the 30ft cone instead take sonic damage equal to the Zuqalb's HD with no save. A flying creature that takes an amount of sonic damage from this ability(Which stacks from multiple Zuqalb) in one turn equal to or greater than half their Flying Speed is prevented from flying(And thus can only hover or land) for 1 round. This ability cannot be used while the Zuqalb is silenced or in an area where sound is suppressed(GM Discretion), and once used has a cooldown of 1d4 rounds.
Vampiric Progenitor: Zuqalb, forced to draw sustenance from blood alone, carry a filthy curse within their bodies that allows them to plunder the power within the blood of others and peer into their very souls. Zuqalb that consume the blood of a fresh corpse or living creature can gain supreme divinatory insight into them in a variety ways limited only by their creativity - including but not limited to reading their memories, biology, genetics, history, even the disease or ailments they may be suffering from. The GM is ultimate arbiter of what this ability can achieve(And may require rolls depending on the use in question), and the strength of these effects should correspond loosely to the Zuqalb's HD. Alternatively, a Zuqalb can consume the blood of a fresh corpse or living creature to process the blood into a potion with an effect that should be drawn from the creature's abilities or nature - replicating an effect corresponding to a spell level no greater than 1/2 the Zuqalb's HD. These potions can be consumed by any creature, though the process to make them takes an hour for each spell level the effect is roughly equivalent to. Creating multiple potions in this manner within a 24 period will likely rapidly fatigue or exhaust them, as doing so is far more taxing than channeling simpler divinatory effects. Generally, only one 'effect' may be produced from a given fresh corpse or living creature in a 24 hour period. Zuqalb are also, notably, immune to all forms of Vampirism and cannot contract it or any related templates, abilities, sicknesses, etc.

The Black Hunger

This disease, unique to the Zuqalb species, is their primary means of reproduction - a deadly and horrific disease with no known cure outside of extremely powerful magic, contracting it is often considered a death sentence for most unless one is rich enough to pay for the services of a healer or lucky enough and brave enough to seek out the Zuqalb themselves in the hopes they may see fit to remove the sickness in exchange for various goods or services. Once it has been contracted, the infected creature is afforded no saves on any basis(Either minutes, hourly, daily, etc) - the disease merely runs it course and, unless cured via magic, will prove lethal within one week's time. Thankfully, the disease is not generally able to be transmitted to others by the infected - only direct blood-to-blood contact between an infected and a non-infected creature can spread the disease once it is contracted. The DC to cure the Black Hunger via magic is DC 25.
This disease, characterized by extreme hunger, constant muscle aches, internal and external bleeding, brittle bones, loss of muscle mass, and eventually crippling chest pain(Which heralds their imminent death), uses the biomass of the host body to transform them into a pseudo-womb to give birth to an infant Zuqalb - parasitizing the host's biomass to nurture and create a new creature using their available materials. These newly created Zuqalb, while infants in the true sense, often inherit memories, experiences, and sometimes even personality traits from those they were 'born' from - though the exact degree of 'inheritance' varies wildly from Zuqalb to Zuqalb. However, these infants do not in any way absorb the souls or minds of the infected - their body is merely used as a seed bed to grow and nurture them in a twisted fascimile of a mother's womb, with their Hematic Biology sometimes allowing them to 'absorb' some of the memories and other mental information contained within the host's blood - a unique byproduct of the process.
This disease, when given to living creatures smaller than small sized, instead leads to the creation of one or more mundane Vampire Bats - as smaller creatures lack the biomass to create a higher-order lifeform such as a Zuqalb.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Unfortunately, the anatomy of the Zuqalb is a fairly well-studied thing thanks to decades and even centuries of open hunting they have faced which has seen countless hundreds or even thousands of their kind hunted, skinned, and taken as trophies by Shersūran and other hunters of Ruatiwanga. The Zuqalb, despite their monstrous appearances, possess a relatively light and streamlined anatomy - possessing two arms and two legs and two massive leathery wings attached to a central torso, with an incredibly unique looking head located atop their torso.
Their bodies tend to be more lithe than muscular(Though many can display a strength of body that surprises many), and they overall tend to be incredibly healthy and long-lived creatures due to reasons that have yet to be fully explored. Possessing all the same bodily systems as most other living creatures, Zuqalb are most unique for their diets - which demands them live entirely on the blood of other living creatures.
While not as fast in flight as other species such as the Ujalaam, Zuqalb are unmatched in maneuverability and straight-line diving speeds - which can get so fast as to be almost beyond normal visions of other creatures.

Biological Traits

Though once the Zuqalb were an incredibly diverse people with countless variants and varieties each with their own unique biological traits, that number has largely dwindled down to one - perhaps maybe two - out of sheer cultural neccessity to survive in modern Ruatiwanga.

Genetics and Reproduction

For reasons known perhaps only to the most ancient and long-lived of Zuqalb elders, the Zuqalb are wholly unable to reproduce in any way sexually or asexually - instead, they rely on the disease known as The Black Hunger(Described above) to reproduce. This disease, carried within their bodies, allows for the 'birth' of new Zuqalb by repurposing biomass from an infected host body. More information on this disease can be found in the section above of the same name.
However, despite this hideous practice of reproduction, many Zuqalb tend to avoid giving this disease to others unless absolutely neccessary or in situations where the death of the target was a bygone conclusion anyway. Even then, many Zuqalb seem loathe to bring more of their kind into the world without knowing that they could be cared for by their own people - as leaving a newborn Zuqalb in the wild is essentially dooming them to a quick death by hunters, poachers, or wild animals.
The specifics of how Zuqalb reproduce, then, is something of a mystery - and one that is somewhat eagerly sought after by many. Do they tenderly care for the afflicted in their cavern-cities, nursing them and perhaps even somehow sparing their life? Do they round up living creatures en masse and birth new Zuqalb from the bodies of captured slaves? None truly know.

Growth Rate & Stages

The growth rate and life stages of a Zuqalb are almost entirely unknown - as the interest in their species has long been largely how to refine their bodies into useful or aesthetic pelts or other hunter's trophies, and rarely about biology or anatomy or the like.

Ecology and Habitats

The Zuqalb, though the most ancient of tales tell of their existence all across Ruatiwanga after a great population explosion and subsequent diaspora, have largely returned to their original habits of caves and underground caverns - as nocturnal creatures who are loathe to face the attention of the sun, their most optimal environments are dark forests and jungles as well as deep caverns and underground cave systems.
Many Ruatiwangan scholars describe them as vicious, all-consuming locust-like pests that demolish the areas they inhabit, but this information should be taken with a significant grain of salt by readers - for the Hightalon Regency of the Ujalaam has long had a hand in manufacturing disinformation campaigns against their most hated of foes.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Zuqalb subsist, rather uniquely, on a diet of exclusively blood - their bodies are ill-equipped to process any other form of sustenance. How exactly they derive nutrients from blood is unknown, but the truth remains they subsist entirely on blood - a fact which was once assumed to be asinine propaganda of the Ujalaam Hightalon Regency.

Biological Cycle

The biological cycle of a Zuqalb are almost entirely unknown - as the interest in their species has long been largely how to refine their bodies into useful or aesthetic pelts or other hunter's trophies, and rarely about biology or anatomy or the like.
All that is known conclusively is that, for reasons unknown, the Zuqalb live extremely long lives - for reasons many suspect to be undoubtedly related to devouring the youth and souls of the innocent. The truth, however, remains unknown.

Behaviour

Thanks to centuries of persecution that endures even into the modern day on Ruatiwanga, where they are seen as and treated even worse than the Bhadu(Who are, at least, protected under Tiwangan Law) as little more than animals to be hunted and skinned as trophies, the Zuqalb are incredibly skittish and untrustworthy of nearly all other creatures as a general rule. They are also natural socialites and enjoy the luxuries of communal living - a trait which has only been exacerbated by centuries of persecution, and turned them into insular creatures who prefer the company of thousands of their own to that of any other creature.
Perhaps most tragically, the Zuqalb themselves are by their very nature gentle creatures who often weigh the consequences of even the smallest and most mundane of actions - constantly worrying of the health of others and understanding the emotions and unspoken feelings of those around them almost without even trying. They are, overall, a species that thrives on social interaction, on hope, and on having friends and allies that has largely been transformed into a race of heartless killers by sheer evolutionary neccessity - though even now they have been largely unable to discard their warm and loving hearts, making most Zuqalb almost sociopathic in the detachment between their "First Face" and "Soul Face"; a term used in their culture to denote how one acts around 'outsiders' and how one acts around 'their own'. The first, of course, tends to be ruthless and emotionless almost by neccessity - while the second tends to be loving, warm, open, and hopeful.
Even still, many Zuqalb consider themselves pacifists by nature and often see the volunteering of others of their kind to join the ranks of their warriors to fight their enemies as "A great sacrifice".

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Possessing distinct, bat-like faces with big ears and strange snouts, the Zuqalb are truly bat-like in every capacity in a way that some even find adorable.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Though they are believed to be an incredibly populous species, the Zuqalb exists only on the continent of Ruatiwanga - and even then, only in certain underground cave networks and caverns that have yet to be discovered by others, as those that are discovered are often the subject of brutal hunts and purges that often in the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Zuqalb and the enslavement of hundreds of thousands more.

Average Intelligence

Zuqalb, while smart, are perhaps best known for their wisdom - a wisdom born of lifetimes of suffering that has given them humility and wisdom beyond mortal ken.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Zuqalb are not overly blessed in the sensory department - as creatures that evolved to live in caves and to hunt in dark places, their visions become severely hampered in areas of bright light, as the sudden overstimulation temporarily blinds and disables their optic nerves. However, they rely on a unique form of echolocation to map the nearby space to allow for a great range of vision to compensate for their visual weakness.

Alternate Racial Trait List:
NOT YET BUILT.

Racial Feat List:
NOT YET BUILT.

Lifespan

500 Years

Conservation Status

In truth, the exact population numbers of the Zuqalb are as of the modern day nearly impossible to ascertain - as a species that remains one of the only sentient species not protected from open hunting under Tiwangan Law, the Zuqalb do not make much information about their cavern homelands public. However, if estimations are to be believed, they may well be one of the most numerous races on Ruatiwanga.

Average Height

6.5ft -7.9ft (1.98m - 2.63m)

Average Weight

160lbs - 295lbs (72.57kg - 133.81kg)

Average Physique

While many are strong and dextrous in equal measure, Zuqalb are incredibly hardy creatures that are a great deal more robust than most other species.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Zuqalb, though they once had a wide variety of racial variants that had all kinds of beautiful fur, skin, and wing patterns and colors, they are largely dark-toned now - toned in blacks, greys, browns, and other dark and earthen colors.