Grung
Grungs are frog-like folk found in rain forests and tropical jungles. These tribal amphibians are fiercely territorial and naturally secrete poison to use as weapons.
"Sentient, poisonous frogs that live in trees. Truly, the gods hate us."
Basic Information
Anatomy
Adult grungs usually stand at approximately 3 feet (0.91 meters). Males are generally smaller than females. They resemble small humanoids with strong toad or frog-like legs that end in webbed feet. Their torsos and heads are less amphibian and more humanoid. They have muscular forelimbs and their hands have opposable thumbs. Grung stand upright erect and move about in quick, short hops. Grungs have very sticky pads on their hands and feet that allow them to climb just as easily as they walk.
Grungs have wide, sharp, teeth-filled mouths and do not have prehensile tongues. Most grung have red eyes that are comparatively smaller than those of frogs or toads and are crowned with hard protective ridges. Grungs breath through their brightly-colored, slimy skin, which must be kept wet at all times.
Abilities
Poisonous
All grungs continuously secreted a poisonous substance that was harmless to them (however they were not immune to other poisons and venoms). This secretion was quite sticky, and grungs could easily wipe their weapons on their own skin to coat them in this highly toxic substance. When exposed to air, grung venom quickly deteriorated and broke down within a minute, making it extremely hard to harvest and bottle. Their saliva contained the same but weakened poison. While all grung poisons had similarly debilitating effects, each color of grung poison also caused unique ailments in their victims. Green grungs' poison restricted movement, blue grungs' poison caused prey to shout and yelp against their will, purple grungs' poison drove victims to desperately seek water, red grungs' poison caused ravenous hunger, orange grungs' poison caused irrational fears of one's friends, and gold grungs' poison could charm the victim as well as gift them the ability to speak the grung language.Amphibious
Grungs were amphibious, but although they could survive underwater, they were better climbers than swimmers. They needed to stay wet at all times as dry skin killed them via suffocation. They needed to submerge themselves in water for at least one full hour every day or their health began to deteriorate. Six days without access to water was sufficient to kill a grung.Genetics and Reproduction
Grungs are oviparous and most female grung can lay eggs starting age 15. Female can lay eggs without fertilization which will produce only female grung, but if they lay fertilized eggs, it can be either males or females hatched. Grungs prefer to lay their eggs in calm water among vegetation, where the eggs can develop in relative safety. A female grung will usually lay a cluster of 3 to 6 eggs. These eggs will develop for about two months before being ready to hatch.
Growth Rate & Stages
Grungs mature very quickly. Grung emerge from their eggs as small tadpoles and will take about 3 months to grow into their amphibious humanoid shapes, through metamorphosis. Grungs will then take anywhere from 6 to 9 months to fully develop. All grung are considered adults just one year after hatching.
Grung society is a caste system. Each caste will lay their eggs in a separate hatching pool, and juvenile grungs join their caste upon emergence from the hatchery. All grungs are a dull greenish gray when they are born, but each individual takes on the color of its caste as it grows to adulthood. From lowest to highest caste, grungs can be green, blue, purple, red, orange, or gold.
Ecology and Habitats
Grungs tend to live in jungles or other tropical forests and swamps. Grung prefer to make their homes in the tops of shady trees and need to remain in constant proximity to water. Bodies of water found within grung territory become contaminated with their skin sections. Even though these secretions are highly diluted, they can cause severe nausea if ingested by most other species.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Grungs are carnivorous and their diet usually consists of local mammals found within their territory, such as rats. However, they are also known to eat travelers and members of other grung tribes.
Behaviour
Grung are known to be extremely aggressive and territorial. They are known to attack any creature they consider to be an intruder, be they adventurers or members of another grung tribe. Border wars are quite common among clashing grung tribes. A single tribe usually claims an area within one mile around the settlement and rigorously patrol the their borders.
Due to their highly toxic skin, grungs have very few natural predators aside from each other. Giant snakes are one of the few creatures that are immune to grung toxins, so most grung tribes will kill any large snakes seen within their territories. Tabaxi have been rumored to hunt grungs, although for unknown purposes.
Hunting Methods
Grung are a hunting race and, due to their small size, prefer ambushing their prey or enemies. The most common grung ambush strategy is laying camouflaged on the branches of trees and waiting for their targets to walk into range of their short bows or throwing spears. If their prey survives the initial attack, grungs will flee across the tree tops so as not to leave any trail. Grungs will use their natural poison secretions to poison the tips of their weapons before an ambush. When unable to use their weapons of choice, grung can also deal significant amount of damage with a simple bite to deliver their less potent but still venomous saliva.Caste System
Grung society is rules by a rigid caste system, with each grung's place determined by its color. Although tadpoles are all the same color initially, they are still raised in pools already separated by their destined caste. A grung normally remains in its caste for life. On rare occasions, an individual that distinguishes itself with great deeds can earn an invitation to join a higher caste. Through a combination of herbal tonics and ritual magic, an elevated grung changes color and is inducted into its new caste in the same way that a juvenile of the caste would be. From then on, the grung and its progeny are members of the higher caste. Grung leaders are always the strongest fighters of the gold caste in the tribe. Leaders reach positions of power either by birth or by dueling to the death for the title. Because female grung tend to be larger and stronger than males, most tribes are matriarchal and led by female war chiefs. Each tribe also has a female shaman.| Grung Color | Caste Information |
|---|---|
| Green | Warriors, hunters, and general laborers. Green grungs are the lowest class, acting as basic laborers, hunters, and they fill out the rank-and-file bottom rung of the grung warriors. A green grung tribe member is the most likely to defect (since they're on the bottom of the pecking order), and they're the most commonly encountered type of grung. |
| Blue | Artisans, domestic and childcare workers. Blue grungs are one step above the green, typically working as artisans or watching the young. The blue grungs are the least combative of the castes, and you're probably not likely to encounter a blue grung on the outskirts of grung territory. |
| Purple | Supervisors of the green and blue grungs. Supervising the blue and green grungs are the purple grungs, the managerial and administrative caste. Each purple grung commands soldiers, sees to the laws, and generally keeps the society working. |
| Red | Scholars and magic users, respected by all classes. Also known as grung wildlings, they are superior to purple, green and blue castes, and are respected even by higher castes. Red grungs are known to fulfill the roles of tribal shamans and priests.Red grungs keep the tribe’s histories and perform auguries for their sovereign. |
| Orange | Elite warriors and chief commanders. Above the red grungs are the orange grungs, the elite warriors and chief commanders in leadership positions second only to the royal caste. Most orange grungs work directly with their tribe’s sovereign and it's not uncommon to see an orange grung in charge of large parts of the tribe’s territory. The orange grungs were charged with protecting the grungs' most important or sacred sites. |
| Gold | Elite warriors, with the highest leadership positions. The golden grungs are the absolute ruling caste of grung society and are the rarest of grung kind. Every tribe’s sovereign is always a gold grung and they are rarely seen outside of their treetop “palaces”. |
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Grungs have simple names consisting of basic, one-syllable sounds. They add their tribe's name before their own when they bother to introduce themselves to outsiders & always with great pride.
Example Tribe Names: Stabstick, Tungflinger, Sweatdripper, Flychewer, Stickyfeet, Lurkyjumpy, Eyepoker.
Example Names: Akk, Bec, Grop, Plek, Gilp, Dop, Sib, Ploo, Gog, Grib, Kek, Gahg, Sook, Pasht, Slur, Slark, Mog, Lurt, Hat, Pip, Narg, Galf, Nak, Toog, Beb, Snurk, Pat, Lib, Rug, Ran, Ja, Jig, Erg, Hen, Nin, Mahl, Zoog.
Example Tribe Names: Stabstick, Tungflinger, Sweatdripper, Flychewer, Stickyfeet, Lurkyjumpy, Eyepoker.
Example Names: Akk, Bec, Grop, Plek, Gilp, Dop, Sib, Ploo, Gog, Grib, Kek, Gahg, Sook, Pasht, Slur, Slark, Mog, Lurt, Hat, Pip, Narg, Galf, Nak, Toog, Beb, Snurk, Pat, Lib, Rug, Ran, Ja, Jig, Erg, Hen, Nin, Mahl, Zoog.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Grungs spoke their own frog-like language, called "grung," and most did not learn additional languages. Grung made use of chirrs, croaks (transcribed as "roook"), and ribbits or chirps (e.g., "erp"). It further made distinctions based on the length of croaks (e.g., "roook" versus "rooooook").
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Grung were aggressive and territorial. They often attacked any intruders, be they adventurers or members of another tribe. Border wars were quite common among clashing grung tribes. A single tribe usually claimed area within one mile around the settlement. The territory was rigorously patrolled and, if an intruder was encountered, the grungs never engaged in negotiations.
Grung tribes also made extensive use of slavery, and were always looking for new creatures to enslave. They held their slaves in crude pits covered in wooden bars, and kept them at bay by poisoning their food in order to inflict lethargy on them. Over extended periods of time, the effects of such poisoning could only be removed by magic.
On the ground, their settlements resembled ramshackle, cobbled together groups of crude shelters occasionally hidden within giant dead trees.[2] The shelters themselves tended to be circular and squat with round windows and small chimneys all made of moss, vines, or reeds mortared with mud.[9][6] Grung homes generally held members of the same caste in groups of eight to eighteen.[9] A single tribe could include as many as a hundred grung with about a quarter of them being adolescents and children.[2] Grung often denoted their territories by hanging the bodies of their enemies in clear view to any would-be trespassers.[6]
History
When the people of Omu began worshiping the Nine Trickster Gods after Ubtao abandoned them in the 13th century DR, one of these Tricksters was a grung called Nangnang. Subsequently, Nangnang and the rest of the Tricksters Gods would be slain by Acererak and sealed in the Tomb of the Nine Gods during the late 14th century DR, but worship of Nangnang would continue among the grung of Chult. The grung would end up occupying Nangnang's Shrine in the Omuan ruins, and in the century to come would war with local yuan-ti and vegepygmies in order to maintain their hold on the Shrine.
In the late 15th century DR, the despotic grung King Groak of Dungrunglung demanded that his subjects erect a 60‑foot (18‑meter) tall shrine to the dead goddess, and that his priestess Krr'ook attempt to summon her so that the king could mate her. Knowing the scheme would fail and that she would be blamed, Krr'ook devised a plan to use a set of Nolzur's marvelous pigments to create a life-like facsimile of the goddess to fool her king.
Historical Figures
Leaders
Groak, the gold grung king of Dungrunglung in the late 15th century DR.[10]
Yorb, the gold grung chieftain who occupied the temple of Nangnang in the city of Omu in the late 15th century DR..[16]
Religious Fgures
Nangnang, one of the Nine Trickster Gods of Chult.[17]
Krr'ook, a red grung priestess of Dungrunglung in the late 15th century DR.[8]
Others
Imbok, a grung of unspecified color who was the one hundred and eightieth son of Yorb in the late 15th century DR..[4]
Roark, an orange grung warrior who was fiercely devoted to protecting Dungrunglung in the late 15th century DR..[8]
Wadumu Who-Would-Be-Blue, a red grung of the Grudge-gill tribe of Chult in the late 15th century DR who was known for his treacherous nature.[18]
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Yuan-ti considered grung eggs to be a delicacy when candied.
While grung skin secretions lost their potency as poisons almost immediately, this substance could be harvested to produce fabulously colorful dyes. These could in turn be used to create colorants with magical properties when applied to the hair of humanoids:
Blue grung dye massively amplified the sound of hair, causing it to rustle loudly as the treated creature moved, and producing a deafening shockwave if the hair was shaken vigorously.
Green grung dye caused the creature's hands and feet to also turn green, and granted enhanced jumping and climbing abilities, although engaging in these behaviors was quite painful.
Purple grung dye caused the creature's hair to become sopping wet and to continuously generate purple-dyed water that stained anything it soaked into.
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