Othraka
The ancient giants of the Tomb Cities of yore, infused with the demonic wind
All Male Race
Base Racial Traits
Ability Score Modifiers: (+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma) Othraka have bodies that excel in almost every physical category except dexterity due to their size, and unusually for Giantkin they have excellent charisma and are suprisingly amicable. Size: Othraka are huge-sized creatures, but gain no additional ability score bonuses for it beyond what is already listed in their stat blocks. Type: Othraka are Humanoids with the Giant subtype. Speed: Othraka have a base land speed of 40ft. Vision: Othraka have low-light vision, allowing them to see twice as far in conditions of low light compared to other humanoids, as well as Darkvision out to 60ft. Additionally, they are capable of seeing through sandstorms and other head based extreme weather conditions, ignoring the miss chance for these obstructions up to their normal normal range of vision. Languages: Othraka begin play speaking The Regional Language that reflects their origins(See Languages of Zheng-Kitar), and Giant. Othraka with high INT can choose from the following languages: (Common, Auran, Ignan, Draconic, Necril, Abyssal, and Aklo) Giant Physique: Othraka have immensely strong bodies, and gain a racial +2 to strength on top of their ability score bonuses. They treat their strength score as 15 higher for the purposes of carrying capacity and what they can lift and drag. Unstoppable Slams: Othraka gain a powerful slam attack that deals damage as if they were one size category larger(Base 2d6). A creature killed by an Othraka's natural attacks, slam attacks, or trample must succeed on a Fort Save (DC 15 + 1/2 HD + CONMOD) or be consumed as per disintegrate and turned into a cloud of sandy dust. Mummified Body: Othraka culture demands them partially mummify themselves to better endure the desert environment and to avoid the onset of the Bonerot Plague, and this grants them immunity to disease, a racial +4 to resist curses, and immunity to Mummy Rot specifically. Additionally, Othraka may use CHA for their HP instead of CON, but must choose to do so at character creation and cannot change this decision once it has been made. Othraka only need 2 hours of sleep each night and do not need to drink. Thick Skin: Othraka skin is hard and calcified, granting them Fire Resistance 15, immunity to sandstorms and hot weather, a racial +2 bonus to natural armor as well as a +4 bonus to all Bull Rush and Overrun attempts due to their thick bulk. Masters of the Northern Wind: Born with a calcified horn of bone on their foreheads which gives them power over the wind, Othraka can use Control Winds as per the spell as an At-Will Supernatural ability, but can only create Strong Winds until they possess 9HD, at which point they can create severe wind. At 12th level they can create windstorms, at 15th level they can create hurricane force winds, and at 18th level they can create a tornado. Using any level of winds above severe can only be maintained for a number of rounds each day equal to their HD. Hurricane force uses up 2 rounds per round it is maintained, and a tornado uses 5. Windripper Trample: With the speed of the northern winds at their backs, Othraka can launch into a furious charge that rushes them across the battlefield. Othraka always possess the 'Trample' Universal Monster Rule at 2d6 base damage with a DC to avoid it equal to (10 + 1/2 HD + STRMOD). They can move up to double their normal base land speed on a trample, and can move over thin air as if they were the target of an Air Walk spell for the duration of the trample. Othraka do not provoke for trampling as if they had the Improved Overrun feat, but may still take it to gain the bonuses from it. The damage for the trample increases by 1d6 for every 4 HD they possess, to a maximum of 7d6 at 20th level. Lords of the Tomb Cities: Othraka have one of the oldest civilizations on Zheng-Kitar, and this storied history still resonates among them today. They gain Knowledge(Religion), a Craft Skill of their choice, and Knowledge(Engineering) as class skills, and gain a racial +1 to all three. Othrakan Wrappings: As part of the mummification process each Othraka endures from a young age, their arms, legs, and/or body are covered lightly in ritualistic cloth wrappings that serve to both preserve them and to protect them. Othraka count their melee reach as one size larger than normal for the purposes of Combat Maneuvers and can use them to retrieve stored items on their person as a swift action. Ankharna's Blessing: Othraka are capable of entering any structure or space designed for creatures smaller than themselves(Down to such places designed for small size creatures, no smaller) that they would normally not be able to or would have a hard time fitting into as if they were a creature of that size. Their physical size does not actually change(Though they can wish it to), instead the spaces they enter become extradimensionally capable of holding them. If they will their size to change while inside a space their mechanics do not change, only their outward physical appearance/size. This is an extraordinary ability and cannot be dispelled or suppressed.
Basic Information
Anatomy
From birth into Juvenile age, Othraka are relatively similar to most other Giantkind - they are humanoid in appearance with titanic size, with bulging muscles and a relatively similar internal anatomy to most other humanoids, simply on a more massive and robust scale than smaller races, having higher bone densities and thicknesses to support their huge sizes.
Once they reach their teenage equivalent years, however, all Othraka are subjected to a series of intensive and highly secretive rituals that mummify their bodies, sucking out their moisture and stopping several bodily functions such as the need to drink and slowing the rest such as sleep and food consumption - this partial mummification alters their anatomies slightly as described, and grants them an incredible resistance against curses and a veritable immunity against diseases - both a veritable requirement to survive the onset of the Bonerot Plague, a chronic disease that will inevitably claim the lives of all Othraka who are not subjected to this mummification - and the disease that claimed the Othrakan females long ago, as they slept in their Tomb Worlds.
Genetics and Reproduction
Though they once were a prosperous race long ago, Othrakans have long since fallen to a shell of their former glory - their females died to the horrific Bonerot Plague long ago, meaning that they must rely on the All-Female Eldragi, who they have combined with in recent centuries to form one whole race, to have offspring. Now, Othraka combine with their All-Female mates to produce offspring that are evenly divided along the lines of their two races - an equal number of Othraka and Eldragi are produced from these unions, where the Eldragi carries the child inside of her for anywhere between 10-14 months before giving birth.
Growth Rate & Stages
Once born, Othraka are slow to reach maturity, and are not biologically mature until nearly 50 or 60 years of age - long after most other humanoid races have entered old age. They are not considered full mature both bodily and mentally until around age 70.
Othraka reach middle age around age 225, become old around age 375, and reach venerable age around the ancient age of 450, after which they die some decades later.
Ecology and Habitats
Othraka are specialized exclusively for life in the hottest and most unbearable desert climates in the world, and are never found outside of these environments.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Othraka are omnivores, and though they have no need to drink they do still consume food, and prefer a diet heavily favoring meats, as vegetation is hard to come by in the desert they call home.
Biological Cycle
As they age, Othraka show little outward signs of it beyond the growth and gnarling of their trademark single-horns, which grow with wild abandon the older they grow until they almost resemble antlers more than horns...though many Othraka take care to shave and keep their horns at a reasonable length. Their skin does tend to shrink and stretch over their already mummified bodies as they age as a byproduct of the mummification process, their skin stretching and growing thinner and giving them a quite horrifying appearance of gaunt, ghoulish creatures with skin pulled taut over their bones the older they get, truly giving them the appearance of "Demons" that many other races attribute to them.
Their hair tends to turn a deep orange or crimson as they age, with flecks of black interspersed as if creeping black tendrils were sliding up their hair with age.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Othraka faces are rough-cut as if hewn from stone, with gritty, sharp jawlines and powerful features.
Average Intelligence
Othraka tend to be intelligent well in excess of the Human Average, contrary to what many envision of Giants. They are excellent craftsmen and engineers, and have a natural predisposition to building large settlements and working with matters of magic.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
With eyes specialized to life in their titanic underground Tomb-Cities, veritable microcosms of ancient Othrakan Society all their own, Othraka are incredibly adapted to life underground and their eyes are trained to see in the dark accordingly. In addition, their eyes have only recently adapted to their lives in pairing with their new mates, the All-Female Eldragi species, and become capable of seeing through fog, sandstorms, and other intense weather weather conditions.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Othraka typically have names derived from the Egyptian, Moroccan, and Arabic lexicons.
First Names: Rameses, Amenhemti, Nuhem, Ismail, Hamas, Tazim, Zameel, Talaal, Mukhtaar
Last Names: Pausiris, Riaz, Sesur-sati, El Hachmi, Akoujan, Sabbag, el-Zaher, al-Kanan, al-Nagi
Lifespan
450 years
Conservation Status
Othraka were once an incredibly populous race, but after eons of slumbering inside their Tomb Cities and the ravages of a lethal plague, their population has dwindled to dangerously low numbers. They are a rare sight due to their secrecy in their homeland of the Great Gyatsoshin Desert, and are almost unheard of outside of it.
Average Height
29ft - 33ft
Average Weight
6,600lbs - 8,200lbs
Average Physique
Othraka are tall creatures with a huge, muscular physique appropriate to a towering behemoth race of giants. They are incredibly muscular, with tanned skin and bulging muscles as well as sharp, pronounced jawlines.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Othraka skin can range from a dull grey to a dark tan, with paler colors being more common due to their mummification. Their hair is commonly white, silver, or some lighter color though darker colors are not unheard of, especially as they age.
Related Myths
Related Materials
The Bonerot Plague
Though they are one of the eldest races on Zheng-Kitar, Othraka have long since fallen from their glory days of yore and have in fact spent a vast majority of recent memory slumbering in their ancient Tomb-Cities far beneath the desert dunes, since even before the Advent of the Spirit Kings some 4500 years ago. Though they once had a vast population of both males and females, Othraka are a species plagued by a deadly affliction only caught by their own species, one so dangerous it forced their whole society and civilization into dormancy in the hopes that thousands of years of uninterrupted slumber beneath the earth would allow the plague a chance to die off and pass through...this disease was known, and still is, as The Bonerot Plague. A deadly disease that hits all Othraka without fail on the morning of their 50th birthday as they begin to enter adulthood, it is a universally fatal disease that leads to total organ failure and death on the morning of their 65th birthday, without fail...as a species, the Othrakan females were an unfortunate victim of this plague as they slept in their tomb cities, and as they begun to awake they discovered that only partial mummification, once a ritual used only to harden their bodies to the harsh desert world above, could stave off the onset of this plague and save their species. Now, the mummification ritual has become so widespread it is mandatory for all juvenile Othraka to undergo this process before they reach adulthood to save their lives.
Comments