Výtrúl

The fungal race made up of spores that lives by inhabiting corpses and plant matter

Base Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: (+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength) Výtrúl are incredibly intelligent and dexterous thanks to their linked minds, their connection to their queen, and their odd true form of fungal spores which let them encode their knowledge and memory in their bodies to pass on to future generations, but lack strength as it is hard for them to utilize a host body without some muscle degredation.
Size: Výtrúl require a host body to survive, so though their true form is a colony of fungal spores, they typically take up residence in a medium sized body.
Type: Výtrúl are creatures with the Plant type, but only gain the normal plant immunities to Poison, Sleep, and Polymorph effects.
Base Speed: Výtrúl have a base land speed of 30ft.
Vision: Výtrúl gain darkvision out to 30ft, and gain the Greensight universal monster rule, allowing them to see through thick plant matter up to 60ft away from them as if it were transparent. They also gain blindsense 10ft.
Languages: Výtrúl begin play speaking Sylvan and ONE regional language(See Languages of Zheng-Kitar) appropriate for their host body to have spoken in life(or appropriate for the area, if they use plants or a regional language would not apply for whatever reason). To represent their varied host bodies and origins, Výtrúl with high INT can choose any non-secret language as a bonus language. Výtrúl cannot speak aloud, but they instead gain Telepathy(120ft) and can understand the languages above that they select. Výtrúl always possess a hive mind that lets them speak to and know where their queen is at all times. They can detect the presence of other Výtrúl connected to their queen but can only perform limited empathic communication with them. This hive-mind cannot be surpressed, and is different than their telepathy. Výtrúl can speak to and share information with all plants and plant creatures.
Natural Antipaths: Thanks to their unique hive mind that links each Výtrúl to the queen that they came from, Výtrúl give off a strange aura that lets them automatically detect all telepathic communication(Hive Minds, Normal Telepathy, Collectives, Etc.) within 120ft of themselves, as well as which creatures are communicating in this way. If they pass a will save with a DC equal to (10 + HD of the target), they can listen in on the communications coming to and from a certain creature.
Natural Empaths: Výtrúl are incredibly adept at reading the emotions of others thanks to their odd spore-based biology and psychic minds, and always treat Sense Motive as a class skill, and gain a racial +2 to it. By touching a creature, they can attempt to read that creatures surface thoughts as per Detect Thoughts(DC 10 + 1/2HD + INTMOD). Once a creature successfully saves against this ability, they are immune to it for 24 hours.
Host Body Stowaway: When latched onto a Host Body, Výtrúl can make themselves quite hard to discover unless they wish it. Výtrúl gain a racial +4 on all disguise checks, which increases to +10 to impersonate a normal member of the race of their host body.
Linked Knowledge Network: With their connection to their queen and other Výtrúl, Výtrúl share information at an alarming rate rivaling even the supercomputers of High Humanity. They gain any 2 knowledge skills as class skills and gain a +2 to them, and they can make other knowledge checks untrained.
Spores: Intrinsic to their very being, Výtrúl are made up of spores and even after forming a host body, they can alter these spores into one of a variety of "configurations" to suit their needs. Switching their spores from one "Configuration" to another is a full-round action that does not provoke AoO. They can choose from the following configurations:

• Rampart Spores: Gain a +2 Deflection bonus to AC.


• Mindbarrier Spores: Gain a +2 bonus on all will saves made vs Mind-Affecting effects.


• Decomposition Spores: All corpses within 30ft rot into fungus after a minute passes within this radius. All attacks made against hostile creatures do 1d4 extra untyped damage(Or nonlethal if the attacks are nonlethal) within 15ft. This dice scales by one step every 5HD.


• Growth Spores: Once per combat, You can have another creature ingest your spores and be affected by either an Enlarge Person or Reduce Person effect that works on living creatures of any type. Switching out of this configuration before the effect has expired will end the effect early.

Host Transfer: When they would reach an amount of negative HP that would kill them, Výtrúl can attempt a fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/4 HD + 1/2 Total Negative HP). On a successful save, the Výtrúl successfully endures the loss of their host body, taking on a Gaseous Form as per the spell(Damage inflicted on them during this time has no effect). They have 1 minute to find another humanoid or monstrous humanoid corpse suitable for habitation(GM Discretion) or die permanently. If they find a corpse, they can make it their new host body and return to 0hp, stabilized, though they take 1 permenant negative level from the experience. Výtrúl can also use this ability on another corpse in a ritual that takes one minute to change the appearance of their host body by possessing another corpse they are in contact with(Requiring no fort save and bestowing no negative level).

Basic Information

Anatomy

Výtrúl have no discernable anatomy in their true form, as they appear as nothing more than a cloud of bluish-green fungal spores. When inhabitating a host body, they take on the anatomy of that race...though they are capable of restructuring and shifting around the anatomy of the bodies they inhabit, it mostly remains the same internally as they require a body to function and interact with the outside world.
In "Carnivorous" Výtrúl colonies where corpses and the bodies of humanoids and monstrous humanoids are used for host bodies, these bodies are not simply dead puppets as many believe. Instead, the bodies that Výtrúl inhabit are injected with new life and are truly "alive" again, and so to many who knew the creature whose body the Výtrúl are now inhabiting, they can almost appear to be the second coming of their relatives...though the truth is often scarring and horrifying. Even skeletons grow new "flesh" when inhabited by a Výtrúl, as their spores are capable of recreating the appearance of corpses due to a process not yet completely understood by modern scholars. In this way, even ancient dead can seemingly return to life...though such an appearance is often the sign of a nearby Výtrúl hive.
In "Herbivorous" Výtrúl colonies where plant matter and vegetation is used for host bodies rather than corpses of other races, they do form analogues to certain living organs and anatomies inside themselves to mimic the functions of life, and possess an anatomy roughly similar to many other humanoids, with two limbs and legs as well as musculature and skeletal systems, though many parts of other races are not found inside of them, the "critical" bits are all there.

Genetics and Reproduction

Výtrúl do not reproduce in the traditional sense. Instead, as a Výtrúl grows in age and power they accumulate more and more matter in and on the bodies they use as a host, the number of spores in the colony inhabiting that body growing more and more until the Výtrúl reaches "critical mass" - a point in which the sheer size of the colony inside the host body cannot be contained any longer. At this point, a Výtrúl often leaves the host body behind and splits into two or more smaller colonies, who then go off and find other bodies to inhabit. In this way they create more of their kind the more they live and the more food they consume, growing the hive by creating new colonies.

Growth Rate & Stages

A Výtrúl has entered adulthood directly after its "birth" (Barring a one year period of dormancy to learn and adapt to the world) and remains so until age 175 when they become middle-aged. They become old around age 263, and reach venerable around age 350 at which point they reach the end of their life cycle and "split" shortly thereafter.

Ecology and Habitats

Výtrúl colonies are neatly divided into two habitation zones depending on their natures:
"Carnivorous" colonies that use mainly corpses for host bodies are mainly found underground or in dungeons or similar areas where adventurers or other wandering creatures are common, and in places where bodies of humanoids are fresh and plentiful but where their disappearance would not be incredibly odd.
"Herbivorous" colonies that use mainly plant matter and other vegetation are found in areas where such things are incredibly common places such as forests, rainforests, and other similar areas.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Výtrúl normally need only water, light, and a few other miscellaneous nutrients to survive. However, the place where Výtrúl hives find such things differs greatly between them, as Carnivorous Výtrúl typically use corpses or bodies for such sustenance and nutrients and luminscent fungi for their light needs, while Herbivorous Výtrúl typically rely on sunlight and plants for such things.

Biological Cycle

The life cycle of a Výtrúl is a strange thing, as when they are formed either from the queen herself or from another Výtrúl who reached the end of its life cycle and split apart, they are "born" fully grown and essentially enter straight into adulthood. "Infant" Výtrúl often spend a year or so without a host body, dormant, absorbing information from their fellows, their queen, or the Výtrúl that created them as they learn about the world and all the knowledge the hive has accumulated.
As they age, Výtrúl do grow infirm just as other humanoid races do, much to the shock of many. As their spores grow older and older they have a harder and harder time exerting physical force from the host bodies they inhabit, growing more and more infirm as they grow weaker and less durable as they bloat with accumulated knowledge and wisdom. In this way their "bodies" often grey and age as if they were still alive, as the life that Výtrúl inject into their host bodies begins to wane and fade. Herbivorous Výtrúl with bodies made of plant matter or vegetation find it browning and withering as they age, in contrast.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Výtrúl society can be confusing to outsiders, and is broken down below:

Superhive - An incredibly rare occurance where multiple hives and multiple queens gather together and form together into one gigantic whole. Only found incredibly rarely in areas where multiple hives have grown unchecked for decades. Often, Superhives are ruled by a collective of queens or, even more rarely, a "Superqueen" formed from the merging of many queens into one collective whole. Only one Superqueen has ever been recorded, and its immense size is so vast it has not even been fully documented by outsiders, but rumored to be most if not all of an entire forest. Superqueens are often immobile, as their size rarely allows for movement.
Hive - Usually the highest strata of Výtrúl society, ruled by a queen who directs the hive and serves as its leader and overseer. Queens are incredibly rare and secretive beings highly protected by their hive, as they can reach such titanic proportions that they often cannot move freely from their homes, either from bloating, the confines of their surroundings, or from the simple logistics of crushing vast swathes of ground and uprooting entire sections of forest should they be stirred to motion.
Concord - A collection of Colonies and Supercolonies within a certain region or distinction, governed by a specialized Výtrúl made by the queen called a "Husk". One Hive generally has several Concords within its purview depending on its size.
Supercolony - A collection of many individual Výtrúl made up into a massive collective whole for some purpose, whether to inhabit a massive body or some other rare and specific purpose. Somewhat rare, and not often made by a hive.
Colony - Refers to a single Výtrúl, AKA enough spores to inhabit a single small to large sized body.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Výtrúl are commonyl found either underground or in dense forests or other areas of dense vegetation.

Average Intelligence

Výtrúl are incredibly intelligent if a bit reclusive beings, as their hive-mind allows them to share information at incredible speeds over vast distances.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Výtrúl see only through a form of blindsense in thier true spore-forms, but when inhabiting a body they change the body's anatomy slightly to bestow upon it darkvision out to 30ft, and the ability to see through foliage and plant matter as if it weren't there, a unique trait of Výtrúl spore-based biology that remains beyond comprehension.

Alternate Racial Trait List: Výtrúl Alternate Racial Traits

Racial Feat List:
Výtrúl Racial Feats

Pronunciation

(VEE-TROOL)

Lifespan

350 years

Conservation Status

Though few know of their existence, Výtrúl hives can be found in many places across Zheng-Kitar to those who know where to look. They are simply a reclusive and secretive people who hide away their hives away in remote places to protect their queens - massive, towering creatures that serve as the centerpoint of each Výtrúl hive, and the mother to all the colonies she spawns.

Average Height

0.9 - 5.4 meters(Depending on host body)

Average Weight

30 - 340kg(Depending on size of host body)

Average Physique

Výtrúl physique can vary wildly depend on their host body.

Related Ethnicities

• Ssarin

A race older than memory

Though their origins have long since been lost to the eons, Výtrúl have existed as a people since before many on Zheng-Kitar can even remember...even the long-lived Elves can nary remember a time when the spore-based Výtrúl did not live amongst the trees and caverns of the world...they are a people so old that within the spore-based libraries of the minds of the oldest Výtrúl Hive Queens dwells memories of the time of the Sapphire Elves...or so the rumors go.
They are ancient and venerable beyond compare, such that Výtrúl colonies have all but died out elsewhere on Ea, scattered by the servants of the Yema or lost to the degredations of time as food supplies dried up and went scarce. Now, they only remain on Zheng-Kitar, a people elderly beyond compare yet still mysterious beyond reckoning.
Many believe and speculate that the Výtrúl are in fact the first and original form of life...that their spore-based bodies existed as the first life on Ea untold eons ago, existing before a time when other races were born...and when other races came to be, the Výtrúl simple adapted to utilize what they left behind. The truth? None can say.