Homebrew Centruroide Species Details

The whole bloody empire is gone, no one left! They are all dead! You do not understand that they’re no longer here! — Grekik the wise.

Centruroides were one of the most powerful kingdoms in their hay day, having a whole continent under their rule, and having excellent trade and relations with other empires and colonies. This was, perhaps due to their friendly nature and wholesome way of living, as well as a welcoming society ranging in the millions. Their culture did not understand prejudice against others, and differences in people was oddly not applied when in their cities. They were all equals in societies eyes and their influence brought words of them throughout their world.

With their influence on the rise, people became jealous of their power and control through peace. A full scale purge to kill all Centruriode people was conducted by 10 kingdoms with and armed force of over a billion. Many people died, leaving less than 300 in existence. It is common to hear “You will never see two Centruroide in the same room” which is a mostly true fact. The last survivors split up over a century ago to lose their enemies and keep their people alive. They dream of a future where they will thrive again without threat of persecution or death, a future where the horrors of their past will be forgotten and their tribe will live on.

Loners by Heart

Since the fall of the kingdom, Centruroides have split up across the world in an attempt to ward of their attackers, who had been terrorising them for over 50 years after the great purge. You may never see a Centruroide in your life, that is how rare they are. The Centruroides have become masters of camouflage as a skill to escape, with many gaining skills in trapping and narrowing in more dense environments. The people who once flocked in mass have now changed to solo gorilla warfare too survive.

A Proud Culture

The Centruroide culture has not been forgotten after their great exodus, and it still lives on with the survivors.

Food is one of the most important thing to Centruroide people, as meal times are when families come together to eat and rejoice after a long day. Meals are typically celebrated with neighbours as well, and in some cases whole districts got together to throw massive feasts. The great supply of bugs and spices, as well as vegetables and small mammals allow the diet of the Centruroide people to gain popularity in other places around the world. Food made by them is generally spicy or sweet, and you can expect grilled beetles seasoned with many spices and served with a coconut based sauce. Their food is still carried by the survivors and taverns around the world feature many of their meals taught by escaping Centruroides. A place that is very popular on the continent of wildemount is Baruborie’s Tavern, a place where tradition is held and food is shared. Baruboriem says that brings over 100,000 people in each month.

The culture of the Centruroide people does not follow any religion, and is very season based. On their continent of Maljiki, there is only summer and winter season. Winter has one festival, and summer has two large ones with many smaller festivals in between. The first festival, Balkujik, celebrates the start of the summer season, where the people would pair up to mate and prepare for a season of growing crops. This festival focuses around the collection of water from the previous major festival, after the winter ended. After Balkujik, they celebrate Ykmrstev, a festival that revolves around eating and preparing for hibernation. The brood is presented to the leaders and named, and people eat all the food they harvested. After this, they enter a state of hibernation, where the brood begin to incubate and the Centruroides sleep through the the harsh winter. They hibernate in large groups of their extended family to retain warmth. When they wake up, they celebrate Fregskard, a festival where the now hatched young kings are apprenticed and water is collected to water crops in summer.

Religion is a foreign concept to the Centruroide people. Their original culture never followed any gods, and very much just worshipped the land for what it was. When the survivors of the great purge heard tale of higher beings, they began to ponder. Questions that would have been asked are “Why didn’t the Gods save us?” And “If they care over the land, then why didnt they protect ours?” Since, the Centruroides have gained a destain for any religious notation, and mentions of it brings disgust to their face.

Power and Peace

Even though they are friendly as a blink dog, they should not be looked down upon as weaklings. Beneath their tough, keratin shell, there is muscle mass almost as strong as a Goliath. This is due to the insane weight of their shell, making them need to be strong to survive. Even the smallest Centruroide can be extremely dangerous, able to lift an adult Dragonborn above their heads in some cases. They also feature many natural weapons on their body, giving them a tactical edge in battle. Their combat style is mainly momentum and self defence based, rather than an offensive strategy. A hit from a skilled Centruroide in an arena usually leaves cracks on each other’s shells. Keep in mind that this is easily healed and is for the fun of their gladiatorial arenas. Although their offensive capability is massive, they would still prefer to solve puzzles and debates rather than physical altercations. After they were forced away, they also gained a considerable advancement in their camouflage as a means of escaping their attackers. This has worked incredibly well for them, as they have managed to survive.

Equality in the People

Centruroides have grown up with no sense of differentiation between species, races, gender, and anything in between. Everyone serves to each other and themselves. In there society, sharing is common and there is no real form of payment. Everyone in their society gets a share from their goods, and no-one has any real physical property that is not sentimental. Gold in their kingdom only serves the purpose of trade with other kingdoms and is done for the benefit of everyone that lives in the kingdom. The people of their kingdom also share major housing with a greater extended family. It is common the cousins seem more like siblings and its more like a huge family unit. When two Centruroides partner up during the Balkujik, the two families are unified under one roof, and both share everything they have. This left common houses looking more like apartment blocks. 

Life Cycle

Much like other insectoids and arachnids, they go through a life cycle of brood, to youngling, to apprentice, to adult. The brood are born during the summer, where they are kept in the hatchlings oasis. When winter comes around, they are taken by their families into hibernation, where they hatch and become younglings. When awoken by the warm weather, they are named and apprenticed, it is a later 11 years until they gain their stinger and become an adult. When this happens, they shed their shell and are given a full position as their job taken when they were apprentices.

Home in the Dunes

The Centruroides live on a massive continent known as Maljiki, a massive continent covered by sand, jungle and ice. The climate in summer is very arid and warm, the perfect temperature for the Centruroides to thrive in. The sand gives them the ability to burrow, dig and make new homes for new generations. Their capital city, Igrad, gained approximately 300,000 square hectares of land just in their final full summer month alone. In the winter, snow takes over the land and it becomes a harsh winter wasteland where all creatures must hibernate to survive. During the winter months, one may expect even the strongest fire elemental to freeze in the extreme cold. Since it was abandoned, their home has been taken back by the sand and ice, with barely anything left standing. A lone spire stands out of the ground eternally, watching over the land, preparing for its people to claim the land again. 

 

Centruroide Traits

Your Centruroides character has the following racial traits.

Claws of steel

Their claws, supported by a powerful keratin build are powerful enough to crush metal into slabs and cut trees into splinters, which grants an extra +2 damage on an unarmed strike.

Heat of the Desert, Frost of the Tundra

The large keratin shell blocks out most of the heat they face, however any cold weather can tear them to shreds as their blood cools very easily.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

Centruroides reach adulthood at age 12 and live up to 350 years.

Alignment

Centruroides, besides their fearsome appearance, are one of, if not the most friendly people one would meet, only bitter at their past and religious concepts. They tend towards lawful neutral.

Size

Centruroides are between 4 and 12 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 1150 pounds. Your size is Medium or Large.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 40 feet.

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.

Long-Limbed

When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Primordial.

Poison barbed tail

The Centruroide may use the barb on their tail as an attack after doing a direct strike. They may deal 1d6 poison damage as they inject their venom into their enemy.