Homebrew Yurumibá Species Details

Peaceful and friendly, the yurumibá resemble giant anteaters that walk like gorillas. They are lone wanderers that seldom form large groups, even when solidarity is an instinct to the yurumibá. They spend most of their childhood clinging on the back of their mother, and when they mature, they trail off to explore, find new feeding grounds, meeting friends to share stories and provide mutual assistance, and satiate their wanderlust. They are content with little, as long as little includes a massive amount of bugs for them to eat!

Communitary Farmers

Solidarity is a very strong instinct to the yurumibá. When faced with someone in need, they are very likely to offer help, and they expect the same solidarity back. The yurumibá are sometimes disappointed with how other races don’t default to solidarity, and they can hold grudges against those that benefited from their actions and decided not to retribute.

When yurumibá groups are formed, they start community projects, like termite farms, or communitary burrows, where each can help and be helped by the group. The elderly, the parents with small pups, and differently-abled yurumibá can always count on their communities to help with tasks that they can’t deal with personally. The largest of these communities is Holape'kokue, where their termite mounds can reach up to 20 feet, and the landscape is dotted with burrows and communitary caves.

Solitary Wanderers

The adult yurumibá spend most of their lives wandering through the hinterland and the woods, making acquaintances, developing their skills, and finding new places abundant in insects. When they find a nice place, they spend some time digging themselves a humble burrow where they will spend the next few months. They will move before the insect population of the area is affected by their presence, as to not deplete their food sources. Sometimes, a yurumibá wanders back into an old feeding ground to see how their old burrow is doing and to check on possible new neighbors in that region.

When it’s time to mate, the yurumibá migrate to community-designated mating grounds, where they meet their partners, mate and start rearing their pups. The most notable mating grounds are the hills of Glowfield, where the giant 10-foot tall termite mounds light up at night with a swarm of bioluminescent beetles. As soon as the yurumibá pups start becoming independent, the parents split and return to wandering, with the pup hanging onto the back of one of the parents until they come of age.

The yurumibá experience the feelings of longing for contact and of missing others differently than other races. Being able to spend a long time apart and meeting again is how they express their love for each other.

Yurumibá Adventurers

It is not unlikely that a yurumibá would take up adventuring. Their instinct to help others, combined with their natural wanderlust, makes them natural explorers. They will tag along parties with similar goals as long as each member is helpful to one another.

The yurumibá that get to the Ibiri colonies suddenly find themselves in a place where solidarity is scarce, and they take any chance to help others, sometimes so they can be helped as well. Most quickly understand the ways the colonies work, and concepts such as ownership and currency, but a few take some time to adapt, and can be taken advantage of by unsavory elements.

Born to Eat Bugs

They are highly efficient myrmecophages, chugging up to a pound of ants and termites every day with their 5ft-long tongue, covered with a sticky saliva. They can compliment their diet with different vegetables, but most of their daily intake comes from insects, and 20 seconds with a termite mound, an anthill, or a beehive is already a full meal. 

The yurumibá prefer not to hunt or consume meat, and although some get the taste for it, their digestive systems are not apt at digesting it, making them constipated.

Due to their long tongues, many yurumibá pronounce some words with a lisp as their tongues exit their mouths for a brief moment. The yurumibá that have more contact with other races try to better control their tongues to make themselves more understandable, but a lisp or two might slip when they are particularly tired.

Descendants of Yp’yurimibá

The yurumibá seem to be a recent development in the history of Ibir. Some say that they were created by powerful Ikurundúva pajés that were able to awaken sentience on anteaters; others tell of powerful Kasogonagás descending from the skies and turning aether and clouds into the first yurumibá; there’s even a legend that tells of a termite infestation that ate through one of Tupan’s magic tacapes. The god of thunder got so furious that he created the yurumibá to eat all of the termites that chewed through his prized weapon. In reality, the yurumibá don’t much care for how they were created, and would rather celebrate the fact that they are.

Although the yurumibá also follow the same animist traditions of other Ibiri people, the most important deity for the yurumibá is Yp’yurumibá. Yp’yurumibá was an actual historical figure, a powerful pajé and the precursor of the yurumibá communitary practices, starting the first termite farm where today is Holape’kokue. Nowadays, it is not only the yurumibá that evoke the power of Yp’yurumibá, as pajés all across Ibir perform the rituals of solidarity and community they learned from the yurimibá pajés.

Yurumibá Names

Yurumibá have learned that it is very hard to communicate with other races if their names make a lot of use of their tongues to pronounce their names, so in solidarity with other races that coexist with them, they prefer to name their young with short names with syllables that don’t use a lot of tongue movement. The yurumibá don’t use last names, but will use their parents name if needed.

Male Names: Ahai, Ayugú, Babo, Bumo, Ch'w, Ch’yiêgo, Eiyke, Haoní, Huiy, Kauam, Kauê, Maco, Maikê, Mboi, Muhiyo, Taim, Vimi, Wiyam, Yuhi

Female Names: Améiya, Bab'wa, Hamí, Kaowim, Kiaha, Mahía, Mbyia, Moema, P’yipa, Pochý, Puka, Táchi, Tahýi, Uiá, Vaukiya, Yachí, Yechí’ya, Zamaýma, Zeniya

Gender Neutral Names: Akyio, Avachí, Emyie, Guga, Hafa, Hubá, Kaukau, Kazô, Kim, Kiwe, Moê, Viko, Ypê, Zazi

Yurumibá Personalities

Some yurumibá behaviors are very peculiar to other races. The following tables offer personality suggestions for a quirky yurumibá character. You can roll on the tables or use them as inspiration to create your own characteristics.

D4	YURUMIBÁ PERSONALITY TRAITS
1	You love water and taking baths. It helps you to get rid of all those ants on your fur!
2	Your tail is so useful! How could you not use it as a comforter, broom, picnic blanket, etc?
3	You love sharing! Want a handful of tasty beetles? I just caught them with my tongue.
4	You feel the most rested when you get to sleep in a newly-dug burrow.

 

D6	YURUMIBÁ BOND
1	You have a child or a pet that hangs on your back at all times.
2	Your time to procreate is coming, and you wish to visit a mating ground soon.
3	Once you offered solidarity to a person that didn’t retribute. You will hold a grudge against this person forever.
4	You have made your own portable termite farm to carry on your backpack.
5	Your community helped you when you needed it the most, and now they need the kind of help that only you will be able to find.
6	Your previous partner is raising your cub back in your previous feeding grounds.

 

D4	YURUMIBÁ FLAWS
1	You are always on the lookout for a snack. You can’t resist anthills and termite mounds.
2	When confronted with a horrendous monster, you stand up, open your arms and show how big you are. That will show them not to mess with you!
3	You can’t help but offer assistance to anyone in need. Including your enemies.
4	You are not sure on the concept of ownership. Does it mean the last who touched it that owns it? Or is it who needs it the most? Or the least? Do you just have to say it?

Yurumibá Traits

Your yurumibá character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Yurumibá pups spend most of the time on one of their parents' backs until they are about 4 years old. They reach adulthood by the age of 12 and live an average of 60 years.

Alignment

Yurumibá are preternaturally solidary, and are good more often then not. They don’t usually  organize in large groups, or live in complex societies, and tend to be chaotic or neutral.

Size

An adult yurumibá stands taller than a human, between 6 and 7 feet tall, but they walk with their knuckles, appearing to be just 4 to 5 feet tall. A yurumibá averages 220 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Claws Made for Digging

You can use your claws to start burrowing into soft soil as a bonus action. When you do, you gain a burrow speed of 10 feet this turn. You can only burrow through soft soil, and you leave a tunnel of your size behind you as you move through the soil. You can only use your claws this way a number of times equal to 1 plus your Constitution modifier. You regain all uses of this ability when you complete a short or long rest.

Sharp Claws

Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Long Limbs

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

Long Snout

Due to your sensitive snout, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception), Wisdom (Survival), and Intelligence (Investigation) checks that involve smell.

Longer Tongue

You can use your sticky tongue to pick up or interact with items. It has a reach of 5ft, and can lift items of up to 10 pounds. Your tongue is flexible, but not prehensile, and can only be used to do multiple fast licks, so you depend on your thick ant-grabbing saliva and rough tongue to pick up items and lift them towards you.

Languages

You can speak, read and write Common and Rohiri.