From: tim@mik.uky.edu (timothy c huesman)
Subject: ADMIN  since the phu weren't added to BEASTIARY
Keywords: phu +obadu
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
X-Path: tim
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 08:38:04 GMT

Name:   phu
Description:   The phu are humanoid, appear very human in shape though
 having smooth, grey skin devoid of any hair.  Their eyes are colored
 almost black, though albinoes among this people can have nearly any
 color skin and eyes, and ebony skin resembling the drow is possible.
 One would see a phu bare-chested(either sex) wearing shorts made
 from the pulp of plants and a hat(shade) atop the bald head.  Since
 those seen are usually trackers, a spear or throwstick is also
 common along with a knife made from black glass or beaten metal.
 Bare feet are the norm and this is not varied in the snow and desert
 lands.  Their foot soles are very tough and it is said the blood of
 the phu is red but full of grey and white specks that serve no
 known purpose.
 
    The phu (never capitalized) are an ancient people in the Known Lands
 of Nexus.  Some believe them to be native to the world, but the phu
 corrected that thought long ago saying that they came following the 
 godslongpast at the end of the Age of Dreams.  They claimed that they
 were as lice to the godslongpast and had followed them on bridges 
 spanning many worlds, and un-worlds, proto-worlds, and dead worlds.
    Before the other races began recording their histories the phu were
 still plentiful across every land mass of the world.  Legends from those
 times tell that the phu were a people in name only, actually being
 a society of many lifeforms, all having the grey-cast skin and lacking
 hair entirely.  Records and clay figures could be found showing phu
 resembling flightless birds, animals of the hunt, and huge insect 
 forms.  
    But civilised society was not for the phu, who preferred the tribal
 ways formed from beyond memory.  Over the years they became more scarce
 found on islands, in unchartered lands, and clustered around the more
 odd natural formations of the world.  Some were absorbed into the
 societies of man and elf, lizardman, Draga and Drist.  Thhe phu
 were very similar to the other humanoids in shape and the races mixed
 with minor oddities.  When a phu mix was born, he was often not
 fully formed, sometimes with arms and legs only partially developed.
 But this corrected itself in a matter of days and by the time the blood
 was thinned by another generation, this did not repeat itself.
    Among what is known about the phu is their tracking abilities.
 These grey-skinned hunters were said to be able to track the great
 snowcats weeks after the thaw had melted their spoor.  They were
 able to find the sandserpents in the arid lands though they had slipped
 beneath the sands in hibernation a month before.  Among the phu
 the ability to track took on a mystical significance and their shamans
 were among the best of that skill.  
    Though the tribal phu lived far from the modern lands, individual
 trackers would cross the seas in dug-out canoes and for a time trade
 their tracking abilities for various odd services.  How they made
 the perilous trips in their meager boats was not shared, nor whether
 there were many casualties at sea, but every year several phu would 
 arrive in their shorts made from plant-pulp, wearing the shade-hats
 that marked their individual tribe.  ANd they would arrive almost 
 anywhere in the known lands without fear of violence, for their
 skills were a valuable commodity though they might stay only a season.
    Among the greatest of the oddities that are the phu, is their
 belief in ritual magics.  They claim their dances and music call
 forth powers from the 'dream-time' and replenish the strength of the
 land to repopulate the animal numbers and reseed the soil.  They
 also claim that other magics are possible in the places where the
 godslongpast frequented.  Such places will be odd-shaped ridges and
 vales formed by the godslongpast furious love-making.  Or the pits
 of black ooze that burns that were the privies of the godslongpast.
    
Geographic Range: ANywhere in the known lands when tracking, otherwise
      on large islands or living near unusual natural formations far
      from the civilised lands.
General Attitude:  Aloof, non-hostile, helpful.
Created by:  Doc Pan  (Tim Huesman)   tim@mik.uky.edu
Availablilty:  General AFTER mailing creator for more info.

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  Doc  Pan       tim@mik.uky.edu          Tim  Huesman