Maug (construct)

Maugs were constructs from the plane of Acheron that served as perfect mercenaries in battles across the planes. They were intelligent and tireless soldiers willing to serve any employer.
==Description==
Maugs were hulking, humanoid constructs made of of steel-gray Acheron stone. Because of their bulk, they could not run. Their bodies were often augmented with stone or metal grafts, and were armored with heavy iron breastplates. They preferred to wield massive two-bladed swords.
As constructs, they did not sleep, were immune to mind-affecting magic, were unaffected by poisons or diseases, could not be magically paralyzed or weakened, and necromancy did not affect them. They were ageless and could only die if destroyed in battle. A maug had no soul and could not be raised from death. If they sustained battle damage, they could slowly repair themselves by resting, although this process could not restore lost limbs.
==Personality==
Fighting gave meaning to a maug's existence. They were fearless and approached any conflict as if it were a battle in a war, thus requiring a strategy.
They did not care about the morality of the causes for which they fought, and were unwaveringly loyal to their employers, however they would would not fight other maugs. If two opposing armies both hired maugs, casualties would be extraordinary as they ignored each other to cut swathes through their respective enemies. Once one side was finally unable to continue the fight, the maugs would all band together to seek their next job.
==Combat==
Maugs were unflinchingly in battle and would charge straight into conflict. That said, they always devised a plan for any engagement, and would try to control the flow of any battle. If they had advance knowledge of a fight, they would prepare the battlefield with traps and earthworks or would find opportunities to conceal themselves by camouflaging among rocks or rubble.
Three times each day, maugs had the ability to negate the hardness of any object up to in size. Skilled maug warriors would use this power to render brittle the armor and weapons of their foes before sundering them into pieces.
Maug arcane spellcasters made use of magic that could repair maugs' construct bodies in much the same way as divine healing magic might cure injuries of flesh and blood.
==Society==
They hailed from Acheron, specifically their fortress in the second layer, Thuldanin, to which they were had been exiled in the distant past. From there, they ventured out to accept mercenary contracts. Maugs acted alone, in small squads, or in larger warbands or organized companies of 40 or more individuals. Their larger units had officers and hierarchy, and often incorporated hobgoblin troops as well. The service of a maug mercenary was at least 5 gp per day (more if the mercenary had more experience) and payment was generally expected up-front in the form of magic items or rare ores.
Outside of Acheron, maugs might be encountered on the Material Plane, where they were known to wander for centuries as they sought wars in which to serve.
Maugs often trained as fighters, but could excel in any discipline. Spellcasters were often sorcerers or wizards who specialized in travelling the planes or crafting new maugs. Clerics and druids were rare among maugs owing to their lack of souls or connections to the natural world, and so the sorcerers and wizards fulfilled the roles of healers. Thanks to their mechanical construction, maugs had an innate understanding of topics in engineering, stonemasonry, and architecture.
===Thulkarr===
The Thulkarr were the leaders of the maugs. They were ancient spellcasters credited with being the original maugs as well as the ones who had created most living maugs. While they were widely respected as generals and creators, the Thulkarr gave few orders and instead focused on making sure their fellow maugs continued to serve others in battle. They would negotiate for the best possible terms for maug mercenaries and travelled the planes looking for conflicts worthy of maug service. Upon finding one, they would open gates for their troops. 
The Thulkarr were also known to charge coin from their maugs in exchange for various services in order to afford the costs of creating new maugs.
===Creation===
The secrets of maug creation were known only to the Thulkarr. They were crafted on Acheron out of that plane's pitiless rock in a process that cost at least 10,000 gp. Upon creation, many maugs were granted a minor grafted limb or weapon carved from the stone of Thuldanin in a procedure that cost an additional 2,000 gp. As a maug gained wealth from their mercenary services, some would purchase additional grafts.
==History==
Scholars believed that maugs had originally served as shock troops in the Great Conflagration, fighting on behalf of Raumathar under the leadership of a war-leader named Thulkarr. Their armies used portals to outflank their Nar enemies and drive them back until the Nentyarch unleashed a final gambit known as the Dark Fissure, which opened a planar rift that banished the whole army. While initially prisoners in Thuldanin, they soon turned it into their fortress. The original maug spellcasters adopted the name of Thulkarr and used knowledge stolen from their creators to begin making more of their kind, and in turn came to be regarded as the leaders of the maugs.
As of the late 14 century DR, rumors persisted that old ruins in northeast Faerûn might contain either the secrets to creating maugs and/or the rites to banish them to Acheron once more.
In , maug fighters served the Zhentarim as guardians at Castle Krag in Shadowdale.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Creatures found in Acheron