Festerkin

> "*There is not a race more cruel or vile than the Festerkin. A savage Bonewolf is fiercely loyal to its pack, a treacherous Ferigan will give its life for its children, even a sadistic Khaogan will never lie or break its oaths. The Festerkin have no loyalty, no honour, no semblance of mercy or empathy. They lie and cheat and steal obsessively, constantly plotting against everyone they know, and will murder and devour their own families without a moment's hesitation if they believe it is prudent. Gods have mercy on any who face them.*"
> ― Inquisitor Coras Darasion
>
>

The **Festerkin**, also known as the **Festerlings**, were a race which originated in the Dreadlands but migrated to this world at some point in the early 700s BC, settling in northern Avamorica in a place which came to be known as the Doomhive. They were thought to have disappeared at the end of the 10th century AD, but resurged - along with many other things - during the Imperial Civil War (1839-60), when a concerted effort to exterminate them was made and they have never been sighted since. The Festerkin commonly found themselves in conflict with the Theysmarel, who sought to protect Thewyn Forest against the frequent attempts of the Festerkin to defile and destroy it. The Festerkin are also known for indirectly leading to the rise of Mutant King Katai.

There is no known information whatsoever on the creator of the Festerkin, save for the fact that they were almost certainly a Dread Titan. Their name is not only a reference to their grotesque appearance and horrifying behaviours, but also the powerful stench which typically accompanied them, described as a mixture of body odour, excrement and rotting eggs. They were also often carriers of disease, with those fortunate to survive battling them often finding that their wounds became rapidly infected. This possibly means that they had some kind of connection with the Rotkin, or to Gorus the Pestilent.

The exact method of how Festerkin mutated their slaves is known. It was magical in nature, that is for certain, but the process is unknown beyond the fact that all the mutation was done in a subterranean facility within the Doomhive known as the Gore Pit. These mutants were incapable of wielding magic, even when their race was originally capable of doing so, but the Festerkin Tyrants were recorded as using plague magic and a particularly sharp and spiky variant of shadow magic.

## Society

Little is known of Festerkin society beyond a few basic facts. They were governed by an all-male ruling class refered to as Tyrants, and all other Festerkin were their slaves. The right to breed with females was reserved solely to the Tyrants, and all male slaves were castrated to prevent them violating this rule. If one somehow did slip through and mated with a female, both the male and the female were put to death. What differentiated a Tyrant from a slave is unclear; it cannot have been based on dynastic ties, since every Festerkin was a child of a Tyrant. It is likely that the strongest and most intelligent offspring were selected to become Tyrants, possibly undergoing some sort of trial beforehand, and the rest were castrated and made slaves.

Female Festerkin were rare, making up approximately 10-20% of the population. This made them extremely valuable commodities which the Tyrants monopolised and frequently fought over. Females were lobotomised to make them near-brainless, only maintaining their basic life-preserving functions, so removing the hassle of getting the females to obey the will of the Tyrants. Because of the rarity of females, it was important for Tyrants to maximise the breeding potential of their mates, so every female underwent extensive mutation to allow them to gestate and birth many offspring at once. Very few female Festerkin have been sighted by those who lived to tell the tale, but they were always reported as being barely recognisable as Festerkin, and more resembled misshapen lumps of flesh with enormous distended bellies. Once a female turned infertile due to age, they became a waste of resources and so they were killed. Their corpses were then either recycled for use in the Gore Pit, or were fed to the slaves.

The Tyrants responsible for performing the mutations in the Gore Pit were known as Mutators, and the most skilled of these who had proven their ability to conjure powerful and reliable mutations were given the title of Grand Mutator. The Grand Mutators commanded great respect amongst the Festerkin, but it is unclear whether they were the true rulers of the Festerkin or whether they were simply influential individuals. Grand Mutators are also characterised in all historical sources as being by far the most cruel and malicious of all the Festerkin, finding it greatly amusing to inflict suffering upon others. Amongst the most infamous of the Grand Mutators was Grand Mutator Groknit, a disciple of Elki the Abominable.

## Physical Appearance

The Festerkin did not have a very standardised appearance due to their habit of mutation, but several unmutated "pure" specimens - if they can be called that - have been discovered and documented, and one preserved corpse is kept by the University of Elifana in Saveria.

Unmutated Festerkin were primarily bipedal creatures, walking on yellow scaled legs ending in black claws, much like those of birds. From the dark brown segmented carapace on their back sprouted five pairs of appendages very much like the legs of centipedes, which could be used to walk on if they desired greater stealth or to fit through tight spaces. This carapace extended below their torso much like a tail, and ended with two large, long tail-like appendages - like those seen in centipedes - which were strong enough to let the Festerkin hang upside-down from them if necessary.

Festerkin had humanoid torsos covered in short but thick grey fur, and clawed hands with hairless palms, showing pale fair skin. From their chests sprouted three pairs of short clawed legs covered in a reddish-brown exoskeleton, resembling those of a shrimp or prawn. They had the heads much like those of rats, covered in the same grey fur as the torso, with a horn on the snout like that of a rhinoceros and a pair of large antennae like those of caterpillars. They had yellow, mildly iridescent compound eyes, like those of insects, which slightly bulged out from their sockets.

## Mutants

The Mutators would not only mutate their Festerkin slaves, but they would take slaves from all manner of races and turn them into mutants, making any failed experiments into food for the successful ones or re-using their flesh in other mutations. The appearance of these mutants was highly variable, due to the fact that even when the Mutators tried to achieve some degree of uniformity, the magical mutation process was inherently unstable and unreliable. Many creatures were subject to mutation, but by far the most common besides the Festerkin themselves were the Bloodvermin.

The most skilled Grand Mutators were able to create stable abominations that were the product of stitching two or more mutants together, which were sometimes referred to as Patchwork Mutants. These creatures were a way to take specific successful mutations from many mutants and craft them into a single creature whilst disposing of the weak elements, and they could also combine different species into one, to again concentrate the strengths and dispose of weaknesses.

### Pit-Horrors

The most monstrous, the most abominable and certainly the most powerful of the Festerkin mutants were those known as the Pit-Horrors, named after the Gore Pit they were developed in. Whilst the exact shape of a Pit-Horror was variable, these horrific mockeries of nature were great hulking beasts with semi-serpentine bodies, a foul combination of many different creatures fused with steel augments to provide armour, structural support and more devastating slashes with their giant clawed hands.

Pit-Horrors possessed numerous heads. Although the flesh on their body could come from any creature, it was only permissible for a Festerkin head to be used. Their largest head was a gargantuan thing from a mutated giant Festerkin, but the one actually in control which dominated all the other heads was a Tyrant grafted on just above the main head, who still possessed most of his torso and could therefore wield magic. This Tyrant was referred to as the Controller. Due to the presence of a Tyrant in command of the entire creature, the Pit-Horror - unlike other mutants - was capable of intelligently directing itself, and it was also the only mutant capable of wielding magic. It is unclear whether becoming a Controller was a great honour or a humiliating punishment; the perception of it appears to have changed over time within Festerkin society.

It was said that the Mutators who made the Pit-Horrors had to have two interwoven spines to support the creature's huge mass, and both of these spines were created by joining together several spines in a long chain. They had a great assortment of internal organs, especially hearts and lungs, which were not only needed to power the massive creature but were also required as backups; it was quite common for the unnatural biology of a Pit-Horror to fail, and so redundant organs were necessary to keep it alive until the magic of the Controller could heal the failed organs and restart their functions.

## The Gore Pit

The Gore Pit lay at the heart of the Doomhive, and was the most fiercely guarded part of the subterranean network besides the palatial dwellings of the Grand Mutators. Very few individuals have seen the Gore Pit and survived to tell the tale, and those individuals were all so bewildered and horrified by what they saw that their descriptions are frustratingly vague.

The defining characteristics of the Gore Pit, according to witnesses, were both its intense stench and the sheer volume of blood. Virtually the entirety of the place was caked in blood - some of it fresh and liquid, much of it dried and flaking - and the stink of rotten flesh was fiercely nauseating and utterly inescapable, even by the standards of the Doomhive. Where the blood accumulated and congealed, it would host great thickets of mould or even mushrooms, which the inhabitants of the Gore Pit would often graze on.

Most disturbingly of all, however, were the descriptions given of the walls. The place itself seemed to be made out of flesh, with the corridors being lined with meat and bone, and enamelled yellowish-white spikes with the distinct appearance of giant teeth took the part of doorways, retracting into the flesh around them when commanded by a Mutator. There were also reports of baleful, bloodshot eyes in the walls staring down at those who walked past, some of which were no larger than a thumb, others larger than a man. In the most rotten areas, the flesh took on a more greenish-grey colour and sported great pustules, made hot from the infected pus within.

It is entirely likely that the Gore Pit itself was one gargantuan mutant creature, or several packed together. Scholars have speculated that it was this creature itself which did the actual process of magical mutation, and the Mutators guided and controlled the creature to achieve the desired effects. However, as mentioned, nothing about the actual mutation process is known, so this is ultimately mere guesswork.