Bodan

The **Bodan** (also known at ratfolk) are a race of highly invasive, ratlike beastfolk. They are known to be aggressive, destructive, and cowardly, making them hated among all other races, including other beastfolk. They infest large swaths of land by digging underground networks which are confusingly complex and often trapped, making them incredibly difficult to penetrate. They might also take refuge within a city's sewage system, feeding off of waste until they inevitably attempt a takeover.

## Appearance and Biology

Bodan are the smallest beastfolk on average (only beaten by the smallest varieties of Yuan) standing at around 3'6 in their default hunched-over position. From their rat ancestors they possess the most humanlike hands among the beastfolk, which allow them to perform complex and delicate tasks ranging from intricate trap-making to their very specific methods of torture and living sacrifice. Due to their living conditions, most feral Bodan have coats caked with mud and filth, giving the majority of them a dark brown or black appearance. However, their coat can be highly varied and in many patterns when clean. Another difference between a feral and "civil" Bodan is their eyes: most feral Bodan wear a paranoid expression at all times with nearly bloodshot eyes. This has created the expression of "nervous as a rat" when discribing someone who is visibly very anxious.

Bodan are omnivores, though they typically do not hunt; they simply eat whatever is in front of them or as close as possible to their nest. When driven to starvation with nowhere else to go, a nest can "explode" with Bodan almost mindlessly scattering to ravage the surrounding landscape. In the case of city-dwellers, this can be much to the detriment of the nest as so many will be exposed and killed. They have adapted to living in relatively foodless conditions as they have developed the constitutions necessary to eat otherwise toxic materials as well as their own waste (and the wastes of others) to maximize their nutrient intake.

Within a nest, a "rat queen" may be born. This particular member of the hive can reach up to 10 feet long (sometimes more) and prefers to keep quadrupedal, as their bodily structure is not well suited to bipedal movement. They are used almost entirely for breeding, and can produce more Bodan en masse. Sometime after a rat queen has begun birthing, a "rat king" will be born. Though large like the rat queen, the king is built for combat and protecting the queen. It will also begin breeding exclusively with the rat queen, thus leaving "commoners" to only breed among themselves.

## Culture and Religion

Bodan are the most social race by a large margin, having an almost insect-like hivemind mentality of group advancement. Only until the most desperate times an individual will willingly put aside their own wellbeing if it means supporting the group. However, when the group dies out or an individual is separated, they are shockingly quick to betray their own kind if it means saving their own skin. Additionally, groups of less than 50 often have power struggles and backstabbing. This leads many scholars to believe that their hivemind behavior is caused by some sort of pheromone as even domestically raised Bodan do not display any of this behavior and are instead completely self-oriented.

Bodan social structure is effectively nonexistent until the birth of a rat queen. There are no laws or rules so long as a Bodan does not directly harm the nest as a whole. However, infighting is a common practice in addition to wanton breeding among the members of the nest with no track being kept of bloodlines and ancestry. This all changes once a rat queen is born. At this point, the male members of the nest will forego breeding for a time and engage in various rituals including organized combat and intentionally consuming harmful materials; the winners of these rituals are allowed to breed with the queen in hopes of an ideal king who will propagate the line further. The king's offspring, dubbed "royals," are automatically given high social standing. The first generation of royals is dubbed the "crown" and acts as a personal guard to the king and queen; their tails are tied (and often glued) together so that they will not abandon their duty, even in overwhelming circumstances. A nest's highest priority is the safety of the queen and to ensure an evacuation if the need is dire. Ironically, the biggest threat to a rat queen is another rat queen born in the same nest. Though incredibly rare, it becomes a greater possibility as a nest expands and the first queen's influence degrades over distance. These new queens are independent and will likely form splinter groups which rebel against the primary group.

The Bodan follow Zaixhism and worship Kr'Sh'Thi'Ng whose name is one of the few relics of their ancient, primal language. Like many followers of Zaixhism, the Bodan seek to overthrow the world and are among the closest adherents to this philosophy in the modern age. To this end they are more than willing to massacre other races and spread among their territories like a plague. Those that are not immediately killed are brought underground to be ritualistically tortured, sacrificed, or both.