Marutagana

##### [Giff Reskin]

The **marutagana** are a people descended from minor storm deities called Marut, brought into being by the Devanagari of the tempest domain Jal, who helped spread her destructive influence over the oceans and skies. Jal instilled these Marut with superhuman strength, the ability to traverse through water with ease, and most notably, a destructive force only the goddess of raging storms could muster. These Marut were capable of levelling forests with their stomps, and crushing mountains with their mighty roars, driven by the fury of their creator. However, once Jal started amassing followers and her rage ceased, these Marut too lost their destructive outlooks, and began interacting with and intermingling with humans and other races. Thus, over time, their descendants, the marutagana, began calling Kara-Tur home.

The marutagana possess many of their predecessors’ abilities to a smaller extent. Though nowhere near powerful enough to crush a mountain, they keep the natural strength of the Marut, as well as their exceptional swimming ability. Moreover, they can occasionally draw on their innate connection to Jal’s destructive wrath, channeling the power of the raging storm to amplify their attacks. They usually live in clans near bodies of water, and are kind towards strangers, showing how far they have come from their destructive roots. However, when offended or angered, the marutagana showcase the Marut’s, and by extension, Jal’s natural destructive tendencies, lashing out at those foolish enough to cross them.

Uniquely, the marutagana have a deep rooted connection to weapons, and were known for using astras. These are golden weapons that resembled lightning bolts, that the marutagana can launch at foes with remarkable prowess. This stemmed from Jal empowering the Marut with the knowledge of crafting such devastating weapons; knowledge that she stole from her sister, the Devanagari of the forge domain Jwala. However, due to Jal’s lack of knowledge about smithing, she chose gold, as she thought the most lustrous metal would be the most powerful. Due to this, many marutagana possess an innate fascination and desire to craft items, especially weapons and armour, made from gold. Many seek to improve either their crafting ability in creating these items, or their physical ability in using them effectively in combat.

## Astral Spark Feature Reflavour: Gale Force

Due to your people’s connection with the destructive goddess Jal, you can channel thunderous force through your weapons, which manifests as crackling electricity or booming thunder around you. When you hit a target with a simple or martial weapon, you can cause the target to take extra force damage equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, but you can use it no more than once per turn. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

## Firearms Mastery Feature Reflavour: Astra Mastery

Imbued with the stolen knowledge of the inventive goddess Jwala, you excel at using astras (which can be treated as firearms). You have proficiency with all firearms and ignore the loading property of any firearm. In addition, attacking at long range with a firearm doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack roll.

## Hippo Build Feature Reflavour: Blood of the Mountain Shakers

As fitting of the descendants of the mountain crushing Marut, you maintain a fraction of their incredible strength. You have advantage on Strength-based ability checks and Strength saving throws. In addition, you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

## Appearance

The marutagana resemble ordinary humans, albeit on a much larger scale. They average between 7 to 8ft in height, and usually have broad shoulders and burly builds. Aside from their height, the most notable difference would be their golden teeth, nails, and eyes. Additionally, their bodies are lined with small golden protrusions, particularly around their joints and faces. When they choose to channel Jal’s power, often times these golden protrusions carry trace amounts of electricity. Moreover, marutagana often wear quite a lot of gold, whether it be as armour, jewellery, or even simple trinkets and accoutrements. When they speak, they usually have bellowing voices, and their yells and laughs are enough to shake a person to their core- a reminder of their devastating heritage.

## Age

Marutagana age at a rate similar to humans, and reach maturity by age 18. Their maximum lifespan is slightly more than that of a regular human’s, at around 125 years.