Koloss

Koloss

Koloss are insectoid creatures skinned in night-hued carapaces with six limbs, a rounded head, and great armored wings upon their backs. Their race having suddenly appeared from a strange massive metal object, Koloss use the few who have memories from before the time they arrived to root out strange cults or organizations and stamp them out. While they give the impression of being immensely hidebound and never changing their minds on something past a first impression, they quite obviously do, while still spouting their initial opinion. Few feel entirely comfortable around a koloss save those who delve into their culture, and those who do realize they are safe save if one of the maddened beetle-monks raves some fragmented sentences that spell their demise.

Koloss arrived in the world in some sort of massive metal ovoid, its internal and external structure devoid of markings save those made by the passage of time and matter. The first were altogether mostly insane, lashing out and gibbering. The few who had their minds possessed no memories of their prior lives, but crawled from the structure in a haze. The mad ones who did not kill each other (or who were not killed by surrounding communities they contacted) were incapacitated and cared for until some regained their sanity. Many spoke of tall arches in an impossibly long hallway, and of large conical creatures who dwelled there, some recalling (perhaps falsely) that they were the creatures for a time. The ones who had lost their minds occasionally ranted of various religions and threatening creatures, occasionally as read from pages of a book, some as if they were actually there. The koloss recorded these words in stone, wood, earth, any available medium, and set up organizations by which their descendants could preserve the writings and the oracles themselves, as they came to be called. Those who studied the writings in detail and strove to understand the mad ones sometimes grew insane themselves, seeming to speak uncanny truths on occasion that fell in line with the words of those they studied. This tradition, known as past-delving, has continued throughout their known history. The ones to whom the visions seem to pass are cared for, restrained, in great fortified structures resembling domes of earth and stone until they pass on. The few koloss who have no part in the past-delving still on occasion stumble upon something that strangely mirrors the whispered words and pheromonal intonations of their fellows.

The koloss’ habit of miscommunication with other races comes from their own language. When a koloss speaks, a kind of humming or grating combined with a chittering or clacking, their bodies release pheromones revealing their emotional feelings on subjects or actions involved in their speech. Koloss begin with their initial feelings on the subject, followed by a culmination of scents that catalogue their recalled feelings on the subject up to their most recent change. This is a communication method that koloss learn from a young age, even lying by projecting pheromones that supply different emotional states when they are of larval age. Koloss usually only translate their first realized emotional state on any subject, which is regarded as the one most worth mentioning. Most koloss never understand that their more recent feelings may be desirable, except in times of severe emotional impression. The few who can learn to effectively communicate more recent emotion find that their interactions with other races can be more clear when a current impression or emotion from a single moment in time is desirable. Their writing is similarly very condensed and confusing to the uninitiated, but much more easy to interpret by those who learn their language. Circles or partial circles are used to frame a concept or story before the writer begins. The writing moves inwards in concentric circles, with larger pictographs being constructed to convey more detailed meanings.

Koloss city-nests are both above and below ground structures, with the larval young kept in lower stratums until they undergo their first few moltings. Large earth-hewn rooms within house meeting areas, businesses, libraries, and numerous temples to a wide range of deities. One common feature is a place normally reserved for the young undergoing their metamorphosis into adults at the top of the city-nest where they can get a view of the sun or moon, usually attended by veteran guards in case of an intrusion. Larval koloss resemble small, rounded insects that walk on their back legs with a whitish, soft skin, and in the pupal stage they appear encased in a rubbery translucent casing a few inches thick. Visitors are permitted, though the koloss rarely permit them to visit an oracle or any young unless it is specifically requested and approved by a respected official. Koloss often dine on freshly grown vegetables and lichens, along with various large insects raised as beasts of burden and livestock.

Koloss often send their fellows out, armed with knowledge from those who have past-delved in an attempt to thwart the threats they find. The koloss often know what must be done once they begin to recognise the signs of the chronicles they have heard, and are unwavering in their motives to eradicate, halt, or seal up the horrible truths they realize are coming to pass. Some koloss are trained to kill scions of a religious order, some to disable structures or find more information for koloss use before preventing it from being found by other forces. Even those who leave the city-nests as warriors or wildmen may stumble into these signs and feel obligated to act accordingly, lest the world suffer for it. Some koloss never encounter such evidence of their prophet’s truths, and the koloss that do often envy their good fortune.

Koloss stand just under 6’ on average, appearing as insectile humanoids nearly as wide as they are tall. Koloss have carapaces armored in chitin that serves as both protection and as an exoskeleton, often in dark shades of blue, green, orange or simple black, occasionally patterned by birth or dyed. They possess wide heads with compound eyes on the sides that are usually a bright color like blue, green, or red, and long, thin antennae jutting from the top of their heads. Some koloss additionally have horn-like protrusions growing from the top of their heads of various symmetrical structures and lengths. Their mouths have a small jaw and chitinous ridges that are used for the same purpose as teeth, and mandibles on either side of the mouth used for holding food in place, the mandibles usually folded in front of the mouth when the mouth is closed. A koloss has very little neck to speak of and their torsos have wider upper bodies and shoulders as well as a more slim waist and lower body. They possess six limbs, the two upper limbs having a thick casing around the upper arm and lower arm, with a three-fingered hand at the end having a more segmented armoring. A koloss’ two lower limbs are wide legs with thick chitin at the upper leg, but thin chitin along the calf and the long foot, ending in two wide hooked toes used to assist in gripping climbing surfaces and for digging. The middle pair of limbs bears resemblance to the legs of the koloss, with a two digited hand or foot-like appendage. These middle limbs are used interchangeably as secondary legs and arms, to hold objects close to the body while the main arms are needed or to hang objects from, and also to brace the koloss against the ground or a wall when rising or utilizing their hind legs for digging. The koloss also possess a split armored structure along their backs from their upper back down to the end of their body, protecting two massive transparent wings crossed with angular veins that they use to glide or soften falls. A koloss’ wings are flexible and the maximum wingspan of most koloss ranges from 14 feet to 20 feet, the breadth tending towards twice the koloss’ height plus the distance of their body shoulder to shoulder. The wings are folded along the veins when not in use.

Koloss have a tentative relationship with many races due to their hangups with communication. They rarely attempt to better these relationships themselves, though do not hesitate to go through the proper channels when they need something from one of them. Koloss are most often hired by other races as guides, diggers or teamsters.

Koloss are often Lawful Neutral in alignment, recognizing the use of established structures in society as being beneficial for those involved in it, and seldom attempt to reconcile their actions using conventional ethics, instead being willing and able to do whatever they need to accomplish their goals.

## Racial Traits

* Ability Scores (0): Koloss are hardy and absorb a great deal of their experiences, but have difficulty learning new things. They gain +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence.
* Type (0): Koloss are humanoids with the koloss subtype.
* Size (0): Koloss are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Speed (0): Koloss have a base speed of 30 feet.
* Load-Bearer (2): Koloss treat their Strength as being 4 higher for the purposes of carrying capacity and the amount of earth it can move while digging. They treat a medium load as a light load, a heavy load as being a medium load, and their maximum load as their heavy load for the purposes of penalties granted by carrying capacity.
* Assisting Arms (2): Koloss have two extra limbs that they use interchangeably as arms and legs. The limbs have two digits, and are able to hold items that a hand could normally hold, but cannot use them to attack. The limbs can be used to allow the koloss to use an Aid Another action on himself as a swift action, allowing him to add to the result of a skill check based on Dexterity or Strength, or to grant himself a +2 bonus on his next attack roll against an adjacent creature. If the koloss uses the limbs as legs as a free action, he may move at double speed when making Climb checks relative to the normal speed a human would move. A koloss can alternatively use these limbs as a swift action to brace itself and dig with its legs, doubling the amount of earth it can move while digging while using its limbs in this way. A koloss also gains a +2 bonus on CMD against bull rush and trip attempts when using their middle limbs as legs. A koloss cannot use its additional limbs for more than one purpose in the same round (such as using its secondary arms as legs to climb faster and gain a bonus to CMD and then using the limbs as arms as a swift action).
* Languages (0): Koloss speak Common and Kolossan, and may know additional languages if they have a high Intelligence modifier. These languages are Abyssal, Alko, Celestial, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, and Sylvan.
* Glide (3): Koloss can fly horizontally at up to 5 feet per foot of descent. Their normal fly speed is 25 feet with average maneuverability, and they must descend the full 5 feet each turn that they move in this way. If they are conscious, koloss may make a DC 10 Fly check to descend without injury anytime they would fall. A koloss can control its rate of descent with a DC 20 Fly check, descending as little as 1 foot per round.
* Low-Light Vision (1): Koloss can see twice as far as a human in conditions of low light.
* Bite (1): Koloss have a bite attack that deals 1d3 points of damage.
* Soothsayer (1): Koloss may attempt to gain a +2 bonus on a Knowledge (planes or religion) check by making a DC 10 check in that same Knowledge skill as a free action. If successful, the koloss had heard of something in the past that reminds them of a subject or creature. A successful koloss may get a DC of higher than 10 in the skill check even if not trained in that Knowledge skill.

Racial Points: 10

## Random Koloss Starting Ages

(11 - 14 years) | +1d6 years
(11 - 16 years) | +2d6 years

1 This category includes barbarians, oracles, rogues, and sorcerers.

2 This category includes bards, cavaliers, fighters, gunslingers, paladins, rangers, summoners, and witches.

3 This category includes alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards.

## Random Koloss Height and Weight

(5’0” - 6’10”)  | 140 lbs. | 2d12 x 7 lbs.
(4’8” - 7’0”) | 140 lbs. | 2d12 + (1d6-4) x 7 lbs.

## Section 15 OGL Copyright Declaration:

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