Horg
| Horg | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Size: | Medium |
| Alignment: | Neutral evil |
| Type: | Aberration |
| First appearance: | SJR6 Greyspace |
A Horg is a winged humanoid-like creature native to the Grinder in Greyspace.[1][2] They are strange sentient lifeforms perfectly adapted for life in the asteroid belt.[2] These bizarre creatures have been known to attack spelljamming vessels voyaging through the Grinder, and even to overwhelm small asteroid outposts.[1]
Description
Typical physical appearance
From a distance, horg resemble winged humanoids standing about 7-feet tall. Instead of arms they have long, membranous wings, with a maximum span of about 12-feet; each is tipped with a single, scimitar-like claw more than a foot long and scalpel-sharp. Their torsos are longer than that of a human, while their muscular legs, tipped with three-taloned feet, are shorter.
On closer inspection, the horg have obviously evolved along lines very different from most humanoids. They have seven pus-like yellow-white eyes with no discernible pupils arranged in a ring around their heads. Because of the arrangement of their eyes, it is virtually impossible to sneak up on a horg. Although the rest of its body is bilaterally symmetrical, a horg's bulbous head is asymmetrical, with no obvious analogues for ears or nostrils. A horg has a circular, tooth-filled mouth that opens like the iris of a camera, positioned on the top of their head, and its' spine is flexible enough that it can lash forward and bite a creature standing directly in front or behind it.
Horgs have no hair or scales; just dry, flexible skin which is an unrelieved black color, with a dry, dusty texture. Vital areas of their bodies, including their chests, backs and groins, are protected by built-up layers of skin, almost like rock-hard calluses. They have no evident or overt genitalia.
Horgs walk clumsily on their hind legs, though they are much more comfortable in the air, or flying through the vacuum of wildspace. When they fly, they beat their wings much like a bat - even in space, where there is no air for their wings to act upon, and are highly maneuverable. The positioning of their mouth indicates that they evolved to feed on the wing, when their mouth will be pointing forward. Presumably there is some organ in the horg body that allows them to "fly" in a vacuum.
Horgs have no spoken language, and in fact, don't seem to have a sound-producing organ at all. The only sound they ever make is the dry rustling of their wing membranes when they fly.[2]
Behavior
The horg are highly aggressive, and attack without provocation or warning. No spacefaring race has escaped the predation of the horg, and while most races hate and fear them, the neogi hate them the most.[2]
Combat
The horg are born warriors. Even a newborn horg can tear apart all but the best human fighters. They attack by biting and by clawing with the long, curved talons on their wingtips. Although the claws on their feet look threatening, they never seem to use them in combat. They also secrete a highly corrosive, poisonous fluid from their teeth and from pores at the tips of their wing talons. Any creature wounded by either their teeth or their claws suffers the toxic effects of this poisonous liquid.
What makes the creatures even more lethal is their ability to phase in and out of the Material plane like phase spiders. They can phase in, attack, and phase out, all within a single moment, and are sometimes quick enough that they can attack and phase out before their opponents can even strike back. Horgs also frequently phase in behind their opponents, attacking them by surprise. On the Ethereal Plane, horgs can be fought as per normal, and though they can flee to the Ethereal when outmatched, they rarely do so.
Horgs seem to have an innate understanding of small-unit tactics. Even though they never seem to communicate with one another, they always coordinate their actions perfectly. They never seem to attack a group too powerful for them to overcome. If they misjudge the situation, however, and suffer some unpredictable setback or their foes receive reinforcements, they rarely retreat from combat. It is almost as if conceding a battle is unacceptable in their eyes - even more so than death.
When a horg is killed, its body immediately phases out and vanishes from the Material Plane. Normally, when a horg phases it can be pursued by anyone with the ability to reach the Ethereal Plane. However, when a horg dies, its body doesn't phase into the Ethereal at all - instead it disappears into some indeterminate plane (leading many sages to speculate that the creatures are extra-palanar in origin).
No horgs have ever been captured. Normal attempts at confinement do not work because the creatures can phase out and escape to the Ethereal Plane. If a horg is somehow successfully confined, however, it invariably commits suicide by apparently willing itself to die — resulting in its body phasing out and vanishing. Horgs are totally resistant to mind-altering magics of all kinds. They are highly resistant to cold- and electricity-based attacks, and, despite the suspicion that they are of extra-planar origin, are completely unaffected by magic aimed at harming or banishing such creatures.[2]
Society
Effectively nothing is known about horg society. They have never been observed except when they choose to attack a ship or asteroid settlement, and nobody knows where they live between such attacks. Perhaps they dwell on the Ethereal Plane or within one of the asteroids of the Grinder, but these are just guesses. Horgs do not appear to be sexually dimorphic, raising several questions: perhaps they have no sexual differentiation; or perhaps the differences between genders, whether their are two or more, is simply not obvious to the casual observer; or perhaps only one gender participates in their attacks. No immature horg has ever been spotted.
No horg has ever been seen to use a tool or a weapon. This could be by choice, or because the creatures, although evidently intelligent, have no inclination to create or use tools.[2]
Signature Spelljammers
None known. Horg have the innate ability to fly through the void of wildspace. When they attack spelljamming vessels, they usually kill all the crew and abandon the ship, leaving it to drift. However, there has been at least one incident where the horg captured a hammership, and after compelling the helmsman to power the vessel, they used it to destroy an elven man-o-war and attacked an isolated elven outpost in the Grinder.[3]
External links
Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.
- Horg article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
- This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Horg on the Spelljammer Wiki
Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
| Topic | Type | Description | Product | Page/Card/Image
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horg | Monster | SJR6 Greyspace | 30, 82, 83, 93-94, Back Cover |