Sahuagin

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Template:Infobox Greyhawk creature The sahuagin, also called sea devils and devil men of the deep, are a fish-like monstrous humanoid species.

There are said to be two ways of pronouncing sahuagin[1]: "sah-hoo-ah-gin" and "sah-ha-gwin." The "G" is never pronounced as a "J."

Ecology

Sahuagin are marine predators superbly adapted to their niche. They venture ashore on moonless nights to plunder coastal towns.

Sahuagin are egg-laying creatures, with multiple hatchlings the rule. They fertilize internally and hatch after three months. Hatchlings are around ten inches long at birth and eat voraciously. The sea devils deal very harshly with offspring who are not robust or aggressive enough -- they are eliminated by compulsory fighting to the death between young sahuagin. Sahuagin seem fixated on all aspects of consumption, and are eager to weed out anything they see as weak or unworthy to compete for resources. Savage fighters, sahuagin ask for and give no quarter. When swimming, a sahuagin is able to tear with its sharp feet, using them as weapons. About half of any group of sahuagin are also armed with nets, and many also wield spears or tridents.

Sahuagin are allies of sharks, and there are always sharks living beside the sea devils in their lairs. They are related to an eel-like humanoid race called the anguillians or anguiliians, a less intelligent, less humanoid species that can live in deeper depths than sahuagin can. Anguillians speak Sahuagin, however, and are said to have been created at the same time, as part of the same unknown experiment.

Sahuagin are the natural enemies of aquatic elves. The two cannot coexist peacefully: wars between them are prolonged, bloody affairs that sometimes interfere with shipping and maritime trade. Precisely why the two races hate each other so much is unknown, but what is known that the presence of an aquatic elf community within several miles of a sahuagin community occasionally causes some sahuagin to be born as malenti; mutants who resemble aquatic elves. The sahuagin antipathy toward tritons is only slightly less extreme.

The sea devils also hate the kuo-toa, another fish like race, though the two races have been known to ally. They are in open war with the ixitxachitl, and have contributed indirectly to preventing the ascendency of this manta ray-like race over the ocean depths. The antipathy between the ixitxachitl patron, Demogorgon, and the sahuagin god Sekolah mirrors the rivalry of their respective peoples.

Sahuagin are fond of the flesh of krakens and giant squids, though krakens and giant squids are also fond of the flesh of sahuagin. Sahuagin consider the crabman to be a tasty delicacy.

Sea devils can be infected by lycanthropy, but only by those sorts that transform them into sea-dwelling creatures: that is to say, weresharks and the strange creatures known as seawolves.

Environment

Sahuagin dwell in warm bodies of salt water at depths of 100 to 1,500 feet. They abhor fresh water, and think of the extreme ocean depths as an otherworldly place in which nothing living can exist. Their lairs are villages and towns constructed of stone; each group ranges up to 50 miles from home on their hunting and raiding excursions. Sahuagin cities often contain bowl-shaped stone ampitheatures.

The devil men of the deep are known to inhabit the Azure Sea. Sahuagin are also among the many races found in Turucambi in the Oljatt Sea and, during the period of warm currents, they inhabit the Sinking Isle. Krakens and sahuagin both dwell in and around the Sinking Isle, but not at the same time.

In the waters off the shore of the ruins of Cantona on the Wild Coast is Narhidveh, a village of malenti who live a comparatively peaceful existence, worshiping Xerbo rather than the sahuagin god Sekolah. The name Narhidveh is Sahuagin for "Home of the Cursed."

Typical physical characteristics

Sahuagin are usually green skinned, darker on the back and lighter on the belly. Many have dark stripes, bands, or spots, but these tend to fade with age. An adult male Sahuagin stands roughly 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and weighs about 200 pounds (91 kg). Sahuagin are highly fish-like, with webbed feet and hands, gills, and a finned tail. There is additional webbing down the back, at the elbows and, notably, also where human ears would be. One in 216 specimens are a mutation with 4 usable arms instead of 2. These 4-armed mutations are usually black fading to gray in color; it is rumored that sahuagin princes and kings are always of the 4-armed variety.

Sahuagin find bright light and fresh water painful, but their senses are otherwise remarkably sharp and keen. They can walk on land for up to four hours. They continue to grow all their lives unless this growth is arrested, as lycanthropy can do.

The appearance of the Sahuagin has changed somewhat since its inception in 1975. Originally the Sahuagin frame was tailless, with a skeletal structure similar to that of a human or an elf. This early interpretation of the Sahuagin is apparent in sources like the first edition "Monster Manual" (page 84), various images throughout the AD&D Module U3: "The Final Enemy", "Monster Cards" illustrated by Erol Otus and in the sculptures of early lead miniatures from several companies. With the advent of AD&D second edition and such products as "The Sea Devils", the Sahuagin changed its appearance greatly. Newer artwork now depict the sea devils with long finned tails and a skeletal structure much more fish-like (long slender webbed fingers and toes, and a large dorsal fin) and much less humanoid.

Alignment

Sahuagin are usually lawful evil.

Society

Sahuagin are highly organized, civilized creatures, considering themselves to be in fact the only civilized creatures on Oerth. Their societies are ruled by kings who hold court over cities beneath the waves. The king's domain is divided into nine provinces, each ruled by a prince, who in turn rules over lesser nobles of varying ranks. Each noble controls smaller groups of commoners dwelling in his fief. A sahuagin kingdom covers an entire seacoast, with villages and towns at least 100 miles apart.

A sahuagin city, where the king dwells, typically contains at least 5,000 commoners, as well as at least 1,000 higher-ranking sea devils, including guards, priestesses, malenti, weresharks, nobles, concubines, and queens.

Except for divine magic granted by their god Sekolah, sahuagin distrust spellcasters, and arcane spellcasters are never found among them. Sahuagins favor the ranger class.

Malenti are normally killed at birth, though at least one from each clutch is normally allowed to survive to act as a spy among the hated aquatic elves. Being sahuagin internally, they cannot mate with true aquatic elves, though they can theoretically mate with sahuagin (not that any "normal" sahuagin would consider such a thing!). The result is always another malenti. Those malenti allowed to survive are disliked by those sahuagin with more standard morphologies, but their unusual ability to pass among their racial enemies means they live a somewhat privileged life. They receive the protection and support of the local chieftain or noble. Malenti born with four arms are never allowed to live.

Sahuagin weresharks (never those of other races) act as lieutenants and bodyguards to the nobles. If a king is infected with this sort of lycanthropy, he is revered as the very image of the sahuagin god. Despite this, sahuagin do not infect themselves with lycanthropy on purpose; injured sahuagin are often killed by their healthier fellows, after all. Sahuagin hate seawolves, who prey on them as readily as they prey on anyone else.

Sahuagin are cruel and brutal, with the strongest bullying the weaker ones. They kill those of their number who are injured, ill, or weak, feeding them to the sharks or eating them themselves. Duels, used to settle disputes and determine social rank, are always fought without weapons, using only teeth and claw.

Religion

Sahuagin worship Sekolah, the lawful evil god of sharks, as their patron deity and the father of their race. Because of this, sharks are seen as holy creatures to them, and dolphins are hated for their friendship with aquatic elves. The sahuagin make regular, living sacrifices to Sekolah by feeding the sacrificed being to the sharks that follow every sahuagin priest. In the first edition of the Monster Manual mention of being "devil worshipers" is likewise made on page 84. This suggests there may be fiendish cults that venerate other diabolical gods not yet known, or perhaps Sekolah, called a "devil-shark" in both the 2nd edition Monstrous Manual and the 3rd edition Monster Manual, is as devilish as the sahuagin could ask for. Stormwrack calls him a devil outright.

Sahuagin clerics are all female. They are initiated in painful rites that leave them sterile by age 20, giving them a yellowish tone on their tails that by age 50 has spread throughout their body. They act as teachers and holders of religious lore, controlling the religious life of the sahuagin. Like other sahuagin, they determine rank with physical combat.

Language

Sahuagin speak their own language, Sahuagin, which consists of thumps, ticks, and whistles produced inside their piscine skulls. Because so many of the sounds are pitched too high for humanoids to hear, it is impossible for land-dwellers to comprehend Sahuagin without magical aid.

Sahuagin possess an ability known as deepsong that allows them to communicate underwater over extremely long distances. Requiring the collaboration of at least one sahuagin noble and priestess as well as a chorus of lesser citizens, the deepsong can reach for many miles. It leaves the participants exhausted, however, requiring them to rest afterwards for the remainder of the day.

With higher intelligence scores, sahuagin can also speak two bonus languages, usually Common and Aquan.

History

There has been much speculation about the origins of sahuagin. Some have suggested that they're the descendents of drow who have adapted to the sea. More credibly, some have speculated they might be descendants of the lost civilization of the Sinking Isle near the Sea Barons. Some sages, such as Ronassic of Sigil, have noted that in their long lives, affinity to songs, and other characteristics, they share more in common with elves than with humans, and have speculated on a common ancestor between elves and whatever land-bound race spawned the devil men of the deep. The sahuagin themselves have no myths of a time when they did not live underwater.

The malenti were created by an ancient cabal of surface-dwelling wizards and priests, probably elven, who tried to create a hybrid of sea elves and sahuagin. These elves were isolationists, and seem to have hoped to escape to the sea rather than participate in the wars with the ancestors of the drow.

In the 570s CY, the sahuagin threatened the Keoish coastal town of Saltmarsh. They laid siege to a lair of lizardfolk and drove them out of their home. The sahuagin converted this lair into a base of operations from which to lauch an attack on Saltmarsh. The buildup of sahuagin forces caused an alliance to be formed between the citizens of Saltmarsh, an aquatic elf tribe (the Manan), a tribe of mermen, a tribe of locathah, and the original lizardfolk who were driven from their home.

Creative origins

Sahuagin were created by Steve Marsh, a gamer who invented many of the game's early aquatic monsters (Gygax 1977, p. 4.) before becoming an employee of TSR. Marsh claims that an episode of the Justice League cartoon was the original inspiration for the creatures. [2] The first published version of the sahuagin appeaared in the 1975 Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Blackmoor by Dave Arneson.

It is claimed that the Aztecs were part of the inspiration for these creatures.[3]

Bibliography

  • Baker, Richard, and Joseph D. Carriker Jr, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Stormwrack. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005.
  • Marsh, Steve 2005. Sahuagin!, retrieved June 11, 2006.
  • Schend, Steven E. Sea of Fallen Stars (TSR, 1999).
  • Williams, Skip. "Sage Advice." Dragon #248. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
  • -----. The Sea Devils. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1997.
  • -----. "Sneaky Sea Devils." Dragon #239. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1997.
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