Rarely in one place for long, the eclectic and nomadic shroom orcs wander across the world, living between places and societies, and leaving behind a subtle trace of their culture almost invisible to those who don’t know how to look for it. Aided by their veneration of entheogenic substances — particularly psychoactive mushrooms — they make their trade in the exchange and development of ideas and philosophies through ritualised communal dialogues called “seatings”. Shroom orcs are also known as shroomish orcs, or as either redcaps or browncaps.
Monstrous Lore: Fractal Giants
Atop a winding mountain ridge, along the meandering edge of the coast or beside a twisting river deep in the rainforest, societies of fractal giants study the phenomenon from which they take their name: the fractal, a repeating geometric pattern that these giants are capable of visually and cognitively perceiving in myriad places in nature. By using their innate ability to change in size from tiny to gargantuan, fractal giants constantly rediscover this pattern manifesting everywhere, capable as they are of narrowly focusing in on the minute repeating-but-unique geometry of flakes of frost or gain a broad awareness through contemplative meditation on the tempestuous chaos of weather systems. The wisdom and insight they gain from harnessing their investment or detachment often proves invaluable to outsiders, and so fractal giants are often sought out for their wide-ranging perspective — or they may seek to broaden it further through adventuring.
Monstrous Lore: Wallflower Firbolgs
In the quiet, abandoned places in the city, where the weeds grow tall and the vines hang low, it’s possible to detect traces of the hidden societies of wallflower firbolgs. Elusive and secretive, these firbolgs spend their days cultivating the growth of nature in between the cracks of urban life, their reclamations of space standing against the totalising influence of civilisation and the state. Wallflower Firbolgs are also referred to as urban firbolgs, or city firbolgs.
Monstrous Lore: Neapolitan Gnolls
Sometimes reviled, but often envied, neapolitan gnolls are well known for their enticingly decadent lifestyles and outré appearances, and have carved a niche out for themselves in villages, towns and cities as unorthodox, foppish bohemians. These gnolls struggle with their supernatural hunger as much as any other, but have adapted a means of sublimating it into their eccentric, dandyish behaviour and satiating it with their hedonistic festivals. Neapolitan gnolls are also referred to as metropolitan gnolls, urbane gnolls, and burgher gnolls. Continue reading “Monstrous Lore: Neapolitan Gnolls”