Beastmen
Beastmen are not natural creatures. They are universally spawned from Chaos Pits, dark alchemical vats of sorcerous origin, which draw upon raw magical essence to create semi-living monstrosities. Beastmen Pits are the oldest, reaching back into the distant past, when a cabal of evil druids crafted them for vile allies.
Since the fall of the evil druids who birthed them, the beastmen have spread across the world, carrying their pits with them.
APPEARANCE
Your average beastman is a saturnine figure between five and seven feet tall, though the largest can more than double that height, with the head of any mammal which possesses horns. The most common are goats, sheep, oxen, and antelope. Those with the heads of elk, moose or deer are marked as blessed by the dark gods, and are usually much larger and stronger than their peers. A few beastmen are born with thin bodies and heads covered with horns; these are the wood shamans.
Some beastmen, called beastlings, appear more like satyrs, with small horns and roughly humanoid faces. They can be distinguished from such fey creatures by their size and rank conditions.
Beastmen are extremely susceptible to mutation and are therefore likely to be partially disfigured by the gifts of their dark masters. Crablike or tentacular limbs, eyes and mouths in strange places, and other mutations are common in old herds.
ORIGINS
All beastmen are spawned from a Chaos Pit tainted with demon blood; barring access to demon blood, beastmen will spill gallons of their own. The process of creating a Pit is complex and can only be performed on Dimmurdags Night, when Engausse is low and red in the sky. Unlike goblins or gnolls, however, beastmen do not require a shaman or warlock to perform the process; simply having enough beastmen nearby the site will produce unconscious psionic resonances that will cause the Pit to form.
Beastmen Chaos Pits are lined with horns and teeth, boiling and rolling on endlessly-cycling muscle, their cores a vat of bubbling proto-flesh. A single Chaos Pit can produce three beastmen every 24 hours, and if they are fed living beastmen or other humanoids (humans, ogres, etc.), they can produce stronger variants.
When a beastman Chaos Pit has stood for a long time, it will begin to grow. Its horns and fangs will spiral upwards like osseous branches, winding around the Pit while the fleshy foundation swells underground. The conclusion of this process is called a Black Goat - a leafless tree with hideous growths and pustules on its branches, with three or more maws near the base which churn out beastmen at a rapid rate. The oldest Black Goats bear huge, knotted fruits on their branches, which can be planted to instantly produce additional Chaos Pits regardless of the moons. It is said that the darkest forests have Black Goats whose root networks stretch deep underground and far across the land.
ECOLOGY
Beastmen dwell in dark and ancient forests, particularly those which stand near sources of dark magic. They do not fill an ecological niche outside of these environments, and anyway what niche they do fill exists only to fulfill the forest's goal of parasitizing larger and larger swathes of land.
When beastmen move into a forest, the deepest trees become swollen and twisted, with branches growing at odd angles and fruits which are venomous in color and awful to taste. Animals mutate from exposure to intense chaotic magic, and even the weather changes, fog and overcast skies becoming more common. In time, an old and powerful herd can even exert control over the trees themselves, causing long roots to rip through nearby buildings and branches to suppress travelers.
SOCIETY
As an artifical species, beastmen have developed an unnatural culture spawned from druidic rituals and the influence of dark powers. A beastman herd may spend weeks standing completely still; it may lash out on itself, biting and goring for dominance; or it may organize and perform raids on nearby settlements. Their behavior is governed by the thrummings of their birthing Pits, themselves governed by demon lords and evil gods.
The leaders of a beastman herd are the largest and strongest, which usually also means the oldest. Beastmen don't tend to live long, but the strongest can live for centuries, spotted again and again by hunters and defenders. They are accompanied by wood shamans, whose number of horns determines their magical power. The wood shamans listen to the words of their gods and advise their leaders on their whims.
Hierarchy in a herd is driven by size and horns. Those with the longest and most impressive horns tend to lead parts of the herd. Beastlings, with small horns are used as food and fodder, though they also serve an important role - they are the least likely to be noticed as beastmen when scouting out settlements. Those beastmen with more than two horns tend to be magically-inclined, and they are revered as a step under the wood shamans.
Like goblins and gnolls, beastmen will sometimes take slaves, but unlike their cousins beastmen have little use for them, and anyway have trouble communicating with creatures whose minds are rooted in the mundane. Captives are usually sacrificed in Chaos Pits to produce stronger beastmen.
RELIGION
The primary object of worship for beastmen is the Great Mother, said to be a Black Goat so ancient and vast that its roots penetrate the veins of the earth. It is possible that this Mother is responsible for the spontaneous eruptions of beastmen in every land. The largest herd on every continent safeguards a tall and terrible Black Goat that serves as a nexus of chaos energies, and hundreds of sacrifices each year are hung on their branches in obeisance to the Great Mother.
Besides their primogenitor, beastmen worship three demon lords: the Bloody Man, the Horned King, and the Prince of Demons. The Horned King blesses them with minotaurs and powerful blood-rages; the Bloody Man grants undeath to the greatest wood shamans; and the Prince of Demons gifts them with strange and horrible mutations. Their cults tend to be indistinguishable from one another among small tribes, but each has its own fane or temple among the largest.
The forests within which beastmen live are also objects of worship. Beastmen plant huge stones along ley line intersections in these forests, cover them with blood, and offer prayers in swaying chants. This accelerates the mutation of the forest but is reciprocated by the dark spirits within, in the form of animal allies and even Dark Treants.
Types of Beastmen
Beastman
| Name | Move | HD | Armor | # of Attacks | Damage | Morale | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beastling | 120' | 1 | As leather | 1+1 | 1d4 or by weapon | 60% | |
| Beastman | 120' | 3 | As leather | 2+1 | 1d6/1d4 or by weapon | 70% | |
| Wood Shaman | 120' | 5 | As chain | 2+1 | 1d8+1/1d4 or by weapon | 90% | Spells as 5th level wiz/clr |
| Beastlord | 90' | 6 | As chain & shield | 3+1 | 2d4+1/1d8+1/1d4+1 or by weapon+1 | 90% |
The average beastman. It attacks with hooves, teeth, horns, and nails. It may also carry a weapon. Wood shamans can cast spells. Beastlords are leaders in the herd.