Pygmies

The Pygmies are a one of the Wound's great mysteries. While they appear to be the undying remains of some tiny race of creatures no one, not even the pygmies themselves remember what they once were. Scholars have posited halfling, goblin, gnome or any number of other diminutive race but not enough remains to link their ruinous hives nor their tattered bodies to any lost race. Whatever they were, they are now intelligent undead who pour in great numbers from their ruinous cities and come to the Wound to trade, to war, and to scare wherever and whenever they please.

Self-Name: Pygmy (singular), Pygmies (plural), Pygmy (attributive)
Stereotypes: Swarming, Mindless, Overwhelming, Inscrutable, Terrifying.

Swarming the Waste


Pygmies are tiny, almost ape-like creatures standing barely three feet tall. They are without exception in an advances state of decomposition, with rotting flesh hanging from their lean bodies, and patches of bone exposed where the meat has sloughed away. Lichen hangs from their shoulders and skulls occasionally amongst scraps of beached hair, their eyes are lidless pinpricks of malevolent intelligence and their mouths are rows of sharp feral teeth. In their semi-skeletal hands they clutch tiny spears, blowguns and knives and on their backs are the ragged remnants of rich robes or tunics.

Seldom alone, the pygmies tend to 'swarm' from place to place. Their small stature makes them inherently vulnerable and they make up for this with speed, dogged tenacity, vicious tempers and sheer numbers. It is not uncommon to see a pygmy swarm twenty strong fell a much larger adversary with their tiny spears bu literally climbing over it and burying their hapless foe under a seething mass of profanities, spears and teeth. Swift, bloody minded and utterly terrifying the pygmy people aren't likely to turn out many diplomats but anyone sharing territory with them knows very well not the underestimate their savagery.

Clattering Claws and Tiny Teeth


Generally thought of as savages, flesh eaters and monsters, many believe that pygmies are simply the remnants of a race that savoured the taste of the flesh of their own people; cursed by the gods of old to forever roam the world as horrid monsters who could not hide their vicious tendencies. This is demonstrably untrue even with so little known about the pygmies' origins. Do they eat the flesh of their foes? Of course! It'd be a waste not to… even though they don't strictly need to eat anymore. But look, that's not the point. Do they have bubbling pots into which they sink unwary explorers at the heart of their camps? Sure. Who doesn't enjoy a nice communal boil up? Will they chow down on any corpse they find no matter how ancient and dessicated or soft and semi-liquid. Yes, they're an enterprising people. But eat their own? Never. The pygmies have far too many alternative options for that.

People fear pygmies, and they're hungry little blighters for being dead, but let's not get carried away calling them cannibals.

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Cities of the Dead


Though many might imagine the pygmies emerging from dark sepulchres or clawing their way out of the sands of the most ruinous parts of the world, in truth they are not like the other undead. When they are not terrorizing the countryside in their terrible swarms they live lives much like the other races of the Wound. They dwell in towns that they have often built themselves for creatures of their stature, and not all of their kind are warriors. They have leaders, craftsmen who make not just their blowpipes and knives but also their pots and tools. They have great need of surgeons to repair their rotting bodies and they eat (though many say they have no need to) a meal every day that demands hunting and preparation.

A visitor to a pygmy settlement would likely be surprised to find it much like the homes of any other race, though in undying parody. The only thing that these creatures do not do is raise young. Their lives show little change as the years go by. Such is the way of the immortality the follows mortality's end.

Mysterious Origins


Histories do recount the existence of a number of diminutive races in and around the souther Wound region before the Invasion. Halflings lived their bucolic lives in picturesque villages somewhere around northern Alohand. Gnomes may have been common to the coastal lands north of the Dorondo. The centre of the Wound undoubted played host to goblins (the barghest still bear proof of this) and rumour of more elusive creatures such as kobolds, fairies or xvart all fit with the scale of the pygmies, but all raise questions of culture, form, or number.

It is possible that no one will ever truly divine the pygmies' origins though the pygmies themselves perfectly happy with their present state, looking not to the past and their origins but the the future as they are slowly accepted as the Wound's youngest civilized racer.

Pygmy Names


convention

Given Names:
Clan Names:

Pygmy Traits


Splinter Race Feats: none
Type: Small biped undead with a Reach of 1. Your maximum wounds equal your Constitution score × 2/3 (rounded up).

  • Attributes: +3 Dexterity
  • Base Speed: 30 ft.
  • Agile Defence: Your base Defence increases by 1.
  • Enlightened Intimidate: Your maximum Intimidate rank increases to your Career Level + 5. Only the highest bonus from any single enlightened ability may apply to each skill.
  • Restricted Actions: Calm, Persuade, and Influence checks you make are considered untrained (see page 63 of the Fantasy Craft Second Printing core rulebook).
  • Tantrum Prone: You suffer a –2 penalty with all Will saves and become Enraged in addition to any other critical miss effect for any activated error.
  • War of Attrition: You may Tire up to 3 opponents at once. You roll only once for the action, while each opponent rolls to resist separately.
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