The Corrupted

The Corrupted

As the Great Invasion dragged on, Tiamat's god-generals were not content with simply summoning reinforcements from beyond the portals. They discovered ways to bolster their ranks through the corruption of the native races of Krystallos. Indeed, the god-generals seemed to take great delight in subjecting captives to foul tortures and dark experiments, twisting them into something new, evil and loyal to their cause. When Tiamat's slave-armies retreated, many of the Corrupted were left behind. It seems the god-generals designed the Corrupted not only to be monstrous but to be fertile as well. Since the end of the Great Invasion, most Corrupted populations have grown from small groups into large communities spread across, and under, Krystallos.

• Grimlocks: The god-generals were meticulous in their experiments with captured darfellan. First, they were blinded. Then cancers were introduced to warp the body. Finally, alchemy was used to enhance the natural echo-location abilities of the darfellan. The end result were grimlocks. Strong and unintelligent but cruel and savage, the grimlocks made perfect shock troops. Today, grimlock tribes fill the Depths and are often found in open warfare with monsters and urderfhan.
• Goblins: The most numerous of the Corrupted are goblins, the twisted descendants of halflings. Goblins are sadistic, insane little monsters. During the Great Invasion they served as throat-cutters who wandered the battlefields, inflicting torture and death on the injured. Now, they organize in tribes of anywhere from ten to a few hundred goblins and claim whatever Totems-forsaken swamp or dark forest or cavern they can as territory. Goblins are scavengers and dig through junkyards and trashheaps for gear they can repurpose and reuse. They hate the written word and believe that if their name is written down, a piece of their soul is stolen away. Fortunately, goblins spend more time fighting each other than raiding settlements. Otherwise, they might be a true danger to Krystallos.
• Harpies: Tiamat's god-generals took some of the dwarven people's most defining traits and created a mockery of the stout folk in the harpies. Where dwarves love the earth, harpies soar through the sky. Where dwarves are fastidious in their grooming, harpies are dirty, nasty creatures. Where dwarves value the order that comes from a caste system, harpies delight in chaos and frequently battle for dominance. Harpies are a foul mixture of bird and dwarf created to battle the winged calvaries of the Amethystian Empire. They now roost in mountains and rocky hills, feeding on the sick and the weak no matter their species. Harpies are foul of mouth as well as of body and can't go more than three words without swearing.
• Lizardfolk: Noble and courteous kobolds became the xenophobic and cunning lizardfolk in the hands of Tiamat's god-generals. The lizardfolk became slave masters for Tiamat during the last years of the war. Left to their own devices, they form tribes that are mockeries of kobold society. Lizardfolk are larger and stronger than their kobold ancestors and prefer to live in swamps. Lizardfolk are especially fond of capturing children and using them as slaves in their foul villages.
• Mindflayers: Captured illithid did not need much twisting to become monsters. Starvation and torture forced many illithid to give into their dark nature and devour the brains of any hapless victim pushed before them. Fortunately, not many illithid were captured during the Great Invasion and so only a few of these monsters exist in Krystallos, granted a horrible immortality so long as they continue to devour the minds of others.
• Mites: Someone needed to clean the latrines and dishes and laundry of the slave-armies and that someone turned out to be the mites. Mites were once gnomes but their spirits and forms have been broken into small, pathetic, shriveled little things. One shouldn't feel sorry for them, however. Mites are nasty, cunning, cruel beings that will take any opportunity to gain whatever power they can over others. Mites in modern Krystallos live mostly in the Depths.
• Trolls: Take an elf and infect it with parasitic, regenerating vegetation and you have a troll. These giants are drawn to destruction, seeking to kill and devour the nutrients of any animal they come across. One of Vengers favorite tactics for a siege was teleporting a troll inside a keep or city, then waiting for them to destroy the defenders from within. Trolls are incredibly difficult to kill because they heal wounds as quickly as they receive them. Fortunately, trolls do not form communities. Instead, they tend to live in isolation, coming together only occasionally to exchange pollen and breed.
• Urdefhan: The god-generals injected captured humans with a dark blood said to come from Tiamat herself. This warped them into urdefhan, insane warriors who live only to see their enemies destroyed. In the absence of Tiamat's directives, anyone who is not a urdefhan is an enemy. Urdefhan worth is measured by kills. The more death one causes, the more status one has in their society. As such, they made excellent shock troops for the slave-armies. Even in death, a urdefhan is dangerous. If killed, they explode with negative energy that eats away at the souls of those around them. Today, urdefhan mostly can be found living in tribes in the Depths. From there, they stage raids on the surface world.
• Others: While the above list mentions the most numerous or notable of the Corrupted, the god-generals of Tiamat captured many prisoners during the Great Invasion. There are a number of variations of Corrupted out there, ready to torture or kill the people of Krystallos.