Ecology of the Sahuagin

by Fortuan

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Sahuagin Ecology

A ll who enter the domain of Sahuagin are subject to their laws, which include no swimming, air-breathing, eating, drinking, fishing, or hunting. All violators become the property of the ¥€π÷ף׶¶® empire and eschew all individual rights. - Official Disclaimer

Introduction

Sahuagins are not a new threat to any seaside location, however with expansion and the founding of a new city specifically for trade, a risk assessment includes the Sahuagin. A wise decision. My task is not to assess the risk of attack, but to provide all possible information on the Sahuagin as part of that task.

Sahuagin Physiology

Origins of Sahuagin

The "fishmen," as many humans call them, are an ancient people who have probably existed as long as the dragons. Sahuagin are indeed descendants of fish, but much in the same way humanoids are from apes, a common ancient ancestor. Records etched in under-sea ruins date back to early events regarded as ancient in the oldest elvish records. Their civilizations have been thriving hidden from land walkers for much longer than we can imagine.

Physical Aesthetics of the Sahuagin

As they are often called "fishmen" Sahuagin are extremely fish-like in appearance. A bipedal and large-eyed humanoid with webbed hands and feet. Unlike Kuo-tao they are more upright with much more humanoid shaped heads. Each Sahuagin has a dorsal fin that starts somewhere on their head and then dissipates at the neck to re-emerge on their back. Each dorsal fin is unique in size, structure, color, and positioning as a mark of individualism. Females will tend to have fins on top of their heads and on the sides parallel to each other, while males tend to have perpendicular facial fins.

Coloration is dependant on the sub-species (or race) of the Sahuagin. The most commonly known Sahuagin, the Tide Callers, will be cyan to green in coloration with darker green scales as accent colors. More exotic varieties can have more vibrant colors, especially in tropical regions. Most often, Sahuagins are colored closely to the typical sea foliage of their homes for better camouflage as predators from prey.

Not so Fast Swimmers for Fish-Folk

Being a sea creature, they are not the fastest or even moderately fast swimmers. Like most marine creatures, they have webbed feet and hands to aid in swimming, but their posture isn't built for speed. They are formed instead for endurance, much in the way a human or dwarf is for running. They will eventually hunt down fleeing prey and spear them for a meal. However, as with many societies, they have found advancements to overcome their lack of speed. The most available boost in speed is the riding of other sea creatures, whether it be Sharks, Giant Seahorses, Whales, Serpents, and other animals.

Aside from riding other creatures, Sahuagins also have a few methods of transportation. They have created their own "air Jet" technology where shells of pressurized air are strapped to their backs for bursts of speed that can quadruple their swim speed for hundreds of yards. They also have devised vehicles running on the technology with a more controlled release for quicker yet more sustained movement. These vehicles are crafted of sea-shells, and other large shelled creature remains. However, creating and storing such large amounts of pressurized air is difficult and usually not common in smaller communities.

Excellent Distorted Sight

As it may seem odd, Sahuagins can see better than many creatures underwater. They are not only able to drastically and quickly adjust to various light levels as present in the deep waters they inhabit but also can see almost as far as an elf on a clear day on the surface. This is a rare ability, which gives them many advantages in both attack and defense during a confrontation. However, this ability does have its drawbacks. They are woefully blind outside of water but not due to blurriness or other common side effects, but they perceive more movement than what actually is present. While they can spot an eagle in the sky, it seems to continually horizontally move erratically.

Just as humanoids often wear some sight apparatus to go into the water, Sahuagins have surfacing goggles. These goggles are sealed tight with water to keep their vision behind a lense of water and able to accurately discern their surroundings in a visual sense.

Carnivores

Sahuagin are exclusively carnivorous and mostly prey upon squid, octopus, and mollusks as a diet. They will eat fish or shark if need be, but it can have digestive problems if they consume too much. Whales and even Krakens are considered a high delicacy, although they can obtain Kraken meat beyond my understanding. Unusually for any carnivore, they are entirely unable to process plant food. Most carnivores supplement some plant material mostly for digestive purposes, but even small amounts of a plant can be ejected from their digestive tract violently.

Habitat and Home

Sahuagin are usually shallow water dwellers that live in communities with various hollowed out cave homes. While natural caves are convenient, they have often crafted caves in the bedrock to serve as dwellings. Even natural ones are heavily modified to fit their purposes. The home consists of usually 3 rooms, a sleeping chamber, a social chamber, and a brood chamber in the best translations we have. While each room sounds self-explanatory, the sleeping chamber is actually where they are most of the time at home. This serves as both a bedroom and an entertainment room as they will stay here when not out or entertaining company with the various research, toys, or even writing that Sahuagin takes part in. They are very solitary creatures. Brood chambers are literally there to hatch their dozens of eggs and nothing more. The social quarters are there for meeting with other Sahuagin, but most are rarely used.

Life Cycle

Sahuagin are born of eggs in broods of about 15 siblings. They are not as helpless as a human baby or elf but socially wild and unfit from hatching. Thus any new hatchlings are almost immediately removed for schooling moments after emerging. The child will stay in the Schooling until they reach adulthood and can join their society. Schooling consists of not just social skills but combat, magic, technology, and even high academics and arts. Knowledge is power to a Sahuagin, but they don't sacrifice the body for it.

For their total lifespan, Sahuagins only live to be about 40 years old. There are accounts of individuals living on into their 60's, but most are so degraded by age they are virtually dead anyway. With these shorter lifespans, they mature much quicker than other races and reach full-adulthood by 5 years of age. With only 5 years of learning, not just about society but also combat and other studies, much of what they learn is from experience or further classes after adulthood.

Cold Blooded Fish

Sahuagin are definitely cold-blooded creatures. They can operate in many cold regions of the word as long as the ice itself doesn't freeze. Once leaving the water, though, they cannot keep the water in them from freezing and succumb to lower or higher temperatures. They are not discomforted by this phenomenon as they lack a concept of heat entirely. Thus most are unaware of the damaging effects of fire.

These aquatic humanoids also have the extraordinary ability to survive being frozen. In fact, there are no ill effects of being frozen and simply live in a suspended state until thawed. This ability isn't used all too often, but it's important to note if freezing a Sahuagin is the plan to dispatch of them, you've chosen the wrong plan.

Social Interactions and Intelligence

Intelligence

Sahuagins are a highly advanced and intelligent society. They have higher concepts such as math and art, but they are also well versed in their own ways of philosophy and research into other civilizations. Each Sahuagin is schooled on many subjects, and it's easily seen that better Schooling works on a large scale. Unlike many human cities, most every Sahuagin is thoroughly schooled and well rounded intelligently. Both academic and battle knowledge are well reflected in how dangerous even a single Sahuagin can be to an inexperienced individual. The most intelligent Sahuagin could rival that of the greatest wizards in history, although this is pure speculation since we know so little of their full capabilities.

Language and Communication

Sahuagin all speak their own language, which we have called Sahuagin for now. They are also typically versed in languages such as Kuo-tao, Merfolk, and many other aquatic life languages. They usually won't be able to communicate with surface dwellers, but they can learn the language. Their language is not purely verbal; in fact, it's more about motion and body language than verbal components as the ability to communicate verbally underwater is quite different.

Sahuagin are also usually able to communicate with dolphins, whales, and other mammals quite easily. Sharks seem to listen to them, but I suspect this is much more manipulation of the shark's electrical sense than true conversation. Sharks seem to have no quandary eating an unsuspecting Sahuagin.

Cold Blooded Order

Sahuagins are highly intelligent, but intelligence doesn't necessarily make them peaceful or on the side of Good. Sahuagins are extremely evil to the point they wish to dominate all civilization and submerge all known existence in water and thus their rule. They are also bastions of order to the end of almost minute details of life dictated by law. Their dominion over their own people is enough to be wary of a Sahuagin occupation. The whole of Sahuagin society is one empire ruled by a King and Queen with Lords governing specific areas. They stretch the realm as far as they can, safely, setting up borders and strict agreements with neighboring societies. These warnings can be found on their borders, condemning unwelcome guests as prisoners or criminals to be executed on-site.

Eventually, they attempt to expand those borders with massive scale wars or even quick attacks of smaller targets. These confrontations are not with many warnings but can almost be assured with time.

Kings, Queens, and Lords

The ruling family of Sahuagin is ancient, and from what we can tell, the only ruling family to ever exist. The utmost importance of law and order has facilitated a completely loyal kingdom with little discord for change. On the other hand, the Lords can change and have, with everything being governed by bloodlines, some Lordships have been completely eradicated in conflicts with outside civilizations or instituted with deeds to aid the royal family.

The royal family is revered as the highest order and looked up to by most individuals. It seems that jealousy is only for creatures outside of their society. Not many Sahuagin have grabbed for more power outside of their station but serve wholly and dutifully as they can.

Family and neighbors

Despite being cruel and outright evil creatures to others within the Sahuagins, they are actually kind and caring. Their family is the most important thing to a Sahuagin, and they will die willingly, regardless of capability to defend themselves, to aid the family. They are also very attached to their neighbors and other community members. Close connections are made with other Sahuagin that last their whole lifetime.

Sahuagin are not monogamous creatures despite family. Females typically own a cave in which the Males will have as many families they frequent as they can handle. Despite the birth-rate of a 50/50 split between males and females, males usually die much earlier in life due to battle. While many females participate in wars, they are often the caregivers and teachers once they have a clutch of eggs. Usually, a female will only have 3 to 4 clutches in their lifespan, but they will help other mothers in the community long after their own children have moved. Royalty and the Lords have the distinction of having a stable family of 2 parents and usually only 1 clutch. This is more of a station thing as some Sahuagin have ignored the standards and still had many clutches.

Succession of Rule

For both Royalty and Lordship, usually, the family head or center is considered the mother. When the mother dies, it is the youngest daughter in the family, even if many generations removed from the current Queen, that succeeds the crown and whoever she chooses as her life-long mate. This choice is entirely involuntary to the male. Despite such an alien concept of accepted duty to humans such as myself, I have found no records of refusal by males of this station. This is also an exciting concept showing that, as a society, they highly value the opinions of young children. This drastic change of the guard may make them far more adaptable than the slow progression we see in many familiar societies.

Mated Partners

As mentioned, a male will have more than one mate on most occasions. These bonds are always initiated by females that harbor no jealousy towards shared males. While this may be a result of more males being killed than females, it does create situations of males never having a mate. These free-roaming males don't seem to have any attachments and are usually the best warriors. The reasoning as to why it is only a supposition at this point, but I would guess that free-time is spent training rather than caregiving between conflict.

Interactions with Other Creatures

Kuo-Tao

Sahuagin and the Kuo-Tao are far from allies in their submerged environments. Where the Sahuagins despise land-dwellers, it pales in comparison to the Ugly Ones in rough translation. Both are creatures of an evil-nature; thus, the battles are unforgiving and brutal. While there are such things as neighboring communities, you can guarantee that the Sahuagin's next place of interest is either the Kuo-Tao communities or a tactical advantage against them. Wars have never actually ceased between the 2 fish people. They are always in conflict, even if on a small scale.

Surface Dwellers

Sahuagin are xenophobic as can be, and the land dwellers are a large part of that hate for other beings. Sahuagins believe themselves the rightful owners of all existence and consider weak air breathers too cowardly to submit to their rule. Many times the Sahuagin will conduct service raids on coastal towns and settlements only to eradicate the city. No valuables are ever taken, no supplies, just wholesale slaughter down to the last living mouse. Sahuagin find Humans to be the easiest prey and consider their tactics with other races more carefully. This has led to an interesting trend to stage false human communities only to be countered and ransacked by allied Elves or Dwarves.

Sharks and other Sea Life

Much of the animals living in the sea the Sahuagin are fond of and even somewhat in tune with. They are, however, not caring humanoids and show little affection even to life-long mounts. This feeling is noticed by druids as an unrequited bond, usually with the sharks, some of the most cold-hearted animals, feeling quite empty when connected to a Sahuagin. Dolphins will toy with and even chat with a Sahuagin, but often a dolphin will not ally themselves with Sahuagin willingly. Usually, if dolphin riders are present, it is by force or coercion.

Merfolk and other Sentient Aquatic Races

Sahuagins do not foster open hatred for many aquatic creatures and even Merfolk among them. They do consider themselves superior in almost all ways, though, and treat any other animals with severe disrespect and coldness. Merfolk usually just simply avoid the Sahuagin, although more feisty groups have engaged themselves with the empire. Sahuagin are more than happy to quell any such threats.

Battle Tactics

Sahuagin are experts in combat, and depending on their training, they can take many roles. From fighters to mages to even sneaky scouts, Sahuagin forces are varied with many specialized functions. Each one plays their part in a battle and with significant effect.

Overall, Sahuagins are straightforward and unified attackers. Usually forming what they call the casted net formation with attackers from above, below, and to the sides much closer and forward attackers hanging back, much like a net being thrown at a target. This 3-dimensional look at the battlefield is not uncommon for underwater fights and quite effective against those caught unaware. Usually, they lead in with tridents, small stabbing swords, and nets—all beneficial weapons in the water.

Below are the various tactics based on the type of warrior:

  • Scouts are much like the rouge or specialist types we see on the seedier side of surface communities. Relying on speed, stealth, and attacking the weak points quickly, the scouts are dangerous when left unattended.

  • Soldiers are straight forward attackers usually with spears, tridents, and nets. Valid at both corraling and facing foes face to face.

  • Mages are some of the most dangerous as they can hang back and sling deadly spells behind their comrades' safety. Unlike mages in the surface world, they are also expected to be well versed in physical self-defense. While not nearly as efficient as a warrior, they are still not to be underestimated toe to fin.

  • Archers while ranged weapons are rarer due to the nature of water, there are air propulsion bows and harpoons carried by archers. Newly trained units mostly and not very common, they can be deadly from much further than even mages at times. However, they do often lack the tools necessary for a face to face confrontation due to the heavy load of their gear.

  • Royalty, except for archery each member of the Royal family, is not only expected to be able to fill any roll in combat but to be the best at or excel. Royalty spends most of their life either in study or training with a little luxury in their life. This makes for formidable leaders in their words.

Variations of Sahuagin

Coastal Reef Dwellers

Usually greenish to blue in color, these are the most common Sahuagin in the empire. They are often favored as soldiers and almost always the only ones to go on a surface raid. Standing well over 6 feet tall, they are strong and imposing figures even on land. However, even with breathing gear, they will not last for more than a few hours outside their ocean homes.

Deep Sea Hunters

Darker Black to Blue in color, they are hunters of the abyss. With their own bioluminescence, there are quite possibly the rarest of their kind. They hunt the great depths for massive prey, such as whales, sea serpents, and other monstrous creatures. Usually wielding spears and javelins, they are excellent trackers sometimes used in night raids. They are only around 5 feet tall and have larger eyes that shine green.

Sea Cave Scouts

Brown in color and only about 3 feet tall, they are the spelunkers trying to find their way into the underground waterways connected to the ocean. Usually not around for long and avoiding confrontation, the Sea Cave Scouts are quite possibly the closest to human societies and the least known of or seen. They are adept at hiding and usually carry small stabbing weapons like daggers or swords to protect themselves. They are often in small teams and sometimes a family of spelunkers going into caves and establishing networks to the empire.

Coral defenders

More vibrantly colored and in the tropical regions to the empire, the Coral Defenders are extremely territorial menaces to ships. Most often seen attacking boats too close to coral reefs, they are, in a way, protecting them but not truly for the altruism and safety of the reef. Instead, the rough terrain makes the ships easy prey the boarding Sahuagin to eradicate more air breathers, and they say. The Royal family are actually Coral Defenders, most notably bright Red and Orange in hue. Usually, this kind is of the average size of 6 feet, but the Royal family regularly reach 8 to 9 feet tall.

DM's Notes

Most DM's shy away from water combat and thus really only use Sahuagin as surface raiders on coastal settlements. This not a wrong way to go about things, but for the more adventurous type, a romp through a hostile empire in the ocean can make for a great adventure. Keep in mind that Sahuagins are an intelligent race and not mindless fish people to raid a town.

Plot Hooks for Sahuagin:

  • Strange footsteps are the only clue on the beach as to the missing people from the small coastal town

  • A vague sign about some domain and right to rule appears on the beach

  • A washed-up injured Sahuagin who longs for a new way of life lies on the beach barely able to communicate.

  • Ships keep sinking going over a coral reef even though the risk of sinking is low

  • Merfolk begging for help from the coming war with their neighbors

  • some grand scheme about sinking the air mountains is uncovered, how could they do such a thing?

Thanks for Reading!

Thanks for reading my 49th ecology!

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