Physical Description: Mature thri-kreen stand about 7 feet tall, with a rough body length of 11 feet. Their four arms end in claws; their two legs are extremely powerful, capable of incredible leaps. However, thri-kreen are unable to jump backwards. Their body is covered with a sandy-yellow chitin, a tough exoskeleton that grants the thri-kreen protection from blows. Their head is topped with two antennae, and their two eyes are compound and multifaceted. The thri-kreen mouth consists of small pincers. Male and female thri-kreen are physically indistinguishable. Thri-kreen usually do not wear clothing, but wear some sort of harness to carry weapons and food. Many wear leg or armbands, or bracelets. Some attach rings on different places on their chitin, though this requires careful work by a skilled artisan.
A thri-kreen's head has two large eyes, two antennae, and a small-but-powerful jaw. The jaws work from side to side and have several small extensions that grab and manipulate food while it is being eaten. The eyes are jet bacl and multi- faceted, separated to either side of the head. The antennae are all but vestigial, serving only to help maneuver through brush and grasslands in the darkness (they also server to lessen any darkness or blindness). Ranged activities (like missile combat) do not gain this benefit.
Relations: The pack mentality dominates a kreen's relation with others. Kreen hunt in prey in the same region for a while, but move on before their prey has been depleted. A thri-kreen that joins a group of humanoids will often try to establish dominance in the group. This can be disconcerting to those unaware of the kreen's behavior, since establishing dominance usually means making threatening gestures. Once the matter is settled, they will abide by the outcome. Thri-kreen view humanoids as sources of food, though they don't usually hunt them, only in dire need. Many thri-kreen have a particularly fond taste for elves; as such, meetings between these two races are often tense. However, once part of a clutch, thri-kreen will never turn on their humanoid friends, even in the worst situations.
During the winter months when the thri-kreen travel north, they often come in contact and clash with the scorpionfolk.
Alignment: Perceived as wild savages, the general population of Thunder Rift believes that the thri-kreen are chaotic and directionless, but nothing is farther from the truth. The thri-kreen have a strict and ordered mind, as such most thri-kreen are lawful, since the pack mentality is ingrained in their beings. Thri-kreen that deviate from this mental state are rare and are considered aberrations. This may even cause them to be cut off from the pack.
Thri-kreen Lands: No thri-kreen settlements exist in Thunder Rift, or for most of the Known World for that matter. Within the Rift there is one thri-kreen pack. The kreen are nomadic beings and the pack within Thunder Rift spends most of their time between the Horned HIlls and the Bones Hills, hunting away from most settlements, only interacting regularly with the Keldon people. When winter comes, the thri-kreen travel north and spend the cold winter months in Burning HIlls, the only area of the Rift that can maintain the warm temperatures to which the kreen are accustomed to.
Religion: Thri-kreen have no devotion to any god, but they hold nature and the elements in high regard, worshiping The Land. As well, ancestral memories guide them through their lives, and pack leaders have been known to search the memories of those who have come before them for guidance (it is widely believed that thri-kreen share a type of racial memory, and powerful memories of individuals can be passed down from clutch to clutch).
Language: Thri-kreen language is very different from those of the other intelligent races. They have no lips or tongues, and so cannot make the same sounds humanoids make. Kreen language is made up of clicks, pops, or grinding noises. What this means is that while thri-kreen can learn to understand other languages, they will never be able to speak a typical non-kreen language without assistance. Likewise, while others can learn to understand the thri-kreen language, but they cannot duplicate it with lips, tongue and teeth. There is no alphabet for the thri-kreen language, as such they have no written language.
Names: Thri-kreen names, like much of their kind, are different from the names of other intelligent creatures. Their names are often short and harsh sounding, and there is no distinction between male and female names. There is no gender to thri-kreen names.
Examples include Kach'ka, Ka'Cha, Ka'Ka'Kyl, Klik-Chaka'da, Sa'Reika, and T'Chai. Thri-kreen that travel with humanoids are often given a nickname by their companions that is easier for them to pronounce.
Classes: Thri-kreen have no interest or capacity of studying arcane knowledge, as such wizards and sorcerers are all but unheard of among the kreen pack. However, being one of the few inherently psionic races of Thunder Rift, psions and psychic warriors are much more common among thri-kreen than anywhere else in the Rift. With no gods to worship, clerics are a rarity among the kreen as well, with most of their spiritual needs being fulfilled by those among them who become druids. With no written language, the history of the thri-kreen is passed down orally by those among them who are, for all intents and purposes, bards. These individuals are cherished by the pack for they are the keeper of pack lore and law. Other common classes among the thri-kreen are fighters, rangers, and rogues.
THRI-KREEN TRAITS
Thri-kreen are the strangest of the intelligent races of Thunder Rift. These insectoid beings possess a mindset very different from any humanoid being encountered. They roam mostly the southern basin of the Rift in a singular pack, hunting for food day and night, since they require no sleep. Thri-kreen are quick and agile and make fearsome fighters, feared throughout Thunder Rift.
Personality: Since thri-kreen (also known simply as the kreen) do not require sleep, they have difficulty understanding this state of "laziness" in others. Other behaviors of humanoids seem unnecessarily complex. A kreen's life is simple: hunt prey. Thri-kreen live for the hunt, and own only what they can carry.
Iaijutsu Duels
Do to the alien nature of the thri-kreen, here are some roleplaying suggestions to allow a player to get inside the head of a thri-kreen character:
You tend to rely on your natural attacks and special thri-kreen weapons. Everything you kill is potential dinner. You have a strong need for a party leader -- obedience to this leader in the party is important to you. If you seem to be the most powerful and capable, then you will assume leadership; if someone challenges your authority then you will wish to test whether they are in fact stronger than you. It is not a question of vanity; you won't want to fight to the death, but merely to ascertain who is worthy to lead the party. You do not have the focus of an elf to complete a project, but you would give your life to protect your companions. If you did not trust and honor them as your own family, then you would not travel with them and worth together with them. You do not understand the concept of sleep. It disturbs you that your dra (non-thri-kreen) companions lie unconscious for a third of their lifetimes. You own only what you can carry, caring little for money or other items that other races consider as treasure. Your philosophy of ownership sometimes leads you into conflict with presumptuous dra who think they can own buildings, land, or even whole herds of cattle!
Roleplaying Suggestions
