Rollage is a False Prime that exists as a very close facsimile of the Prime Material Plane with an alternate history. In this history, Northern Tribes were the primary civilization for hundreds of years. The peace has been brokered, in large part, through the inspiration of the plane's primordials, the Follkyn Skraa.
Follikyn Skraa, Skraa for short, are an ancient race that have come to symbolize transformation and the constancy of change. When live born from their mother, they appear as giant earthworms, caterpillars or millipede-like creatures featuring massive rock-like plates, similar to an ankylosaurus. Upon reaching thirteen years of age, a skraa will begin a year of constant eating. At the end of that year, the skraa will look for a hiding place to build a chrysalis. These hiding places are often underground. After two months in chrysalis, the skraa emerges as a magnificent winged reptile.
In this form, the skraa has brightly colored scales, six limbs and leathery, bat-like wings. As the skraa grows in size, it sheds its skin every one to two years. Over time, the brightly colored scales begin to fade and scales of a completely different color also begin to appear. The skraa will retain this form for up to five hundred years or until it dies. If it lives to be five hundred years old, it will appear to be a completely different color from the predominant color it had when leaving its chrysalis.
When a skraa reaches five hundred years old or is killed, its life force will reform the physical body to live for another five hundred years. In this form, the skraa shrinks to be only as large as it was when it emerged from the chrysalis. Physically, it regains the bright colored scales, but the wings sprout colored feathers along the shoulders to the tips of the wings. As it ages, the brightly colored scales will fade until the skraa becomes almost white in its old age. When the skraa dies in this form, it does not come back and cannot be resurrected, even with a wish.
In ancient times, many believed that the larval stage of the skraa was a separate creature. For that reason, older texts sometimes refers to larval skraa as lindesyn. Although the term is rarely used, the last stage of a skraa's life is sometimes called the fadjagyn.
The skraa is unparalleled in combat because of its powerful breath weapon and use of magic spells. In addition to these abilities, a skraa can attack with its great maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, its long, sweeping tail, or with its six-fingered claws.
It is believed that female skraa may assume humanoid form at will, but this has not been confirmed. The source of this belief comes from the fact that skraa friendly towards humanoids tend to spend a lot of time in human or elven form in order to socialize. What is not known is if the ability to change into humanoid form is the result of a natural ability or the use of magic.
Although capable of powerful magic, the skraa cannot create any type of magical items. It can only use magical items made by others that can be consumed or worn. They cannot read magic, but instead use an innate form of magical power that doesn't require them to use material components for their spells, although verbal and somatic components are required per spell description.
All Skraa worship the head of their pantheon, Shennaghee, the Keeper of Stories. Shennaghee is also worshipped by many of the humanoids that live on Rollage. Follikyn skraa are classified into six different families by specific physical characteristics as well as a clan deity. This clan deity is not seen as higher or lower that the Keeper of Stories. The clan deity is reverred as an honored ancestor that ascended to a higher form of being. The six clan deities are: Annym (God of the Mind and the Afterlife), Casskeban (God of the Brush-foot), Araneyder (The God of Singers), Filioo Bwoiryn (The God of Wolves), Co'Veain (The Twin Gods of Metal and Fire) and Skead (The Goddess of the Stars).
Wizards summoning these primordials are feared on the Prime Material Plane. Even a skraa in its larvae stage is a great danger.
Next post, The Children of Annym.
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