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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1242 Posts |
 Posted - 16 May 2025 : 21:38:08
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I recently worked up the Sarrukh for 5e and it got me thinking I might want to do the same for the Batrachi, Aearee and maybe even “Fey.”
But then I realize I have limited knowledge of what these things look like.
All I really harvest this point is that the Batrachi are amphibioid but I think I’ve read conflicting descriptions - one which seems supported the most is that they could almost be considered slaadlike in appearance. Other than that all I have to go on is what Bazim Gorag looked like in 3e. Somewhere I could’ve sworn I read they have a doppelgänger like look as well but I could have imagined that.
The aearee I’ve thought about for years now and I’m no closer to understanding their appearance. Are they like arakocra ? Aren’t they somewhat draconic in appearance too?
And the Fey, should I simply use the Leshay from the Epic Level Handbook as a base?
To be honest I always had troubles distinguishing the Sarrukh from yuan ti but their artistic differences almost have an indescribable but noticeable difference. What is that edge?
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EltonRobb
Learned Scribe
USA
174 Posts |
Posted - 16 May 2025 : 22:23:31
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| Do you have a copy of Serpent Kingdoms? |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1242 Posts |
Posted - 16 May 2025 : 23:04:41
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quote:
Originally posted by EltonRobb
Do you have a copy of Serpent Kingdoms?
Perhaps one of my favorites of all time. All it’s is the Sarrukh unfortunately |
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EltonRobb
Learned Scribe
USA
174 Posts |
Posted - 16 May 2025 : 23:52:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
quote:
Originally posted by EltonRobb
Do you have a copy of Serpent Kingdoms?
Perhaps one of my favorites of all time. All it’s is the Sarrukh unfortunately
Okay. Did you try the Grand History of the Realms? |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12031 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2025 : 00:40:46
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Yep, you've nailed one of the main issues with the creator "races". One could almost say that we've been indoctrinated to think that the Sarrukh were the ONLY creator race of the lizard people. Yet, we have the "Old Ones"....
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Old_One
and they are most decidedly NOT Sarrukh. We don't know exactly when they were from, but they were referred to as the "creators".
Then there's the first entry we see on the "creator races" .... its doesn't say a serpent folk...
In the elven oral tradition, these were known as the "Days of Thunder" when cruel lizard, amphibian, and avian peoples (known to the elves as the Iqua'Tel'Quessir or creator races, but with no honor or respect intended) tamed the mighty dinosaurs, built towering cities of stone and glass on the shores of the warm seas and spanned the wilderness with shining roads, and fought constant wars of extermination, such was their hatred towards each other.
Note that part about stone and glass cities (so the glassteel we've been pushing for the Aereee has precedent). Where's the shining roads and what were they made of? Or were they shining in the form of shining portals?
I submit that the creator "races" may have been groupings of "similar" beings. Much like someone could say that humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings are in many ways "similar" ... and very different from orcs, goblins, ogres, gnolls, minotaurs, centaurs, wemics, etc...
So, as I see it the batrachi "amphibians" .... and I see a "frog folk" with supple moist flesh who live primarily on the land... but I also see a shapechanging "tentacled" folk who live primarily in the water... whether one created the other .... dunno right now.. One might even wonder if Illithids are not an offshoot of this tentacled creator race (possibly one that opened a door to the far realms and entered it). From what we can tell, the Batrachi are the most "lovecraftian" of them all, so, I can see them messing with portals that they shouldn't.... worshipping insane cthulhuloid beings, etc... remember they released "powerful primordial beings who threatened the world so much that Ao supposedly split it"
On the Aearee, again we have little facts. We're led to believe that the aarakocra are a construct of their race in many ways. Also, as you said, we're led to believe that some have draconic blood.... but is that after their hatcheries were invaded? This is why I very much like the idea of the Aearee as having come from Coliar, rather than the idea put forth here that everything has to originate with Toril for realmspace. With there being both "feathered folk" and "scaled folk" on Coliar, and both holding the dragons in high regard there ... it doesn't take much to change the story of that world a bit and have dragonborn there and multiple races of bird folk, plus the flying kobolds known as urds. Then having the dragons there be "different" .... maybe some feathered... and maybe the Lung type dragons that are more nature oriented. All of a sudden the idea that "dragons were a creator race" fits well with the concept that "the dragons of Coliar and the Aearee were .... related somehow".
On THAT idea... if dragons were the "servants" of the Primordials who "rode" them, and many of the Primordials had been imprisoned during the shadow epoch PRIOR to the rise of the creator races.... was the main time of the Aearee actually on Coliar? Were the Aearee the children of dragons?
Did the dragons of Coliar, who had come to enjoy their freedom from the Primordials, and the worship of the races of Coliar.... well, were they disturbed by the arrival of Annam and his awakening of various primordial powers and mating with them to produce new primordial servant races (i.e. giants)? Were the dragons also upset that these batrachi were also looking into the "seals" that had been put in place to imprison primordial entities in the far realms (locking away beings like Ghaunadaur and Moander).... and so when they detected the batrachi messing with things they shouldn't, possibly they sent over a "flotilla" of earth motes (sorry "earth islands") and a bunch of dragon eggs to serve as a potential invasion force.... an invasion force that ultimately failed after only a few centuries, but left its mark when the dragons and giants went to war AFTER the sundering when the primordials got sent elsewhere. Is that maybe why we don't have a lot of dragon history prior to the sundering even though there were references to dragons serving the primoridals? Because they were mostly on Coliar instead of Toril?
Then we have that "humans" were a creator race as well as the "fey". |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 17 May 2025 02:43:51 |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1242 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2025 : 01:18:49
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One day we really have to work together on putting together a treatise on Coliar.
In my mind canon it’s the Ferrous Dragons with Graughlothor that live there and wiped away their enemy chromatics but that’s a discussion for another day. And yes the remnants of aearee and Sarrukh or perhaps their ancestors. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12031 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2025 : 19:24:45
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I actually prefer ancestors of the Sarrukh coming to Toril from SOMEWHERE .... maybe Coliar .... but not the Sarrukh themselves. Basically, the Sarrukh are referred to as a "Sauroid" race. So, as I view it the "Saurials" / "Lacerials" are also Sauroids. So, some kind of "reptilian"/"dinosaur"/"draconic"/"snake" people came through to this world and eventually developed into the Sarrukh just prior to/after the shadow epoch. Maybe during the shadow epoch, they left Toril and came back AFTER the world had started to thaw.
The being known as Kazgoroth would seem to make another great "minorly powered" primordial power/primal spirit that the batrachi could have uncovered, given that he looked very similar to a tyrannosaur. Zaltec and his brothers also seemingly fit this mold very much as well, and having batrachi worshipping them PRIOR to the humans rediscovering them... well, it might fit.
But, anyway, I think I may have hit on a really good idea that maybe needs development.... but I'm not sure how yet.... in the idea that Annam came to Toril and was "waking up" primal powers and/or primordials that had been put to sleep by the gods .... WHILE ... the batrachi were also uncovering magic dealing with the far realm and the abyss and portals and some far realm entities that some might call primordial powers (but others might call insane entities).... and that THIS is why the dragons ruling Coliar came back to Toril to end the batrachi reign and combat the giants.
In this, the primordial known as "Rorn the Fury" who basically somewhat resembles "Godzilla" seems like a great primordial for the batrachi to have awakened and possibly started worshipping. He was served by giant 4 headed crocodile like creatures that travel through earth which were seemingly bred from earth titans and dragons, giant "stone skin" serpents with draconic heads who were the result of draconic and some kind of titan breeding, tentacled torments (a spheric far realm entity with orbiting motes of lights for eyes and studded with spikes and tentacles that can control and heal), and earth titans known as Mordrin that are even bigger and surrounded by whirling stones (so big vaguely humanoid shaped earth beings).
In this, possibly Annam's disappearance from the realm has much to do with Abeir, and possibly he's been trapped there for many thousands of years now..... |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Creator Race Appearances
