Quartz 5

Grung

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tagsrace, new-world

3 min read

Grung

“Grungs are aggressive frog-like humanoids found in the great swamp. They are fiercely territorial and see themselves as superior to most other creatures.”

  • Dothus Petri, Emissary to the New World

The Grung are small, frog-like humanoids of the New World’s deep swamps - sharp-toothed, poisonous, and fiercely territorial. To the settlers of Acadia they were a danger of the deep swamp, having killed and carried off those who ventured too far in.

Biology

Grungs are small, with frog-like features but human-like hands. All secrete from their skin a poison harmless to themselves but deadly to others, which they also use to coat their weapons. They live in trees and prefer shade, but depend utterly on water - a grung that fails to immerse itself for at least an hour a day suffers, and may eventually die of dehydration. Their young hatch in well-guarded ground pools and reach adulthood within roughly a year.

Society

Castes and Colors

Grung society is a strict caste system marked by color. All are born a dull greenish-gray and take on their caste’s hue as they mature:

  • Green - warriors, hunters, and laborers
  • Blue - artisans and domestic workers
  • Purple - administrators and commanders
  • Red - scholars and magic users, respected even by their superiors
  • Orange - elite warriors with authority over all lesser grungs
  • Gold - the highest leadership; a tribe’s sovereign is always gold

A grung normally keeps its caste for life, but one who distinguishes itself with great deeds can, through herbal tonics and ritual magic, change color and rise - its progeny born into the new caste thereafter.

Slavers

Grungs are always on the lookout for creatures to capture and enslave, using captives for menial labor and keeping them lethargic on mildly poisoned food - a treatment that, over time, hollows out the victim and can only be undone by magic.

Culture

Language

Grung speak Grung and Beastspeech, the shared trade tongue of the New World.

Appendix

See Also

Notes

  • Game mechanics (ability scores, Poisonous Skin, the grung poison variant) were intentionally omitted from this worldbuilding page.

Sources & Attribution

  • Primary lore: editions/5e-2014/species/grung.md (Traveler’s Guide - Foray into the New World), author TrueMichato.
  • Superseded originals: content/General/Grung.md and the relevant section of content/General/Races of the New World.md (moved to content/private/_originals/General/).

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