The Rokunuri are a terrifying race of predators inhabiting the southern region of Aboyuinzu. At first glance, they appear to be normal humans, allowing them to blend into settlements. However, their true form is revealed when they hunt: their necks can extend up to 15 feet like a constrictor snake, and their mouths house a second row of razor-sharp incisors behind their human teeth.
They are extremely quick, intelligent, and feast on human flesh. A Rokunuri can snap a victim's neck from across a room before anyone realizes they aren't human. They infiltrate communities, living among their prey for months or years before striking, and their victims often never know what killed them.
The making
Like every beastman kind, the Rokunuri were named at the Birth of Man (see Beastman), shaped by Gaea from a constricting snake. The cruelty is in how she finished the work: she gave the snake-people a human face and a human voice, not as a disguise they put on but as the shape the true name fixed on them. The concealment is the creature. A Rokunuri is built to be trusted before the neck unspools and the second row of teeth comes forward, and it can no more stop wearing the face that makes the trust possible than it can stop being hungry.
Vitals
- Size: Medium
- Height: 5-6 feet (normal), +15 feet (neck extension)
- Weight: 120-180 pounds
Aspects
- Serpent's neck, human face
- Hidden predator
Game mechanics
Reach Bite
Major ability. You can extend your neck with blinding speed. Once per round, you can make a bite attack against any creature within 15 feet, regardless of reach. This bite deals 2d6 piercing damage. If the target is smaller than you and you hit, you can choose to grapple them, pulling them adjacent to you. While grappling a creature this way, they take 1d6 damage at the start of each of their turns as you constrict.
Deceptive Form
Passive ability. You are a master of disguise. While not extending your neck or using your true bite, you are indistinguishable from a normal human. You have A2 on all checks to pass as human, maintain a false identity, or conceal your true nature. Magical detection of your nature requires a CN 15 check to succeed.