Vengoath
Special Traits
Far Leap: +1 foot per success.
Celerity: +1 mvm per success up to level 15
Enhanced Climbing: +1 save vs. falling, +1 per success vs. LoD of climb.
Improved: Stealth+8, Dexterity+4, Reflexes+4
Slow Aging: they do not age on any day they eat sentient flesh
Agelessness: they stop aging completely when they eat sentient flesh every day for two-hundred years.
Note:All of these traits depend on how much man-flesh they consume. They gain levels in all of these traits as magic users gain levels in paths.
Appearance
Vengoath (vehn-gOth) have black or mahogany flesh, elvish ears, elongated canines, a set of sharp molars with the flatter ones, large black eyes, black hair, are lean, muscular, and not overly tall (5'5-5'11). Females are not usually as tall as the males. These people can be attractive or unbecoming like any humanoid. They are very tribal in appearance, their clothing (made of human skins), tattoos, and jewelry (often bone or ivory) are all darkly primitive. Males wear long loin cloths like skirts with slits up the thighs, or short loin cloths when hunting, and vests, either short or long. The females wear wrap around skirts and halters. They only ever wear garbs made of human hides. They do not wear shoes, the soles of their feet are as tough as leather. They sometimes hunt nude to better conceal themselves if hunting in caverns. Vengoath are related to Shaamea and Elves. Albino born Vengoath (which are barely recognizable AS Vengoath) are honored as sacrifices and consumed before they come of breeding age. In this way they have avoided the same albino evolution as the maelvanor and nether elves. Occasionally an albino born escapes to live on the surface far away from their people's society.
Hunting and Harvesting Practices: These people hunt sentient creatures and people like human hunters hunt animals. Some tribes even 'breed' a select group of non-Vengoath people like humans do cattle or swine, keeping them confined and treating them like pampered zoo pets until ready to harvest them, which they do discreetly so as not to 'alarm' the rest of their livestock. Some tribes have been practicing this method of harvest for centuries through selective breeding out of the same stock.
Location: Caverns where there is volcanic activity.
Information
The worst race of people another humanoid, and in many cases an immortal can run across is the cannibal race of people called the Vengoath which simply means hallowed cannibals. The An Morendor tribe dwells in the Shivengo (flaming skull) Mountain in the Lonely Cavern Mountain Range. Vengoath also reside in other caves in other regions of the world, but only where there is volcanic activity.
The eating of flesh and drinking of blood is a religious practice to the Vengoath. They believe that to take the flesh of another humanoid (any sentient people or creature) into themselves is to take their spirits and their power into your body. These tribes are so ancient that their beliefs have become somewhat of a reality. They originally sprung from the continent of Arithendor but had been driven out ages ago. They spread to small islands in the tropics then to the eastern mountains of Mephais and then to An Morendor. It was easier for them to hide and to survive on large continents or the small islands they alone inhabited until mariners happened along. When there are no victims to eat they eat their own children, selectively of course. Children are conceived for that specific purpose, and eaten when man-flesh grows scarce. Despite living in caves the Vengoath have very dark skin. It is in fact mahogany in color with hints of blue, a fact which grants them superior stealth in the caves. Their hair is jet black and either wavy or curly and their eyes are black. They dress in leather made from the skins of their prey that is often decorated with paints made from minerals.
These people were once mortal but have evolved to manifest certain traits and advantages. They can move with blurring speed, they can leap incredibly far, can climb with the competence of spiders, and regenerate rapidly. They are humanoid despite all this and they can be injured and beheading or removal of their heart or vital organs is deadly to them. Their injuries simply heal incredibly fast. They are also immune to the arcane and have a high resistance to heat and fire. Most unusual of all is the fact, that for each body they consume, their life span increases and their aging process slows dramatically. Because of this trait a Vengoath individual can virtually live forever if they claim enough victims to stop their aging altogether. Their lairs are in fact very warm, for they choose caverns some levels above a fissure where magma bubbles up to the surface and forms craters and pools of lava in the cave floors. They speak in a coarse language they alone know and are intelligent enough to dispose of evidence that might scare potential prey away. Bones and skulls are incinerated in the Caves of Fire beneath them. They keep some skulls, most of them the skulls of their own kind, but only in their personal chambers and in the cave where they kill and butcher their victims.
The Vengoath have a chieftain who is chosen by his agelessness and intelligence, and a hierarchy that is defined by how many lives they have taken into their bodies. If they go too long without eating man-flesh, their powers decrease and they begin to age more rapidly. If starved; they weaken like anyone else will and lose all their inhuman advantages and age normally. The Vengoath of Shivengo in An Morendor never starve though. The women who bare food-offspring are highly respected and honored. They are called Gebosh, which means honored mates in their tongue. The chieftain usually has three or more Gebosh of his own. They are not a monogamous society. The better a male is as a provider the larger his rabble is. In their language they refer to their wives as a rabble, not a harem. Females are chosen by the males according to their hierarchy, the chieftain getting first pick of available females. The Vengoath are also careful not to overextend their population. If too many children are born the chieftain chooses which ones are to be consumed. Children who are to be eaten are also greatly honored, and until the day of sacrifice comes, they are coddled and pampered. Some of them might even live to be adults before they are feasted on. The weak are also sacrificed. The needs of the tribe dictate when to butcher their young or tribe mates. Vengoath can sustain themselves on normal foods but their powers can only be sustained by eating the flesh of sentient races of people, and it is what they crave, even fiercely. They might make stews of their victims and add vegetables to it for flavor. They eat it raw and roasted as well and blood is their favorite beverage. The Vengoath do leave the caverns to hunt. Hunting parties or solitary hunters do in fact leave the cavern almost daily to hunt for Goblins, elves, escion, namas, young demons or vampires, whatever people they can find. If no people are found; they will kill deer, boar, giant spiders, giant rats, large snakes, and other animals to eat. Men and women alike hunt, and women also gather wild vegetables or vegetables from small gardens they tend in isolated areas on the mountainside.
These people are skilled as hunters. They are accomplished with spears, bows, and the cleaver-like swords they forge in their Caves of Fire. Their society is not a simple one. They are very possessive and protective of their mates and children. They have friends among their own, love one another, they have a human's entire spectrum of emotions. They have only four laws and each of them is punishable by death. They are forbidden to; kill one another unless the chieftain makes a selection or decides it is time to feast on a food-offspring; mate with another man's wife; abuse one another; or betray their tribe or its location. Occasionally a member of the tribe will embark to explore the world or find a new society. As these people crave the flesh of other peoples obsessively, the results are usually tragic to the Vengoath individuals who attempt to leave their tribe behind, unless they leave to find another tribe of Vengoath. Vengoath tend to accept their own unless one of their people shows signs of being 'tainted' by the outside world. Some Vengoath manage to leave their society altogether, nevertheless, even break away from cannibalism though it is rare for them to kick the 'flesh habit'. The Vengoath avoid being seen except to make a kill. Theirs is a mysteriously secretive culture and very little is known about them other than them being hostile to outsiders. They are simply avoided by those who have crossed paths with them before and lived to tell it.
