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A neogi

The Neogi are a major[1] spacefaring race in the Spelljammer campaign setting.[2][3][4]

"The Black Clouds hide us, cloaking us like the night does its fearsome predators. The Black Clouds are as dark as our perfect souls"
- Sxtratch, neogi war captain.[5]

Overview[]

Reviled and feared throughout the Known Spheres, the neogi are a race of ruthless slavers and plunderers who think nothing of eating their enemies, servants and fallen comrades. They are rampant pirates and raiders (and ruthless merchants when given no other choice)[6] and are usually attacked on sight. In all of wildspace, one truth remains constant, the neogi are a hateful, xenophobic race that have few friends.[2][3]

Description[]

A neogi resembles a foul cross between a wolf spider and a moray eel. Its short, furry, eight-limbed body is topped by a lithe, bare, fleshy neck with a serpentine head, with two forward-facing glistening black eyes and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth for rending flesh. The ends of its limbs are tipped with small claws.

A neogi's eyes are sensitive to light and although bright light causes them no harm, they prefer to keep their ships in darkness since they are able to see in the dark up to 60-feet.[7] A neogi is covered in coarse tan fur which is frequently dyed a variety of bright colors to signify power, rank, accomplishments, and warnings to other neogi. The older a neogi is, the more colorful its hide becomes.[3][8] A neogi with a bare pelt has no status.[2]

Neogi can communicate in their own language and in the common trade tongue, which is the language they use to issue commands to their umber hulks and other slaves. Many speak up to 4 other languages to ensure their slaves perform their tasks correctly.[3] A slave that does not understand its orders is good for nothing except as fresh meat.[2]

A neogi speaking a humanoid tongue overemphasizes the letters s, z, and k, making their voices sound harsh and guttural. K’azz’jak’n, the neogi language, is reminiscent of snakes hissing and the clicking of thri-kreen. The structure and word order of the neogi tongue is very complex, and when speaking Common they often mix up their grammar and syntax, and are difficult to understand.[7]

Behavior[]

"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy"
- Neogi Proverb.[9]

The neogi are a slaving race with an inborn sense of property: everything is either owned or owner, slave or neogi. Even neogi can be owned by other neogi, but these slave-neogi may have their own slaves and eventually establish themselves as full masters in their own right. This “own or be owned” world view has resulted in a paranoid outlook that borders on xenophobia, and their relentless attacks on other races has resulted in the neogi being universally hated. The only “normal” race with ties to the neogi are the mind flayers, who make a profit from the neogi slave trade.[3]

Neogi brutality is legendary, for they have no morals and less sympathy. The weak and the injured are killed and devoured, and all slaves will eventually be eaten, except the umber hulks who are too valuable. Any victims who surrender to the neogi will be enslaved or placed in a lifejammer helm. Any slave who refuses to or is incapable of working is eaten. Kender, halflings, and gnomes are not valued as slaves because of their irritating habits; they are usually just tortured and eaten. Most other races are considered prime slave material, especially humans, elves and ogres.[10]

Neogi are sexless, and do not understand the concepts of gender or love in other races, and many consider female humanoids to be a different race to males. The violence of their reproductive process and the viciousness of their early lives informs their evil and hateful natures. The dominant neogi emotions are hatred, jealousy and fear, and it is these which keep lesser neogi in place below their masters.[11]

Combat[]

"There are only two kinds of neogi, the dead and the deadly."
- from a conversation with Virth Blackhand.[12]

With the universe against them, the neogi have various defenses at their disposal. The first, and most obvious, is their enslavement of umber hulks. Trained and conditioned from birth to accept enslavement, each neogi has a personal umber hulk slave who serves as a combination of bodyguard, manservant, and a useful set of hands. Neogi are cowards at heart and are reluctant to place themselves in danger, preferring instead to send their slaves into combat.[7] A neogi without an umber hulk won't survive long, and the profusion of umber hulks on many worlds is ascribed in part to their dissemination at the hands of the neogi.

Second, if forced into close combat a neogi will rely on its venomous bite. Those bitten by a neogi may be affected by a poison similar in effect to a slow spell for up to 8 minutes. Multiple bites will extend this period by up to an additional 8 minutes per bite. The slowing poison also acts as a charm agent when administered over an extended period of time, helping to brainwash slaves so they won't rebel. The effects are hard to reverse, requiring dispel magic and neutralize poison spells.[7]

Lastly, roughly one in ten neogi has some ability as an arcane spellcaster,[2][3] and rumors persist of the existence of magic-using neogi liches.[7]

Society[]

The neogi are principally a spaceborn race, with few, if any, viable colonies on a planetary body larger than an asteroid. Their lives revolve around their ships and their slaves. Each adult neogi has an umber hulk slave, valued as its most treasured possession, and many insist upon being carried everywhere by their hulks. Powerful neogi may own two or more umber hulks.

The neogi consider themselves to be the supreme race in the universe and therefore everything is owned by the neogi This superiority complex informs the relationships they have with each other and with everyone else: umber hulks are called "lordservants", other neogi are known as “kinsmen-slaves", a ship’s master is addressed as “captain-owner”, while the commander of a fleet is known as the "overmaster"; all others are merely “servant-slaves” or simply “meat".[7]

The neogi dye their coarse hairy bodies with colorful pigments, so that some end up looking like exploding rainbows. The colors signify rank, achievements, and power within the neogi hierarchy, with the most colorful neogi usually (but not always) being the captain-owners or overmasters of neogi ships.

The neogi tattoo their non-neogi slaves with symbols of ownership, usually on the left shoulder in the front and back. These tattoos identify the individual as property and should a slave survive to have more than one master, an additional tattoo will be placed below the first. Any tattooed creature is considered property of the neogi, and if found wandering alone will be claimed.

The most important slaves (from the view of the neogi) are the umber hulks. These creatures are trained from birth to follow their "small lords", caring for their every need. They provide the strength, the combat ability, and even the raw muscle power and dexterity that the neogi lack. Each neogi has at least one personal "lordservant", though any neogi can command another umber hulk (similar in effect to a charm monster spell).

A neogi who loses their only umber hulk slave is reduced in status, and must regain a lordservant or be in danger of losing all status and becoming a full slave themselves. A captain or overmaster who has lost their personal slave can still call upon the slaves of their subordinate neogi, choosing a replacement from their number. For this reason, the neogi on a ship are inclined to see that the captain's umber hulk is kept in relative safety, since its loss would likely lead to the loss of one of their own slaves.

All other slaves are just so much dross, fodder for battle, extra sets of muscles for heavy tasks, and ultimately food. Their lives are brutally short in the hands of the neogi, but as a result the "small lords" are constantly seeking to replenish their stocks. However, their relentless attacks on other ships has resulted in them being universally hated, and their ships are often attacked on sight if possible, and evaded otherwise. The neogi have no allies except for the corrupt mind flayers, and this alliance is tenuous at best. Even the foul drow loathe the neogi, branding them blasphemers against their Spider-Queen Lolth.[11]

Because the arcane are unwilling to deal with the neogi directly, they have entered a rather unpleasant trade arrangement with the illithid. Known colloquially as the "brain trade", the neogi, already rapacious and piratical by nature, prey on passing ships, capture their crew as slaves, and hand them over to the mind flayers as food. In return, the mind flayers act as intermediaries between the “small masters” and the arcane. All three races benefit: the mind flayers get brains to eat, the neogi get access to spelljamming technology, and the arcane get to sell more products without publically soiling their (somewhat situational) ethics.[13]

The neogi do not consider themselves a nation as such, though various fleets will cooperate under certain circumstances. However, this cooperation is hindered by the fact that in any neogi gathering, there can only be one overmaster, to whom all others are subordinate. Determining the overmaster for a limited objective can be achieved through negotiation, but for more extensive operations dominion is usually determined through trial by combat. The contending neogi, each with their personal umber hulk slave, battle for dominance. In a similar fashion, if the overmaster of a ship dies, the various captains will fight to determine who the new overmaster is.[2][3] However, certain groups have adopted a series of ritualistic challenges to determine dominance within their society without devolving into a bloody war between power-hungry status-seekers.[14]

Neogi eat flesh, preferably alive and screaming. Their normal diet is one pound of meat per day, although neogi may live without food for up to two weeks. Torture is their favorite method of “preparing” their meat, and their torture methods are the stuff of fearsome tales. The pain that victims are forced to endure is hideous enough to make human torturers’ stomachs turn.[7]

Great Old Master[]

The neogi reproduce asexually in a horrific process that is typical of their race. As a neogi grows older and their mind begins to fade, their orders become confused and their slaves become disobedient. Its fellow neogi may then choose to poison the older neogi with a variety of toxic chemicals. The different poisons moving through its body overload the old neogi's system, and it begins to change into what is known as a yrthni ma'adi,[15] or "great old master".

Also known as a "broodmaster",[11] the old neogi swells to 20 feet in height and similar in girth. Its legs and arms become useless, and its intelligence fades; it now lives only to eat. During this time the other neogi begin to hunt exclusively to provide meat for the new "Great Old One": slaves, captives, anything that comes across their path and can be fed to the master. Live flesh is preferred, but dead will sustain it. These foul creatures grow fat on the flesh of slaves, all the while being eaten from the inside by developing young neogi.

After 2 months of constant eating, the skin of the great old master begins to split, before bursting and spilling out a new crop of live neogi young. The neogi spawn are unmarked and barely sentient at birth, and for the next week the brood area resounds with combat as they fight over the remains of the broodmaster until it has been devoured, and then attack each other. Of the 20 to 40 neogi that ate their way out, only six or seven will survive, but these will be the toughest, most brutal neogi of the group. Natural selection therefore helps the race remain powerful.[11] The neogi spawn are considered slaves of the entire ship, to be killed or risked in combat, until such time as they claim and command an umber hulk as their personal slave. At this point they are officially part of the neogi community. Most neogi consider this fate to be the equivalent of a human dying of old age.

If a great old master is attacked and its flesh pierced, it releases up to 4 neogi spawn to defend itself. These count against the total brood the old one is incubating and are not replaced. Blunt weapons will not pierce the old one's skin and won't trigger this particular defensive reaction; only edged or piercing weapons will, or spells that pierce or burn.[2][3]

Captain-owners or overmasters may be selected to become a Great Old Master when their underlings grow tired of their senile rulership. If allowed to live their full lifespan, neogi die at about age 45, but most are assassinated before they reach 30.[11]

Rogue neogi[]

Rogue neogi are individuals who have rebelled and are seeking to escape the other neogi and their poisons that will transform them into Great Old Masters. They are little better than their fellows, and are, if anything, more desperate, due to being pursued by their fellows, all eager to start the process of producing more neogi.[3]

Undead Old Master[]

Spellcasting neogi who go rogue in order to avoid being transformed into Great Old Masters often use their magic to embrace undeath, becoming undead Old Masters. Cunning, strong-willed and ruthless, they often become fell, self-sufficient predators, preying on all weaker creatures. Undead old masters hate all other beings, including other neogi. They trust nothing and no one, and exist only to accumulate slaves and treasure, and use these to acquire more slaves and treasure, controlling all they can. What they cannot control, they yearn to destroy.[16]

Religion[]

The neogi have an unusual relationship with their deities: they do not pray to them and rarely offer any sacrifices, but instead they regularly demand favors and boons from them, since they view them as servants of the neogi race as a whole. Much like the neogi, the neogi deities have no gender.

Pronouncing the name of one of their deities incorrectly is seen as sacrilege worthy of a slow and painful death by the neogi. Given the difficulties other races have speaking the neogi language, it is advisable to refrain from attempting to pronounce a deities' name.[17]

The neogi pantheon includes:

  • Ka’jik’zxi, the dead god of creation.
  • Kil'lix, a chaotic evil lesser god of death, murder, and poison.
  • Kr'tx, a chaotic evil lesser god of war, brutality, and strength.
  • P'kk, a lawful evil lesser god of fear and tyranny.
  • Thrig'ki, a neutral evil lesser god of "love" (actually more like envy and jealousy in human terms).
  • T'zen'kil, a neutral evil lesser god of torture, pain, and suffering.

Each spelljamming vessel is overseen by at least one priest, who is permitted to add the suffix ki’zid after their name, meaning “favored of deities".[7]

Notable Neogi[]

Signature Spelljammers[]

The most common neogi ship in use is the Deathspider, a huge hulking vessel powered by a major helm. A deathspider is designed to attack smaller ships using its grappling ram, allowing the neogi's umber hulk slaves to scramble across, rip holes in the opponent's ship, and carry off slaves and the bodies of those they kill.

Within the last 50 years or so, a new design known as the Mindspider has become more commonplace among neogi. The smaller vessel is designed to serve as the flagship of a neogi fleet, allowing the overmaster to command all vessels from a central command post. A mindspider is usually equipped with a minor helm or lifejammer supposedly acquired from the arcane. The arcane themselves are, of course, at a complete loss to explain this new development.[2] The neogi have also developed a small, inexpensive vessel known as an urchin which is their answer to the elven flitter.

The neogi show little imagination when naming their ships, and most names include the words "slave", "blood", "death", or "pain". They also tend to paint their ships red, black, orange, or purple with silver and gold highlights.[8]

The neogi have also developed the Leech, which is little more than a lifejammer mounted within a dome supported by eight grappling legs. The leech is designed to mount onto the back of a large space going creature, such as a kindori, turning it into a disposable spelljamming vessel or terror weapon.

History[]

According to a neogi creation myth, the primordial creator deity Ka'jik'zxi had been poisoned by five lesser neogi deities, and when it died, its body burst, scattering body parts throughout the universe. Ka'jik'zxi's brain ended up in a forgotten crystal sphere, and after much searching was eventually discovered on the planet later known as Ka'jk'z. To their amazement the neogi deities discovered that the brain had given rise to the very first neogi. The deities taught the neogi about the multiverse and that their destiny was to conquer it all. The neogi built their first spelljammers and left their homeworld, never to return.[11]

Some sages speculate that the neogi homeworld no longer exists,[37] and that it had been destroyed by the clockwork horrors soon after they had left the sphere of the Lost Ones.[38]

Appendix[]

Gallery[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Major and Minor Races side bar (pp.50, 52 and 54)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Neogi entry (pp.83–84)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Tim Beach et al, Monstrous Manual, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Neogi entry, page 268
  4. Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), pages 55-58
  5. Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 53
  6. Sam Witt, The Astromundi Cluster, The Astrogator's Guide, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Neogi section, The Astromundi Cluster chapter, page 10
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), page 56
  8. 8.0 8.1 Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), page 55
  9. Grant Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), chapter 5: The Great Assault, page 35
  10. Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), pages 55-56
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), page 58
  12. Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 38
  13. Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), The Brain Trade, chapter 3: Starfaring Races, page 30
  14. Sam Witt, The Astromundi Cluster, Adventures in the Shattered Sphere, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Neogi section, Astromundi Powers chapter, page 24
  15. Roger E. Moore, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Maelstrom's Eye, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 63
  16. Ed Greenwood, SJR1 Lost Ships, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Neogi: Undead Old Master entry, page 90
  17. Jon Winter, "The Ecology of the Neogi", Dragon Magazine #214, February 1995, (TSR Inc.), pages 56 and 58
  18. Dale "Slade" Henson, SJR2 Realmspace, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Important NPCs section, Toril chapter, page 31
  19. Sam Witt, The Astromundi Cluster, Adventures in the Shattered Sphere, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Neogi section, Astromundi Powers chapter, pages 22-23
  20. Nicky Rea and Wes Nicholson, SJR8 Space Lairs, 1993, (TSR Inc.), The Deathspider chapter, pages 11-13
  21. Dale "Slade" Henson, War Captain's Companion, War Captain's Guide, 1992, (TSR Inc.), chapter 3: Spacefleets of the Void, page 22
  22. Grant Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), chapter 2: Strange Bedfellows, page 11
  23. Grant Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Appendix B: Non-Player Characters, page 54
  24. Dale "Slade" Henson, War Captain's Companion, War Captain's Guide, 1992, (TSR Inc.), chapter 3: Spacefleets of the Void, page 23
  25. Jeff Grubb, The Legend of Spelljammer, Captains and Ships, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Personalities of the Spelljammer, pages 38-39
  26. Nigel D. Findley, The Cloakmaster Cycle, Into the Void, 1991, (TSR Inc.), pages 131-134
  27. Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Important NPCs section, Additional Astronomicals chapter , page 60
  28. 28.0 28.1 Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Void Elves, chapter 3: Starfaring Races, pages 32-33
  29. 29.0 29.1 Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Monarch Armada, chapter 3: Starfaring Races, page 39
  30. Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Void Elves, chapter 3: Starfaring Races, page 35
  31. Nigel D. Findley, SJA2 Skull & Crossbows, 1990, (TSR Inc.), The Brain Trade, chapter 3: Starfaring Races, pages 30-32
  32. 32.0 32.1 Steve Kurtz, "The Sea of Sorrow", Dungeon Magazine #36, July/August 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 55-56
  33. Roger E. Moore, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Maelstrom's Eye, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 58-70 (first appearance in disguise)
  34. Roger E. Moore, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Maelstrom's Eye, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 263-266 (revealed as a neogi)
  35. Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Important NPCs section, Additional Astronomicals chapter , pages 59-60
  36. Ed Greenwood, SJR1 Lost Ships, 1990, (TSR Inc.), The Fallen Star, Adventures 1: Beginnings, pages 10-12
  37. L.Richard Baker III, James Jacobs, Steve Winter, Lords of Madness, 2005, (Wizards of the Coast), chapter 5: The Slave Takers, page 89
  38. Eric Cagle, "The Ecology of the Clockwork Horror", Dragon Magazine #350, 2006, (Paizo Publishing), page 59
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