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A Yitsan is a strange humanoid creature from the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]

Overview[]

The yitsan are a race of incredibly dangerous predatory reptilian humanoid creatures. They are also referred to as “treasure bane” and the “intruders within” due to their habit of introducing their eggs into treasure hoards, which are subsequently brought onboard ship by unwary sailors.[1]

Description[]

Yitsan are reptilian humanoids who stand about 10-feet tall, with 8-foot long spiked tails. Their skin is covered by a fine mesh of grey-green scales, while their four-fingered hands and toes are tipped with long claws. Their mouths have three sets of sharp teeth, and they smell like brine or salt. Perhaps their most unusual characteristic is their total lack of eyes.

It is currently unknown whether the yitsan have their own language or whether they can speak at all, though they do frequently utter hisses, shrieks, roars, and growls.[1]

Behavior[]

Yitsan are solitary predators whose only concern appears to be hunting prey and laying eggs.

Combat[]

Yitsan appear to be bred for combat. They can use their clawed hands and feet equally well, though they can only use all four limbs when pouncing on a victim or trampling their foe underfoot. They typically open combat by striking with their razor-sharp tail, which can be used to impale up to three victims within a closely-spaced line. An opponent struck by a tail sweep may be knocked from their feet, allowing the yitsan to trample a prone victim with all four sets of claws.

A yitsan can also use their tail to entangle a human-sized target, allowing them to constrict their victim as well as slashing them with the tail's razor-sharp edges. A yitsan can engage another foe with its claws while constricting an entangled victim at the same time. A yitsan's mouth has three sets of teeth, and once their jaws have clamped down onto a victim, they can continue mauling them.

Due to their lack of eyes, a yitsan is unaffected by illusions and any spell that requires its target to see. However, despite being functionally blind, a yitsan's sense of hearing, taste, and smell are inhumanly acute. They can locate an opponent within 50-feet due to the sound of their breathing or by their scent. A yitsan can also use its tongue to taste the air, much like a serpent. Casting a silence spell on a yitsan reduces its ability to detect an opponent and hampers its accuracy when attacking.[1]

Habitat[]

Yitsan are solitary predators, whose only concern is for themselves. Most encounters are with young yitsan, since adults tend to avoid large groups of humanoids in favor of less intelligent prey. Yitsan reproduce by laying clutches of up to 4 eggs at a time. Each egg is a 1-inch diameter golden disk, resembling a gold coin except that its is featureless.

When a egg hatches, the newborn yitsan resembles a tiny, inch-long green lizard which crawls into any available crack in a ship's bulkhead and will eat bugs, mice, wood, and cloth. The lizard grows to 6-inches long in two weeks, relying on its chameleon-like ability to blend in with its environment to remain unnoticed. Only the most observant sailors may notice the small nibble marks in their clothing or on their wood implements.

Once the young yitsan reaches a foot in length, it undergoes rapid and painful metabolic changes, maturing in two hours. This frantic growth spurt drains a great deal of energy and leaves the adult yitsan ravenously hungry. A yitsan always seeks out a private place to mature, for it is helpless during its transformation. An adult yitsan lays eggs once it has eaten its first meal, preferring to conceal them in a stash of coins, perhaps even returning to its original spawning hoard.[1]

Rumors[]

Where the yitsan originated is currently unknown, though certain elven scholars believe they are an orcish biological weapon left over from the Unhuman Wars that somehow escaped into civilized space.[1]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 John Terra, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Yitsan entry
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