Monkey Folk of Mystara
by Cab DavidsonPrimate Races of Mystara
Lecture notes from Zoological Anthropology 101, Professor Dane Ossif
“Across the surface of Mystara, strange forces have allowed goats, manatees, cats, dogs, jackals, tortoises and even halflings to become bipedal and intelligent. It may seem odd that there are so few civilised simians. It would be a mistake to assume that their scarcity in most civilised lands means that there are no intelligent simian species – in fact Mystara has a diverse array of intelligent apes and monkeys spread across the three continents, although they are for the most part rarely seen in civilised lands. They are however capable and interesting peoples who deserve greater recognition, and I do hope that at least some of you go to the trouble of learning more about them.
“Of those species, only one belongs to the Strepsirrhines, that is the more primitive forms of primate. That would be the familiar phanaton, which appears to be a member of the Lemuroidea, or lemur family. It is unusual both in its intellect and its capacity to glide through the trees of its native forests, and it is quite surprising that a creature so primitive has formed quite complex cultures wherever it has spread to. A second form is from the Cercopithecidae, a true monkey, and that is the fearsome taer, a monstrous and truly ghastly baboon. All but one of the others are apes. The nobubele, wang oranye, shaydaan, and gorira being derived from great apes or Hominidae, and the one being a lesser ape (the Hylobatidae), the elegant and beautiful intelligent gibbon known as the shaydaan.
“The last species I will describe is one that has thus far defied classification, and I hope that some of you choose to specialise in this field and bring specimens back for analysis. Thus far dissection has been inconclusive and, I’m afraid, the subjects rather resentful. None of the anatomy of the creatures called yazarians really fits what we expect of any primate, and it is possible that their lineage is completely unknown to natural philosophy. Further work is needed.”
Brachiation and Tree Walking
Most primate characters are able to move rapidly through trees by either brachiation or tree walking.
Brachiation, the process of swinging through the trees arm over arm, by means of holding on with the arms, is indeed the main form of locomotion of many such characters, and some (notably the changyi) can reach a dizzying pace by brachiating through the forest canopy.
Treewalking is a far slower process of climbing on to branches, running or walking along, and cautiously moving out across to other trees. This necessitates a much more tightly packed forest canopy to move from tree to tree, but it has the advantage of being barely detectable from below.
Most primates can make progress through the forest canopy or through similar spaces (such as for example the masts and rigging of a ship, the balconies of a great city, etc.) using a combination of the these two forms of locomotion. If fighting creatures not native to the tree tops, creatures who are proficient at brachiation and tree walking gain +2 to hit and damage, and a +2 bonus to wrestling rating. Any creatures not proficient must also make a saving throw vs. death ray if knocked prone while elevated in the trees to avoid falling to the ground, while creatures that are proficient therein are assumed to have held on with, at least, a hand or a foot.
Skills
Primate characters may learn any general skills allowable to other characters, if available to learn where they reside. There are a number of other skills that are less common among other races, but widely known among the primates.
Animal Empathy (Wis): Generally knowing how to keep a wild animal on side – not so much controlling them or communicating with them, a successful check will inform a character as to whether an animal is likely to be aggressive, friendly, dangerous, or in general how it is likely to react. The character may then be able to change their behaviour accordingly and affect how the animal will react. This will not tame an aggressive animal that has already attacked, but it may allow a character to avert an attack or, at least, be ignored by an animal.
Foraging (Intelligence): How to identify and sustainably and safely harvest useful plants, fungi, shellfish, seaweed, fruit and nuts. An essential survival skill, and in some regions a means of producing harvests for sale or trade.
Forest Construction (Intelligence): Building structures from naturally obtained materials in forests or jungles. Constructing simple woven platforms or nests that are last for a few nights does not requiring any kind of skill check, but to build more complex structures that may last for longer requires a high degree of skill. Successful use of this skill can also allow for construction of living, growing shelters made from still live branches and twigs within the trees, structures that will continue to grow and develop over many years.
Howling (Constitution): Being able to howl to communicate general thoughts and feelings over a wide range. A successful check will allow all creatures of the same species, if outdoors and within half a mile, to hear the character howling. Each howl takes around a minute, and can contain any sentence of 8 words or less that the character wishes to convey.
Knapping (Ingelligence): The skill of making stone tools, by breaking flint or other stones to create useful sharp edges. This skill allows a character to make or repair any of a number of specialised stone tools (knives, scrapers, axe heads, etc.) using other stones, antler, horn and other materials to form sharp edges.
Monkey Wrestling (Dexterity): Only characters capable of brachiation and tree walking can learn this skill, which involves climbing over a foe in combat. With a successful skill check, and gaining initiative on an opponent in melee, the character may choose to climb an opponent to either make a wrestling or unarmed attack with either a +2 bonus to hit or +2 bonus to wrestling rating. Normal bonuses to strike an unarmed foe attempting to wrestle do not apply in the event of the skill check being made, but the target may still make a normal weapon attack.
This skill can only be used if the enemy is significantly larger than the character using this skill. Once that character has climbed on to the target, if they gain initiative in the following round they may choose to climb over and continue their movement on the other side of their enemy, to continue making melee attacks, to continue wrestling or to back away into normal melee combat. Note that only a single hand attack can be made while monkey wrestling, the other hand is needed to hold on.
Permaculture (Intelligence): Forest farming, for production of crops at ground level, mid-storey and forest canopy through the year to sustainably maximise production of leaves, berries, nuts and fruits, fibres, wood and other products in a semi-natural woodland. An important part of primate food production, also practiced by other species elsewhere.
Warrior Scream (Constitution): Used primarily in primitive and ‘warrior’ cultures, although not confined to them. The art of letting out an ear-piercing scream to threaten opponents and psyche oneself up for combat. After spending a round screaming, a successful check will confer a +1 to hit and damage for 2d4 rounds, and may depending on circumstances force opponents to make a morale check.