Frougen

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Frougen are a humanoid species like many others across Kontinent. Their skin is notable, both because of their unique shades of green and brown that can be changed at will and that unlike most other species it is covered in a thin layer of mucus in order to preserve moisture and providing insulation and shielding against the elements. Their limbs are also unsually suited to climbing, being proportionally more slender than that of the usual humanoid as well as possesing an unusual quality of sticking quite effectively to whatever surface the individual wishes. Their legs are also exceptionally strong, giving the Frougen the capability to leap much higher than most other sentient species. It is perhaps therefore not a surprise that whilst the Frougen are perfectly capable of standing on their hind legs like most other humanoids, they often move on all fours, especially in challenging enviroments. The last quality of note is their mouth, with sports both an unusual sack in the bottom of their mouths that allow the Frougen to produce an croaking odd sound, as well as their famously long tounges that are good for hunting in both the wild and in more social settings.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The Frougen are omnivores, but tend to favour meat, as it is relatively hard to cultivate crops outside the immedate vicinity of their villages.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

The Frougen have organized themselves into the Duchy of Grenoulle, located in Kontient's southern archipelago.

Gender Ideals

Frougen have no defined concept of gender, as they can over their lifetime change their biological sexual characteristics even without the help of Horizons Beauty, with some changing as frequently as every month whilst others only do it once or twice in a lifetime.

Relationship Ideals

The Frougen are like many neighbouring species communal in nature and are thus in general polyamorous, but are also not averse to individual relationships with those from other species. This has the consequence that a fair number of the relationships in any given settlement is between what some would consider those of the same gender (this is not quite accurate, as described above). Whilst this is a perfectly normal occurence in much of south Kontinet, some northern societies have denounced this as the influence of such odd culprits as corrupting magic or chemical elements in the water the Frougen inhabit.

Average Technological Level

While there is plenty of wood and rock in their native enviroment, the Frougen choose to build their houses out of the fertile mud, planting seeds in them regularly during the building process. Over time, these seeds and saplings grow, covering or even enveloping the house in greenery and hiding them from from view. This way, an entire village can be easily mistaken for a simple collection of hills, confusing predators and would-be invaders.
They are surprisingly proficient metalworkers, using iron for almost all of their tools despite the humid climate. The Frougen live in a fascinating cycle with their tools, as the swampy lands they inhabit are full of bog iron, which the Frougen melt down and shape into tools and weapons. They then use them until they break or rust beyond repair, after which they discard them in a rather ritualistic fashion into the same large pools they harvest their bog iron from, symbolizing the cyclical relationship of the soul and the world at large.

History

It is unknown when the Frougen first emerged from the oceans and settled into the wooded and swampy lands of Grenouille, but from what can be ascertained it was long before the Shuvuu war and at a time when the Gano were still living in villages under the open sky. As the Frougen believe time and history itself is cyclical, record-keeping is fairly scarce for most of Grenouilles history, but contemporary accounts by the Gano largely indicate several hundred years of peaceful coexistence. Unlike the Gano, the Frougen kept on living in the open air even after the arrival of the Shuvuu, preferring to elaborately disguise their villages rather than living underground. Nevertheless, those that did not submit began a drawn out war of ambushes and attrition againt the avian invaders, eagerly joining forces with the Gano when they reemerged to retake the surface. The intespecies miltiary unit called the Shuvuu braves earned legendary status with their airborne fighting tactics and shattered any potential enmity the two species might have had after the invasion. Folllowing the extinction of the Shuvuu, the Frougen returned to their usual peaceful way of life and it is only with the arrival of Titenfiscans on the island that things of note have once again begun to occur.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Frougen have no traditional enmity towards interspecies romance, but have traditionally been limited to courting the neighbouring Gano. The arrival of the Titenfiscan species has drastically changed this, as anyone who have visited one of Grenouilles famous harbour bars can attest to.

Origin/Ancestry

Amphbious