Grung
Grung are small, amphibious humanoids who dwell in the deepest, wettest corners of Aigusyl’s jungles and rain-drenched groves. Vividly colored and perpetually slick with toxic secretions, grung are both mesmerizing and dangerous—creatures shaped by survival in environments where the weak are swallowed by leaf, vine, or predator. From their tree-top villages and vine-woven ziggurats, grung rule their territories with rigid order and feral cunning.
Standing no taller than three feet, grung resemble humanoid frogs with lean, muscular builds adapted for climbing and leaping great distances. Their skin comes in a spectrum of brilliant hues—green, red, blue, orange, and gold—each color denoting social caste, function, or even arcane potential. These skins are coated in natural toxins that serve as both defense and control, used in rituals, warfare, and dominance over other creatures—including fellow grung.
Grung society is highly stratified and caste-based, with one’s skin color determining one’s role from birth. Gold and orange grung rule as priests and leaders, while blue and red grung serve as warriors and hunters. Green grung—most Common—fill the lowest tiers as workers, gatherers, and scouts. The rarest, purple-skinned grung, are often mystics or prophets said to be touched by spirits of the jungle itself. Advancement is nearly impossible without rituals involving venom, subjugation, or divine intervention.
While often viewed by outsiders as primitive or savage, grung are deeply spiritual and magically inclined. Their chants echo through misty groves like haunting lullabies laced with old power. Grung revere ancient nature spirits, Elemental forces, and strange amphibian deities rarely known outside their own lands. Their arcane knowledge is etched into bark, carved into stones, or sung in cryptic tones that carry across marshes like the cries of frogs at dusk.
Grung are territorial and distrustful of outsiders, whom they often enslave using their paralytic poisons. Those who earn their respect—or survive their trials—may be treated as honored guests, or even initiated into their caste-based society through venomous rites. A few rare grung have left their homes behind, either cast out or driven by visions. These wanderers are often shamans, assassins, or tricksters—silent and alien, yet fierce allies once their trust is won.
Grung are the pulse of the jungle—colorful, dangerous, and deeply entwined with their wet, tangled domain. They are both predators and prey, rulers and slaves to their own traditions. In the heart of the rainforests, where light barely touches the floor and the air thrums with life, the grung sit atop their mossy thrones—watching, waiting, and croaking secrets to the leaves.
