Mollusca

With their jagged teeth and disproportionately large eyes, mollusca usually look strange to most other races. Mollusca are a race of slug-like people who are known for their mercantile skills. Most molluscas go into highly profitable trades due to their ability to eat their earnings. Eating gold increases muscle mass and size which can sometimes even let them reach statures of that of Firbolgs and Goliath's after consuming massive quantities over their lifetimes. This life of metamorphosis and change makes mollusca usually very flexible but also can make some who grow tired of the mundane seek rapid change like a sort of midlife crisis.
Mollusca live a life of metamorphosis starting off more slug than humanoid. They begin to sprout legs and their eyes and teeth grow as they hit puberty. They don't live much longer than humans and often have a higher mortality rate due to getting in over their head in a grift. Mollusca begin to be able to reproduce after puberty and posses both parts required to reproduce. A mollusca can only have one organ activated at a time and so they usually decide what sex and gender they identify as after puberty and change whenever they feel like it.
Anyone present for a defining moment in a mollusca's life or a major change in their world will surely be seen as one of the most important people in that mollusca's life. Often during times of war, emotional growth, divorce, pregnancy, etc. the mollusca will seek others to share their change with. Anyone gracious enough to help them or to experience the events with them will be seen to that mollusca as a friend. It's not uncommon for mollusca to leave home with the first friends they ever make and become business partners with them. It's rare to see a mollusca not traveling in a pair or trio and it is assumed that a mollusca running a shop single-handedly has experienced a tragic loss. If a mollusca joins an adventuring party they will be inseparable to the point that they may be more important to the mollusca than gold.

Basic Information

Anatomy

With their jagged teeth and disproportionately large eyes, mollusca usually look strange to most other humanoid races. They are usually incredibly short, ranging from 2 1/2 feet to just over 3 feet. It is still possible to find very tall mollusca with some reaching up to and above 10 feet tall due to their eating habits.They are usually incredibly skinny and scrawny with swollen joints that give them almost skeletal limbs in relation to their pot-bellies. Males and females are about the same height and weight weighing around 30-40 lbs.

Genetics and Reproduction

Mollusca begin to be able to reproduce after puberty and posses both parts required to reproduce. A mollusca can only have one organ activated at a time and so they usually decide what sex and gender they identify as after puberty and change whenever they feel like it.

Growth Rate & Stages

Mollusca live a life of metamorphosis starting off more slug than humanoid. They begin to sprout legs and their eyes and teeth grow as they hit puberty. They don't live much longer than humans and often have a higher mortality rate due to getting in over their head in a grift.

Ecology and Habitats

Most mollusca live underground in small villages built in small damp caves. Their favorite food is usually mushrooms (and gold) which makes this climate ideal for them. A mollusca village is rarely going to look the same after any number of generations. It's rare for a mollusca to re-enter a mollusca village before deciding to have a child and even more rare for them to stay after they raise them. Most mollusca will go their entire lives without seeing a mollusca older than 50 until they grow that old themselves.

Dietary Needs and Habits

A mollusca's most notable trait is their ability to eat their earnings. Eating gold increases muscle mass and size which can sometimes even let them reach statures of that of Firbolgs and Goliath's after consuming massive quantities over their lifetimes. They can also eat a large amount at once to activate a large burst in stature very quickly. This life of metamorphosis and change makes mollusca usually very flexible but also can make some who grow tired of the mundane seek rapid change like a sort of midlife crisis.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The small amount of structure that a mollusca has in their life is hardly social and far more personal. Anyone present for a defining moment in a mollusca's life or a major change in their world will surely be seen as one of the most important people in that mollusca's life. Often during times of war, emotional growth, divorce, pregnancy, etc. the mollusca will seek others to share their change with. Anyone gracious enough to help them or to experience the events with them will be seen to that mollusca as a friend. It's not uncommon for mollusca to leave home with the first friends they ever make and become business partners with them. It's rare to see a mollusca not traveling in a pair or trio and it is assumed that a mollusca running a shop single-handedly has experienced a tragic loss. If a mollusca joins an adventuring party they will be inseparable to the point that they may be more important to the mollusca than gold.

Facial characteristics

Mollusca have jagged teeth, huge eyes, skinny faces, and bushy eyebrows. Mollusca resemble a strange sort of alien more than they resemble any other humanoid.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Most mollusca villages are located in very calm places with few monsters or beasts so they can protect the children that grow up there who have no defence of their own. This serenity also makes it so that any mollusca who has a child will try to find the nearest mollusca village and raise their child there. This makes it so no mollusca village stays the same for long and most of them look similar to others in the region due to a sort of cross-polination of cultures.

Average Intelligence

Mollusca intelligence is one of common sense and cunning as they don't generally prefer intelligence like "book smarts" or what humans generally consider intelligence. Molluscas are incredibly perceptive when it comes to people and their mannerisms and are well known for their persuasiveness.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Mollusca naming rituals vary greatly between villages with some giving the child two names that they can choose from, some just one, some don't have a last or a middle name. What's consistent though is that all of them have nicknames, sometimes they are adopted by the mollusca as a professional name for their store, guild, or otherwise.
In mollusca society it's considered extremely disrespectful to call a mollusca by a name they don't want to be called. If a mollusca doesn't want you to call them by their nickname. Don't do it.

Relationship Ideals

Mollusca don't form the same kind of romantic relationships that most other races do. Usually a romantic partner wouldn't compare to the connection that they would have with their close friends, so many mollusca will have children with their business partners and friends as a sign of respect. The line between platonic and romantic is blurred for a mollusca who don't form the same kind of passion for another person as would a human or maybe even an elf.

Average Technological Level

Mollusca intelligence varies depending on whatever society is around the village in question but most villages adopt whatever architecture and sometimes entire culture is around them nearby. Mollusca do have incredible knowledge of mushrooms though and are masterful cooks and brewers.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Mollusca is a strange language that uses unusual sounds like clicking and has a very round and bubbly sound to it. Mollusca has slowly adopted more and more of the gnomish syllables over the decades and even uses gnomish scripts in their writings due to the similarities in sounds and vowels between the languages.

Common Dress Code

It's rare to find an elegantly dressed mollusca and due to their strange proportions, finding any clothes that aren't made by others is incredibly difficult so it's not uncommon to find them in very simplistic baggy outfits like a set of overalls or robes.

Common Taboos

Never call a mollusca by a name they don't want to be called. Ever.

Scientific Name

Mollusca

Lifespan

70 years

Average Height

2 1/2 - 3 feet (small size) 9 - 10 feet (large size)

Average Weight

30-40 (small size) 250 - 350 (large size)

Average Physique

Mollusca have some of the most varying physiques of all humanoids with most standing between 2 and 10 feet tall. Their tendency to mix with nearby tribes and villages as well makes genetic diversity widespread.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Mollusca pigmentation can very to such massive degrees that you can probably find a mollusca to match the pigment of any of the vibrant mushroom species that they live around. Most don't have hair aside from a set of bushy eyebrows that usually are a grey or brown with a small tint of whatever their skin color is. Any that do have hair usually only having a couple wiry strands atop their heads.