camazotz
Camazotz are humanoids with large bat like wings vaguely analogous in appearance to the Man Bat from Batman: the Animated Series with a modest amount of inspiration from the Mayan god of death known as Camazotz and real world South American vampire bats.
Commissioned camazotzflying, grey background by Diana Rahfoth
Basic Information
Anatomy
Camazotz are roughly as tall as humans on average and they have wingspans roughly as wide as they are tall. They generally have builds comparable to hearty and healthy humans.
They have fully prehensile feet with great grip strength allowing camazotz to manipulate objects with their feet almost as well as they can with their hands and allowing them to hang upside comfortably for hours at a time.
Genetics and Reproduction
Most females give birth to single offspring, but twin births are far more common among the camaztoz than they are among humans. Roughly one-in-four camazotz births result in twins.
Pregnancies tend to last about about 150 to 180 days. Twin births nearly always take longer, meaning twin births are rarely a surprise.
Growth Rate & Stages
Camazotz pups can fly unaided around age two. They enter adolescence around nine years and are fully grown by age fourteen. Females remain fertile through age thirty-five while males tend to remain fertile for life.
Camazotz typically live around fifty years if they avoid dying young, with a few very lucky and exceptional individuals making it to their mid sixties.
Ecology and Habitats
Camazotz can survive almost anywhere as long as they can find dark places to sleep during the day. Most camazotz live underground.
Camazotz prefer warmer climates and while they can survive in colder areas, they generally choose not to and rarely opt to dwell in artic or subartic regions long-term.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Camazotz are omnivores but have a strong preference for meat, especially bloody meat, viewing drinking blood as the best part of a kill.
Camazotz can eat cooked food, but most prefer to eat their food exclusively raw.
While camazotz do not partake of mortal flesh or mortal blood often, they seem to relish the opportunity to literally consume their defeated foes. Camazotz don't seem to suffer overt symptoms of Cannibal Sickness but many believe their weakness to sunlight and general beligerence is a result of their race's collective history of eating mortal flesh.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Juvenile camazotz can fly unaided around age two. They enter adolescence around ten years and are fully grown by age fifteen. Females remain fertile through age thirty-five while males tend to remain fertile for life.
Most females give birth to single offspring, but twin births are far more common among the camazotz than they are among humans, roughly one in four births. If food is plentiful, most camazotz will practice a reasonable facsimile of monogamy. If food is scarce the strongest males will kill or drive way the weaker males and then practice polygamy.
Camazotz usually live in colonies of 10 to 30 adults with 5 to 15 juveniles and adolescents. Camazotz are territorial as a rule, but they are pragmatic enough to relocate if their chosen territory becomes unsuitable.
Facial characteristics
Their faces are far more bat-like than humanoid, with large pronounced ears, dark eyes, and fanged mouths, greatly ressembling real world South American vampire bats.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Camazotz are native to the tropical islands of Scarterra's equatorial region but they have since spreadout through Scarterra, living primarily underground in the caverns of Scarnoctis.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Camazotz have eyesight vaguely comparable to humans requiring some light to see, but camazotz are impaired when exposed to bright light. Sight is not their primary sense. Camazotz have superior hearing and sense of smell relative to humans and most impressively they have sonar enabling them to the "see" in the dark.
Civilization and Culture
Beauty Ideals
Both male and female camazotz consider it desireable that mates be healthy, strong and fierce. What humans call frightening, camazotz consider attractive.
Gender Ideals
Camazotz females tend to be a little big bigger than males on average and most camazotz colonies are matriarchal partially due to this and partially due to the races common intreprations of breeding imperatives and Greymoria worship. Greymoria is female, and camazotz are supposed to follow her so it seems natural to follow female camazotz, right?
It is basically understood that a single male and 20 females can repopulate a colony easier than 20 males and 1 female. Males are considered expendable to the needs of the colony as a whole and risk taking among males is encouraged. Those males that accomplish great and heroic deeds are the ones that get to mate with the colony's most attractive and fertile females while the unproven males don't get to breed at all. Thus all young males are pushed to seek acts of greater and greater glory which leads to predictable attrition so almost every colony has a skewed female-to-male ratio as a result of this cultural practice.
Courtship Ideals
Camazotz are not monogamous. Females mate with the strongest and most attractive males, especially those with the most glorious deeds to their names and their pups often have different fathers.
The most strong and glory hardened males often get to mate with many females whereas unproven males generally don't get to mate at all.
Average Technological Level
Camazotz are capable of primitive metallurgy. Their preferred weapons are bows and spears (though they have to place their feet on the ground to fire boes). Camazotz rarely wear much clothes, usually wearing just enough to cover their naughty bits, if even that. They commonly wear light armor made from tanned hides or woven cloth in battle.
The few camazotz that have allied with human nations such as the Uskalan camazotz typically are given the best weapons their partners can produce.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Camazotz speak Zocatec. Relatively few camazotz make it a point to learn other languages.
Common Dress Code
Camazotz prefer to be as unencumbered as possible, so they are often naked unless they opt to wear armor or enter a cold area.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
The camazotz were once fervent worshipers of Greymoria. During the Second Unmaking , the camazotz believed Greymoria has largely abandoned them. The camazotz still worship Greymoria as their primary deity, but most camazotz are not especially pious generally only truly worshiping Greymoria once or twice a year (though there are exceptions).
History
Origin: Camazotz were created by Greymoria in the Second Age to harass and prey on elves that lived in tropical areas.
Second Age History: Originally, camazotz lived almost exclusively in tropical and subtropical forests. Camazotz stayed loyal to Greymoria and attacked elves near their territory whenever they could. Eventually the elves became so numerous and organized that they were able to force the camazotz on the defensive. As flyers, the camazotz could cover large distances quickly and they spread throughout Scarterra, but with nearly every other humanoid hostile to them, the camazotz were not able to truly put roots down anywhere apart from underground.
Surviving the Second Unmaking: Unsurprisingly, most of the camazotz died in the Second Unmaking. The camazotz fought or fled from the demons as best they could. Their impact was not great and there are no mentions of them in surviving written accounts of the Second Unmaking. It is widely believed that most if not the entirety of the survivors of the camazotz race were those who chose to dwell below ground.
Recent History and Distribution: Early in the Third Age, the camazotz began spreading. Initially cautious, they did not immediately resume their war on Greymoria’s enemies. They focused on shoring up their numbers and establishing new homes. The camazotz began reclaiming territory above ground once again, especially in warmer climates.
The Camazotz had to deal with the kalazotz. The kalazotz are an offshoot of camazotz that adopted Mera as their patron. It’s unclear whether the kalazotz diverged before, during, or after the Unmaking but reactions between the camazotz and kalazotz were immediately hostile when the two groups re-connected.
While individually weaker, and a single kalazotz is no match for a singular camazotz, the kalazotz more often than not had greater numbers and better ability to work in groups than the camazotz and usually got the better end of bat-on-bat violence. It also didn’t help that the camazotz got in frequent fights with humans, elves , and dwarves while the kalazotz were generally able to peacefully coexist with the “nonflyers.”
Typically in tropical equatorial areas, camazotz are most numerous and have managed to hedge out the kalazotz whereas the kalazotz are the more common bat people seen in temperate regions.
Comissioned art of Camazotz/Kalazotz comparison by Diana Rahfoth
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Camazotz are omnivores, but they prefer a carnivorous diet, especially blood. Camazotz are especially fond of drinking blood from mortal humanoids, but they are not suicidal and they are not fools. They will forgo feeding from humanoids if they believe the humanoids are capable of lethal retribution.
The Uskalan camazotz are an exception to the camazotz norm of not being able to cooperate with non-flyers. A large group of camazotz have pledged fealty to King Drosst and serve as brutally unsubtle enforcers for his tyrannical regime.
Camazotz Character Creation
Camazotz have the same 1-5 attribute spread that humans have. Very Strong: Camazotz get -1 all non-magical Strength rolls, including inflicting damage. They get a -1 bonus on Willpower rolls when making Feats of Strength checks Flight: Camazotz can fly assuming there is enough room to spread their wings. Camazotz ability to fly is seriously impaired when they carry loads greater than their own weight, the best they can do is manage a slow fall. Camazotz have trouble flying long distances while carrying loads exceeding half their own weight. “Injured” Camazotz are limited to carrying half their weight while staying airborne. “Wounded” Camazotz cannot carry more than a quarter of their weight. “Mauled” Camazotz can barely carry anything and “Crippled” Camazotz cannot fly at all. Flight maneuvers based on agility roll Dexterity + Athletics. Flight maneuvers over long distances roll Stamina + Athletics. Most Camazotz take an Athletics specialty in flight to get a bonus die on flying rolls. If the camazotz want to fight foes while airborne, a Camazotz’ Dodge, Melee, Brawl, and Archery abilities are capped at his or her Athletics rating much like how a humanoid riding a horse has his/her combat abilities capped by his Ride ability. Accustomed to Pain: All Camazotz have the Pain Tolerance Merit for free meaning they can forgo all wound penalties for an entire scene by spending a temporary Willpower point. Most characters can only forgo wound penalties for one turn by spending a Willpower point. Thick Skinned: Camazotz receive a bonus soak die against all forms of damage, stackable with worn armor if any. Night Senses: Camazotz suffer no penalty in darkness and receive a -1 difficulty bonus to all Alertness rolls when in absolute or relative darkness. Terrifying Visage: Camazotz use "Inverse Appearance" mechanics when dealing with other humanoids. Among their own kind, “scary” is “attractive.” Claws and Fangs: Camazotz can inflict their Strength rating in lethal damage with their claws. They can inflict Strength +2 damage with their bites, but they have to grapple opponents first in order to attempt a bite. Ill-tempered: Camazotz receive a +1 difficulty penalty all non-magical Charisma and Manipulation rolls when dealing with non-Camazotz. Light Sensitivity: Camazotz receive a +1 difficulty penalty on all non-reflexive rolls when in the presence of bright light.
Genetic Descendants
Lifespan
Few Camazotz live long enough to die of old age; those that do tend to max out around sixty years.
Average Height
Adult Camazotz average just under six feet tall and have roughly seven foot wing spans.
Geographic Distribution
Related Organizations
Related Ethnicities
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