Grippli
Frog Folk
Please just- alright are you lookin- Can yo- can you please focus on me with those eyes?!
Gripplis are beastkin found across eastern Silva related to frogs. Believed to come from some ancient Elven experiment, they are one of the lesser know animal races across Fabulae.
Their kind thrives in the small communities they formed, isolated from the greater world. Uncaring about the global events, enjoying life on a smaller, more peaceful scale.
Basic Information
Anatomy
A Grippli resembles a member of the frog family, often that of the common tree frog. They are short for their height but have long limbs compared to their torso, giving them a slim appearance. Both hands and feet have four digits each with webbing between.
Biological Traits
Grippli Subspecies
The common Grippli originates from tree frogs, but there are several known subspecies with unique traits. Either because of their diet or environmental pressures, from subtle to major.
Toxic Hides
Prolonged diets of toxic plants & insects led to some Gripplis secreting a poisonous mucus, making them dangerous to the touch. Its lethality varies, causing anything from foaming at the mouth to heart attacks.
Sticky Feet
By secreting a sticky film from their palms and soles, some Gripplis can stick easier onto trees. While it has its advantage in climbing terrain, it also makes them harder to trip, push or disarm in direct combat.
Snaptongues
Snaptongues have a tongue that is double their body’s length, able to launch itself with incredible speeds. While not a proper appendage, it provides some reach to grab onto things when their hands are occupied.
Web Gliders
These short lightweight variants of Gripplis have prolonged digits with larger webbing, allowing them to slow down their fall. With enough skill, some even learn to glide through the air, if only to move between high places.
Genetics and Reproduction
Gripplis lay eggs like other amphibians, with females producing hundreds in a single sitting. Both internal and external fertilisation occurs, depending on the species that the Grippli originates from. An average couple has around three to five children that survive into adulthood.
Growth Rate & Stages
Like regular frogs, Gripplis begin their life as tadpoles, only capable of swimming around in the water they hatch. In a period of a 14 weeks do they develop their limb, becoming less reliant on their water as they age. Within two to three years most are full frogs, growing to maturity throughout ten years. A Grippli is considered an adult by around 15 years old.
Ecology and Habitats
They survive the best near lots of moisture, such as swamps and tropical regions. Without a proper supply of water, Gripplis are prone to drying out within a day or two.
While they can survive colder temperatures, they are not adapted to colder climates. Their cold-blooded nature makes prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures dangerous, if not fatal. Without proper equipment, one may end up dead in a matter of hours.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Don't ask what's in the salve.
The mucus that Gripplis produces from their skins gets used in a lot of medicine because of its anti-bacterial properties. Disinfecting salves that clean wounds or help avoid the spread of bacteria or fungi. And with how much Gripplis produce of it, it is a common trade product.
Some subspecies also use their mucus for different purposes. Toxic hides have theirs used to dip the tips of blades and arrows in it, while Sticky Feet use theirs as glue.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
With the position of their eyes, Gripplis have a great field of vision allowing to almost look 360 degrees. There is only a small blind spot behind their head that one cannot see anything in.
Civilization and Culture
Gender Ideals
Gripplis do not have a strong sense of gender amongst their communities besides who lays eggs and who fertilises them. Children do not get assigned a gender until after the first limbs show, with that being open to change until one reaches proper adulthood.
Average Technological Level
A lot of Gripplis communities remain underdeveloped on a technological level. Prolonged isolation with the rest of the world made them instead rely on old world tech, magic and spiritual sources. Salvaging whatever remains they could of the old Elven Kingdoms to use in their daily lives.
History
During the golden age of the Elven Kingdoms, research into biology led to experiments getting done on local frog life. With records being scarce about the reasons why, they assume it to be some attempt at sapience in amphibians. Results varied amongst different groups, using both scientific and arcane methods to find any success in the projects done over the decades.
The Blazing War shut down a lot of these experiments, leaving some frogs unattended during Velda Sangfroid's reign. The results showed, as within only a generation or two came the first sightings of wild Gripplis. Attempts to track them down being unsuccessful.
As centuries went by, more Gripplis emerged across Silva's borders. Small tribes that made their homes in the swamps, living amongst Elven ruins. They began trading with nearby factions in return for safety, though others also remain isolated from the outside world. Something that persisted into the present day with some communities still staying away from others.
Common Myths and Legends
- Gripplis can change sex: The biological sex of a Grippli can change until adulthood. Afterwards, it cannot be changed by any natural means.
- Gripplis don't understand technology: They do understand and can work with common technology. The problem lies in replicating it, as Gripplis lack the proper resources.
- Gripplis can swallow something their size: Even with their larger mouths, their stomach capacity is around the same of a Human, if not a bit smaller.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Gripplis are quite neutral with other species because few are aware of the greater world. Their communities are small and isolated, with the few that interact being far and few between. Both for personal reasons and not wanting to be amongst the conflicts of other people.
Their knowledge of Elven Culture lends them a deeper understanding with Elves and what they lost. The amphibian beastkin even praise or admire them as deities, tied to their creation. Something that the Elves both accept and reject when faced with it.
Wyrwoods are an interesting case, as Gripplis are one of the few who still know how to make the constructs behave. In return, it leads to some hunting the frog folk down, trying to strip away the last knowledge of Wyrwood creation from their hands. A struggle that is one of the few major conflicts Gripplis fight against to defend their home turf.
Grippli Players
Gripplis are ones that stick to neutral grounds when things get heated, curious but cautious about the outside world. They stick around other adventurers for protection, taking some time to get used to new friends. But once they form a bond, such bonds remain unbreakable.
63 cm - 1.24m
12 kg - 13.6 kg
Vibrant orange
Deep blue
Bright red
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