Kuo-Toa

“We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to Cyclopean and many-columned Y’ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever.”

-- H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth





The wet gurgling songs of an aquatic cult echo up from the moonlit bay, praising the virtues of fantastical gods. Bound up in rubbery leathers and drinking from a hefty waterflask, the fishman fishmonger trundles into town with his prodigious morning's catch. Bulbous eyes stare from the river at a passing caravan, webbed fingers gripping tightly onto spears in preparation for an ambush.

Comfort In Madness

A simple race of fishlike humanoids, the kuo-toa were long ago driven from mainland lakes and coasts by the expansion of younger and more aggressive races. Forced to find homes in the dark corners of the world, they were preyed upon by the monsters that dwelled there.

Scattered, broken, and driven mad by their torments, it took the kuo-toa centuries to reform their society around a solid seabed foundation of faith.

Faith in what isn't always entirely clear, but those friendly to the kuo-toa today know them as waterbound tribes of eccentric spiritualists. Others consider the fishfolk (or deep ones, or murlocs, or dagonians) to be mad raving menaces to anyone who encroaches on their ill-defined territory.

The Hand of Divinity

Once driven from their havens, the spiritual potential of the kuo-toa made them perfect prey for dark entities that feed on the thoughts of living beings. Minds cracked open wide, the kuo-toa developed otherworldly senses that allowed them to escape their tormentors.

Unable to repair their shattered sense of reason, the kuo-toa turned to blind faith, adopting or inventing a dizzying array of gods and taboos that could protect them from this terrifying new world, their collective psyches endowing superstition with real power.

Attack of the Fishmen

Squat fishmen with slimy skin and broad heads occupied mostly by a wide mouth and two bulbous eyes, the kuo-toa are considered repulsive by most human races. Indeed, their own concept of romance mostly involves marinating in a spawning pool, rather than actual courting.

Kuo-toa societies revolve around their gods, whether the tyrannical theocracies of the Underdark or the patchwork pantheons of the island-dwelling fishfolk. It is a rare kuo-toa that will deny a deity worship, even if their strictures clash with their personal morality or desires. As a result, many of the darker tales of kuo-toa spring from those who were gulled into worshipful submission by an elder horror or demon.

Though not evangelical, the kuo-toa eagerly invite those nearby to join them in their rituals, that they might share the blessings and protection of one god or another. A kuo-toa who insists on arranging the party's boots into a holy symbol before bed is simply being helpful.

Those kuo-toa who find themselves living in another society usually form their own self-contained enclaves bound by a distinct set of traditions, opaque to the outside world.

The Search for Meaning

Kuo-toa adventurers are most often driven by the mighty faith common to their entire race. Following an edict or prophecy or dream that they believe stemmed from their god, these prophets leave their homes behind in search of a goal that could be vague or maddeningly specific.

Other kuo-toa adventurers are simply apostates, cast out by their clade for adhering to a heresy that clashes with their own dogma. Seeking the truth behind their theology, or (more rarely) abandoning religion in favour of the material pursuits that can be won by daring adventurers, such as treasure, authority, or mystical power.

Kuo-Toa Names

Kuo-toa names usually resemble sharp cries or shushing whispers, often taken directly from the noises most often made toward a particular spawn as it matures.

Kuo-toa spawning rites make determining familial descent nigh-impossible, and kuo-toa seldom take true surnames. Instead, they refer to themselves as children of their favoured god. In isolated tribes, this might be a single shared deity. In multicultural cities, two kuo-toa in the same house might happily take the titles of Moradin and Lolth.

Kuo-Toa Names: Arggl, Brakbrak, Dobuul, Druud, Floonl, Klahl, Nakki, Pooldool, Plakni, Srapp, Shuushar, Yooyu