paperforge

The Zharraki

Added 2024-09-12 12:53:49 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share some updates on the bug sketches I showed you all last week. As I mentioned in that post, I love the idea of a civilization-threatening bug hive, but the Kuthrik design, while cool, didn't quite match my vision of what these creatures should look like. So, I made some alterations. Here's what I had last week:

I like the idea of creatures like these being highly specialized, with each subgroup within the hive having clearly defined roles that are reflected in their appearance. For instance, while Kruthiks have both ranged and melee attacks as adults, I thought it would be more interesting for encounters if there was a unit that clearly signaled a ranged attack. That's why I created the third design, with the big butts.

However, after some consideration , while these designs were closer to what I wanted, I thought they could still be improved. So, I refined them into the current versions:

(Sorceror for scale)

Anyway, I'm calling these guys "Zharraki", which to me sounds like the simplification of a possibly more complicated dwarven word, like Zharrak- Hazid, something other peoples would call them after hearing about them from the dwarves, who as prolific miners, would probably have the most experience in dealing with these.(Rock and Stone!) .

I'm also working on some suggested stats for these, based on the original Kruthiks, but with some differences . For example, I've been always annoyed by the lack of interesting beasts to build encounters around, and I think if something like a Giant Ant can be considered a beast, then there is no need for something like these guys to be monstrosities. Here's the wip for those: