Wrikreechee

Wrikreechee

(Creature)

Type

Monstrous humanoid
(aquatic)

CR

By class level

Environment

Any aquatic or urban (Akchios)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

wrikreechee

Source: Alien Archive, pg(s). 124-125

Wrikreechees are an intelligent race of mollusc-like deep sea dwellers native to the ocean planet Akchios.

Appearance

Wrikreechees are spindly and deliberate mollusc-like humanoids. Their two lower limbs are robust and capable of clinging to jagged surfaces for extended periods. Their forelimbs bear dozens of long, fibrous, baleen-like whiskers which they use for filter feeding, as well as a set of three grasping claws with opposable thumbs to manipulate objects.

During the warming seasons of Akchios when it approaches its sun, wrikreechees develop rigid exoskeletons that allowed them to wander and feed. As the planet moves away from the sun and cools down, they moult their shells and retreated into coral-like constructions to conserve energy and socialise with their wintering colony.

Because of their adaptation to seasonal stimuli, wrikreechees become noticeably torpid in cold weather and manic in heat. To avoid this and regulate their body temperatures, wrikreechees wear suits with environmental controls if they can afford them. A wrikreechee's simple jaw and throat, adapted to an aquatic environment, mangle a range of consonants and can barely project above a whisper in air.

History

Wrikreechees evolved in the lightless deep seas of Akchios, sustaining themselves through the nutrients provided by hydrothermal vents. Lacking access to fire or metallurgy and blocked access to the outside world by their homeworld's thick ice sheets, for most of history wrikreechees developed only rudimentary technology.

Several centuries before the Gap, as its sun grew hotter and hotter, the ice sheets of Akchios thawed enough to expose its immense ocean, revealing the cosmos to the wrikreechees for the first time. They made contact with explorers from the Pact Worlds system in 268 AG, and by this time they had already developed complex astronomic theories. Although the wrikreechees still had only simple tools, they had the academic aptitude to quickly understand and adopt the visitors' technologies.

Society

Historically, wrikreechees were a cultured people with a love for history, mathematics and philosophy despite their primitive technology. Expatriate wrikreechees are renowned for creating wonders of architecture and adapting old technologies in innovative ways. Among their most important developments are a swath of pharmaceuticals and inexpensive biotechnology solutions that have helped them adapt to life in dry environments, including a series of hormonal enhancements that allow them to maintain their shell year-round and a biotech vocal enhancer that helps them speak like a human.

Wrikreechees spend much of their lives in close contact with one another, learning to predict their neighbours' reactions and coordinate their actions. Most wrikreechee travellers delight in clothing and crowded rooms, finding both to be suitable replacements for the colonies they left behind.