Neneki (3.5e Race)

Author: Sulacu (talk) Date Created: March 24, 2014 Status: Penguin Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Neneki

Neneki are a rare race of magically altered humanoids, and their semi-amorphous bodies have many traits attributed to oozes.

Personality

Often derogatorily called slime-people by those who know of them, a Neneki's mentality is as flexible as their body, capable of adapting to almost any situation, and just as difficult to confine. Neneki are free spirits, and have a strong sense of community and moral compass. On the other hand, they often shy away from direct confrontation, preferring to endure the aggressions of others, or simply evade responsibility altogether when they and their loved ones aren't in any direct danger.

Physical Description

To say Neneki are 'descended' from humans and elves is somewhat of a misnomer. The first Neneki were created when an archmage bent on discovering a way to achieve physical immortality experimented on discovered Noo biomass. Born from this research are humans, elves and half-elves that have been given the traits of oozes. Their bodies are generally sleek and faintly translucent, with body colors that can pretty much range throughout the entire visual spectrum, from green, blue and purple to orange and red. Many scientists have speculated that a Neneki's color depends on his or her subconscious mindset, but this is false. A Neneki's natural colour is influenced somewhat by their ancestry, and largely by the environmental circumstances in which they grow up. Many Neneki are capable of changing their colour at will over a long period of time, leading most to assume a colour that they find to their personal liking. Few Neneki choose to be yellow, however, as that colour is seen as somewhat of a social faux-pas largely for its similarity to certain bodily wastes.

Neneki in physical form are roughly equal in size to humans, and weigh about the same as a human of their height and build.

Physiology

The experimentation that resulted in the birth of the first Neneki drastically altered their internal physiology. Using the interconnectivity and cohesion observable in many species of oozes, Neneki have decentralized cellular function. Each physical cell has the necessary organelles to sustain itself, and Neneki cells naturally group and array themselves when congregated into physical form, creating substructures that emulate the muscle, digestion and respiratory systems present in other organic species. Neneki cells can create these internal structures within seconds of being brought together, allowing them extensive control over their own cohesion and enabling them such feats as changing shape and colour, and squeezing themselves through the tiniest of cracks and reconstituting themselves into humanoid form afterwards. The cellular structure of Neneki is incredibly flexible yet robust, capable of at one time exceeding the resilience of ordinary flesh and at the other time approaching the viscosity of jello.

Neneki do not physically age and remain in their physical prime for most of their lifetime, and sufficiently large clusters of Neneki cells can live for indeterminate periods of time, though not necessarily containing conscience. When Neneki regress and die, it is because the link between their physical selves and their spiritual selves - the mind and soul - weakens over time. This manifests itself in their loss of control over their physical bodies as they grow 'venerable', and eventually they lose cohesion completely, at which point the link between body and spirit is broken and 'death' sets in. The remains of a dead Neneki has no mind to guide its cells, and will eventually physically die as well if not surrounded by sufficient nutrients.

Sexuality and Reproduction

Neneki have no mammalean reproductive organs, though they still emulate male and female forms due to the imprinted genetic memory of being humanoid and the practicality of the humanoid form in day to day tasks. Neneki naturally lean towards one 'gender' over the other, though it is not unheard of for Neneki to alter their gender appearance depending on mood or personal preference. Biologically however, Neneki are unisex.

Neneki reproduce through a process called mitochondrial conception. During intercourse, two Neneki intermix their physical bodies and force a portion of their cells to draw together, causing synkariotic cell fusion, a process during which two cells - one from each parent - and their respective nuclei merge together into a single cell, creating new genetic information. The resulting new entity remains within the cellular matter of the mother parent, where it consumes a portion its parent's cells for nutrition. During this state, the mother parent works to maintain the cellular cohesion of the fetus until its mind develops enough to maintain itself. At this point birth occurs, where the new child is expelled from the mother parent's physiology. Because of the Neneki's organic flexibility, a full pregnancy usually lasts between 3 to 6 weeks.

Growth Rate

There is a vast variety within Neneki growth and development patterns, as the Neneki physical body is essentially an expression of its conscious and subconscious mind. As such, Neneki that grow fast mentally tend to grow fast physically as well, and vice versa. Regardless of this, all Neneki have an extremely quick maturation rate, and most are effectively adolescent by their third year.

Relations

Many races consider Neneki a little too strange for their liking, due to their alien appearance, lack of practical experience and ability to manipulate their bodies in ways impossible to creatures of flesh and blood. That said, they are unlikely to cause a lot of trouble and are generally accepted by most human settlements that see them often. As a result of their inherent strangeness, Neneki are often shunned in parts of the world where they are rarely seen, and discriminated against and ostracized openly by certain elven societies for being a wizard's perversion of their race. Underground societies feature Neneki more often, and they tend to relate best to (deep) gnomes and dwarves.

Alignment

Neneki lean slightly towards the chaotic alignments, and moderately towards good, but they can be of any alignment.

Lands

Neneki are most comfortable in temperate, humid climates or underground environments. High humidity enhances their ability to change their physical shape, whereas arid environments and extreme climates in general inhibit that ability.

Religion

Since Neneki have little history or religion belonging to themselves, they often adopt the religious views of the more populous races that they live amongst, or decide to follow the religions that best match their own points of view. Rare Neneki however have a lingering connection to the Noosphere due to the nature of the experiments that birthed their race.

Language

All Neneki speak Common.

Names

Neneki style themselves in a fairly whimsical manner, due to their swift upbringing. Many Neneki decide upon their own names, and they have a propensity for picking names that sound 'cool' to them or that are currently trending. Their mercurial natures reflect the changeability of their form, and as such it's not a rare occurrence for a Neneki to get tired of an old name and pick a new one. As a result, many Neneki endow themselves with names that are exotic, have random letters tacked onto the end, or that simply belong to someone they admire.

Racial Traits

• -2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom: Neneki share the toughness attributed to slimes and oozes, but their lack of physical rigidity somewhat decreases their ability to exert force. As Neneki mature extremely quickly, they are often less experienced in the ways of the world until later age.
• Ooze[[Type::Ooze| ]] (Augmented Humanoid, Xenotheric ): Created from Noo biomass bound to humanoid bodies, they have inherited some or their alien traits. 
• Neneki base land speed is 30 feet.  
• Low-Light Vision: A neneki can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. 
• Ooze Shape (Ex): Neneki can let their physical forms dissolve into a formless ooze shape. While in this state, their mass occupies the same 5-foot square, and they lose their arms, legs, head and their ability to speak or wield manufactured weapons. Neneki can manipulate the adhesive qualities of their biomass in order to stick to surfaces. When in ooze shape the Neneki has freedom of movement for the purpose of defending against grapples. Furthermore, their land speed halves and they gain a climb speed equal to that halved land speed. Ooze shape Neneki may move along walls and even ceilings without falling. While in ooze shape, a neneki may freely and immediately reattach any lost biomass by touching it, like cut-off limbs or bodyparts, which will return to their rightful place on the Neneki's body upon dropping out of ooze shape.
  Neneki in ooze shape can squeeze through the tiniest of gaps. They can pass through holes, gaps and openings fit for much smaller creatures, though their speed halves once for every size category smaller a creature would have to be to pass through the obstruction normally. For example, a neneki can squeeze through holes made by mice (Fine creatures), but doing so will be done at speed reduced by a factor 16. A neneki can technically pass through any membrane that individual cells can fit through (down to roughly 0.1 millimetres), but passing through incredibly fine material may take hours or days worth of time. 
• Regeneration (Ex): A Neneki has regeneration 1 that is overcome by cold and fire effects. Neneki do not die from being beheaded, and neither do they take extra damage from or have to save against a coup de grace attempt made against them unless the attack or part thereof would overcome its regeneration. A neneki is never immune to nonlethal damage dealt as a result of her regeneration. 
• Ooze Body (Ex): A Neneki's ooze-like body is very resilient and hard to injure permanently. Neneki only take half damage from any physical attacks that deal piercing or slashing. 
• Ooze Traits: Neneki possess the traits of an ooze, with the exception of Mindless and Blind. They get no blindsense and none of the immunities commonly associated with mindlessness and blindness. Furthermore, while they are resistant to critical hits, they are not completely immune. Neneki are treated as having 50% fortification against critical hits. In addition, due to their Ooze-like consistency, they do not incur penalties for aging. 
• Xenotheric Traits: Neneki have telepathy out to 100 feet and have a personal bio-energy pool, immunity to poison, petrification and form-altering effects, and resistance to acid 10 and electricity 10. Neneki eat and breathe, but need not sleep. Neneki may take Xenotheric feats if they have at least 3 HD, but can never take feats that grant them protection against fire or cold, such as Varia Skin or Icy Resilience. 
• Susceptibility to Climate: Neneki have vulnerability to cold and fire. In conditions of at least severe cold, a Neneki's body hardens and it loses the benefits of its ooze shape and ooze body abilities. Contrariwise, in conditions of at least severe heat, it involuntarily enters its ooze shape and cannot return to its normal form until it leaves the heat. Whenever they take more than their character level/HD in cold or fire damage, they incur the effects of severe heat or cold as described above for 1d3 rounds unless they succeed on a Fortitude save. The save DC is equal to the damage minus the Neneki's character level/HD. 
• +8 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks and on checks to escape a grapple or pin.
• Automatic Languages: Common
• Bonus Languages: Any
• Favored Class: Any
• Level Adjustment: +1
• Effective Character Level: 2

Vital Statistics

Table: Neneki Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
2 years	+1d3	+2d3	+3d3

Table: Neneki Aging Effects

Middle Age1	Old2	Venerable3	Maximum Age
20 years	40 years	60 years	+2d20 years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Neneki Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	4' 10"	+2d10	100 lb.	× (2d4) lb.
Female	4' 5"	+2d10	90 lb.	× (2d4) lb.

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