Charda

Charda

(Creature)

Type

Monstrous humanoid
(aquatic)

CR

7

Environment

Underground

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 55

Ⅰ

Chardas are small, heavily armored creatures that live exclusively in the Orvian vault known as the Land of Black Blood. They congregate in small communal groups and capture victims to offer up to their voracious deity Orgesh.

Appearance

Small but very heavily built, chardas stand four feet tall but are very wide and dense for their size. They weigh as much as the average human, with elder chardas weighing up to 250 pounds.✝ Chardas are humanoid in shape, but far from human in appearance. They have and extra set of arms, and each of their four hands end in viciously sharp claws best suited to war.

Their bodies are covered in tough scales, though these scales look more like organic plate armour than scales found in the animal kingdom; the scales even clack like armour when the charda moves. Their faces, however, look reptilian with slit green eyes and reptilian maws. The colour of a charda's hide is black or green.

Habitat and ecology

Nearly all chardas live in the benighted depths of the Darklands, in the bowels of its lowest level of Orv, where they dwell only within the vault called the Land of Black Blood. This vault is located many miles below the elven kingdom of Kyonin.

Chardas have a unique relationship with the strange black blood for which their realm is named. This liquid is filled with necromantic energy that kills most creatures that touch it, but chardas can comfortably swim through this substance. They even use it as a form of defence, keeping stores of it in their body, then either squirting it from their mouths or using it as a form of poison delivered through their bite. Most chardas never willingly go more than a few miles from the nearest source of black blood, staying close to the Caltherium and the marshy lands surrounding it.

Life cycle

Chardas begin their life cycle as eggs that are born in clutches of three to five,✝ which take about eight months to hatch. Unlike other Darklands' creatures like drow and hryngars, chardas are not long-lived, with 50 years considered old age. The rare chardas who live longer sometimes develop strange, mystical new powers.

Origins

There is much debate over the origins of chardas. Some believe they were created by the Vault Keepers, while others believe they might have been created by alghollthus, who are renowned for their prolific creation of servitor races and still sometimes use charda trackers.

Society

Charda society is both primitive and mysterious, mostly because chardas consider creatures to be little more than potential sources of food. Chardas create small, simple villages on marshy hillocks in the swamps surrounding the Caltherium, particularly the Black Mire. These villages consist of several domed communal houses huddled together and are led by one charda, who seems to be picked based on both age and achievement.

Much of a charda's life is dominated by their strange religion, with many of their deities completely unknown outside of the vault. Their main deity is Orgesh, a voracious being who demands constant sacrifices. Some have noted that this worship seems more like placation than sincere reverence. Chardas also view the black blood itself as sacred, which helps explain why they are so hostile towards outsiders, most of whom only visit the vault to gather this strange substance.

Ravenous hunger seems to play a large part in charda society as well as worship. Despite being intelligent creatures, chardas are selfish in their feeding habits. When hunting, a charda shares its food only once it is full, and even mothers leave their children to starve if they are not fully fed first. In particularly lean times, chardas resort to cannibalism to keep themselves fed.