Tengu

Update needed This article should be updated to reflect canon changes noted in Tian Xia World Guide. Please help improve it if you can; the talk page might contain suggestions.

Tengu

(Creature)

Common

Medium

Humanoid

Tengu

Level

Varies

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Tengu

Images of tengu

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 310

Type

Humanoid
(tengu)

CR

By class level

Environment

Temperate mountains and urban

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Tengu

Images of tengu

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 263

Tengu are an ancestry of feathered, crow-headed humanoids native to what is today known as the land of Kwanlai in Tian Xia.

Appearance

Ikiko, a jinxfeather tengu Shackles pirate.

Tengu are feathered, with most bearing black coats similar to crows and ravens, though brown and blue-black variants exist. Despite their bird-like appearance—and unlike the yamabushi tengus who resemble them—tengu lack wings or other natural means of flight. Tengu feet end in sharp raptor-like talons.

Adventurers

A tengu who leaves their ancestral homeland feels an intense pull toward adventure, to cross vast distances, collect beautiful treasures, and brave the challenges of combat or the rolling sea. Tengu often become rogues, bards, oracles, rangers, or swashbucklers.

History

The recent history of tengu is one of turmoil and struggle. For nearly 400 years tengu suffered as a persecuted and embattled underclass under the thumb of Imperial Lung Wa, and later many of its Successor States. Tengu suffered after Lung Wa's conquest of Kwanlai in 4280 AR, and during this era many fled to seek new lands to call home. Some took ships to the distant continents of Arcadia or Garund, while others took the harsh journey across the frozen north of the Crown of the World to Avistan. Even now, with the empire of Lung Wa gone for a century and Kwanlai an independent tengu nation, their diaspora remains large.

Ecology

Tengu, like birds, reproduce by laying and inseminating eggs. However, apart from their reproduction, beaks, feathers, and taloned feet, they have humanoid traits like fingered hands with opposable thumbs, and plantigrade legs.

According to the jorogumo, tengu are believed to possess some kind of supernatural immunity to both the spider creature's venom and their mind-twisting magic. The truth of these rumours has never been ascertained, but what is certain is that the jorogumos possess an irrepressible hatred of tengu that drives the normally subtle hunters into a near uncontrollable murderous rage.

Culture

Tengu culture happily assimilates aspects of foreign cultures in the same way a crow would build a nest of different materials. Tengu revere their elders, finding long-lived tengu just as qualified to lead tengu society as highly experienced tengu. They primarily live in the slums of human settlements in the Shackles and the Sodden Lands, where they take up residence in abandoned buildings or condemned warehouses. In the tengu nation of Kwanlai on the continent of Tian Xia, most cities resemble poorly planned networks of slums. Most see them as little better than thieves and cutthroats, but tengu do not seem to mind, reveling in the attention it brings.

Religion

Hei Feng is the patron deity of tengu.

Jinx eater

Tengu have become popular amongst the pirates of the Inner Sea due to a long-held belief that they can absorb bad luck. Known as jinx eaters, these tengu integrate themselves into the crews as best they can, although their position as glorified mascots keeps them from the worst depredations of life on the high seas. It is customary to have at least one tengu on a crew.

Cultural groups

A tengu.

The last 400 years of struggle led many tengu to seek different lives beyond their ancestral homeland of Kwanlai. These enclaves and communities have developed into distinct cultural groups with unique beliefs and traditions. Some of the most prominent groups and subcultures include:

• Jinxfeather: Tengu who settled the western coast of Garund, particularly around the islands of the Shackles
• Kawatengu: River-dwelling folk renowned for isolationism and misanthropy, who live in secretive communities across many of the Successor States
• Konoha: One of the few humanoid ancestries who live amongst the yokai of the Forest of Spirits, living a simpler existence than many other tengu cultures
• Kwanlai: The most numerous tengu cultural group, composed of those from the tengu's ancestral homeland in modern Kwanlai and the surrounding lands
• Takatengu: Tengu of the mountains of Minkai who live a more ordered existence than most tengu, focused on asceticism and discipline.

Yamabushi tengu

Winged oni known as yamabushi tengus derive their avian-inspired forms from tengu.

References

Paizo published an article about tengu on pages 24-27 of Blood of the Beast.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.