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 and Reproduction

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 'old', 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 carrying parent, called the mother parent, where it consumes a portion of its mother'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.

Relations

Many races consider Neneki a little too strange for their liking, due to their alien appearance 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. Underground societies like Dwarven holds,

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

To be done.

Racial Traits

• -2 Strength, +2 Constitution: Neneki share the toughness attributed to slimes and oozes, but their lack of physical rigidity somewhat decreases their ability to exert force.
• Ooze (Augmented Humanoid, Xenotheric) 
• Medium: As a Medium creature, a neneki has no special bonuses or penalties due to its size.
• 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. As such, 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.
  Neneki in ooze shape can squeeze through the tiniest of gaps. By expending one round of actions, the Neneki halves all its speeds and makes itself one size category smaller for the purpose of squeezing through gaps. The Neneki may stack this effect a maximum of up to four times in order to pass through holes and tunnels fit for Fine creatures.
  Changing between humanoid and ooze shape requires a standard action. 
• Reconstitution (Ex): A Neneki has fast healing 1 that quickly heals any damage dealt, except for fire or cold damage. Damage suffered from these damage types heals at the natural rate for humanoids of the same level. Neneki instantly stabilize when at negative hit points, and can have twice as many negative hit points before dying.
  A Neneki is capable of reattaching limbs after losing them in a similar fashion as creatures with regeneration. Neneki do not die from being beheaded, or having their body scattered from explosive effects, and neither do they take extra damage from or have to save against a coup de grace attempt made against them. 
• 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 attack (bludgeoning, piercing and slashing), and their bodies have 50% fortification against critical hits. A Neneki can exert very limited control on severed parts of its body as a standard action as long as they are within 60 feet of the main body, allowing them to move up to 5 feet in a round. They may willingly sever a bodypart as a full-round action without damage and then control it in such fashion.
  As a standard action, Neneki can recreate or copy any kind of body part on either its main body or severed parts within controlling range, such as hands and arms, or even eyes or faces provided enough biomass is present. These changes are purely for utility, and do not grant the Neneki any additional attacks or actions. 
• 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 do not need to 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 Cold Retardant Fur 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 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 (DC equal to damage dealt).
• Automatic Languages: Common
• Bonus Languages: Any
• Favored Class: Any
• Level Adjustment: +
• Effective Character Level:

Vital Statistics

Table: Neneki Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
6 years	+	+	+

Table: Aging Effects

Middle Age1	Old2	Venerable3	Maximum Age
years	years	years	+ 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: Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.
Female	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.

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