“My people are no more, and I grieve for it. Yes, I betrayed my king and would have seen his heirs eaten—but behold what became of them instead. Now the Osmium Court and Helium Drinkers, and every other nation of my kin, all alike are dead or worse than dead.”
—Taox, Neuter Mother, Former Royal Tutor of the Osmium Court
Before they communed with the worm gods and became the Hive, the krill people were one of many species inhabiting the varied environments on a faraway gas giant remembered only as Fundament. Short-lived and fast-breeding, they believed themselves the weakest things in their world, prey to every predator and victims of their planet’s many vicissitudes. That changed when the daughters of the Osmium King returned from the deepest part of Fundament, bringing larval worms and forced conversion to their crusade of vengeance. All who refused the worm were put to death, and there is little reason to believe any of the krill people survived…
Shaped To Survive
The krill people are humanoid bipeds with chitinous exoskeletons and somewhat crustacean physiology. They have four-digit hands, three eyes, and cranial crests that develop different shapes according to the morphology they adopt in adulthood. Their chitin may be different colors depending on dietary intake and individual variation. They exhibit flexible sexual dimorphism: one sex can undergo a naturally occurring transition to the other under certain conditions, as when a female undertakes the king morph.
Which morphological metamorphosis a krill undergoes, if any, can radically change their appearance and physiology in other ways as well. Those who assume the knight morph develop much more massive bodies with thicker chitin and greater strength. Those who take the mother morph not only gain the ability to lay eggs, but also hovering flight, as well as a much longer lifespan.
Sorrows From The Deep
The timid krill people lived among numerous species on Fundament, dwelling on floating islands of solid material that drifted upon one of the planet’s many layers of sea-like atmosphere. Their transformation into the Hive began when Sathona, one of the daughters of the Osmium King, followed the mysterious urgings of her father’s familiar, a strange dead worm that had washed up from the deep. The whispers of the worm led Sathona and her two sisters to the deepest part of Fundament, where the worm gods Yul, Ur, Eir, Xol, and Akka had been trapped for millions of years. They offered a bargain to the sisters: make their bodies symbiotic hosts to the worm gods’ larvae, and they would gain immortality and the power to avenge their usurped, assassinated father and escape Fundament, overcoming everything that had preyed upon their kind.
The sisters agreed, and accomplished all this in the first acts that transformed them and the krill people into the Hive. They brought the worms to every group of krill on Fundament, conscripting into their armies those who would accept the larvae, and slaughtering those who would not. No krill are known to have survived or escaped, with the sole exception of Taox, former adviser to the Osmium King, who orchestrated his overthrow. She fled Fundament and its moons, seeking to carry warning of the Hive to whoever might listen. In pursuit of Taox, the Hive advanced into deep space, obliterating one species after the next as their crusade of devastation grew mightier and mightier.
The Hive also chased after the Traveler, which the worm gods claimed was responsible for bringing the krill people to Fundament to suffer as miserable prey. In time, the Traveler attracted the Hive to Earth, where they have been a blight on the system and possibly the greatest threat to what remains of humanity.
The Timid Truth
Before their conversion into the Hive, the krill people accepted a precept they called the Timid Truth: that the krill were the weakest, smallest creatures that lived, and thus were naturally preyed upon by everything in the universe. They lived short, fearful lives, struggling to avoid being eaten by the predatory creatures of Fundament, as well as suffering attacks from other, stronger groups of krill. Despite this, they had science and engineering enough to understand some of the physical workings of their world, and built ships to sail the seas and even large engines to move their floating island continents.
Krill people of every morph share the following characteristics.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 2, and a different ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age. Krill lifespan was about ten years. Individuals reached maturity at around two years old, and would choose which morph to assume, if any, by middle age.
Size. Typical krill were around 5–6 feet tall, though different morphs might grow larger. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Krill people’s springy limbs allow for fairly nimble movement. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write krill.
Chitinous Plating. You have natural chitinous armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal to 10 + your Constitution modifier. Even while wearing armor, you can use this natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you are wearing would leave you with a lower AC. You are still subject to the effects of the armor you are wearing if you do this.
Darkvision. The krill’s three eyes were adapted for the murky conditions of living inside a gas giant, and see well in low-light conditions. You have darkvision.
Keen Scent. You have the keen scent (5 feet) extraordinary sense.
Wary Hypnagogia. Constantly threatened by predators, krill cannot afford unconscious rest. Instead, you enter a shallow trance, remaining semiconscious for 4 hours a day. While in this restful trance, you sometimes experience fleeting dreamlike episodes. Such dreams are the result of your subconscious manifesting itself, similar to the dreams a human may have. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Morphology
When a krill becomes an adult, it chooses one of several morphs to embody for the rest of its life. Choose the acolyte, knight, or mother morph for yourself.
Acolyte
The natural form of adult krill is versatile but not particularly strong.
Cunning Movement. Moving through an opening one size smaller than you does not count as difficult terrain for you. You can take the Disengage action as a bonus action on your turn.
Keen Eye. If you make a ranged attack roll and miss, you can choose to re-roll your attack roll once. You must use the new roll (it cannot be rerolled in any way), and you must complete at least a short rest before you can use this trait again.
Knight
Krill who undertake the knight morph become larger, stronger, and much better armored. They are the most formidable fighters among their kind.
Fortified. If a creature scores a critical hit against you, you can cause the critical hit to become a normal hit instead. Once you use this trait, you must complete a long rest before you can use it again.
Heavyweight. You count as one size larger when determining your weight limit, as well as against effects that target Medium or smaller creatures and for determining what you can grapple, shove, or ride as a mount.
Mother
Krill eat a special jelly to catalyze metamorphosis into mothers. Their build becomes slender and capable of flying, making them evasive and nimble—traits useful for protecting their eggs.
Flying Speed. You have a flying speed of 30 feet (can fly in place). You cannot begin flying if you are carrying a weight greater than half your weight limit, and if you are flying when you acquire this weight, you begin to fall. Furthermore, if you become Incapacitated while flying, you begin to fall.
Paperweight. You count as one size smaller when determining your weight limit, and for determining what you can grapple, shove, or ride as a mount.