Tem'mat (by Chris Murphy)

Aeshar Aasimon, Arthurea Aasimon, Twilight Aasimon, Soul Child Ash Child Ash Witch Butterfly, Spire Cogspawn Concordanach Dimensional Dragon, Limaxian Ember Hulk Ethereal Swimmer Faery, Stair Forgetful Snapper Guardinal, Ardeidal Golem, Gear Halato Ispi Ixnae Koylith L'Zoir Malakin Mephit, Shadow Minion of Chaos Mock Moigno, Imaginary Moigno, Rational Phileet Pyroead Scarling Scurpyon Slaad, Rogue Stithid Stygian Memory Symmetrian Tanar'gre Tanar'ri, Dracor'ri Tanar'ri, Kah'Lesar Taster Tem'mat Termite, Jewel Valkarthi Wasp, Bytopian Waurac Worm, Pentranomeker Ash Dust Limbo Mechanus The Outlands Planar Pathways And another 50 monsters still on the old Mimir Site!	CLIMATE/TERRAIN:	Ash (Ammet Han'sha)
	FREQUENCY:	Very rare (common in Ammet Han'sha)
	ORGANISATION:	Guilds
	ACTIVITY CYCLE:	Any
	DIET:	Omnivorous
	INTELLIGENCE:	Average to High (8-13)
	TREASURE:	Nil
	ALIGNMENT:	Chaotic Neutral
	NO. APPEARING:	1 or 3-7
	ARMOUR CLASS:	As armour worn
	MOVEMENT:	12
	HIT DICE:	By class and level
	THAC0:	By class and level
	NO. OF ATTACKS:	1 or by class
	DAMAGE/ATTACK:	By weapon type
	SPECIAL ATTACKS:	None
	SPECIAL DEFENCES:	None
	MAGIC RESISTANCE:	10%
	SIZE:	M (6 feet)
	MORALE:	Champion (15)
	XP VALUE:	670 or by HD
	The tem'mati are a splinter race of the githzerai. No one knows how or why they ended up in a remote corner of the Inner Plane of Ash, in their fortress city of Ammet Han'sha, not even the tem'mati themselves. All that is known is that these wayward gith established themselves shortly after the branch of the race calling themselves githzerai settled in Limbo. Physically, tem'mati are identical in nearly every way to a "typical" githzerai. The only outward difference is their skin, which instead of the standard cream to mahogany tint, is a lightly, soft gray colour. The similarities end in appearance, however. The tem'mati split from the githzerai when githzerai culture was very young, so the language, customs, and government are different (although the tem'mati have the same chaotic outlook, and a more disorganised society). COMBAT: The tem'mati are a fairly vicious people (living on Ash, this is no surprise). They are very brave and capable fighters. They have the same standard classes available to normal githzerai (although due to isolation, are no longer subject to the limitations imposed by the sorcerer-king), and fight accordingly. The vast majority of tem'mat are fighters. Typical armament includes a light chain mail suit (metal is fairly rare here, and armour is considered sacred to the warriors), and one weapon, typically some kind of axe. Although unwieldily, axes are the primary weapons of the Warrior Guild, and nearly all have one. Warriors in defence of Ammet Han'sha always travel in squads of 3 to 7, made up of fighters or varying experience level (although it is rare to see any of higher level than 5, more experienced soldiers often have more important duties). HABITAT/SOCIETY: The tem'mati have a fairly sophisticated, if chaotic, society. Every tem'mat belongs to a Guild, and those Guilds rule themselves in a mostly democratic fashion. There are Guilds: The Warriors (charged with the defence of Ammet Han'sha and the tem'mati), The Hunters (charged with the duty of finding food), The Travellers (charged with the duty of trading with other peoples and exploring the rest of the planes), The Observers (charged with recording the history and keeping records), and The Caretakers (charged with the thankless task of upkeeping the city and stopping riots, which is actually necessary). If a member of one guild has problems with a member of another, the offended tem'mat goes to the leaders of the offender's Guild leaders and demands punishment. Obviously, this fact and the fact that there is no central government at all, makes the Tem'mati a very fractured people. Disputes arise over crimes, territory, food rights (in the plane of Ash, food is a very large concern). The only thing, it seems, that the Guilds will unite to tackle are outsiders. The Tem'mati are very suspicious of other people, even members of other Guilds. ECOLOGY: The tem'mati have somehow managed to survive in the inhospitable plane of Ash. They eat primarily vermin and other native beings close to the fortress-city of Ammet Han'sha, and whatever they can get though trading. They have also found a pocket of pure Water very close to their city. All in all, they have totally adapted to this horrid place. All tem'mati can breathe ash (and have little trouble breathing dust) as well as air, and have a very high heat tolerance. They also need very little food and even smaller amounts of water to survive. VARIANTS: The tem'mati are a fairly small group, so there are more or less no variants. The only thing remotely resembling a variant species are a special group within the Travellers Guild. The tem'mati seem to have lost their natural aptitude with psionics. This subgroup, known as the Ash Treaders, have developed a psionic ability they use to propel large ships through the wastes of the plane. They are a very respected group within the Travellers, but, so far, they haven't developed any other abilities. Copyright 1999 by Chris Murphy