Kuah-Lij

Medium humanoid (kuah-lij), lawful neutral

Armor Class 11
Hit Points 6 (1d8 +2)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	13 (+1)	8 (-1)

Skills Arcana +5
Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Aquan, Common, Elven, Gnome, Kuah-Lij
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Special Traits

• Gifted Craftsmen. A kuah-lij has proficiency in alchemist’s supplies, jeweler’s tools, and smith’s tools.
• Magical Sight. A kuah-lij can sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of it. It can use an action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic, and it learns its school of magic, if any.

Actions

• Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage.
• Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage.

About

This creature resembles a gnome that has been stretched vertically to a height of a human. Its features are knobby and elongated. Its hair is light and downy, more akin to a soft fur than anything else, and its skin is white with pale blue undertones.

The kuah-lij are a race of humanoids that inhabit a distant world orbiting a great red sun. They are lawful and organized, but a dying people due to a series of disasters on their homeworld, and now search for aid.

For several millennia, the kuah-lij lived in relative peace on an old world in an advanced civilization, though much of the technology was magic-based. This changed with a series of plagues that devastated the population, followed by a gradual, inexplicable advancement of the size of their oceans. Huge floods resulted. These cataclysms were followed by the invasion of a ferocious aquatic race resembling the aboleths. The aboleth-like creatures lurked in the deepest ocean trenches of the kuah-lij planet and attacked by coming up from the depths.

The kuah-lij, accomplished artisans, retaliated by building a series of magically enhanced sea craft to travel the deeps and attack these beings.

Thus far they have arrived at a stalemate, and the kuah-lij now seek aid from other worlds and planes in their battle against their deepwater adversaries.

Individual kuah-lij commoners rely upon their military and combat specialists to protect them. With their focus on magical technology, they have easy access to a great many magical devices which they can use to defend themselves with as well.

The Kuah-lij were at one time a peaceful race of explorers, living in an organized society on a distant planet orbiting a great red sun. Though the course of their lives was regimented, their culture allowed them scope for individuality, and in fact, encouraged it. This, and the natural propensity of the kuah-lij for order, resulted in a society that had remained fresh and vigorous for over 10,000 years.

Kuah-lij young are placed into a public crèche to be raised within days of birth, to be raised by childcare specialists. As they grow and are educated, their affinities and talents are assessed, and at age 15 they are assigned a vocation, based on their talents, and an avocation, based on their preferences. They then study more intensely in these two areas, until they reach maturity at age 25. Kuah-lij youths have the option of changing vocation or avocation if they insist upon it, though this almost never occurs.

Upon reaching maturity, they fully enter society, where they spend 10 months of the year working at their vocation 10 hours per day, and the final two months on sabbatical, traveling, exploring, or doing whatever else strikes them as interesting. Their culture is based on a complex system of credit, with currency reserved only for dealing with non-kuahlij, and medicine, vacation time, and other services are all socialized, but due to their innately organized, cooperative mindset, there is remarkably little corruption within their culture.