Molok

Moloks are hairless, bipedal omnivores, reaching an average height of about a meter and a half (5 ft). They are broad and muscular, with vaguely rodent-like features and a thick tail. Moloks have an extremely strong work ethic, and are quite well suited for hard manual labor. They are native to the Underworld, and see best in near-total darkness. Moloks are a fearless race, but loathe their kiisic creators; most moloks despise magic as well, and some sects adopt a bloody, fanatical breed of isolationism. They have almost no ability at all for magic.

How to roleplay a molok

Moloks are not loners. They are born into close-knit clans in the underworld, carefully indoctrinated into the group, and schooled in the mores and traditions of their ancestors. A player roleplaying a molok will do well to group with other moloks. Members of other races will do in a pinch, but this is not ideal. Solo play is anathema to one who hopes to roleplay a molok faithfully.

Moloks wander, rarely settling in one spot for any length of time. Their travels are forced upon them by the need to find food in the barren underworld, and because they have a predisposition to engage in productive activity. Idle time makes them nervous; they are genetically and culturally programmed with a strong urge to do something productive at all times. Players are encouraged to keep in mind the moloks' ability to participate in difficult, back-breaking work with barely any rest. Moloks will accept any job, no matter how tiring or distasteful, as long as they are fairly compensated for their labor. To a molok, this trait is their most important advantage over other races; in their search for a secure place in the world, they think their hard work is the ticket to success.

Moloks are most comfortable in darkness; bright sunlight is literally painful. If a molok finds himself on the surface during the day, he will likely be reticent to move about or do much of anything. If a molok anticipates being in the sunlight he will try to aquire some device to shield his sensitive eyes.

A warlike, aggressive molok is an aberration. However, a molok who feels the slightest danger to his person or his tribe will work tirelessly to negate the threat. Molok rage, when released, is absolute. Players should not play fighters, assassins, PKers, NPC-killers, or thugs. Playing a molok hunter is fine, as moloks have a decided taste for raw meat of all kinds, but endless sparring practice is not really an ideal way to make use of a molok character. From the point of view of a molok, hunting is something done as a necessity, not as a vocation. A molok would think of hunting as a waste of his unique racial propensity for hard work.

It is usually a mistake to make a blanket statement about the collective views of a race's members. However, the vast majority of moloks hold nearly-identical opinions on most subjects. For instance, magic is feared and hated by moloks. They will not tolerate a mage; they will flee if necessary, or preferably deal out capital punishment to the offender.

Members of the race are calm, shy, peaceful, and not eager to embrace change or innovation. Moloks rarely jump to conclusions, make hasty decisions, or come up with inventive solutions to their problems. Rather, they look to the tales and legends of their ancestors for answers to today's problems. Moloks revere their ancestors. It is considered a great honor to teach the pure ways of the elders to another molok.

When not working, moloks spend their time telling and retelling the oral histories of their clan, learning by rote the rites, rituals, and customs of their tribe, and strengthening the cultural ties that bind them to one another with chanted storytelling accompanied by simple percussion and wind instruments.

Moloks detest the kiisic. The kiisic magically created the moloks as an enslaved race of laborers to dig tunnels and burrows in the underworld, build the kiisic cities, and even take part in the War effort by undermining rowan positions with tunnels that allowed mercenaries to mount surprise attacks from below ground. All this, the moloks did with efficiency and reliability. However, they eventually learned of a rumor concerning the disappearance of the moradda (a semi-sentient, mole-like race that were the likely ancestors of the moloks) - a rumor implicating the kiisic in the moraddan genocide. After nearly endless cogitation, the molok elders finally decided that there could be no safety for their race as slaves. They concluded that they were in danger of ending up as their ancestors did, whenever the kiisic got around to creating a race of slaves that they found more useful than moloks.

Goblins are not looked upon favorably by moloks. Since goblins and moloks both compete for jobs in the underworld, moloks would just as soon upstage the goblins, whom they view as weak and untrustworthy. Moloks don't much like humans either. Buried in the depths of molok legends are some nasty rumors about humans who used captured moloks as sources of food during one of the Wars. They also dislike the aggressive, warlike halaks, especially since they can rarely see them coming.

In short, play a molok as peaceful, tribal, and reactionary.