Leuco (5e Race)

Leuco

“

The Brood always seeks new secrets.

”

Physical Description

By Kai Klassen

Leuco are odd humanoids with a monstrosity lurking in them. They are physically indistinguishable from normal humans under normal circumstances, save for perhaps their milky white eyes that have no iris or pupil. On a whim however, they can manipulate their bodies to become fibrous and stretch, making them a bit like the human rubber band. They can extend tendrils of flesh from their bodies to wield as weapons. Under duress, leuco develop white ridges on their flesh, like if their musculature was pressed against their skin from within. They are known to be extremely elastic even when not manipulating their bodies, and are known to be similar thus to octopi.

History

Leuco comes from the ancient word for "white." This was due to a parasitic plague that nearly wiped out a small nation. The name of the nation, as well as its existence has been lost from memory due to its obscurity and mysterious fall. According to local legend from the old folk who remember, the kingdom was founded by a small exile of wizards. They were mainly discredited scholars who seized upon a small acre of land and played kingdom there like foolish children. There, they sought to make their practices known, which was blood magic. Using their own blood, they supposedly created a horrendous parasite which was white as milk from their leukocytes. The wizards themselves got infected with their own creation and it devoured at their tissues and muscles, restructuring and replacing it. Helpless to stop it, the entire kingdom vanished in a night. Supposedly the parasite was unable to replicate itself after to continue infecting hosts and so became benign in the bodies. The next day, these bodies walked forth from the nation which had no name and out towards the world.

The word for the parasite is leucopathos. Its creation has not been replicated since the old wives tale but some people do claim to see leuco often, though it can be hard to prove. Though unable to replicate as it did in its creation, the leuco, who carry leucopathos, can create other leuco by reproduction means. Their offspring bear the same eyes and fluid flesh form as they do.

There is rumoring whispers that the leuco are hosts to a malignant force. Supposedly the leucopathos is a conjured germ from a hive-minded entity known as the Brood, which is as evil as the illithids and their Hive. The Brood is what compels the leuco to go forth and multiply, using them as eyes in the Prime. Newborn leuco are instantly connected subconsciously to the Brood via some unseen spatial link. It is not verified this is true, though these thoughts are often chastised as hurtful to leuco, who've yet to give anyone real reason to harm them.

Society

Leuco do not seem to desire to stay together, as they always prefer to branch out into non-leuco societies and mate there. Thus, they do not have a staying community, though they do often set up checkpoint establishments for high-traffic junctions and do often congregate there briefly. These establishments form a wide web if mapped properly and traveling leuco usually know when one is near. Leuco refer to these as safehouses.

Some purporters of the Brood theory believe leuco repel each other due to already being infected. If their purpose is to infect all of Toril and the Realms, it would make more sense to fan out than to set up a town. These safehouses are actually dens of evil where the leuco plot their next destination to go and mate to spawn the next round of offspring. There are not many who buy into this mentality since leuco aren't even very visible. However, when revealed, leuco do face some ostracization.

Leuco Names

Leuco typically take human or elven names and very simple ones.

Male: Joe, Mark, Lee

Female: Kat, Yia, Fern

Leuco Traits

Humanoids born of a parasitic plague
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Leuco live to be about 1000 years old before dying.
Alignment. Leuco can have any alignment though some would say many are predisposed to be maliciously lawful or chaotically evil.
Size. Leuco have a lot of human dimensions normally. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Tentacle. Leuco can morph their flesh into tentacles and whip other creatures if threatened. Your tentacles are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. They have a reach of 10 feet. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Infect. In battle, you can leave some of your infectious cells in a wound made by you to eat away at the flesh of enemies. As a bonus action, you can make a special attack with your tentacle. If the attack hits, it deals its normal damage, and the target must succeed a Constitution saving throw of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier, or take 2d6 acid damage. Additionally, they can't regain hit points until the end of their next turn. On a success, they are unaffected. You can't use this trait again until you finish a short or long rest.
Oddity. Your creature type is both humanoid and aberration.
Genetic Makeup. The leucopathos reinforces your skin to be highly resistant to poison damage and makes you immune to disease as well as being poisoned. However, the parasite is susceptible to shocks which travel through the body, if you take lightning damage you are stunned until the end of your next turn.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and one additional language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 0''	+2d8	125 lb.	× (3) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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