Miak-Koyok (5e Race)

Miak-Koyok

“	Look, I'm no coward. I faced a damn beholder and lived to tell the tale! But that thing, when I looked under its hood... that just gave me the creeps like I'd never felt before...	”
—Ulsurus Ithor, trypophobic explorer

Physical Description

By Yanied

Miak-koyok, literally meaning "many-holes" is a humanoid made of a collective consciousness of creatures that developed a mutual body which they share and pilot together and cohesively. The body of a miak-koyok is made of a papery, leathery material not unlike that of a wasp nest's waxen walls. Their limbs are long, thin, and tubular, ending with cylindrical fingers, three on each hand. Their body overall is very skinny below the head, with strange bulges here and there where there might be an opening for their body to breathe, since miak-koyok can breathe through any orifice. The head of a miak-koyok is their most prominent feature, appearing like that of a bee's nest, with hexagonal holes forming a myriad of eyes, mouths, ears, and noses, all in each. Each of these holes are cells for a member of the collective creature that makes up the miak-koyok, and they flicker with yellow light, making miak-koyok look like they have many yellow spots in their face. This can be a horrific image for people with trypophobia, but is overall unnerving to take in. Thus, miak-koyok often will wear obscuring cloaks to hide their forms. Their voices are known to sound like a chorus of echoing, high-pitched, buzzing tones.

History

The miak-koyok are a strange race originating from the steamy jungles of tropical areas. The largest settlement found was within the land of Chult, where they originally spoke Payit alongside many of the feline tribes who referred to them as miak-koyok. This strange race has a lineage tracing back to that of an underground system of caves. There, a collective organism dwelled, much like a living nest of creatures that were all connected in mind and body. Due to some great disaster, the unity of this collective thing was destroyed, sending its members scattering across the world, where they erupted into small communities on the surface. Because their forms were weak to sunlight after millennia of living below ground, they constructed bodies that resembled the structure their origin dwelt in, which was a maze-like series of tunnels covered in excretions that hardened into leathery shells. These strange creatures adopted a body shape similar to the humanoids they saw populating the surface. This is estimated to be around the time after the fall of the Mhairshaulk empire, because miak-koyok were found living in abandoned temples like yuan-ti ziggurats.

Due to the death of their original massive hive, smaller hive bodies have individual thought and personality. One hive body is a miak-koyok, which is actually a hive of multiple creatures bound by a collective consciousness. Through several millennia of adapting to life on the surface, the miak-koyok had developed enough interactions with nearby races to learn of Common tongue, as well as develop their own customs. Initial contact was sketchy, since there are historical records of hunting miak-koyok. It is probable that initial reception was rather chilly. Miak-koyok are not ignorant to their strangeness in contrast with many cultures, however.

Society

Because miak-koyok are indeed very bizarre, they still are the target of malicious rumors framing them to some sort of bogeymen from the remains of the yuan-ti ruins. Miak-koyok themselves are also aware of hostilities towards them, and they are very isolationist as a result. Miak-koyok are considered solitary creatures made up of colonies of smaller parts, much like a zooid. They are not inclined to cooperate with others of their kind normally, as it is about the same as two ants' nests meeting. However, in times of crisis involving them both, they may work together temporarily. These truces usually do not last long. Miak-koyok are notably more receptive towards other creatures than their own kind. However, because of their fear of persecution, many of them are also reclusive to a degree and hesitant to reveal their true natures.

Personality

True to their original founding, miak-koyok are highly oriented towards collective and communal living. They are very volatile when it comes to those they come to accept as friends and family. It is worth noting that miak-koyok will often choose this intense loyalty over even common sense. As such, they are liable to be led astray by those they see as their own. At the same time, a miak-koyok is already a very communal creature in and of itself. It is thus hard for them to include new people in their little circle of, well, themselves. Essentially, miak-koyok are living collectives of the original organism that recognize each other as hive members. Anything external is an outsider as a result. Gaining the trust of a miak-koyok is difficult, as they tend to be very untrusting of people and are not as receptive to conventional measures of kindness and such. However, they are steadfast allies for life once won over.

Miak-koyok Names

Most miak-koyok, being collectives in and of themselves, do not quite understand the need for names in the same sense as humanoids like elves, dwarves, or humans. They refer to themselves sort of like systems, being a mass of hive-minded beings. It's similar to how a star system has its own name. The names they have as systems are usually very alien and have a lot of vibration in the pronunciation of consonants due to how their voices work. These names ignore gender. When being addressed, they are called "[name] System", not unlike how "Mister" or "Miss" are used.

Names: Terrrastrraluss, Bbbrillllux, Ggriigax, Artrro

Miak-Koyok Traits

Kind of like if beehives were human shaped and moved.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1, and one other score of your choice increases by 2.
Age. Miak-koyok are very strange creatures that are essentially immortal so long as their inner inhabitants are healthy and continue to reproduce internally. However, most miak-koyok can fall apart due to decreasing yields of young to sustain them, and so will usually collapse within 200 years or so. Some miak-koyok will kill and integrate the inhabitants of another hive to keep themselves alive.
Alignment. Their devotion to their own and those they identify to be within their personal circles makes them largely neutral. Their drive to stick with these bonds over sense or law makes it chaotic.
Size. Most miak-koyok are somewhat top-heavy and rarely break over 6 feet tall. 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.
Aberrant Origin. Miak-koyok aren't typical beings, as they are essential collectives of strange, smaller creatures. Your creature type is aberration instead of humanoid. As such, you are immune to spells like crown of madness or dominate person, because they specifically target humanoids.
Hive Mind. The network of brain fragments that create the consciousness of a miak-koyok make them extremely difficult to trick. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Underground Sense. The miak-koyok have good senses to navigate tunnels and lairs underground, even if they can be labyrinthine. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to navigate subterranean mazes, tunnels, and similar terrain.
Contortionist. The bodies of miak-koyok are very flexible and able to twist into tight spaces. You do not take movement penalties when squeezing and you have advantage on all Dexterity checks to move through small spaces at least 1 foot wide.
Mind Buzz. The unnerving hive powers of the miak-koyok can manifest offensively with a strange mental assault they can use on those that threaten them. You know the mind sliver cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting modifier for this spell.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and Abyssal.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 8''	+1d8	120 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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