Antinium
Deep in their underground hives, the Antinium build their armies and prepare for war. Usually treated with fear and disgust, the Antinium care little for the affairs of other races, except as cities to destroy, territory to control, or resources to capture. When the Black Tide marches, not a trace remains as their slain foes are quickly processed into nutritional paste, to feed their unstoppable war machine.
The Antinium have but one goal: to take back their home.
The Black Tide
Antinium are created to fight. In war, their overwhelming numbers demoralize and crush their opponents. In peace, their unsettling appearance terrify citizens and cause guards to raise the hue and cry. Wary adventurers are quick to try to eliminate these monstrous creatures, but are more likely to get their throats torn out instead.
They are variable in their body plan, but most Antinium possess a brown to black chitinous bipedal body with a large abdomen and green hemolymph. Their heads have two feelers, a pair of mandibles extending from their face that conceal their true mouths, and black, multi-faceted eyes.
Most Antinium are either Workers, who are shorter and smaller with four arms; or Soldiers, who are taller and larger with two arms and enormous fists. Other types of Antinium include the Flying Antinium, with small wings that let them leap great distances, and the Silent Antinium, with scythe-like blades on their arms.
Antinium prefer melee combat, with some that specialize in ranged weaponry. Antinium spellcasters are rare.
Antinium Culture
Antinium have a strict caste system, where Queens direct all activity by the common Soldiers and Workers in their hive. They are assisted in their duties by Prognugators, who command armies in battle, manage the hives when their Queens are busy, and represent their hives in the rare instances when diplomacy is needed. Prognugators may be created with any body plan available to their Queen.
Antinium are not ants, but here's an illustration of an ant. From: Australian insects, Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Most Antinium lack awareness, and only conduct what duties they are ordered to by their Queens and Prognugators. An Antinium exposed to unusual circumstances such as extreme stress may become an unstable Aberration, seeking to kill all those around them. These Aberrations are destroyed when spotted by the hive's Soldiers and Prognugators.
Antinium sometimes become Individual, but this process isn't clearly understood. In most cases, these nascent Individuals rapidly descend into Aberration and must be killed. Rarely, however, their personalities can remain stable, and the surviving Antinium rapidly gain self-awareness and independent thought. If you decide to play an Individual Antinium, you can choose from the Individual Origins table, or work with your Dungeon Master to determine the circumstances that caused you to become Individual.
Antinium tend to be precise and literal in their speech, and typically prefer male pronouns.
| d8 | Individual Origin |
|---|---|
| 1 | You were the sole survivor of a overwhelming battle. |
| 2 | Someone showed you a rare gesture of kindness. |
| 3 | You ate food that was far superior to the usual nutritional paste. |
| 4 | You learned about religion and faith. |
| 5 | You found you enjoy games of chance and skill. |
| 6 | You're inseperable from your weapon of choice. |
| 7 | You went aboveground and saw natural beauty. |
| 8 | You're obsessed with hunting a certain kind of beast. |
Antinium Names
Antinium names vary based on how they were created, their caste, and their body plan.
Individual Antinium generally take their names from the culture that shaped them into Individuals.
Soldier Antinium, lacking speech, are distinguished by the colorful paint that adorn their chitinous bodies. Their spoken names are based on the particular paint scheme they choose.
Soldier Names: Blade of Grass, Blue Clouds, Cat Eyes, Double Winged, Green Star, Question Mark, Red Stripe, Rising Sun, Silvered Cup, Speckled Egg, Swooping Lines, Tilted Octothorpe, Turquoise Seven, White Paw
Prognugator names tend to use fricative consonants, and when spoken by Antinium, include mandible clicks that other races struggle to replicate.
Prognugator Names: Beklr, Dekass, Devrkr, Kiskel, Klberein, Krrechzzeim, Kzkplethkilik, Mellika, Rehab, Sehr, Ulssb, Xeu, Zai
Subrace
Antinium Queens use several body plans to mold their laborers and warriors. Choose one of these subraces: Worker, Soldier, Silent, Flying.
Antinium Traits
All Antinium share a number of traits with each other.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Antinium are created fully mature, and rarely live longer than a few years, owing to their hazardous lifestyle. They are considered old after 12 years, and have a maximum lifespan of about 20 years.
In rare cases, a Queen might choose to resurrect a particularly valuable Antinium via the Rite of Anastases. Your Dungeon Master will determine the circumstances for this time-consuming process.
Alignment. Antinium hives, with clear roles and duties, are extremely lawful. Antinium tend to be amoral and focused on their hive's survival, and waver between neutrality and evil.
Size. Antinium are between 5 and 7 feet tall and weigh between 180 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.
Hive Mind. You may communicate telepathically with any Antinium you can sense within 30 feet.
Darkvision. Antinium spend most of their lives underground, and have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time. Antinium are terrible swimmers, but they can remain underwater for some time before needing to come up for air.
Landlocked. Your movement cost for swimming is increased by one extra foot per foot of movement. This applies even if you are granted a swimming speed, such as from an item or spell effect.
You have disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws that involve swimming, such as a Strength (Athletics) check to swim through rough seas, or saving throws for spells like watery sphere or tsunami.
When making a melee weapon attack while underwater, if you don't have a swimming speed, you have disadvantage on the attack roll; if you do have a swimming speed, you have disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon is a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident.
Natural Armor. Due to the unusual shape of your body, you are ill-suited to wearing armor, and any worn armor must be specially crafted or modified to fit you. However, your carapace provides ample protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Antinium Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, frightened, or poisoned. You don't gain advantage against being poisoned if the poison is ingested and uses wheat or other glutenous crops in its manufacture.
Worker Antinium
Workers construct the hive's tunnels and fortifications and engage in ranged combat. An extra pair of arms distinguish them from other Antinium.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1, and one ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Hexapod. You can grasp things with your additional arms, and can use it to do simple tasks such as: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or creature; open or close a door or container; grapple someone, or make an unarmed strike. Your Dungeon Master might allow other simple tasks to be added to that list of options.
Your additional arms can't wield weapons or shields or do anything that requires manual precision, such as using tools or magic items or performing the somatic components of a spell.
You can dig and mine as though you had the appropriate tools, such as a shovel or a miner's pick.
Field Fortification. As an action, you can target a 5 foot cube of dirt or stone within touch range and can manipulate it in one of the following ways:
- If you target an area of loose earth, you can excavate it, move it along the ground, and deposit it up to 5 feet away. This movement doesn’t have enough force to cause damage.
- You can alter the dirt or stone to spell out words, create images, or shape patterns.
- If the dirt or stone you target is on the ground, you cause it to become difficult terrain. Alternatively, you can cause the ground to become normal terrain if it is already difficult terrain.
Any dirt you modify can be packed, preventing the intrusion of water through the walls and floor of the altered area. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Given time, a Worker could easily construct extensive breastworks such as these. From: World War One official British photographs, National Library of Scotland.
Soldier Antinium
Soldiers are the hive's front-line fighters. Their larger size and fists make them the most intimidating Antinium form.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Improved Natural Armor. The Soldier's exoskeleton is exceptionally tough. When using your Natural Armor, you gain an additional +1 bonus to AC.
Natural Weapon. Your fists are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Voiceless. Unlike other Antinium, you cannot speak, but can use gestural language to communicate in any language you know, as long as you are visible or can otherwise be sensed.
Silent Antinium
The rarely seen Silent Antinium infiltrate enemy strongholds and conduct assassinations. They are shorter and more slender than other Antinium.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Natural Weapon. Your arms are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Dexterity modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Attacks using your natural weapon have the finesse property.
Camouflage. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
Flying Antinium
The Flying Antinium are not true fliers, but can leap great distances to surprise the hive's enemies.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Winged Leap. When beating your wings, your jump distance is triped.
Glider. When you fall and aren’t incapacitated, you can use your wings to subtract up to 100 feet from the fall when calculating falling damage, and you can move up to 2 feet horizontally for every 1 foot you descend.
Flawed Flight. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to generate short bursts of momentum from your wings, granting you a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. You fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Antinium aren't wasps either, but here's an illustration of a wasp. From: On the instincts and habits of the solitary wasps, Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Credits
Antinium 1.2 by Jonathan Chang. This race is based on ideas and concepts from The Wandering Inn, and is not an officially licensed work. Thanks to the contributors on The Wandering Inn Wiki for collating important reference material. All photographs and illustrations used are in the public domain.