Description: Nerubians are the survivors of the ancient northern civilization of Azjol-Nerub,
which once extended over much of the northern continent of Northrend - until it was wiped out by the
onslaught of the Scourge. The kingdom of Azjol-Nerub was primarily subterranean, consisting of
underground terraced pits interconnected by a network of tunnels, and occasionally marked by above-ground
ziggurats. Over the ages, the spider-folk of Azjol-Nerub had amassed huge libraries containing works of
literature, musical compositions, philosophy, and arcane lore. Aside from occasionally kidnapping humans
and elves for experimentation, the nerubians were content to stay to themselves in their remote, frozen
land.
However, this isolation failed to spare them the attention of Ner'zhul. Although they fought fiercely
to keep the Scourge from establishing a foothold in Northrend, their own king, Anub'Arak, betrayed them in
order to secure immortality for himself. Their civilization was crushed, their
libraries burned, and their dead raised again to serve as undead minions of the lich king. Those few
to survive this destruction have been scattered, without a land to call their own - and while many view
the nerubians as a cold race, they are still quite capable of anger, and burn with hatred for the lich
king and his destruction - and desecration - of their civilization.
Appearance: Nerubians are vaguely reminiscent of "spider centaurs" in that their lower body is that
of a large spider with long, spindly legs - but where a spider's head would be, there is instead a
vaguely humanoid (but still spider-like) torso, with a pair of spindly, segmented arms, and an eight-eyed,
spider-like face with crushing mandibles. A Nerubian can stand as high as 10 feet when rearing up, due to
its long legs. Nerubians come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and they often decorate their own
exoskeletons with elaborate sigils. Nerubians compose but one branch of the ancient Aqiri insectoid race,
separated from their "kin" ages ago when the great landmass of Kalimdor was broken up into multiple
continents in the Great Sundering.
Region: Nerubian culture lives on only through a few scattered families throughout Kalimdor, and,
in particular, a few small refugee settlements in the contested parts of Ashenvale.
Affiliation: Independent. Nerubian communities are scattered, and do not represent a unified
force. They are allied neither with the Horde, nor the Alliance. If anything, they are united only in
their absolute hatred of the Scourge.
Society: Nerubians are not affectionate, nor do they express emotions in the way that
mammals do; therefore, they are seen as cold and detached - even cruel - by many of the other races of
Azeroth. However, they still experience anger, hatred, loyalty and sentimental attachment in their own
way - and the concept of honor is not alien to them. They are not purely logical creatures, but neither
are they subject to the moods of warm-blooded creatures.
A nerubian community has a single leader, his or her advisors, a caste of warriors, and then the body of
workers. Although nerubian society is divided into castes, there is not the same stigma that would be
associated with it in most other societies. Nerubian society is a meritocracy; though nerubians are born
into life-long occupations and roles in society, those who show particular talents may move to an
appropriate caste. Such social mobility generally only occurs among young nerubians, though; training and
the effects of diet on development will eventually lock them into their assigned roles.
Small communities rely on workers to help as militia if need be; larger groups can afford to have much more
rigidly defined roles. Communities are generally ruled by an elder queen, who is usually the mother of
much of the community. Since the fall of Azjol-Nerub, larger communities may have a council of elders
matriarchs, who elect one of their own number to be the overall leader.
Faith: Before the fall of Azjol-Nerub, nerubian faith centered around veneration of ancestors and
reverence bordering on worship of the king - who was seen as an avatar of the ancestor spirit, Anub, of his
line. Great care was put into mummification of the exoskeletal husks of the dead; leaders and
venerated elders were buried with great treasures in elaborately decorated tombs meant to guarantee them
all the necessities and comforts possible in the afterlife. With the fall of the empire to the Scourge, and
the blasphemies that followed - the raising of mummified nerubians as crypt lords and crypt fiends -
the scattered survivor communities still carry out some vestige of the traditions of old, but they no longer
have one leader to venerate. For most communities, a venerated elder fills this role, but some scattered
communities still pledge devotion to the old ancestral line of Anub. (After all, the role of Anub'Arak in
all this is not widely known.)
Names: Many nerubians have short names, no more than one or two syllables, and there is no
obvious distinction between male and female names to outside listeners (aside from a faint change in
inflection). Only the nobility possess "surnames" - which consist of a venerated ancestor's name
attached as a prefix to one's own name - e.g., "Anub'Rekhan". The premise is that the bearer of this
name is the current physical embodiment of that ancestor's spirit. (There should only be one individual
at a time to bear the same ancestor name - but thanks to the Scourge and its practice of raising the
ancient, embalmed dead to serve as crypt fiends and crypt lords, that is no longer guaranteed.)
- Ancestor Names: Anub, Tuten, Nerub.
- Male/Female Names: Arak, Enkan, Kash, Rekhan, Shiah.
Nerubian Characters: Given the fractious nature of nerubian society these days, a nerubian adventurer
could well be a survivor who was separated from his people, or who has been sent from his clan to undertake a
long-term mission – such as a general commission to harass the Scourge whenever and wherever possible, or to
seek out and recover scattered artifacts of the Azjol-Nerub empire.
Nerubian Racial Traits
- Monstrous Humanoid: Nerubians are Monstrous Humanoids.
- Large: As Large creatures, nerubians have a -1 size penalty to hit and to AC, a -4 size penalty to
Stealth attempts to hide, and a +4 size bonus to Grapple checks. Due to their delicate structure, however,
they do not receive the bonuses to Strength and Stamina (or penalty to Agility) normally associated with
such size increase. Nerubians occupy a 10-foot by 10-foot space in combat, but only have a 5-foot reach.
- Quadruped: As Large and quadrupedal (technically, octopedal) creatures, nerubians have three times the
carrying capacity as a Medium character with the same Strength rating.
- Equipment Considerations: Nerubians are technically large creatures, but their upper torsos are actually
proportional to that of a medium-sized humanoid. Hence, they use weapons scaled for a medium-sized creature.
Nerubians can wear cloaks, backpacks, robes, vestments, rings, necklaces/amulets, bracers and belts scaled
for a medium-sized creature. Helms and armor, however, must be specifically fashioned for a nerubian, and
they cannot wear boots. Any armor custom-fit for a nerubian costs five times (x5) the cost for comparable
armor sized for a medium humanoid.
- Nerubian base land speed is 40 feet. They have a climb speed of 20 feet on nerubian webs (or other
giant spider webs, including webs created by the web spell).
- Natural Weapons: A nerubian has two claws that can do 1d4 points of slashing damage, and a bite for 1d4
points of piercing damage.
- Darkvision: Nerubians can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white, but it is
otherwise like normal sight.
- Frozen Mind (Ex): The minds of nerubians are different from most races, leaving them untouched by powers
that affect the mind (for instance, any spell with the mind-affecting descriptor). They are also immune to
fear effects. Those who have attempted telepathic communication with nerubians describe it as trying to bore
through many feet of ice. This same quality makes them immune to Ner’zhul’s undeath plague.
- Cold Resistance 1 (Ex): Nerubians may ignore 1 point of damage from cold per round. Although now
scattered across the world, their race still bears the adaptations required by thousands of years living in
the frozen north.
- +4 racial bonus to Stealth and Spot checks. (Note that this racial bonus effectively balances out the
size penalty to Stealth when hiding.) A nerubian also has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always
choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. These skills are class skills for all
nerubians, as they come naturally.
- Weapon and Armor Proficiency: All nerubians are proficient in the use of simple weapons and light
armor.
- Automatic Languages: Common and Nerubian. Nerubian is both a spoken and sign language.
- Bonus Languages: Darnassian, Goblin, Low Common, Orcish. As a matter of necessity, many nerubians have
learned the tongues of their new homes.
- Racial Levels: Unlike humans and some other races, nerubians can take a few levels in “Nerubian” as a
class to develop their racial qualities more fully.
- Favored Class: Warrior, arcanist or aristocrat (choose one upon gaining first class level). A
nerubian’s favored class does not count when determining whether it suffers an experience point penalty for
multiclassing. (See Chapter 3: Classes, "Multiclass Characters," XP for Multiclass Characters.)