Rakastas of Northern Davania

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Rakastas are cat-people first introduced in X1: The Isle of Dread, not to be confused with Rakshasas, shape-shifting fiends that often appear as humanoid tigers. They are quite different but easily mixed up both in name and appearance by adventurers. Rakastas are mortal humanoids, perhaps an offshoot of the cats, or maybe a magical combination of cat and human. They are tribal - intelligent but not quite civilised. There are various subraces of rakasta - the variations are much more about appearance and culture, with very little change in combat capabilities. Rakastas are found across the Thanegoth Archipelago (including the Isle of Dread) and northern Davania.  

Subraces

There are 3 main subraces in Davania, the Simbara, the Chuida and the Kyarro.

The Simbara are tawny in colour with paler bellies. The males in particular have large shaggy manes around the back of their heads and necks. The Simbara tend to have larger, more organised tribes than the other races of rakastas (typically 10-40 individuals per tribe) and prefer open plains and rolling hills.  A few tribes of Simbara rakastas are also found on the Isle of Dread in the Thanegoth Archipelago, as reported by adventurers from Brun. The Simbara are the most approachable of rakastas, although they can still be very dangerous if provoked.  

Special Rule: Group Tactics. If  more than one Simbara rakasta is attacking a target they will try to outflank and attack from the back and sides. Any Simbara rakasta attacking from the sides or back will get +2 to hit for all attacks on the surrounded target. 

The Chuida have golden fur marked with black spots formed into rosettes. They have about 5-20 individuals per tribe and often hunt alone. They are quite adaptable to different environments and can be found in forests, hills and savannah. Chuida rakastas are quite reclusive and tend not to approach other humanoids. Jungle elves have sometimes made peaceful contact with the Chuida but Thyatian humans are almost unaware of their existence.  

Special Rule: Stealthy climbers. Chuida rakasta can be very stealthy and generally surprise opponents on 1d4 on d6 (instead of the usual 1-2 on d6). They will often use this to slip away if they don’t want to fight. Chuida rakastas can also climb trees and rocks faultlessly at half normal speed (60ft/rnd).

The Kyarro have orange fur with black stripes, are bulkier than other rakastas and are usually found in dense jungle and sometimes lakes and swamps. Unlike most rakastas the Kyarro are capable swimmers and can also move around rivers and lakes on canoes. Like the Chuida they prefer smaller tribes of 5-20 individuals.  The Kyarro can be among the worst tempered of rakastas and encounters with humans may end violently. In the worst cases some individuals turn to man-eating, though fortunately this is not widespread among the Kyarro.

Special rule: Swimming and rage. Kyarro rakastas can swim at half normal speed (60ft/rnd). Furthermore if a Kyarro rakasta loses more than half its hit points in a fight it will gain +2 to hit with all attacks as it enters a battle rage.  

Survival

All of the rakastas in northern Davania find themselves trying to survive in the savage wilderness. Shelter is generally not a problem and water is generally easy to find. The three major problems are food, big predators and tropical diseases. 

Food is usually smaller vertebrates, typically deer, rabbits, birds and warthogs. If working in small hunting teams rakastas may go for larger prey such as water buffalo or small dinosaurs. Other intelligent humanoids (what rakastas refer to as "name-giver races") are not usually considered. However, there are a few isolated incidents where rakastas have become man-eaters (or elf-eaters). Such rakastas cease to be neutral and become chaotic in alignment. 

Rakastas can become prey themselves - they are well aware that in the jungles of Davania they are not at the top of the food chain. Carnivorous dinosaurs, dragons, giant spiders, araneas, minotaurs and the like will all attack and eat rakastas if they can catch them. Thus rakastas are always cautious when moving outside their lairs, looking, listening and smelling for threats. Rakastas always consider caution the better part of valour unless other tribe members are threatened. When defending their young cubs or their lairs rakastas become absolutely fearless and will fight to the death. 

Diseases are the final problem that rakastas must deal with. Parasites, viruses and even magical diseases akin to curses can all threaten humanoids in this hostile land. Davania is host to a myriad of threats that cannot be seen until symptoms start to develop. This is where the rakasta shamans come in, known among their own kind as Mgangas. 

Rakasta Mgangas

These tribal shamans of the rakastas combine clerical and druidic magic to support and protect their tribe. They are often skilled herbalists, using the local flora in their tasks. Rakasta mgangas have different patrons: some follow the cosmic force of the Balance, the essence of Neutrality; others draw their powers from nature, while a few follow ascended legendary rakastas that have achieved immortality as saints, exalted or chaos princes. There are 3 main ranks: 

• Minor Mgangas have the spellcasting abilities of a 2nd level cleric and can choose from clerical or druid spell lists.
• Tribal Mgangas have the spellcasting abilities of a 4th level cleric and can choose from clerical or druid spell lists.
• Great Mgangas have the spellcasting abilities of a 6th level cleric and can choose from clerical or druid spell lists.

Mgangas only use war-claws as weapons and like other rakastas they don’t wear armour. They also have any abilities from their subrace. 

Mgangas also have a talent for taming large wild cats as pets and hunting animals much as humans would use hounds. On the Isle of Dread this is usually sabretooth tigers, while other communities of rakastas may train tigers, panthers and lions. Although they typically associate with the cats they most resemble (Simbaras with pet lions, Chuidas with pet leopards and Kyarros with pet tigers) this is by no means an absolute rule. Note that unlike sabretooth tigers none of the others are large enough for rakastas to use as mounts. 

Tools and Weapons

In terms of technology rakastas are somewhere between stone age and bronze age. Many tribes have developed the techniques to smelt copper and tin to make bronze, which they use for weapons, particularly their distinctive rakasta war-claws, metal extensions of their natural claws they strap to their wrists (doing 1d4 damage on a hit). They tend not to use armour as they value agility and speed over physical protection. They can also scavenge or buy iron and steel weapons from other races such as jungle elves or occasionally Thyatian humans. Sometimes these weapons will be used as they are found, but more often they will be melted down or reforged as war-claws. Of course, rakastas have their own natural claws and teeth, and if forced to fight unarmed they are still considerably more effective than a human (1d2 damage from natural claws). Rakastas do not understand agriculture or herding: they are instinctive hunters and find it difficult not to attack animals they consider food - thus they maintain their hunter-gatherer society. Their tribal lairs are often either in dense foliage or underground - as mentioned before, they don't want to be easy prey for a big carnivorous dinosaur. These lairs are rarely long-lived or as developed as human settlements, and rakastas are ready to up and move to a new home if they need to, often shifting their camp every few years, though usually within the tribe's hunting territory. They have a basic method of tanning, and leather from their prey is their material of choice for loincloths, belts, blankets and bags.  

Combat statistics

	Normal Rakasta	Pride Leader	Tribal Chief	Great Chief
Armour Class	6	6	5	5
Hit Dice	2+1	4+2	6+3	8+4
Avg. Hit Points	10	20	30	40
Movement	120'	120'	120'	120'
THAC0	17	15	13	11
Attacks	2 claws/1 bite or by weapon	2 claws/1 bite or by weapon	2 claws/1 bite or by weapon	2 claws/1 bite or by weapon
Damage	1d4/1d4/1d4 or by weapon	1d4+1/1d4+1/1d4+1 or by weapon +1	1d4+1/1d4+1/1d4+1 or by weapon +1	1d4+2/1d4+2/1d4+2 or by weapon +2
Morale	9	10	10	11
Save As	F2	F4	F6	F8
Alignment	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral
Intelligence	11	12	13	14
Size & Type	Medium Humanoid	Medium Humanoid	Medium Humanoid	Medium Humanoid
XP Value	25	125	350	650
	Juvenile Rakasta	Minor Mgnanga	Tribal Mganga	Great Mganga
Armour Class	7	6	6	5
Hit Dice	1	3	4	6
Avg. Hit Points	4	13	18	27
Movement	90'	120'	120'	120'
THAC0	19	17	16	14
Attacks	2 claws/1 bite	2 claws/1 bite	2 claws/1 bite	2 claws/1 bite
Damage	1d2/1d2/1d3	1d4/1d4/1d4	1d4+1/1d4+1/1d4+1	1d4+1/1d4+1/1d4+1
Morale	5	9	10	10
Save As	F1	C3	C4	C6
Alignment	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral
Intelligence	10	12	13	14
Size & Type	Small Humanoid	Medium Humanoid	Medium Humanoid	Medium Humanoid
XP Value	10	50	125	500

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