ChoKa

[TLDunn213]

As noted elsewhere, the ChoKa are an offshoot of the Varna. Specifically they are what happens to Varna tadpoles that are not implanted.

The change to a humanoid shape begins at 6 months to 1 year after hatching. And the ChoKa can leave the Spawning pool once it is about a foot long.

At this stage the ChoKa must keep its skin moist and can return to the pool even still having the ability to breathe under water through its skin. At this stage the ChoKa's psi abilities are limited to a basic blind sight out to twice its height, and communication of basic needs and emotions. Such as hunger or fear. A person with psi abilities can mind link to ChoKa this young and share sensory input if so desired.

 

Once a ChoKa has reached a size of 3 to 4 feet they gain a body adjustment ability which allows them to give up water breathing in exchange for no longer needing to stay damp. This change takes from 1 to 3 days and is reversible.

ChoKa of this size also gain the ability to talk via telapathy and generate a bio-current strong enough to stun an average sized person.

 

The growth rate for ChoKa varies greatly depending on available food and the will of the ChoKa itself. A ChoKa can reach the 3 to 4 foot size range in as little as 3 years and then stay there for 10 to 20. Growth can range from as little as an inch a year to as much as a foot in six months.

There seems to be no upper limit on size or age with these creatures although the largest reported specimen to date was just over 8 feet with an age of around 200 years.

Unlike other Thulian kin ChoKa seem to undergo no morphosis beyond the tadpole to humanoid one.

It was also long believed that they had no means of reproduction, this is however not the case. ChoKa can reproduce by way of their starfish like regenerative abilities. A ChoKa wishing to reproduce will cut off a finger or hand, chop it into tadpole sized bits, and drop them into a spawning pool, along with a goodly bit of their blood. About a pint added to a chopped up hand, which yealds around 4 dozen spawn. The chopped up bits turning into tadpoles in 2 or 3 days; with the hand regrowing in about the same amount of time.

It is as yet unknown what percentage of Varna/Thulian larvae are produced by this process or what steps might be taken to adjust that balance.

Edited June 24, 2020 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

Other notes on ChoKa.

They have no bones, as such; the boney parts of the head and torso being made of cartilage. The arms and legs are tentacles which branch near their ends to become fingers and toes. These tentacles have a row of suckers along the underside flanked by spiny pads a combination which allows a ChoKa to grip and climb almost anything.

 

By wrapping their arms and legs around a foe they can delivere crushing damage as well as slashing damage from their spiny pads. Which when combined with their bio-shock ability makes them quite formidable in combat.

In game terms the spiny pads deal out 1d3 points per slap.

The bio-shock is 1d8 electric/stun per hit die/level of the creature. Which can be delivered all at once or doled out in 1d8 burst up to their total hit dice per day. 

The constrict attack can deal 2d6+2 points of crushing damage each round once the ChoKa has fully grappled a foe.

These stats are for a basic ChoKa, That is one that's in the 3 to 4 foot range With 6 to 8 hit dice (D8) 

 

ChoKa culture depends on environment. Wild ChoKa living underground tend to form tribal bands. Hunting, foraging, and raiding as circumstances dictate and allow. They are reported to be cannibalistic, raiding the Spawning Pools of other tribes as well as the Pools of Illith/Thulian outpost.

These cannibal raids are likely for knowledge rather than food given the genetic memory common to all Thulian kin. It could also be for genetic material in its own right, given that a tribe could have been started by a single ChoKa.

 

Tame ChoKa, that is those who were bonded to someone at a young age, tend to take on the values of whoever they are bonded to. Often remaining a faithful servant or companion for life and often remaining with their bond mate's family and friends should they be the surviving member of the pair.

Edited April 15, 2018 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

A couple of questions about the ChoKa have been brought to my attention as not having been fully covered.

The first being there relations with the Aqualith. Given that the ChoKa can retain the ability to breathe water, and their low/outcast status in Thulian society.

And you are quite correct; ChoKa are used as envoys to the Aqualith by some groups of Thulians. As well as Varna and even the occasional group of free ChoKa. Free in this case may be a bit of a misnomer as such groups are found almost exclusively in coastal areas that also harbor Aqualith outposts. And so such groups may be better considered as part of the Aqualith empire than actual members of Thulian society.

This is further confirmed by the frequent presence of free Varna groups and some level of trade between all three. With Aqualith slime being a notable trade item. And the apparent use of that slime in regulating their lifecycles in favor of Varna ChoKa offspring.

It is unclear at this time just what the Aqualith are taking in trade for the slime or what other advantages they gain from their association with the ChoKa and Varna. Further research into this is clearly needed.

 

In any event, the fact of a connection between the ChoKa and Aqualith brings us around to the second question to be addressed here. Namely the remarkable regenerative abilities of the ChoKa.

I've noted elsewhere both that they have the ability and that they use it as their means of reproduction. What I failed to address was the rather obvious question of how and why the ChoKa have a healing factor that is clearly much stronger than that of other types of Thulians and Thulian kin.

There seem to be two factors at play here. The first is the fact that ChoKa, unlike other Thulian spawn, never go through a morphosis process. True there is the initial transformation from tadpole to humanoid form. But if we regard that as simply normal growth, then there is no morphosis in there lifecycle.  And that is, I believe, the key to their fast healing. The ability to breakdown and reform their bodies, as other Thulians do, has simply become an ability to repair themselves all through their life rather than using all that ability in a single transformation.

So, what does this have to do with Aqualith slime, given that I alluded to a connection between the slime and their healing factor earlier?

First off, good for you for paying such close attention. And second, there is some evidence that the ChoKa are able to use the slime to not only argument their healing factor for themselves but to also use it to make a potion useable by other races.

The exact formula is, of course, a closely guarded secret. But it seems to involve a mix of Aqualith slime and ChoKa blood along with at least some of the standard ingredients of basic healing potions.

Which could well be one of the things that the Aqualith gain from their trade with the ChoKa. There are almost certainly other factors at play on both sides as I am quite certain that the Aqualith are fully able to make healing potions for themselves. But I am also convinced that there are clear advantages to gaining healing potions this way even though I have not as yet discovered what those advantages are.