Page 113 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

The chief activities of a grell colony are collecting food, ed as anything other than a meat animal itself, of course, but
studying the secrets of alchemy, and preparing for expansion at least the chooser of the eaten is likely to be the last captive
into new lands (or even worlds). Grell do not engage in com- devoured.
merce, trade, manufacture, or leisure, nor do they have much
interest in trafficking with neighboring cultures. Grell relish LANGUAGE

the hunt and the kill, and therefore have no specialized groups Most grell speak only their own language. Grell philosophers
of food collectors or foragers. Each grell in a colony must know several additional languages, typically Common, Dra-
obtain its own food or starve. Only a patriarch has the right conic, and Undercommon. They study the languages of races
to demand prey from another grell, and even then, patriarchs or cultures that live near their chosen hunting grounds.
choose to hunt at every opportunity.
Grell is hardly recognizable as a language. It consists of a
CHAPTER 6 THE EATERS Grell are not builders. They create buildings and artifacts collection of buzzing rasps, clicks, and whistles, augmented
by distinctive manipulations of each grell’s own electrical
(such as their lightning lances) only when necessary, and grell
aura. Roughly half the meaning of the language is carried by
outposts consist of little more than a web of unimproved
caverns in which things of interest or value simply lie on the
the electrical signals, which are inaudible and invisible to any

floor until needed. When grell do find reason to build walls,
structures, or furnishings, they craft them from grell crystal, creature lacking the electroreception sense of the grell. Grell
speaking to each other in their own language must be within
an alchemical mortar or plaster that can be used to make light, 60 feet of one another to carry on complex conversations.
strong walls of translucent gray crystal. Because the language consists of both an audible and an
Since grell colonies don’t raise food or build things, they electrical component, grell can choose to speak in audible-only
have little use for humanoid slaves. They sometimes maintain or electrical-only modes. Much subtlety and detail is lost, but
“herds” of livestock (which might or might not include human- simple communications—such as hunting signals, alarms, or
oids) for eventual consumption. While grell would prefer to calls for help—can easily be transmitted in only one medium.
stalk their meals in the wild, they recognize that keeping a Grell speaking to other grell more than 60 feet away resort to
convenient and dependable food supply audible-only speech, which allows their clicks
Illus. by R. Spencer duties to spend less time hunting and good conditions. Grell within 60 feet of
and buzzes to carry for hundreds of feet in
close at hand allows grell with important
more time serving the interests of
each other can communicate in absolute
the colony. To be trapped in a grell
silence by choosing electrical-only speech.
larder is a terrible fate. The monsters
This is obviously quite useful in signaling
provide water and food (in the form of ambushes or coordinating a sudden attack.
edible fungus or mosses)
to their “livestock,” RELIGION
but otherwise give Grell regard no creature or being
no care or supervi- as truly divine. Gods are simply
sion to their captives. entities of great
Consequently, prison- personal power.

ers fight desperate and Grell
horrible battles with one
another to make sure that
someone else winds up
as the next meal taken
from the pen.
Sometimes, grell allow
useful captives to live for a time as
choosers of the eaten. A captive
willing to help grell lure more
prey into their grasp—or who
shows that he can keep good They
order in the pens though merit
personal strength, cruel- respect and
ty, or cunning—can caution, but the
survive for quite notion of adula-
a long time by tion or worship is foreign to
keeping his the grell mindset. Grell do not look for-
hungry masters Grell ward to any kind of afterlife, and they view
well fed. No chooser is regard- philosopher death as the inevitable cessation of existence
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