Page 90 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

he sly, spiderlike neogi are strangers wherever they owned, and anything that can be owned is worth taking Illus. by D. Kovacs
go. They travel far and wide in shallow-draft ships by any means.
that are equally at home on rivers or oceans. Their
caravans cross deserts and mountains and traverse the
dark labyrinth of the underworld. In their graceful but NEOGI
terrifying ships, they even ply the skies and venture beyond Neogi are vicious, spiderlike scavengers, raiders, and
to visit unimaginably distant worlds. slavers that sometimes disguise their predatory practices
The appearance of neogi vessels or caravans in a land is beneath a guise of mercantile dealings. No commodity
seldom taken as a good event. Neogi are great traders and or business is too sordid for the neogi, and any creatures
merchants, but they are even greater raiders and despoilers. dealing with the monsters would be wise to take steps
They trade if they must, but they prefer to fill their holds to make sure they were not cheated—or simply decide

with treasure and slaves by simply taking what they want that murder and robbery are better business.
and leaving ruin in their wake. With small armies of umber Neogi undergo three distinct stages in their lives:
hulks and mentally enslaved minions, their far-ranging raids spawn, adult, and great old master. Spawn are small,
have made neogi the scourge of many worlds and planes. hungry hunters, barely sentient. Adults are the most
The neogi are a great mystery to humans and their kind. commonly encountered neogi—voracious, cruel,
No one knows where they come from; their origins lie in and brilliant monsters consumed with lust for gold
the Material Plane, but on an unknown world. Some sages and power. Great old masters are huge, bloated neogi
speculate that the neogi world doesn’t exist anymore, and approaching the end of their life spans, serving as
that the spiderlike creatures no longer have a true home. That living incubators for the next generation of neogi
might account for their endless wandering. spawn.
On other levels, the neogi are perfectly easy to understand. Neogi lairs are laced with pits, chasms, narrow
They are rapacious plunderers, greedy merchants, gleeful bridges, and precarious ledges. With their excellent
murderers, and slave hunters of the worst kind. They view balance and jumping skills, and their ability to dash
everything, including their own lives, as something to be around enemies, neogi can move through these
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