Hai Nu

Hai nu are lean, muscular aquatic humanoids covered in soft fur of green, blue or yellow. Their webbed hands and feet end in short, blunt claws, bony ridges ring their sunken black eyes, and rows of thin gills line their necks. They breathe water or air equally well but cannot endure long stretches ashore. Besides their own speech they know the tongue spoken at the sea ruler's court.

Peaceful loners, hai nu rarely bother surface ships, but they defend their homes and hunting waters to the death when cornered. Arms vary by school: half carry a trident with a speargun (use spear stats), a fifth a short sword alone, a fifth a trident and dagger, and a tenth a short sword with a net. Sharks, porpoises or whales (3d4) accompany a school 40% of the time, and every community is guarded by 2d6 tame sharks.

They fight as a coordinated team, encircling foes and striking from every side while their animal allies pick off and harry stragglers. Enemies who surrender are usually allowed to leave after swearing never to return; those who break that oath are hunted down without mercy until none survive.

Normally they prefer quieter methods: cut fishing lines, fouled nets, small leaks in hulls, or a pack of huge sharks shadowing a diver. If that fails they may beg the ruler of the sea for aid, bringing great storms or a typhoon dragon to drive intruders off.

Water-based attacks and spells cannot harm them. Fire deals double damage, cold deals 1 extra point per die, and each round spent entirely out of water costs them 1 hit point.

Hai nu live in warm, shallow tropical and subtropical seas, making simple homes in sunken hulls and thick seaweed beds and dividing their days between fishing and attending the sea ruler's court. Schools number 4-40 adults, 75% of them female. A matron (6 HD, AC 5) leads; the adult females decide by consensus, but she may veto any decision.

Every two years or so a female lays 2d6 eggs, half of them fertile. Newly hatched young are almost helpless, less than half a foot in length with AC 10 and 1-2 hp, and stay at their mother's side for the three years they take to mature; she will die defending them.

They love bright treasure, especially gems and statues, gathered from wrecks. Half of all they collect goes into seafloor crevasses as tribute to the ruler of the sea, and when a tribute is overdue they may raid passing ships for cargo.

Nearly anything from the sea goes into their diet, though fish, crabs, seaweed and oysters are favorites.