Tsnng

The tsnng are gemstone people: extremely thin, spindly figures whose faceted bodies glitter with ever-shifting color. A long, narrow head with small black eyes and a tiny mouth is all that tells one from an oversized baguette-cut jewel, and the rest looks like brilliant spun crystal. Most wear odd garments of black, gold or silver. Outsiders cannot pronounce the name properly, since their tongues are not crystalline enough, and usually settle for 'tiss-ning'. Their crystalline speech is all but incomprehensible without magic.

Every tsnng can rake with hard, sharp fingers for 1d4. Their jewel bodies give strong natural armor, though it would be better still if they were not so fragile; they do not bleed when hit but crack, and they shatter when killed.

Before a fight the two kinds look identical. Warriors fight with weapons cut from fine gems, such as ruby javelins and long diamond knives. These are not magical but add +1 to +4 to attack and damage (the DM decides, based on the stone), and the tsnng will not reveal how they make them. A warrior can also spend a full round reshaping one or both hands into spears, unable to hold anything; with them, a natural 19 or 20 impales for quadruple damage, 4d4.

Wizards cast as 6th-level mages at least, and many go much higher, though their Hit Dice and other stats do not rise. All memorize double the normal spells for their level, as if wearing a ring of wizardry, which leads some to hope a non-tsnng could learn the trick or use a tsnng body as a magical component; most likely neither works. In battle warriors screen the casters, but the two are complete equals, and warriors are just as smart and dangerous. Tsnng often carry their own magic items, from gold and platinum scrolls to gem rings, amulets and jeweled weapons, all valuable for their materials alone.

Groups of eight to 20 form leaderless, independent cabals that never deal with other cabals. Each claims a dazzling gem-filled cavern, almost an amphitheater, and regards itself as the council ruling all of Mineral. A few have convinced local natives of this, but most mineral quasielementals ignore them, and with countless cabals each claiming supremacy, none achieves much beyond its own neighborhood, where its power is real.

Their chief enemies are other tsnng, as cabals clash over territory and subjects, sometimes without the subjects noticing. They are hostile to travelers from elsewhere as well. Their furnace-like bellies digest nearly anything, and since they never sleep and feel no urge to breed, they devote all their time to new spells and grand schemes.