Loxo

Appearance
The loxo are eight foot tall elephantine humanoids. They have rough, somewhat wrinkled bluish-grey skin with a very sparse layer of short black hair. Like elephants they have truck-like legs and very large ears. Unlike elephants, though, they have two trunks instead of one, and they are not used for breathing. The trucks are smaller, and end in three small manipulative digits.

The loxo are very large of frame, and their hands are large and not as dexterous as most humanoids—far from it actually—and have only two fingers and a thumb. Their trunk hands, though, are very dexterous, far more than most, even the elves. Because of these two extremes in their manipulative digits, everything they produce is either very sturdy but rough (produced with their hand), or very fine (produced with their trunks). A loxo could produce a an excellent mace, or a fine porcelain statuette, but it could not produce a sword.

Personality
The loxo are of a basically peaceful nature. They generally do not seek out violence or combat without good reason. Given good reason, though, the loxo can be fierce warriors. Their wide, eight foot tall frame packs a lot of strength, a solid blow from a loxo-swung mace drops most men to the ground.

The loxo value loyalty, and tend to be very good at keeping their word. They tend to be slow thinkers, which often annoy some people, but once they set their minds in motion it is hard to sway them otherwise.

A Brief History
The loxo are one of three intelligent races on their homeworld, the other two of which are the ogres and the gnolls. The loxo were the dominate race for as long back as they could remember, until several centuries ago, when both the ogres and gnolls turned to the worship of an Abyssal Lord. At that point they began to work together, and both began to show far more intelligence. It was more than the clans of the loxo could handle, and they had been slowly been losing the war.

This world was discovered about a decade ago by a survey team of the Celestiae Peritia Geos, who upon seeing that the loxo were intelligent and under brutal attack, landed and offered to help, in the form of taking a small group of loxo to Bral where they could contact the arcane and acquire helms. The loxo, suspicious at first, finally agreed. They decided that they were unlikely to win their war against the demon worshiping ogres and gnolls, and perhaps a full planetary retreat was in order.

The arcane surprised many by giving the loxo a loan of not only ten major helms, but six one hundred ton Cargo Frigates, four Hammerships, and a quick crash course on spelljamming given to them by the rastipede. They also supplied them with the rastipede to help transport the ships back to their homeworld.

The loxo used the ships to quickly evacuate their people to another planet in their sphere, one without monstrous or intelligent life. They amassed the funds to pay off the loan and buy ten more helms and ships, to hurry the evacuation efforts. It took three years to do it, but the loxo are now settled into their new home.

Since then the lox have slowly begun to explore space, and while they are still a minor race, are well known throughout the major spheres of Known Space. They still rely on ships built by others, and the original ships bought for evacuation have been split among the clans.

Society
The loxo have an advanced society based around clans and families. Within the clan all elder (40+) have a vote, and each clan is governed by a male elected by vote. Females place a subordinate role in government, but a much more central roll in the family, and often run the house. Each clan has a simple associated pattern. These patterns are of geometric shapes of a certain color (e.g. blue squares), and are worn on an article of clothing by everyone in that clan.

The young of the loxo play a very important role in loxo society, and anyone daring to threaten a calf or its mother quickly becomes the enemy, and the normally peaceful loxo become very brutal.

The loxo are very sociable creatures, and when out from their own kind enjoy markets and taverns in the ports they visit. They make friends fairly easily, being rather amiable. They are not naive or gullible, though.

Religion
The loxo venerate a single god, Loroxon. Beside him, they place a lot of emphasis on the dead and dead spirits, and to some degree worship them as well, though only those from their own clan. They will say a prayer to a spirit that was known to succeed at the thing they are about to face. For example, a loxo alone in the wilderness and facing starvation would pray to both Loroxon and his great grandfather Verden, who had once faced the same situation and succeeded.

Each clan of loxo has a sacred location that a loxo on the verge of death makes his way to to die, amongst the spirits of his elders. This locale is hidden from all but the clan members, and if anyone not of the clan desecrate it, they are marked for death, no matter the reason. Any loxo that die away from the homeworld are brought there, if possible, to be lain to rest.

The tusks of the loxo that have died are considered sacred, and the priests and shamans of the loxo will make occasional journeys to the clan grave and gather a few, to help them in their communing with the spirits. Only shamans and priests are allowed to do this. These tusks are carved very ornately.

Role in Space
The loxo are fascinated by space, and have taken to it well. The main problem they faced is having enough food for long trips. They make sure to limit how many they take with them when they travel. As more loxo are making their way into space on their own vessels, they have started to hire riggers and such from other races, as they require less food and air.

The loxo are all herbivores, and are excellent farmers. Loxo merchants have began to sell large amounts of grains and other farmed goods at excellent prices, and are starting to gain a reputation for being good to do business with. Many of the loxo are also warriors, due to the recent war with the ogres and gnolls of their world, and some have continued on with that trade as mercenaries, and have found no lack of business. They are very durable, and incredibly strong.

Loxo Characters

Attributes
The loxo receive a +2 to their Strength and a +1 to their Constitution, but a -1 to their Dexterity. Due to their size and mass, they have a minimum Strength of 17, which is needed just to get around. Due to their size a durability, loxo mages roll a d8 for hit points.

Classes
The loxo are capable of being Warriors, Mages, Priests and Shamans. Priest/Shamans are very common. Loxo mages require ten percent more experience points to advance, due to their increased hit points.

Advantages
The loxo's tough hide and layer of fat give them a natural AC of 8. Armour must grant an AC better than this to be of any use. They can use shields normally.

The loxo's two trunks are extremely dexterous, and are considered to have a Dexterity of 20 for anything requiring fine manipulation, such a jewel carving. These trunks can also be used to throw shuriken, or throwing stars. They can throw two per round, or even one per round if they are also using a melee weapon. These trunks have an effective Strength of 6, except for when throwing shuriken, for which it receives no damage penalties.

The loxo live as long as 200 years.

If the loxo sees its family (literal) being attacked, each round there is a 10% chance (non-cumulative) that it will enter a berserk state, gaining an extra attack every round, a +2 bonus to all attacks and damage, and 10 extra temporary hit points.

Disadvantages
The loxo are very large, and this causes problems in many ways. They are Large type creatures, and take damage as such. They must pay two times as much for clothing, which must be special ordered anyplace but from a store on the loxo homeworld, a loxo clothes merchant, or the rare shop that has frequent loxo customers. The same applies to armour, but the cost is three times as much. They require twice as much air as a normal person on a ship, and four times as much food and water. They are herbivores, and can only eat vegetables, fruits and grains.

The normal arms and hands of the loxo are not particularly dexterous, and cannot be used for any sort of fine detail or precision. Any sort of melee weapon other than clubs and maces are used at -3, and ranged weapons are used at -2, and some may not be usable at all (such as a crossbow with a trigger guard, as the loxo's finger is too big).

Loxo are slow in combat, and receive a -2 to initiative.

The Loxo Iron Mace
The loxo's favored weapon is the iron mace, which is made entirely of iron, and is larger than a footman's mace, but smaller than a maul. It does 1d8/1d8 points of damage, and a loxo can wield it in one hand..