Archives of Nethys

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Infinite Worlds / Weird

Weird Inhabitants

Source Galaxy Exploration Manual pg. 92
Where life exists in weird biomes, always consider how the creatures navigate, subsist, breath, reproduce, and survive. After all, even an utterly alien realm benefits from internal logic that makes its oddities more plausible. What’s more, these inhabitants might view PCs as the truly unnatural beings, establishing an unsettling dynamic for first-contact encounters.
Native species are often as strange as the terrain itself, and by necessity, such organisms have adapted to survive—and even thrive—under bizarre circumstances. Life in a volcanic expanse is likely virtually immune to heat, either naturally breathing the otherwise-toxic gases or being able to swap between different forms of respiration like aberrant lungfishes. Dead planets might lack true life, populated instead by undead or outsiders. Those dwelling on or within immense planet-beings must weather their host’s tremendous movements, with sustenance as likely to be parasitized from the planetoid’s body as captured through photosynthesis.
Inhabitants who originate offworld must have advanced technology, magic, or utter fortitude to survive, and they rarely settle these realms as a first choice. Instead, exile, desperation, or refuge drive immigration, and many of these creatures suffer in inhospitable surroundings that will never truly be home. Aucturn’s toxicity illustrates the trend, as any cultists and exiles who don’t choke in the toxic atmosphere inevitably mutate beyond recognition.
Most ominous of all are those creatures that can’t thrive in a weird biome’s current conditions—yet like seeds awaiting rain, these organisms can unfurl or hatch if the status quo changes, potentially creating an even stranger ecosystem!