Uzo

Frequency: Common

Organization: Clan

Activity Cycle: Typically day

Diet: Omnivore

Intelligence: Semi- to Genius (2-17)

Treasure: Any

Alignment: Any non-evil

No. Appearing: 1-200

Movement: 12

Armor Class: 10

Hit Dice: 1+2

THAC0: 19

No. Of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attacks: Varies

Special Attacks: Nil

Special Defenses: Nil

Magic Resistance: Nil

Size: L(6' 6" - 9’ tall)

Morale: Average (8-10)

XP Value: 35

Uzos are white-furred gorilla-like humanoid marsupials who live in jungles and on tropical plains. They are very tall and live in tree houses. They worship Uzo-otl and Uzoat on great step pyramids and believe in death to all evil. They live in the jungles in south Sumunger on Ambal.

Combat: In combat an uzo will use any weapons it can. If it has no weapons, it attacks with martial arts. They are quite savage and in the jungle they hunt in clans. In a hunt they scream and swing through the branches of the trees in the hope of doing good by killing something or other evil. A charging uzo is a scary sight with its bared teeth and fearsome martial arts cries.. In general uzos are very hard to defeat. Their jungles are very dangerous and unfriendly if you are not an uzo, a human, an elf or a dwarf.

Habitat/Society: The uzos are very fond of land and power. All foes entering their jungles will pay with their lives very shortly after they enter. The uzos believe in Uzo-otl and Uzoat and worship them deep in the jungle at humble shrines or high on great pyramids. Uzo-otl is the god of strength and power. Uzoat is the god of life and weather. In the Diezo Wupa, the Uzo holy book it tells the story of the creation:

"All the affairs of the uzo gods began when Uzo-otl and Uzoat spoke with Dumathoin and Tyr about making Uzos. Tyr agreed to help but Dumathoin said they had to make them only in Sumunger. Uzo-otl and Uzoat made the jungles all alone with no help from Dumathoin and that is why Uzos used not to like Dwarfs. Tyr lent his aid to the effort and protected them, and they were grateful to him."

Uzos are very holy and their tree houses are very simple. The uzos' biggest city is Uzopangou and the uzo high priest who rules over all uzos lives there.The city is built in a valley and on half a hill. The hill is the temple and deep below is an identically shaped underground pyramid. It is written in the Diezo Wupa that the great prophet will come from inside the pyramid. But in a dried-out lake in the jungle a great city is building itself very slowly. Manapapa the high priest has been told by the gods that the great prophet will come from the new city. It is said that the great prophet will come with enough new uzos to fill all the new homes in the new city. Some uzos still think the great prophet will come from the underground pyramid. So far the only things that have come from the underground pyramid have been ten uzos who each say none of them is the prophet but that he is coming soon.

Ecology: The Uzos do not harm the land except for cutting down some trees and making big stone pyramids.

Original concept by Raymond Waters, statistics by Alex Roberts, text by Gabriel Roberts.