Krinth

Krinth were humanoids native to the Plane of Shadow. They composed the bulk of the armies of the returned Netherese city of Thultanthar.

Description
Krinth were tall humanoids with dusky gray skin, black hair, and black eyes. They weighed between 150 and 250 pounds (70 and 110 kilograms) and were between five and seven feet (150 and 210 centimeters) tall. Their appearance varied depending on whether their non-demonic ancestor was human, dwarf, orc, or some other humanoid. Dwarf-related krinth were not as short as dwarves but were taller than other varieties of krinth.

A krinth had great endurance and strength.

There were actually two kinds of krinth. Demonspawn krinth were the direct offspring of a shadow demon and some race of humanoid. The trueborn, or full, krinth descended from two krinth parents.

Physiology
Krinth children matured more quickly than did humans, but they reached adulthood around 20 years of age and lived to be between 100 and 125 years old.

Personality
A krinth was typically grumpy and humorless, with a short temper. They worked hard at everything they did, whether a job or play, setting their minds to complete any given task. Despite being dedicated in duty, they otherwise were very chaotic in their mindsets. Because of their demonic heritage, they were often evil-hearted, especially among those krinth still living among the Shadovar.

Abilities
Krinth had no inherent magical qualities or powers, but their familiarity with the Plane of Shadow made them resistant to spells and effects that involved shadows. They were rumored to be nearly without fear, except for feelings of agoraphobia from large open spaces.

Combat
A typical krinth warrior of the Shadovar was clad in a blackened breastplate and carried a finely crafted ranseur with a short sword at his side.

Krinth preferred to set up ambushes and strike by cover of darkness. Once the battle was underway, they tended to rely on the orders of their masters. If no one was available to give commands, they usually simply focused on the most obvious opponent and engaged in melee. Regardless of who they were fighting or how well they were faring, they fought without fear.

Society
Most krinth lived in Thultanthar as slaves or soldiers. They were considered more valuable (and considered themselves more valuable) and were better treated than slaves of other races. Among the krinth themselves, the demonspawn were heavily ostracized by the trueborn.

Because of their status as slaves, the krinth had little for culture that they could call their own.

Krinth children were skilled at sports and liked to invent new games. In their rare freetime, adults would also play sports or train for combat. They enjoyed staying up, drinking the night away or engaging in other physical pleasures, if they had the chance.

Small clusters of escaped krinth could be found in the Underdark and on the surface of Toril, but these were rare. These numbers, however, continued to increase, because of the whisperings of the goddess Shar. Those who did escape often sold themselves out as mercenaries, as they were most comfortable being led by others. The Plane of Shadow itself contained small colonies of krinth.

Several groups of escaped slaves joined with the Zhentarim and traveled with them in caravans. Others joined the armies of the drow.

Regardless of where they lived, they felt most comfortable in an underground shelter, isolated from others. If a subterranean environment was not available, they would instead chose thick forests, jungle, or hidden valleys with large amounts of shade.

Language
All krinth could speak Common. Many who lived with the Shadovar also spoke Netherese. Even though they often knew the demons who brought them into being, they rarely learned to speak Abyssal. Krinth generally knew how to read and write.

Magic and Religion
The only way a krinth would become a mage would be if he or she found a secret teacher.

The divine powers most often revered by the krinth included some of the demon lords or the gods Bane (among the Zhentarim ), Laduguer or Lolth (among the drow ), or Shar. A krinth would only very rarely worship the demon who sired him or her.

History
During the time that the City of Shade resided in the Plane of Shadow, its arcanists often fraternized with shadow demons. Sometimes, these demons were curious about the matter of sexual pleasure, and from the unions of Netherese and demon, the first krinth were born. These original demonborn krinth were considered special, a curious sign of the new relationship between the beings of the Shadow and Material Planes. However, over time, demons would also rape slaves, producing further demonspawn krinth, and thus krinth ceased being a novelty and were reduced in status. The only reason the krinth were treated better than other humanoid slaves was that the Shadovar feared the demons wrath if they mistreated their offspring. In truth, the demons had no love for the krinth at all.

Because of Shar's secret manipulations, sometime in the latter half of the 13 century DR, the demonspawn krinth became fertile, giving rise to the first generation of trueborn krinth. Shar hoped that the krinth would give her an advantage over her sister Selûne, and since the return of the City of Shade to Faerûn, she has been tying to get more and more of them to escape so that they might spread across the world as her servants.

For their part, the krinth denied this tale of their origins. They believed that they were a race natural to the Plane of Shadow and that they were sold as slaves to the Netherese in return for treasure and knowledge from the Prime Material Plane.

Whatever the truth, the krinth began a sharp decline after the Spellplague of 1385 DR. As their numbers dwindled while those of the newly "born" shadar-kai increased, some scholars among the Netherese speculated that those events where related, and that somehow the shadar-kai were evolved forms of the failed krinth.