Slaad

Slaadi (singular: slaad, ) were bipedal, frog-like creatures native to Limbo and to the Supreme Throne.

Description
Slaadi, in their base form, resembled large, bipedal frogs with long, sharp claws, wide mouths filled with pointed teeth and huge heads. Embedded in most of their skulls was a gemstone the size and shape of a human child's fist, a jewel that shared their color and that could be seen beneath their forehead skin. Looking closely, one could see that symbols were carved into the shard, markings unique to the slaad which could be used to determine its past kills, conquests, duels and other deeds. If one could decipher the meaning of the tattoo, it could be used to determine the relative strength of the slaad, with other slaads being able to immediately identify the slaad by their mark.

Despite generally sharing the same basic, if baffling, appearance, slaadi were nonetheless creatures of chaos and so no two were exactly identical. They always had at least mild differences in height, build and eye position even within their own subtype, some breeds being human-sized and gangly while others were huge and muscular, and many possessed even more distinguishing traits. While some classified slaads by color, slaads of the same breed could vary not only in their exact shade and pattern but also be of the opposite color entirely.

Other potential differences included additional body parts and organs, features of greater or lesser size, various body types, and wholly unique features like horns, scales, tails and hair. More outlandish traits, such as blade-like claws, wings whether functional or not, and even a medusa's snake-like hair, were also fully possible. It was also possible that, given that some of the more powerful slaadi had polymorphing abilities which allowed them to transform into humanoids, often those of their original hosts, that one might not even recognize a slaad upon meeting them.

Behavior
Understanding the minds of slaadi could be a maddening task for those that weren't insane, for few beings so willfully and completely embraced chaos as the natives of Limbo. Attempts to trade and negotiate with them could be as frustrating and flummoxing as attempts to give or obtain information and conducting basic conversations. They refused to see reason much of the time, often reacting with rage when approached with arguments and logic even if being offered something beneficial, leading some to believe that they were simply crazy or at best, viewed a reality different to the one that most beings saw. Flattery was seen as trickery and trying to deceive a slaad was an inexact method of cooperation, said to only work if the slaad believed that some new aspect of reality was being revealed to them.

Trying to diplomatically engage a slaad was, in short, a fool's errand likely to get the would-be negotiator attacked more than anything else. Even demons were able to make deals, as tenuous as they were, but slaads made no bargains, accepted no bribery and ignored appeals for mercy. This was because slaads didn't recognize the traditional rules of diplomacy, following their own unique and rapidly changing strings of logic that only the particularly insightful could follow, indicated by differences in their gestures, body language and tone along with changes in the context and relationships between parties that they were speaking about. Failure to communicate with a slaad could result in a wide range of random reactions and conclusions, such as believing the speaker wasn't real, believing the opposite of what they were saying was true, running away from them in fear, attacking the speaker with berserker rage or just making loud croaks until they went away.

Beliefs
Although slaad behavior could be written off as utterly mad and nonsensical, much of it was a result of their own alien cultural ideas for acceptable forms of interaction, a result of their chaotic environment. While in Limbo, slaads were effectively needless, able to exist within it unharmed and requiring only food in order to live. As a result, slaadi lacked common concepts of possession, having no personal items and instead simply taking what they needed when it was required. Because slaads believed that they owned anything they could take, they revered those able to take the most and thus held individual strength as one of, if not the, greatest virtue. Many slaads were obsessed with proving and improving their personal power and loved conflict, seeing it both as an exciting, chaotic clash of forces and a chance to show off their strength.

When stronger slaads oppressed and domineered their weaker brethren it was seen not as an objectional affront to be opposed as a group, but an acceptable activity and in fact the stronger slaad exercising his due right, a cruelty so normalized that it was performed without passion or ceremony. This bizarre, unspoken social contract that led to acts of such casual cruelty was something that slaads placed on all other beings they interacted with, treating others as tools to be used at their leisure and reacting strangely well at attempts to bully them since they viewed it as the only acceptable form of interaction. Some slaads were said to believe that they were the only truly sentient beings in the universe, all others being imaginings of slaad minds, another possible explanation for their brutality.

Alignment
There were conflicting reports about the response of the neutral slaadi to the moral extremes of good and evil; even the greatest of their kind could be hard to call evil, just unapologetically flippant and self-centered. Those that dwelt in the lower planes were said to become crueler and harsher in order to survive in its infinite horrors, although whether or not they would turn back was unknown. Other reports claimed that, in a natural need for balance, slaads exposed to sadism and hate would lean towards charitable and benevolent behavior, a theory supported by certain slaads themselves.

Regardless, slaads were beings interested in the spread and triumph of chaos, seeing reality as too restrained by logic and sense and quickly growing bored by torturous inactivity and uninteresting stability. While the more primitive slaad did so as a result of following their instincts, always striving after their own goals, those with greater intelligence, whether it be from mutation or caste, did so deliberately. Despite the common slaads generally being lacking in intelligence and prone to barbarism, assuming that the random and unpredictable spawn of Limbo were necessarily moronic was, at the very least, dangerously unwise.

"Slaadi... prove that chaotic beings do not have to be stupid beings."

- Xanxost the blue slaad

Abilities
Even the more magically inclined slaadi possessed dangerous levels of strength, able to rip apart most with magically empowered tooth and claw. Slaadi were also known to have the power to summon others slaads with various levels of reliability. They were also incredibly durable, possessing a healing factor strong enough that they could recover from near-lethal wounds, and being resistant to a large array of elements including acid, cold, electricity and fire, on top of being immune to sonic forces. Whether or not they could regenerate lost body parts was debated since there were reports of their heads exploding and then reforming a short time afterwards. Certain slaad mutations could grant them unique abilities, such as a petrifying gaze, breath weapon, pustules of oozing or steaming toxins on their backs or greater magical powers.

Control over chaos
Granting the slaadi a special advantage on their home plane was their control over a substance called chaos matter, a strange primal soup unique to Limbo composed of the basal elements of water, earth, fire and air but resembled none of its components. It was dry and hazy yet fluid and opaque, a highly destructive stew that couldn't be breathed and dissolved anything it touched. The strange substance floated throughout Limbo but even the raw chaos it was unstable in its instability, constantly forming into mountains, meadows, water and woods and changing back at random. However, chaos matter could be stabilized when introduced to sentient thought, allowing it to be reshaped into solid ground, breathable air, plants, and even used to regulate gravity.

Beings known as anarchs, found more frequently among denizens of Limbo but occasionally in visitors, had even greater control over it, with true and rare geniuses being able to conjure buildings, animals and possibly even ecosystems. All slaads were innate anarchs, able to breathe and swim inside chaos matter without being eroded and shape it to their whims. Even when unconscious, slaadi tightly controlled the area of chaos matter around them, allowing them to pass through it unharmed whether it was a ball of fire or mass of magma.

Combat
The toad-like form of the slaadi belied their agility and combat prowess, as they were skilled fighters and deadly predators. Though they thoroughly enjoyed fighting in melee, typically with their claws and fangs, they were smart enough to use their supernatural powers when needed, although they were often hesitant to summon other slaads since they were wary of their own kind and so only did so in emergencies.

"Xanxost thinks they should fight the slaadi way. One on one."

- Xanxost

Outside of hunting animals in Limbo, slaadi fought to prove their greatness, their reverence for strength drastically impacting their fighting coordination, or rather, their lack of any. When fighting in groups, whether hunting animals or battling sentients, slaads never actually cooperated, instead taking turns. When they outnumbered their enemies, they would wait until the first slaad was defeated, typically sending in the weakest first to gauge the foe's strength, after which another would get to duel and so on. This sense of fair play meant that it was possible for one incredibly skilled warrior to defeat an entire horde of slaads, prompting the remaining slaadi to, in accordance to their beliefs, recognize the victor as their better and obey their rightful command.

This mindset could also make fighting slaads incredibly annoying, primarily because they rarely ever ran away. Even defeating the toughest among them could prompt rivals and would-be leaders to challenge them for control, a persistence made irritating for anyone with urgent matters to attend to. Once dominance was established, there was a good chance that the slaads would go find even more powerful slaad to test the being that defeated them. Their idealism in regards to strength also meant that against individually weaker foes, even when drastically outnumbered and being mowed down, they would continue to fight, convinced that their superior strength would win the battle.

Blood War
Despite their love of violence, slaadi were offended by the concept of war, seeing it as the antithesis of their ideals. Their lawful counterparts, the modrons, opposed war because it was an emergence of chaos, but slaadi despised it because it was the ultimate destruction of individuality, a giant swarm where no single entity had a chance to prove itself. In regards to the Blood War, a neverending battle between demons and devils, slaads were relatively insignificant, their desire to cause disorder hampered by their disorderly nature. Their chaotic ways meant that they couldn't seriously devote real armies and even when they gathered on a large scale they were somewhat ineffective.

Though they praised the virtues of chaos, slaads on the whole fought for personal glory rather than to uphold their philosophy. However, the slaadi attitude to warfare typically aided their cause in its own contradictory way; since the slaads were all following their individual whims, they often inadvertently fostered chaos as a group, specifically by not coordinating. The slaad urge for bloodshed and need to test themselves led them to search out conflict, drives powerful and frequent enough to ensure that slaad warbands were fighting in the Blood War somewhere at any given time.

"....the baatezu. The cursed lawful baatezu. The hated..."

- Xanxost on one his typical asides

Normally slaads fought against the baatezu since a win for law was a loss for chaos and a potential problem for Limbo. At the same time, it could hardly be said that the slaads worked with the tanar'ri as much as they occasionally joined them. When one of the two groups were wreaking havoc the other might notice and take part in the destruction, but half of the time the two destroyed each other afterwards. Even in the midst of battle, slaads were known to forget which side they were on, becoming so enthralled in the fighting that they accidentally slaughtered the tanar'ri before being beaten by the baatezu.

Normally slaads fought until they were killed or bored but it was said that sometimes they were outmatched by fiendish ferocity and so retreated into Limbo. Slaads were often too unfocused to devote themselves to true training, but such a defeat could prompt them to practice until they could best their betters.

Society
Slaad "society" could be most simply described as a form of anarchic tribalism composed of barbarian nomads, travelling mostly in gangs of two to five or packs of six to ten. They didn't make permanent homes and were always on the move, either searching for food or looking for amazing displays of chaos and violence. They rarely constructed anything and obtained any required tools either from raiding other civilizations or foraging for them, making the groups largely self-sufficient.

The targets of their pillaging were often the humanoid races that had made their way to Limbo and established settlements, many of which banded together specifically to fend off slaad attacks, whether they were clannish isolationists, mixed societies or hodgepodges of dwarf, elf, orc, goblin, halfling and human. Slaads had no respect for other cultures, speaking their own language and showing disdain for other tongues although able to communicate telepathically when needed. They were loyal only to their own kind, but even then, rival gangs were always ready to rip each other to shreds.

Gith
The slaadi desire for unrestrained freedom led them to avoid areas in Limbo dominated by the githzerai, the lawful newcomers, relatively speaking, of Limbo. The slaads outnumbered the githzerai but the two groups existed in some semblance of peaceful co-existence.

Hierarchy
Despite being embodiments of chaos, slaads did operate under a hierarchy, but not one regimented in the traditional sense. Their chain of command was undisciplined and informal, based not in any respect for abstract authority but the pragmatic deference to beings of greater power; in other words, stronger slaads ruled over weaker ones using brute force, threatening the disobedient with destruction. The hierarchy ascended from the common but weak red and blue slaadi, the slightly less common green slaadi, the rarer gray slaadi, and, at least in the minds of most, ended with the dreaded death slaadi, although more powerful breeds such as white and black had been reported.

The death slaadi were said to be the closest the race had to kings, thought of as the most perfect specimen of their kind by other slaadi and so dutifully obeyed. They were the creatures responsible for directing the efforts of the slaad race and inscribing the symbols of rank into the heads of other slaads. Because the closest that slaadi came to actual lawfulness was their willingness to acknowledge and serve more powerful beings, the authority of greater slaads typically only extended only as far as they could physically reach. Without the cohesion to form proper armies or the desire to enter intrigues like fiends, the slaad desire to bring themselves into power typically manifested as strong slaads sending their weaker brethren as thugs.

Religion
On the whole, slaads worshipped no gods, at best being intelligent servitors of chaos used by the deities in Limbo as warriors and messengers. They didn't recognize gods as divine beings to be revered, nor did they bow to any primordials, which combined with their chaotic ways, meant that missions given to them were likely going to go wrong in some way.

Slaad Lords
However, slaads did possess their own kind of pantheon, an enigmatic group of revered, eldritch entities known as the slaad lords. Neither deities or demigods, slaad lords were more akin to demon lords or archdevils, supremely powerful manifestations of their kind with their own realms and special powers. When within Limbo, they were similar in power to lesser deities, maintaining domains stable even in their absence. While they were in a position to demand service from weaker slaadi, several slaad lords didn't care to do so, although less out of a respect for their free will and more out of a simple disinterest in having followers. When they did lord over the other slaads, they did so in the typical slaad fashion, a combination of bullying and threats, combined with less oppressive methods like cajoling them into the desired behavior.

Ygorl, the Lord of Entropy was second in age and power to Ssendam, the Lord of Insanity, who lacked concern for the activities of the slaad race thus making Ygorl the de-facto ruler of Limbo. Ygorl had actual slaad worshipers and fanatics under his control, although almost all slaads followed his instructions regardless to avoid destruction. He made few demands of the slaads, but those he did had a drastic impact on their kind, such as him ordering the death slaadi to rally mobs of the red and blue to invade other planes in order to perpetuate both their race and chaos itself.

The abilities of the slaad lords were shrouded in mystery, another result of Ygorl's dictates. Ygorl believed, perhaps correctly, that if knowledge of the slaad lords became too widespread that they would be treated with the banality that accompanied familiarity, treated as another caste of slaad and forced to fend off beings from across the planes wishing to prove their strength. Anyone asking about slaadi deities was to be devoured and Ygorl himself consumed any slaad close to becoming a slaad lord themselves in order to keep their numbers low and perpetuate their rarity. Thus, outside of an overarching idea, the process of becoming a slaad lord was barely understood.

Ascension
Generally speaking, when slaads ascended to higher ranks and consequently had the power to pursue their desires more freely, they were able to better define themselves as individuals. The logical end point of this was that in order to obtain true freedom, slaads had to become truly unique individuals by completely escaping the ranks of their kind. To do this, slaads had to tap into an aspect of chaos unexplored by any other slaad lord, which could be as simple as destruction, as benign as creativity or as malevolent as murder.

The process was incredibly dangerous, but if it succeeded the slaad would infuse themselves with power and purpose, becoming a personification of their own particular flavor of chaos with no resemblance to the common slaads. The limitations of slaad lords or how many could exist were unexplored as a result of Ygorl's tampering, but given they lived on the plane of ultimate possibility, anything was possible.

Ecology
All slaadi, being outsiders composed of the essence of Limbo itself.

Reproduction
Slaadi had been depicted as having a complex social system bound up in the relationship and reproductive cycles of the various types. Red and blue slaadi reproduced by infecting living hosts. The red did so by implanting eggs beneath their victim's skin which grew into a blue slaad tadpole that ate the host from within. The blue infected the host with a lycanthropy-like disease called chaos phage that slowly transformed them into a red slaad. Whether the transformation was mental was unknown. Despite being the means of producing the other slaad type, reds and blues despised one another.

If either a red slaad or blue slaad infected a spellcaster, the host would spawn a green slaad, superior to its parent in that it might cast spells. A green slaad, upon reaching its hundredth year of life, would retreat into isolation for the duration of about a year. Upon its return, it would have transformed into a smaller, but more powerful grey slaad, which focused more on spellcasting than most of the other slaadi.

Some grey slaadi might undergo an unnamed, mysterious ritual, which transformed them into death slaadi. Death slaadi possessed amazing magical and physical might, but eschewed focusing on the former, as the greys did, being bent more on perpetuating slaughter and death. As such, death slaad tended to lean towards an evil alignment than did most other slaadi.

If the death slaad survived a century, it turned into the white slaad. And if the white slaad survived a century, it turned into a black slaad in the manner of its preceding transformations. The black slaad was the most powerful slaad, excluding the slaad lords themselves.

The Spawning Stone was the primordial home of the slaadi, located in "a realm of their greatest dominion" which drifted about Limbo. The passage of the stone generated currents in the raw chaos-stuff of the plane, and slaadi were able to follow these currents "upstream" to the Stone's location. In the mating season, each race of slaad converged on the Spawning Stone, wresting the Stone away from the previous group, so that they might fertilize each others' internal egg sacs, and carry away the seed-like fertilized eggs for later implantation into host bodies. Sometimes, however, young slaadi were produced right there at the stone because the slaadi implanted each other in their mating frenzy. Thus, dead adult slaadi routinely floated about the stone until destroyed by the chaos of Limbo.

True slaadi were described as beings of ultimate chaos who had no set form. Only the Slaad Lords Ssendam and Ygorl were representative of this type. Somehow they affected the Spawning Stone to prevent the emergence of slaadi more powerful than themselves, which kept the slaadi within the aforementioned groups. Although anomalies did slip through in the chaos, they had less variety and a lower chance of being more powerful than the Slaad Lords. One such anomaly was the gormeel, which was a large, mutant variety "born from the Spawning Stone", provided that they were lucky enough to escape the notice of Ygorl and Ssendam. They were lawful in alignment, serving as allies and sometimes mounts of the githzerai against other slaadi.

History
According to some scholars, the slaadi were descendant from the batrachi, one of the creator races, though a being that claimed itself to be a batrachi denied this claim.

Other sages claimed that the slaadi originated as an unintended side effect of the creation of the Spawning Stone by Primus, overlord of the modrons. Primus's intention had been to use the Stone to generate order in Limbo, in order to prevent the chaos from that plane from spreading. The presence of the Stone allowed colonies of githzerai and modrons to be established on the plane, but as it absorbed the surrounding chaotic energy, it also spawned the first slaadi, who immediately set out to exterminate every modron colony on the plane.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Dungeon #43: "Into The Silver Realm" • Dungeon #101: "Prison of the Firebringer" • Curse of Strahd • Tomb of Annihilation • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Comics:


 * Forgotten Realms: "Converging Lines"
 * Board Games:
 * Betrayal at Baldur's Gate
 * Video Games:
 * Neverwinter Nights • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
 * Adventurers League
 * Dark Pyramid of Sorcerer's Isle • Escape from Phlan