Creci

Creci, more commonly known as the legendary great white saru, were a species of reclusive and intelligent white apes that shared ancestry with the monstrous kretch warriors of the extra-planar evil known as Tamara.

Description
An adult male Creci reached the height of at the shoulder. They resembled a massive and powerful ape in appearance, similar to a saru race found on the Malatran Plateau, but much bigger. Another difference between Creci and saru were their skulls. Creci showed a bigger skull dome that housed a bigger and more intelligent brain. Despite the first appearance, great white sarus were not afflicted with albinism. Their skin was white, and their body was covered in white hair. However, their eyes were not red, but brown.

Abilities
Spells such as polymorph did not affect Creci.

Personality
Creci were ingressive and methodical-thinking species; however, they were also strong and intimidating.

Combat
When forced into combat, Creci were powerful and cunning opponents. They strategized and devised optimal plans to tackle each situation. They utilized immense strength, punches, claws, and bites, but before it came to that, Creci wielded longspears.

Society
Great white sarus were intelligent creatures who communicated in their own language that shared some minor similarities to their smaller distant saru kin. Apart from the verbal communications, Creci had their own sign language and used guttural growls to communicate menace and intimidation. When in need of communication with outsiders, Creci tried to track down the red shatha leaves that, when chewed, granted the ability to speak and understand without the need for language.

The creatures mated for life and rarely produced more than three offspring in a lifetime. The Creci culture considered children to be precious as the total number of the great white saru was likely around a hundred.

Culture
Creci could create technology complicated by the Malatran standards, setting them apart from the less intelligent and industrious saru of the tribes. Creci carried complex fire-starters of their own making. One of the item's uses was performing the traditional funeral right. The dead were placed atop a large funeral pyre and incinerated. This was considered to be "sending the dead son to the sky." The funeral was accompanied by the singing of a dirge. The song talked of the freedom the dead found in the skies and in the tall trees of the jungle.

Some Creci knew the Art and sorcerous ways. One of the enchanted items created by them contained magics similar to the lesser geas spell.

Legends
The great white sarus carried a legend among their people that talked about the Return – the even that hailed the return of Vizurathu, the Lion Spirit of the jungles. The legend prophesied that the spirit would be weakened and needed the spirit of Amaranthus to join the Lion's essence in order to fight the dreaded Tiger – the Tamara.

Ecology
Creci arrived in Malatra many centuries before the Year of Great Change. Their ancestors abandoned the evil Tiger spirit, also known as the Tamara, when they first found the way to Toril, along with the Ancients and the good Spirit of the Lion – Vizurathu. Creci shared ancestry with the four-armed and green-furred warriors of the Tamara - monstrous kretch, and their shared language was evident of the distant relations between saru of the Fire Mountain tribes and the great white sarus of the Lake of Time.

Creci were bitter enemies of the yuan-ti of the Malatran Plateau. They were familiar with equally reclusive plantmen of the jungle, but virtually had never met shu, nubari, or korobokuru before the Year of Great Change.

Habitats
The only known reclusive community of great white saru lived in the jungles around the Lake of Time, or Lake Kovo for non-Creci.

History
In the Year of Great Change of Malatran Calendar, late 14 century DR, a group of heroes of the Living Jungle encountered one of the legendary great white sarus – Haniyya, inhabiting deep forests around the Lake of Time. A year prior, Haniyya's wife was killed by giant spiders, and the Year of Great Change brought forth a violent death to his only son – Hanan. The young Creci encountered a group of evil kretch who tore the youth apart. The grieving father briefly suspected the strange group of humanoids but, with the help of shatha leaves, was able to communicate with the heroes of Malatra. Together, they performed the traditional funeral ceremony of the great white saru and soon after tracked down and slew the evil servants of the Tamara.

When the vengeance was served, Haniyya shared some of the histories of his species with the heroes and guided them to the Lake of Time. Hitting the waters of the lake with his palms, the great Creci summoned the lake's guardian spirit, a noble water elemental that transported the group to the Dreamlands, to commune with Amaranthus, one of the spirits of the Living Jungle.

Notable Creci

 * Haniyya, the name translated as "the happy one", or "Smiley", from the Creci language. Both he and his son Hanan lived on the Malatran Plateau in the late 14 century DR.

Appearances

 * Licensed Adventures & Organized Play
 * Dark Village &bull; Come the Lion
 * Come the Tiger
 * Come the Tiger