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| Species | Palhum |
| Family | Tantum |
| Classification | Illittum |
| Sphere | Order |
| Patron | Sword of Law |
| Origin | created from the blood of Mushussu, spilled by the Sword of Law, who tamed them |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Marshes |
| Food | Entropy |
| Description | Palhum appear to be anthropomorphic beings with eagle talons for legs, leonine claws, and a head that is serpentine, covered in red scales. They have small horns on their heads, poisonous fangs, a scaly crest on their head, and a long tail. |
| Procreation | All tantum reproduce asexually. New tantum form from the dead bodies of other tantum, multiple tantum rapidly forming from the chaos of their blood and bone and flesh. |
| Esoterica | Palhum are beings of both entropy and shavev mashkalran. This contradiction makes them very powerful with esoterica, and thus, they can use literally any esoteric energy. The most common among them, other than their main two, are flux, paradox, the Law, baleblood, humors, conflueverant, kiiric yihi, bijalee, lahab alqalb, qeernariji, feirua, dumaqu, infernum, hegnh, black nommos, waarheid, cacophony, euphony, fortune, misfortune, uafas, dream energy, oalkhaylaoataa, iremia, and d'qiarsea. |
| Special Powers | Palhum have poisonous fangs. They can cause random alteration of flesh if they use their right claw, and controlled reparation of wounds or broken bones with their breath. Their gaze fills targets with fear if they so choose, and they have up to nine entropic or mashkalranian powers. |
| Abyssal Powers | All tantum can breathe underwater if they have drunk of abyssal waters in the last decade. If they soak in abyssal waters, they absorb the entropic energies there, which give them their long life and their powers. They can also draw entropy by eating living things. |
| Monster Antecedent | The monster Mushussu was a beast who walked on four legs rather than two, but otherwise shared features with the palhum. She was defeated by the Sword of Law and turned into his symbol, his companion, and his servant. From the blood of Mushussu sprang the palhum after she battled the Sword of Law. All palhum have a bond to Mushussu that allows them to draw on her greater powers, including the ability to control snakes, power over the oceans, and teleportation. But doing this costs them each time, forcing them to recharge in abyssal waters for a year after each use unless they have absorbed a great amount of entropy already. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not recharge in abyssal waters after a century or so, they wither away. |
| National Culture | Palhum dwell in abyssal marshes, living in small tribes ruled by a council of elders. These tribes isolate from other tantum, often going to war with them to control their territory. Every tribe has its own set of traditions, which they claim go back to the moment the first of them rose from Mushussu's blood. When a palhum is born from the body of a deceased one, the palhum and their siblings form an immediate emotional connection. This pod becomes their family. If they are spawned far from their tribe, they sense where the tribe is and seek it out. They are born with the ability to walk; essentially they are born with the strength of a teenage human in good health. If they are born near the tribe, they are quickly taken in and cared for. As palhum are long-lived, new ones only spawn usually if one of the tribe is killed by accident, violence, or malnourishment. Within weeks of connecting to the tribe, the palhum children will be initiated as adults and given a role. This role changes every century until they are over 1,000 years old, at which time, they are allowed to choose a permanent role. Permanence is rare, however. Most choose to continue taking new roles on a regular basis. Common roles include gatherers, fishers, hunters, twirlers, warriors, justiciars, guides, sailors, traders, builders, or alterors. Palhum are known for their bizarre but sturdy structures, usually temples or fortifiations, that they build in their small, walled communities. Because they live in the chaotic abyssal marshes, their communities must be fortified supernaturally as well as architecturally. Thus, their builders are powerful esotericists. Each tribe is ruled by a council of elders. As they are so long-lived, elder is defined as a palhum who is over 1,500 years old. If there are more than 20 palhum of this age within a tribe, a grouping of twelve is elected to the council by the whole tribe, right down to newly spawned children. Everything in the tribe is shared and communal, and gender is unknown among them. There are no permanent relationships other than as members of the tribe. There is no such thing as incest, as they are spawned and mutated from previous corpses, there is no genetic overlap except by accident. Mating among their own pod is common. Each tribe eats together, celebrates together, and works together on big projects. When one of them dies, they wait til the children spawn, then eat the remains. Palhum are the only tantum with a taboo against eating intelligent creatures, save for their own dead. |
| Religion | Palhum worship Mushussu and the Sword of Law, whom they consider a dual god. Most religious duties are performed by the elders. The religion consists of affirmations of obeisance to the Sword of Law, keeping of strict, complex rules, and sacrifices to Mushussu (usually fish). The rules vary by tribe, but usually involve customs that dictate when and where a palhum can do certain things--one may only hunt within certain bounds, dead bodies must go here, waste materials must go there, eating may be done at this place, mating at that place, and so on. These can be very specific or they can be more general. |
| Mortal Interactions | Most mortals are unaware of the palhum, as they rarely leave Adderswamp. Those that do are usually seen as either Agikaani halfbreeds (and thus hated in most societies) or as monsters. They are rarely popular in mortal cultures. Those few cultures who know of them revere them as protectors of law and order. For those few mortal cultures that travel into the Adderswamp, they are seen as the "one good tribe" to encounter there. |
| Notables | Kanahhu, Palhum Elder of the Ohaleggh Tribe; |
| Notable Occupations | Gatherer, Fisher, Hunter, Twirler, Warrior, Justiciar, Guide, Sailor, Trader, Builder, Alteror, Elder, |
| Sample statistics | PRO 18 ATH 14 STR 16 AWA 15 WIL 17 ROG 9 Poison 16 Alter Claw 16 Repair Breath 14 Mushussu Connection 16 Other Powers 10-16 |
GrandGuignol
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