Personality: In general Tan’zhom have little interest in conflict and have become experts in diplomacy. Tan’zhom also have a highly developed curiosity regarding all things magical and mechanical, leading them to question, disassemble, reassemble, modify and duplicate all magical rituals and mechanical devices that come within their reach.

Tan’zhom are inquisitive. They love to find things out by personal experience. At times they’re even reckless. Their curiosity makes them skilled engineers, since they are always trying new ways to build things.

Physical Description: The Tan’zhom are evolved, bipedal insectoids, with stick like bodies covered in plates of flexible, brilliant-green chitin. Adult Tan’zhom stand 5-1/2 to 6 feet tall amd weigh between 100-180 pounds. Tan’zhom reach adulthood at the age of 20 and generally live to about 70. They possess two arms and two legs, each of which ends in two fingers and an opposable thumb. Two huge, black eyes dominate their faces, which have short snouts ending in small, toothless mouths. Their bulging black eyes are superior adaptations of the traditional insectoid compound eye, and can see tiny, almost minute detail with amazing accuracy.

Tan’zhom have two antennae that extend from the backs of their heads. They contain tympanic nerves that detect ordinary sound-wave vibrations and relay them to the brain.

In addition, the antennae are also sensitive to sound-wave transmissions, which the Tan’zhom can generate biologically. Using these radio waves the Tan’zhom can communicate silently and rapidly over distances of approximately 5 miles. Other races often mistake this mode of organic telecommunication for telepathy.

Tan’zhom come in two types—intelligent, hermaphroditic Tan’zhom and unintelligent worker drones. At the time of their entrance into the racial alliance, only five percent of Tan’zhom were intelligent, but the demands of rebuilding more civilized and peaceful lands has required the Tan’zhom to restructure their society. Since the change, egg-laying Tan’zhom now use a special enzyme to ensure half the eggs laid develop into intelligent Tan’zhom, while the other half develop into drones.

When a Tan’zhom hive needs more members, some of the fertile Tan’zhom are asked to lay eggs, while others are assigned to fertilize them. The eggs are cared for in colony incubators, and hatchlings are cared for by the entire hive.

The fungus Magenge, which grows in the marshes and jungles of the (Southlands), form the major basis of the Tan’zhom diet. Tan’zhom also digest whatever fruits and vegetables are in season or available outside their lands.

Relations: Most other races find Tan’zhom surprisingly personable. Tan’zhom live peacefully side-by-side with other races and creatures sharing territory so long as they do not begin to over hunt and gather in an area, or waste resources. If a Tan’zhom hive perceives interlopers as a danger, they will attack, heedless of their own safety until the threat is either driven off or slain.

The Tan’zhom compete with the Kroot for territory n the southern savannahs and jungles of Amistade.

During the human wars, the Tan’zhom were openly sympathetic towards the racial alliance. However, they did not officially join the alliance as a whole, partly due to their natural pacifistic idealism, and partly due to the decision of the Tan’zhom council to remain neutral. They however respect and verbally support the racial alliance.

Alignment: Tan’zhom are most often good. Those who tend toward law are wizards, advisors, sages, engineers, researchers, scholars, investigators or consultants. Those who tend toward chaos are bards, rogues, wanderers or fanciful jewelers.

In general the Tan’zhom are a good hearted race. They have little interest in conflict and have become experts in diplomacy. Evil Tan’zhom are as rare as they are frightening.

Tan’zhom Lands: Tan’zhom make their homes in tropical grasslands and jungles. Tan’zhom who settle in human lands are commonly gemcutters, mechanics, sages or tutors.

Religion: The Tan’zhom worship a diety called Somtra Vosht’i which translates to The One Who Dwells In The Night. Somtra Vosht’i is the creator of the Tan’zhom, and expects his followers to work for the betterment of the Tan’zhom race

Langauage: Tan’zhom speak their own language called Urthish, which they can also transmit back and forth to one another via organic telecommunication through their antenna. Tan’zhom also speak Common.

The Tan’zhom language, which uses the Dwarven script, is renowned for its catalogs of knowledge about the natural world.

Names: Tan’zhom make no distinction between male and female names, and have no surnames. Many, though not all, Tan’zhom names contained sibilant consonants and glottal stops.

Tan’zhom Names: Ark’ik, Bascko, Cargi, Chit’al, Chur’ff, Drik-chit, Faz’et, Gulnik, Jurfel, Ka’bchta, Kittul, Kulli, Kyli, Lojmaa, Moegid, Ned’lix, Niskooen, Nuli, Osos, Py’lax, Raxsus, Ro’tre, Suskafoo, Tal’ich, Tilnak, Uryari, Van-Keel, Vorox, Zix, Zrai

Adventurers: The vast majority of the Tan’zhom who have left their hive communities find work in civilized areas as wizards, sages and investigators. Tan’zhom constantly scour the realms for knowledge and new forms of magic, arcane rituals and technological innovations. Many also have proven themselves excellent rogues in seeking out and finding the lost knowledge and artifacts of the fallen human empires.

Tan’zhom Racial Traits:

• +2 Intelligence, +2 Constitution, -4 Charisma
• Medium-size: as Medium-sized creatures, the Tan’zhom gain no special bonuses or penalties on account of their size.
• Base movement rate is 30 feet.
• Tan’zhom do not sleep but instead go into a deep trance for 5 hours a day. A Tan’zhom spellcaster though requires 8 hours of trance rest before preparing spells.
• +8 racial bonus to Jump checks
• Low-Light Vision: Tan’zhom can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination. Tan’zhom retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Bllindsense: Using their antennae Tan’zhom are able to notice things it cannot see. Tan’zhom usually do not need to make Spot or Listen checks to pinpoint the location of a creature within range of its blindsense ability, provided that it has line of effect to that creature. Any opponent the Tan’zhom cannot see still has total concealment against a Tan’zhom with blindsense, and the Tan’zhom still has the normal miss chance when attacking foes that have concealment. Visibility still affects the movement of a Tan’zhom with blindsense. A Tan’zhom with blindsense is still denied its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against attacks from creatures it cannot see.
• Racial Hit Dice: A Tan’zhom begins with one level of humanoid, which provides 1d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +2, Ref +0, and Will +0.
• - 2 penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Sense Motive checks due to their monstrous appearance
• +5 Natural Armor: The thick exoskeleton of a Tan’zhom provides it with +5 natural armor bonus to armor class, but this also makes it impossible for a Tan’zhom to use most manufactured armor (armor can be custom-fitted). Custom fit armor for a Tan’zhom costs triple the normal cost and causes a -2 penalty to Dexterity.
• Adaption: A Tan’zhom that successfully saves against a poison is forever immune to that particular poison.
• Natural Attacks: Tan’zhom can attack with two claws. The claws deal 1d4 points of damage.
• Prodigious Leap: With their strong legs, a Tan’zhom can make incredible jumps. Tan’zhom treat all Jump checks as running jumps, even when standing still. They also ignore normal height maximums for Jump checks.
• Automatic Languages: Urthish and Common. Bonus Languages: Kalish and Elven.
• Fixed Development: When a Tan’zhom reaches adulthood it has trouble learning the skills of other classes. As such Tan’zhom are unable to take ranks in other classes or prestige classes other than those directly related to their class.