Species Name: Geophant, Elephantkin, Loxophant

Type: Humanoid Elephant

Physical Traits: A Geophant looks like a humanoid elephant, with thick, wrinkly, sparsely-haired skin that ranges from a ghostly white to almost jet black, with bluish grey and tannish brown being the most common colorations. Their eyes are generally a soft, long-lashed brown, though a few specimens are born with blue eyes. The limbs of Geophants are thick and stubby, with three digits at the ends of their arms and legs, they have a powerful prehensile trunk and large ears, and a pair of sharp ivory tusks (larger in males than in females) that can make potent weapons, though they are often capped with blunt metal baubles in civilized areas, so as to avoid causing accidental injuries. Their tusks can gore for D6 piercing damage. They are also able to use their trunks like an additional hand, even for handling a weapon. If charging man-sized or smaller opponents, the Geophant may choose to make a trampling attack, causing 2-16 points of damage with a successful hit.

Height: 8-9 feet

Weight: 290-480lbs

Abilities: Geophants never forget that which they put their mind to. Enhanced hearing.

Mobility: Legs

Sensory Organs: Visual

Communication: Vocal

Reproduction: Sexual. They have a gestation period of 10 months and produce two to three offspring per birth. Infant mortality is high.

INT: 3D6, WIS: 3D6 +2, STR: 4D6, DEX: 3D6, CON: 3D6 +2, CHA: 3D6 -2, MR: 3D6, HPs: CON +D20, AC; 6

Orbit/Climate: See Earth

Feeding Habits: Herbivore, Geophants eat a great amount of grass and other plant material, often as much as 100 pounds per day each. They work diligently to protect and preserve their grazing lands. They travel to different areas periodically, and plant fruit trees and grains in all the areas they frequent, so they might have a variety of food.

Lifespan: 50 years

Technology: 2

Culture: Standard. Diversified mix of kind and evil people. For the most part they are honourable and metaphorical, with a rich and exotic culture spread through oral tradition, unforgotten in their memory. Their names often reflect the qualities of their ancestors, or how they will be expected to act. A tribe is one extended family, and often a generation of tribe members will be named similarly. Driven from their native rain-forests by Rakshasa millennia ago, Geophants are nomadic and widespread. They wander the tropics and savannahs of the natural world, keeping far from the cramped cities of civilisation. Every Geophant will undergo a migration in their lifetime, seeking out their ancient birthing grounds in the wild jungles of the world. Along the way, they meet with other Geophants to spread their history and mate. Most Geophants do not favour any of the gods, but death holds a mystical place in their culture. When a Geophant dies, their tribe will migrate to deliver their bones to the mystical Elephant's Graveyard, where the deceased will rejoin their ancestors. There was once a great, unified Graveyard, but now each tribe holds their own. It is the belief that upon unification with the bones of their ancestors, a Geophant will return to their native home in the Original Rainforest. Should a Geophant die alone, it is believed their spirit will cry for its ancestors and languish until delivered to the Graveyard. Geophants will go to great lengths to retrieve the bones of a fallen kinsmen and deliver their body to the Graveyard.

While they are a physically formidable species, given to monumental rages and towering feats of strength and martial ability, the Geophants have largely given up such barbaric practices, having actively worked to release their negative emotions and urges, calming their inner hearts, and soothing the savage instincts of their near relatives. Geophants are given to long periods of restful meditation and long hours of quiet contemplation, though they are also more than willing to render assistance to those in need, having no fear of hard work, and an immense capacity for it as well, thanks to their incredible physical abilities. There is almost no race or community to whom the Geophants will not render assistance. They are as egalitarian in their willingness to help others as they are in their willingness to worship different deities. Those communities that know of Geophants, and are on the pilgrimage routes that they take in their wandering, revere the elephant seers as a holy race, and hold them in high regard, letting them act in the most holy offices whenever they are present. The only peoples that Geophants will not help are those who are actively hostile towards them, or who attempt treachery against them.

Fully 60% of Geophants carry iron maces, with half of those also carrying shuriken. Another 20% also carry a heavy melee club and two throwing clubs, while 10% use dirk and shuriken. The remaining 10% carry only a footman’s mace or a tetsubo, and iron-shod club. If threatened, half the Geophants males remain to defend the females and young, while the other half charges into a counter-attack. They use their trunks to throw shuriken, and can do so in the same round in which they attack with a melee weapon.

When a herd becomes too large to support itself, it splits into two parts, with the younger leader taking his herd into a new territory. All the herds descended from a given ship remain friendly to one another. Some Geophants are artisans and work with wood, metal, and ivory from the tusks of their dead. Geophants make their own weapons, using their strong, clumsy hands to form dirk and blunt weapons. For finer work, they use their weaker, more dexterous trunks. Ivory is always carved into religious figurines and kept as family heirlooms, while wood is shaped into various decorations. Geophants also use their trunks to shape and sharpen shuriken and to make jewellery. Because of their physical limitations, Geophants can produce only very crude or very fine metalwork, with nothing in between. So while they can make maces and fine jewellery, swords are beyond their ability.
Geophanst use their fine artwork for trade. Some have devoted themselves to serving others through the blessings of divine aid. Touched by the powers of the gods, these are gentle giants, caring and generous to a fault. They have found an inner peace that few individuals can ever hope to obtain, let alone an entire race, and this tranquil spirit allows the power of the gods to shine through them, making the Geophants especially adept at channeling divine energy, most of which they use to serve others in need.

Government: Tribal Leader

All Geophants gain all the following free;

Hearing - Geophants can hear twice as far as any other race.

Memory - Geophants have an almost perfect memory. By studying a map or document for 1 minute, -2 seconds per WIS the character will be able to recall them with total accuracy. The character will also be able to recognize faces, costumes, and cars that they have only seen once or twice before. Memories are permanent and can be recalled with crystal clarity at any time.