Monday 19 April 2021

The War Against the Amphibians Part 1

 

I think this new remake of Thelma and Louse has promised with casting. Now I use the internet mostly for amphibian appreciation I've been using lots of (non-frog) social media less. Had failed attempt at the game today. Sitting looking at a 20cm thick pile of  Patreon stuff and in the process of working out a new direction there and listening to Bacharach. One big writing gig I'm stuck on because I'm developing lots of new content to make it work which is harder than what I used to vomit up daily here. Also, have a couple of things I'm working on and I'm finding it harder to unsympathetic to monsters and trying to work out how. The Orc Prince is my main baby. Also spent 100 hours on Warlords3 (90s turn-based fantasy wargame where heroes loot ruins for relics and can get quests or help armies).

One day I will compile all my war series articles with many more war ideas like several simple battle systems - one event-based obstacle dramatic (with of course random d100 battlefield events) and a couple of simple rules sets for scale.

The War Against the Amphibians Part 1 (Also Gone To The Frogs 3)
This deals with forces of the wars factions and how the war begins. Water features heavily in the tale of the frogwars and the great spawning. But many fell to chaos and worship of the outer void and necromancy  and were part of the rulers in the age of darkness lording over the bug and the worm for aeons before the dawn age in the primordial waters. They occupy the wet fens, bogs, lakes, streams, marches, swampy forests and any wetlands. The most ancient will occupy the seas and coasts. The most sophisticated look more reptilian and some took the leap aeons ago and defected to the reptilians. Now reptiles are their rivals and sometimes enemies but often amphibians cope with cold, deep dark places under the earth and cold mountain waters. Many later amphibians instead of chaos defected from the amphibian ancestors of the water elements and joined fire or air or earth or frost or darkness or others. 

So over last few years some heavy extra long wet seasons have formed new bogs and the sound of frogs on their logs in the bogs have grown louder for four years. Finally as huge rainstorms begin the frog gods ritual wedding is re enacted by priests. Enraged frog kind pour from the swamp choking waterways, hiding in sewers, raiding riversides snatching food.

Often the frogs of chaos or demon cults or the void enrage other thriving frog folk who grow to fighting ready in a few years. A few parents could raise and armoy of ten thousand in a few years given food. Stopping them can help to calm or confuse the frog hordes. Sometimes a froglord will declare they are the amphibian messiah and unify amphibians of all kinds even ones slumbering for aeons since before the world dried out after the first dawn.  

The first tables help generate some amphibian factions.
You might decide on a default basic few types and use them half or three quarters the time which saves lots of time. You might want hoards of coloured chaos poison froglings with blowpipes or bullfrog or toad folk abhumanoid barbarians or some weirdo more magical spirit folk or savage wereamphibian killers and cults.

Part of series
The War Against the Amphibians Part 1 Amphibian Forces Forces
The War Against the Amphibians Part 2 Amphibian  Encounters & Wonders
The War Against the Amphibians Part 3 Amphibian Rumours & Treasure

Random Amphibian Factions


d12 Amphibian Bloodlines
1-4 House of the Anurans (hopping ones)
-1-2 Frogs (d4 1=froglings 2=frogfolk 3=frog spirit 4=werefrog)
-3-4 Toads (d4 1=toadlings 2=toadfolk 3=foad spirit 4=weretoad)
6-11 House of the Caudatans (false lizards)
-6-7 Salamander (d3 1=salamanderlings 2=salamanderfolk 3=salamander spirit 4=weresalamander)
-8 Newt (d4 1=newtlings 2=newtfolk 3=newt spirit 4=werenewt)
-10-Olm (d4 1=olmlings 2=olmfolk 3=olm spirit 4=wereolm)
-11 Axalotl (d4 1=axalotlings 2=axalotlefolk 3=axalotle spirit 4=wereaxalotle)
12 House of the Caecilians (false worms or false snakes)
- 12 Caecillians (d4 1=caecilings 2=caecillian Folk 3=caecillian spirit 4=werecaecillian)

-ling suffix denotes halfling sized animal folk like froglings or newtlings)
-folk suffix denotes huge beastial humanoid warrior race like frogfolk
animal spirit folk spirits able to adopt human or animal form or anything in between
were- prefix are lycanthropy victims or bloodlines who change into amphibian hybrids

Gigantic animal amphibians are common pets and domesticated animals, used as foot, transport, war and labour like digging. The return of prehistoric like like up to 4 stride long  Euryops and others has brought back many huge salamander like creatures, some more fish like some more lizard like. Some of these ancient types are salt tolerant and can invade coasts better. Intelligent versions of the prehistoric types could exist but most sleep in deep bunkers and are forgotten on the surface.

Amphibians are not sun worshipers like reptiles and are quite at home in the darkness and darkness cults and water cults. As these tables show they are very diverse.

d10 Amphibian Cults

1 The Great Amphibian - the eternal ancestor who awoke in the primal damp darkness hugry d4 1=esoteric wizard sages 2=druidic nature priesthood 3=aquatic priesthood 4=primordial darkness
2 Petty Frog Gods - many minor frog saints, heroes and primal ancestors who are often approachable deities who live among their cults from time to time
3 The Great Frog Gods - a pantheon of lesser gods d4 1=Lorthar the Hunter of Bugs and Foes 2=Maran the Great Spawn Mother and provider 3=Bonkob the waiter in darkness 4=Uula
4 The Amphibian Order - a wizard cult preserving ancient amphibian spells from the dawn of time recorded in sacks of living slime incomprehensible to most races and delicious to some. This cult entrap human and elf wizards with free spells and free entry to a secret wizard cult
5 Elemental cults - most water is the sacred element but earth, air and even fire have their places. Lesser elements such as cold and lightning and wood and metal and crystal 
d100 1-75=water 76-85=earth 86-90=fire 91-94=cold 95=lightning 96=metal 97=plant 98=vapour 99=crystal 100=slime
6
 Alum and Ulam the two cosmic frogs always in struggle, one darkness one light, sometimes they fight over bugs and worms and attack each other sometimes they sit on top of each other and lock in amplexus spawning new realities d8 1=bright wizards 2=dark wizards 3=balance wizards 4=law wizards 5=chaos wizards 6=nuetral astronomer wizards 7=druidic natural harmonists 8=priests of the balance 
7 Hellish cult - bound to hell often with toad imp advisors, all initiates have sold souls to frog devils and hope to rise ranks in a nice maggot or worm infested swamp in hell where they will torture their enemies and eat forever
8 Druidic Swamp spirit cults of the wetlands especialy the dark fearsome evil bog spirits and swamp hags, protect fertility of marsh as haven for amphibians 
9 Daemon of primal chaos often clouds or pools of primal chaos tentacled toad beings who fight the daemons of Law like Archons
10 The great old ones - primordial toadlike squamish gods elder gods like Tsathog 
11 Daemon of the outer void - alien gods from beyond seek entry to our world
12 A demon cult with hooded robes and masks serve a demon as a lesser god d4 1=frog demon 2=slime demon 3=cannibal flesh demon 4=fungus demon 5=darkness demon 6=

d10 What Started war?

1 Insectoid critters and bug folk refugees appeared in kingdom seeking refuge
2 Weather for a few years caused an amphibian population boom
3 Amphibian elder wizard has awakened ancient hibernating amphibian clans
4 Chaos has made the croak of chaos calling amphibians to wage unholy war
5 A demonic amphibian council has aroused clans to violence and gluttony
6 Human villagers refused to handover useful giant bugs amphibians demanded
7 Human industry polluted holy waters calling frogs to fight vile pollutors
8 The frog folk have been dealing vice and crime through traders
9 Starving amphibians started eating people and poorest humans ate frogs
10 Someone attacked or poisoned sacred spawning pools enraging amphibians (was it really d4 1=humans 2=reptilians 3=chaos cults 4=foriegn rival kingdom

d10 Objectives of Invaders?
1 Gobble up everything edible, loot, burn houses, take livestock and slaves back to wetlands
2 Ruin everything to setback civilization, especialy use floods and weather magic
3 Unite various frog folk of present age under a single ruler (and possibly dominated by one cult and clan). War is just a means to an end by ambitious amphibian boss  
4 Take the land then awaken the ancient sleepers from before the dawn age when all was moist and dark and safe, these ancestors may be strange and fearsome and many are ignorant 
of current ideas like alignment or elements other than water and darkness 
5 Plant prehistoric stela across the land and restore a prehistoric age when amphibians ruled
6 Cannibalist cults thrive and the amphibian pope calls a crusade to gobble up the humanoids one and all before this cult destroys their people
7 Awoken ancestors from primordial age are offended by damned dirty naked talking apes and wish to eradicate them in the name of amphibian supremacy
8 Amphibian criminal vice syndicates have intend the mobs and gangs and pushed for war to profit from arms, drugs and slavery and have teamed up with the kingdoms crime guilds and most corrupt nobles. Their frog grog and frog pipe weed is popular and and humans even while fighting the amphibians are becoming adicted to "captured" wagons of amphibian vices. They even have allied with the mysterious black lotus cult of narcotic dealers who carry slaves off across the world where they are never seen again for return for drugs. Surrendered frogs will set up smuggling rings, black markets and gangs in prison
9 Amphibians need to grow and so land is needed to flood and slaves are needed to 
build dams and tend tadpole ponds and grow food and tend farms of huge bugs
10 The fabled age of darkness the world was covered in giant fungus forests and these amphibians preferring the bugs who live in these conditions like to spread spores of fast growing fungus forests. Any occupied area will grow damp and foggy and develop fungus forests over weeks creating a new ecology where the frog king will sit firmly on the mushroom throne forever

d10 What ends the war?
1 A great fearsome fiery god of hot summer winds if released to drive away amphibians but demands a quest to be satisfied (Nergal, Set, Mars, Sekemnet, Ninurta might all do)
2 Snow comes surprisingly sending amphibians into digging burrows to hibernate
3 A dedicated brotherhood united against amphibian genocide develops huge popular, political and church support. They amass huge assets, trade, operate a bank and use the amphibian event to gain unprecedented new powers over multiple kingdoms
4 A peace treaty where certain marshes and wetnands are made amphibian areas and tensions where they meet with humans may continue bitterly for years, some dont want to leave and even join amphibian cults or deliberately get lycanthropy
5 The amphibian master is killed and ruied by scandal and dishonour and the warlords fight over what they have and return home to enjoy plunder 
6 Amphibians take certain goods and strip metal and even stone and use it to launch a new level of technology for their rapidly progressing civilisation
7 The frog magicians who advise clans, aid the common fighting amphibian in battle and have own secret reasons call for withdrawal which puzzles the kingdoms experts
8 A swarm of delicious bugs attracts marching frog armies back to their home wetlands
9 A holy amphibian elder calls for all to join the ancestors in the secret frog vaults to sleep another aeon to await humanity to be extinct, most of armies follow this elder
10 The amphibian prophet commands all the faithful folk to return to the safe places of home and prepare for a new enemy on the way to destroy the kingdom and the amphibians know this greater evil and are hopping it. At first the kingdom celebrates till interogated amphibians fear the doom that comes  

d10 Factions within Amphibians?
Individual amphibian troops have other more imediate subgroups in a force
1 Has a gripe with humanoids and reptiles and mammals and birds due to d4 1=ancestors killed 2=sacred spawn polluted 3=massacred innocent tadpoles 4=has had lots of close calls with lots of people mostly bad
2 No idea whats going on, a bit thick and sticks with own kind, lots of exites amphibians on migration, just follow there must be bugs or new spawning or something. Whats alignment neutral? 
3 Been in sleep for aeons knows nothing about humans but believes stories of their terrible crimes on amphibians
4 Gourmet gluttons, where are the bugs around here and things to eat? Whats that guy eating I wonder? lets go forraging
5 Frightened just follows others around and does whatever told, a bit freaked out and hanging with like minded and avoid bullies together
6 Deeply religious cult member attends and preys daily services and has holy symbol or tatoo
7 Where are the best places to spawn? where are the interesting new love interests to meet in new lands with a warband and come home a conquering hero who toadaly owned those tailess monkeys
8 Got exited in some storms and formed a mob at home and next thing was a warrior on an adventure, its all been a hellbender really
9 So many back home with these good years weather so time to spread out and recolonise places long abandoned. Consider lands belongs traditionally to amphibia since pre reptile times
10 Personality cult believe the leader is so awesome and blessed by the great ones, it makes sense to to do what they say. No matter how strange or unhappy the feckless beings we invade seem to dislike it. The benevolent one knows all and must be followed

d10 Factions against amphibians?
1 Newthunters, a branch of inquisitors who hunt for amphibian sympathisers, cultists and spies. They know the taints of wereamphibians and which warts come from toads, exiting new field of bigotry and wild speculation
2 The Frogstompers encourage mobs of violent drunks to attack amphibians in the name of propper humans and harass any they think loog a bit froggy
3 The Riverwardens are a sort of inspector of the kings waterways official that also perform espionage activities and pass down the warning signs for generations of a amphibian invasion, they act as scouts and spies of the kindgom and enter amphibian homelands even
4 Arcane Order of Vivesectionists are exited about a war with amphibians and aid the war effort of the kingdom just so they can direct amphibian corpses. Then they get curious about live prisoners in the name of scholarliness. They get worse as the war goes on and by end are over the taboo versus human disection
5 The Primordial Order of Wizardry look to the secrets of prehuman magic and thus amphibian magicians and lore is to be plundered and shared with the order to unlock the secrets of the pre-dawn age
6 Knights of the Wyrm are a clerical order of warrior monks and noble knights of the kingdom who band together to fight amphibians and raise money for this crusade with banks and trade and tax exemptions. The creature they serve is some kind of draconic-worm like creature, actually a snake as the order are really dupes of snake people as part of some plot. Snakes keep amphibians down with human pawns and get amphibians blamed for their evil plots
7 The Cathretan League preach frogs and reptiles are bad creatures and birds and mammals are good. They want all amphibians stamped out and like to poison waterways low doses th harm amphibians too. They also attack beavers who help the amphibians spawn with their dambuilding. Their name comes from a family killed by filthy frog and lizard mercenaries. The groups try to make this family a martyred saints and claim they can perform miracles in the name of killing the spawn of chaos
8 Tanners & Dyers Guilds benevolantly dump toxic chemicals from industry into the water helping to keep amphibians away. They even bottle and sell the tainted water as cure vs all amphibian diseases and skin aflixions that the peddlers invent
9 The Sewer Keepers go inspecting sewers, wells, dams, drains, cisterns and latrines for infestations of amphibians and charge communities who the drive into hysteric fear by bringing out evil amphibian filth to publicly torment and burn alive
10 The Benevolant Guild Of Amphibian Reformers preach amphibians can be put to work as slaves in river oyster farms and lake fisheries and cleaning drains and sewers. They build sweatshops for amphibian prisoners of war to teach the brutes useful jobs
11 Witch Hunters know many witches keep frog and newt familiars and perform illegal castings on innocent victims using these parts for spells. Witch hunters are keen to help the war effort and root out cults or enemy magicians
12 The Toad Trappers catch giant toads and amphibians with traps to skin and for meat which they sell. Members wear their toadskin jackets and boots and carry clevers and knives and nets

d10 Quests?
1 Eliminate a fanatic prophet magician urging amphibians and their leader into war
2 Alter the magic by releasing might spirit divinities of hot dry or cold icy winds to drive amphibians away
3 Convincing the amphibian overlords there can be peace
4 Make a pact with reptilians or invite some other amphibian enemies to the kingdom to aid us in these dire times
5 Travel to a great elder amphibian vault and sound the great bell that calls the amphibian kinfolk to the shelter over a huge areas, it signals some new apocalypse is coming to their kind
6 Find a ancient amphibian relic and use it to buy off the amphibians for peace
7 Awaken the seven dragons of Mount fang who ate and drove off amphibians long ago oh and worry about dragon problem after or how to pay them off later
8 An amphibian lich king has been spurning on amphibian kind and spreading his necromancy to evil amphibians for aeons, kill the lich and this power will be denied 
9 In a far away volcanic island crater lake lurks an amphibian demigod who is aiding local amphibian hoardes with magical power. Stopping the being in it's lair may make the other such beings hidden around the world withdraw support for the current hoarde
10 Find the great vault where sleeping amphibian elders await the extinction of humanity and take it hostage or force amphibian forces to come to its defence

d10 What does the Amphibian Lords do to its prisoners?
1 Chop them up and eat them and herd to markets in own lands
2 Give them to sacrificial cults to gain favour of these hungry gods
3 Take them to be transformed into amphibians or made into were-amphibian
4 Make them toil as slaves herding huge bugs and caring for tadpoles
5 Turn them into bugs and eat them or use for bug or rat food
6 Make them work in harsh places amphibians dont like using chemicals
7 Has them taken away to a distant land to some secret amphibian stronghold
8 Disolve them in pits of horrible boiling acids, salts and hot tar or mud
9 Drown them in a ritual to a elder water elemental spirit of geat power
10 Use as food in great spawning pits of giant amphibian war beasts. Some very ancient pre dinosaur ones including ones more resistant to cold and salt than modern known ones

d12 Who are the Amphibian Overlords?
1 Warrior king - legendary status common hero arisen to chief then king seeks eternal glory
2 A cabal of amphibians of different clans and breeds and magic united in common versus the kingdom who meet seldom but rely on messengers and agents
3 Ancient ancestors communicate their desires, some sleeping ones send dreams or those long dead appear as spirits or liches, the current leaders feel obligated to obey
4 The elder amphibian is impatient for humans to pass away on their own and every so often they are granted good weather for 4 years and bugs and rodents to eat allowing numbers to swell in thousands rapidly. The elders incite war to spread their kind as part of long term survival strategy
5 A criminal cartel have been promoting warrior spirit and faking miracles to inspire the hoard
6 Ancient elders in a great ark carvern normally sleep but one such bastion an elder has been commanding war for reasons of their own and not in accordance to the majority of elders
7 The elemental gods have sent down power to the amphibian cause with new wizard spells and pet amphibian monsters with elemental powers. Elemental priests, sorcerers and druidry has returned
8 A cabal of chaos cult of amphibian warlocks have incited the war and blamed mutations they spread on human alchemists to incite the war
9 A cabal of demon cults have united and have incited amphibians to war with promise of power and revenge against humans for the last failed war, promising demon power will help
10 A human wizard in disguise as a amphibian prophet and faking relics has incited all the forces of amphibian (the pre dawn amphibian kingdom) to arise in a holy war against upstart species but mostly humans. The wizard is using it as a scheme to take control of the kingdom and has been raising amphibian zealots in his own wizard lair spawning pit 

d12 Strange Schemes of Amphibian Overlords
1 Amphibian changelings are kidnaping people with charm spells and taking to a secret place in amphibian territory 
2 Human prisoners are being used to awaken the sealed ark cave of sleeping race of elders who enjoy salt and sea conquest, they just need a spawning place in some sea caves to make an army of thousands
3 Young amphibian couples are being sent out into human lands and trying to set up secret colonies in wells, ponds, canals, cisterns and sewers. This plot could fill area with amphibian terror cells in region for decades. The couples are given nothing and driven from home
4 A amphibian wizard found the truename of an evil god who wowed the amphibian elder empire a service and requires a certain ruin, a relic and sacrifices to call the being
5 An amphibian druid has been spreading a form of amphibian lycanthropy that eventually turns victims permanently into amphibian folk. He has been giving the taint to warriors and tadpoles of amphibian war beasts he plants in the kingdoms creeks, pools and wells
6 A newt necromancer has been creating undead in human lands for years and leaving them to rest in their graves, now is the time to gather his army, each village the army grows
7 A salamander hero has become the avatar of fire, merged with a fire elemental and is father of a clan of fire newts who plan to colonise volcanic areas and prepare an army bu spawning in lava and taming of fiery salamander spirits from the sacred flames
8 Youths have been discovering toad or newt licking can get you high and it has become common across the kingdom many secretly keeping such a creature. Parents are scared and the law concerned of amphibian influence on the next generation. An amphibian bard has been secretly spreading the secrets of the fad in disguise as a cool young human playing croak-hop music
9 Froggy romeos have been reported roaming the land spreading hybrid amphibian horrors. They seem to be using magic to hide and charm victims. The truth is there are seductress frogfolk ladies too but they sling away to have possibly thousands of tadpoles but people dont see this
10 Amphibian commanders have sent messengers to various other kin not in the war already and messages to far away lands or the Sunderland or under some lake could be called on

d10 Amphibian Mercenaries?
1 Goblinoids of wetland or cave tribes who dont mind frogs, fungus, darkness or attacking humans 
2 Reptilians especialy marine iguanas from swamps and serpent folk changeling sorcerers and even some dinosaurs will serve espiacially in dry or salty places
3 Insects are often used as slave troops, ants can be farmed and trained to defend amphibians and other breeds can be domesticated for food or war or transport
4 Worms while old enemies might be enslaved or will work for chance to eat bodies of the fallen
5 Troglodyte cave dwelling stinking reptilian folk willingly fight for silver and platinum and can be found deep underground, plus they like eating humans
6 Necromancers with skeleton and zombies hired for the promise of lost forbidden lore 
7 Hell cults including human cult agents and toad-imp advisors and wizards and priests
8 Demon cults including human cultists and lesser demons and undead are willing to release their chaos champions and warbands to war
9 Ratfolk assassins, spies and sabotuers  are available as well as specialists who spread disease or plant siege mines in walls and under houses of enemies
10 Cults of the old ones bring shoggoths and tentacled horror and vapourous entities from beyond and prey on the kingdoms loyal magicians

Amphibian Forces
 
Humans
These include human cultists of amphibian cults, amphibian demons, amphibian elementals or other spirits. There are also swamp folk who fate the city folk and take men and live as inbred backward swamp clans who come to prefer the frawg buddies to human kings. 

Mutants
These former humans have become tainted by mutagens which mysteriously in this war are amphibian traits. Such people if noticed are chased by mobs, outcaste and now tragic homeless living in the worst conditions. The biggest worst cities have a mutant district and many restrictions on mutant rights. On the bright side nobody want them as slaves. Patriotic to the kingdom mutants exist and are still treated poorly. Many mutants join the amphibians who offer them shelter and the possibility fo going full frog.

Lycanthropy
Werefrogs, weretoads, weresalamanders, werenewts, wereolm, were axalotl, were
caecillian are all possible. Sometimes frogs spread these as a form of colonisation. Some clans who frequent with amphibians willingly become these tainted creatures. Lycanthropes are encouraged to the frontier to terrorise humans. They willingly spread the disease and taint their pets mouths with it also. Some become serial killers or form canabalistic cults. Some become agents of the amphibians who offer a cure for the taint. They can turn you into an amphibian folk permanently free of the magic disease and incoporating them into their new kin. Fullmoon wetland in human areas rapidly become infested with these human flesh craving creatures.

Abhumans
Various beastfolk mercenaries often aide amphibians and can appear in their warbands or as heroes. They bring their war beast also. Reptilians despite some past wars and often think they have more in common with amphibian than humans amphibians. Various reptilians include d12 1=troglodytes 2=turtles 3= ghekkos 4=skinks 5=marine iguanas 6=snake 7=tegu 8=komodo dragon 9=bearded dragon 10=dimetrodon 11=dinosaur 12=dragon. Rat and mouse are often enemies and slaves and food of amphibians. Bug and worm are slave and food to amphibians who they defeated from power before the first dawn. Spiders and snakes are special enemies for ampbia especially 
Caecillians  who they are confused with both often

Frog Folk 
The common humanoid seven foot tall frog folk warriors of the wetlands able to breed a mature adult in four years and can have 10000 tadpoles in a heroic night of amplexus. They once ruled and shall again. Once they built huge earth mound cities and grew crops and bugs in great lakes for their global empire when the world was wet and young and dark and safe. Seek to undermine humans through lycanthropes and cults and spreading monsters. Not all frogs are jerks and plenty older ones know better than to go off on an amphibian crusade and some even become accepted in human lands after the war. Frog haters may endanger these frogs with mobs sometimes.

Most frogs are irregular and undiciplined
Wild warriors are wild naked clans with nothing but clubs and rocks
Barbarian warriors wear fish leather and use shields, javelins, hand axes, clubs, maces
Warrior elte wear turtleshell armour and sheilds, use spears and axes  
Scouts wear leather and have daggers and shortbows 
Frog Knights wear metal armour and weapons and ride prehistoric amphibian brutes
Frog Wizard 5th with pets and d4 1st Lv aprentices
Frog Assassins with poisoned knives in hooded robes 

Toad Folk
Dwell in caves, deserts, and anywhere earthy may often overlap in range with frogs and are even room mates quite often. Toads may look dour and grumpy and give scathing looks at anyone grabbing a bug before them but are mostly quiet loners. Some specific toad cults have existed that raise toad hoardes for conquest and have spread them over many lands. Older ones he outlive these wild fads learn to drop out to live quite lives hunting bugs and worms and fishing. They often get along with other creatures in their area and like to dig more and swim less than frogs do having dry skin. What they lack in the swimming speed of a frog they gain in being poisonous.

They have similar units to frogs but tend to be more materially advanced with metal use and gadgets learned from gnomes and dwarves. Toad Alchemists are also a thing.

Toad Tunnel Fighter with scale armour, shield, crossbow, mace or axe or sword
Toad Musketeer with a musket with a bayonet and a backpack of supplies
Toad Grenadier with a d4 cast iron grenades, a match and a tinderbox, dagger
Toad Pistoleer rides a prehistoric amphibian mount has 2 pistols and a short sword
Toad Alchemist carries d6 loaded pistols, d4 grenades and cast as a wizard
Toad Raiders ride giant toads carry javelins and swords often live and hibernate in deserts 

Froglings & Toadlings
These are diminutive small halfling sizes anurans (frog and toad folk). Unlike their more barbaric warrior kin who love to wage war on humans, these are shy hiding in tiny secret wilderness houses and villages. Different ones live in different places and live much like halflings and even mix with other smaller beast folk freely and cohabit villages. The poison frogling clans are still naked brightly coloured and often chaos cultists using their venomous secretions on arrows and blowpipes and attacking from vegetation. They also carry almost mature tadpoles on their backs to plant monstrous amphibian war beast.  

Frogling or Toadlings mostly use darts or blowpipes and clubs up close
Some ride small creatures like bugs or turtles or giant dragonflies

Frog & Toad Spirit Folk
These spirit folk are sacred ancestor race spirits who serve spirit courts and supernatural lords of nature. They were sent into the world to watch over sacred places of nature like spawning pools and good waterholes. Many have come to take human form and dress and even live among humans. They are less hostile to humans and elves and faeries being kindred and will protect commoners who care for waters and the ancient pacts with the land divinities. They will cause trouble for those who defile and cause them problems. Ocasionaly some are mischievous out of boredom, others are sworn to demons and evil gods and seek personal power over humans or amphibians

Other spirit folk meddle in in amphibian affairs including water and tree and mushroom spirits. Rodentsm turtles, reptilians occasionally are worked with. Bats and snakes are one of the great enemies.

Caudatan Clans
Ancestors of synapsids and reptilians these lizard like amphibians have tails and some especially newts have crests. Unlike reptiles they depend on water to live and breathe more but they can live in cooler darker places than reptiles and thrived when the world was like that. Prehistoric breeds were several metres long. 

Salamanders are flamboyant colourful and common caudatan clan amphibians. May local colour variants indicate where they are from and their rank. They are quite poisonous and curious about magic. Many are allied to fire elementals and planar fire salamanders and become fire-newts. The smaller halfling size ones often act as spies or sabotuers on waterways Larger slamander folk are warriors who dress in fancy tribal and unitand clan colours to show their bravery and ferociousness. Spirit slamander folk are more peaceful wilderness guardians and will want stop violence, but some have turned bad and become poisonous killers.

Salamanders wear ornate scale armour with crested helments, with shields swords, spears, tridents and nets but some clans just use spears and clubs
Salamander Knights wear scale and use lances and composite bows on backs of their prehistoric mounts 

Newts are mostly black aquatic crested and influential type of salamander that has thrived for aeons. They have their own coherant code and have become the most common slamander tribe. They dont object ti being called salamanders despite being lawful or chaotic. The largest cast are the warriors who fight for newt cause. Smaller halfling slize newtlings are labourers and farmers and home makers and sprit newts are their reverend ancestoral newt living gods. They dont dupe their own kind for foolish wars, they fight to build permanent newt strongholds for newt knights. The spirit newts when not living as gods go out to spy on humans from time to time and are also used to negotiate trade. Humans in the past would kill the newt warriors and magic spirit newt folk and enslave the small newtlings which provided dominatable slaves who could be eaten. When such slaves began to outnumber their masters many would establish secret colonies and breed new warriors and spirit newt folk and destroy their humans. The newts even have their own gods of war and wrath. Some describe them as more reptilian than other clams which often comes from their crests

Newts wear chain, shield and ornte helms all in black with spears and swords and shortbows
Newt Knights wear chain and shield with full helms with sword and lance
Newt Wizard 5th Lv with d4 1st Lv aprrentices and a d4 pet amphibian monsters  

Fire Newts are salamanders allied to fire elementals in a cult ceremony or born into the clan. They live involcanic places underground or on the surface or underwater where lava can be found to spawn in. They are a martial breed advanced with stone and metal. They build castles and their firenewt knights ride fire loving bipedal lizard-birds. They have the fastest amphibian cavalry, can build forts and open cracks to the fires below to sustain them. Other amphibians like the newts who can act without fear deserts or fire but also they seem to be developing reptilian traits. Smal fire newtlings are abused slaves and rejected runts unfit for war. They killed all their own spirit ancestors long ago when they became fire cultists. They often keep firetoads as guards and pets. 

Fire Newt Warrior wear scale with shield and axe or spear or sword or mace
Fire Newt Knights ride bipedal strider beasts and use lances and composite bows
Fire Newt Wizards with d4 firetoads, a fire salamander, d4 1st Lv apprentices
Fire Lizard Team with huge fire breathing lizard and 5 warriors to train and feed it 
Fire Newtling Bomber runs into enemies with incendiary d4 bombs in bundle and lit fuse
Olm are deep dark dwelling marined albino cave salamander-like amphibians. Many are blind from lack of light. They live for a long time and cand eat very little even once a year. They know the deep elder magic. Many are canibals so the smaller olmlings live in harder to reach caves and cracks. Being aquatic they use simple tools only of stone and bone and sinew, They rarely come ashore if they must in a cave or surface at night is best.

Axolotl are a savage mostly marine species that occasionally Swarm to the surface to build pyramids and sacrificial altar to the angry primordial storm god ancestor urging them to war. Their civilisation rises and falls every few generations spring some people of their bloody conquests. Most of the warriors are fearsome and naked with shields and obsidian bladed war clubs and spears and darts and arrows. Many are tattooed and come in a variety of colours from gold to pink or black or grey. The smaller ones are often eaten or abused by the larger ones and often live in smaller secret ponds away from their kin. Axolotl spirit folk are kin to their wrathful ancestor storm-lake god who went on to battle everyone even humans but also made water that swept away enemies and spread plagues. His children are everywhere often living as bandits or court officials 

Axalotle Warriors wear cotton quilted armour, fur, feathers and shell with obsidian spiked clubs, spears, darts, clubs, shortbows, slings
Axolotl Priest with giant prehistoric salamander pet, and 12 warriors guarding a 7th Lv priest who will call elementals and other creatures often using human sacrifices

Caecilians
These are often called worm-like or snake-like and various breeds are more or less like either. People often think they look strange and horrible on sight often confusing them for snakes or worms or tentacles.  Some are even blind living under the soil. As humanoid beast folk they more wary and prefer ambush from tunneling if possible or traps as they are wary. The smaller ones are more secretive but can burrow under a house and listen for months eating bugs and rats. The spirit folk Caecilians are quite strange and repulsive often seeking to aid ancint evils return and spread the darkness. As sappers and siege warrior tunnel fighters they are especially dangerous.

Caecilians are sneaky preferring to dig under foes, see ambush or traps

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