The Seige of Saltmarsh
History of the Marru and Marruspawn
The marruspawn are a genetically engineered species, created by a powerful, prehistoric species known as the marru. The Marru were experts at a little known art called spawncraft, and eventually began to create new life. These spawncrafted creatures have come to be known collectively as the spawn of marru, but are more commonly referred to as marruspawn. The marru were advanced in other areas as well, but all their arts couldn’t save them from destroying themselves. However, marruspawn linger on in forgotten and blasted wastelands across many worlds.
Full-grown marruspawn stand 7 feet tall and resemble ebony-hued, jackal-headed humanoids—mostly. Different types of marruspawn were crafted for different purposes in the ancient war, and thus their outward forms might vary. All types of marruspawn can interbreed, though the progeny of such unions is never a hybrid of two forms—it is always one of the original forms created by the Marru. Marruspawn come in two distinct types: the marrusault and the marrulurk. Marrusaults are brutish warriors, and the marrulurks are sly assassins. Marrutacts used to exist, but the last died out years ago. In the long periods between conflicts, strong marrusaults lead their sibling marruspawn. Many other types of marruspawn were crafted, but most of those rarely breed true; their bloodlines have been lost along with that of the progenitor race. For years without number, lingering marruspawn were content in their small,isolated communities at the center of lonely tracts of endless waste, worshiping their progenitor race and engaging in the demanding tasks required to eke out an existence in a blasted land.