Thri-Kreen

The thri-kreen, commonly known as mantis warriors, are alien and inscrutable. Though they seem like bloodthirsty monsters to outsiders, they are tightly-knit hunters with their own strange sense of nobility and honor. Living only thirty years at the most, thri-kreen seek to live every moment to its fullest.A thri-kreen resembles a bipedal praying mantis covered in sandy yellow chitin, standing erect on one pair of legs and using the upper four as arms. Their huge compound eyes and clicking mandibles (through which they can inject a potent venom) make it difficult for thri-kreen to express emotion to other humanoids, though they have the same range of feelings as most sentient creatures. Thri-kreen see no use for clothing aside from simple harnesses for carrying equipment. They do not require sleep and are active at both day and night.

Though they appear cold and emotionless, thri-kreen form deep and intimate bonds with their clutch-mates, caring for each other from the day they hatch to death. In rare cases, thri-kreen, especially orphans, have been known to “adopt” groups of humanoids as clutch-mates and form bonds almost as close as with their own kind. Thri-kreen are nomads, carrying their hide tents from place to place and building no permanent settlements. Almost all thri-kreen spellcasters are druids or psychics, as they have little aptitude for arcane magic and are baffled by the human-like deities of other races.

As insects, thri-kreen prefer warm environments, the drier the better. They can be found in small bands roaming deserts throughout Golarion’s tropics, from southwestern Arcadia to Garund’s great northern desert and even as far as Sarusan’s vast outback. They are even more common on Akiton, thriving across the Red Planet’s equatorial zone. However, thri-kreen are in fact native to Castrovel, the second planet from the sun. The thri-kreen of Golarion and Akiton are descended from outcasts of the Kreen Empire, a small but powerful polity that shares a continent with the Formian Colonies.