FREQUENCY: Very rare (found only every
1,000 years)
NO. APPEARING: See below
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 12”
HIT DICE: 2 + 2
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws and 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-2/1-2/1-3
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Berserk attack for +2
to hit
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to psionics
and mind-affecting spells
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low (insane)
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
“The histachii inspired me with nothing
less than revulsion. It had once been hu-
man, but now its skin was a mottled yel-
low, stretched taut over bone and muscle.
Much of its hair had fallen out, and what
was left was greasy and matted. The nails
had become claws extending out from the
fingertips and the teeth were sharply
pointed. But the worst were the eyes,
black pits of nothingness that spoke of the
maelstrom of madness that whirled be-
hind them. The thing drooled and gib-
bered, casting about in its chains for
something to rend. . . .”
—From the library of Hodukuri the sage.
Histachii are the final product of the
Black Broth, the baby factories for pure-
blood and halfbreed yuan-ti. The transfor-
mation they undergo takes 7-12 days, is
excruciatingly painful, and drives the
formerly human imbiber insane. Histachii
attack any nonreptilian being they encoun-
ter but will obey any yuan-ti within speak-
ing range.
Histachii have a lifespan of 20-80 years
after their creation, and their lives are
devoted to breeding more yuan-ti. Some
have posed the question of why the yuan-
ti do not simply forget about purebloods
and halfbreeds and rely soley on abomina-
tions, which can be produced without
histachii. The answer lies in the goals of
the yuan-ti as a race. The yuan-ti wish to
control the world as they almost did ages
ago. To allow degeneration of the race into
nothing but abominations would hinder
this goal. No longer would there be pure-
bloods and halfbreeds to infiltrate human
society and corrupt from within; they
would only have brute force and mass
warfare as their options. Considering the
levels of power humans and other races
may attain, they see no sure or easy vic-
tory in that path. They prefer to subtly
sow the seeds of chaos, and once founda-
tions are undermined, they strike.
Histachii are only encountered in the
time immediately following the creation of
Black Broth. Any human prisoners are
subjected to the Black Broth’s effects at
that time; large groups of yuan-ti may
have 20-200 prisoners, but small groups
may have 2-20.
The Black Broth
Ingredients:
* l venom of an ophidian
* l The egg of an amphisbaena
* l 12 drops of yuan-ti blood
* l 12 drops of human blood
* l Petals and seeds of a withered sunflower
* l The eyes of 100 normal dragonflies
* l Powdered bloodstone (not less than 250
gp worth)
* l Potion of human control
* l Potion of human control
* l A quantity of peat and human hair
Procedure: First, a fire pit is dug and
filled with peat. The human hair is
wrapped about a stick, lit, and laid in the
peat. A sticks to snakes spell is cast to turn
the stick into a snake, which writhes burn-
ing through the peat and sets it alight.
Over this fire, the ophidian venom is dis-
tilled to a syrupy black liquid. Another
container is lined with the sunflower
petals and seeds, which are in turn coated
with the contents of the amphisbaena egg.
This coating is accomplished by a yuan-ti
crushing the egg in its hands and lightly
spreading it over the petals and seeds. The
powdered gemstone is then added to this
mixture, while the dragonfly eyes are
added to the boiling venom. After the eyes
have been mixed in, this substance is
poured into the other container. As soon
as this is accomplished, the blood is added,
drop by drop, alternating types with each
drop, and a polymorph other spell is cast
upon the entire mixture. Finally, at the
consecration, the priest imbibes the potion
of human control and performs the bless-
ing. The Black Broth is now complete.
In response to their desires for power,
Sch’theraqpasstt gave to his followers the
formula to create the Black Broth. The
result, much to the woe of the world, was
the introduction of the race called yuan-ti
to the world. In the beginning, it was
intended that the Black Broth would cre-
ate histachii, who would create pure-
bloods, who in turn would create
halfbreeds and finally the end product,
abominations. But in light of their fall
from power, halfbreeds and especially
purebloods were deemed necessary in
their schemes to regain domination. Pure-
bloods could infiltrate the world of hu-
mans. Human-headed halfbreeds would
become the priests, snake-headed
halfbreeds the temple guards and war-
riors, and the abominations would be the
rulers. With the aid of the Black Broth, the
histachii became the foul reproductive
arm of the race.
Any nonhuman who drinks the Black
Broth must save vs. poison at -4 or die.
Those who save will be violently ill and
helpless for 1-4 turns. Any creature drink-
ing an uncompleted version of the potion
(i.e., before its consecration on the Night
of Venom) must save vs. poison at normal
chances or suffer the same fate.
Any human drinking the completed
Black Broth must make a save vs. poison at
-4. If the save is successful, the drinker
dies. If the save is failed, the victim will
become a histachii in 7-12 days. (Anyone
dying from the Black Broth can be saved
normally with a slow poison or neutralize
poison. Since spell-casting yuan-ti possess
the neutralize poison spell, a human dying
on the Night of Venom may find himself
alive again, only to face another draught
of the foul potion.)
Once a human begins the process of
transformation, few methods may be used
to save him. Neutralize poison, dispel
magic, remove curse, and heal spells will
reverse the process but must be cast con-
secutively and in that order. The victim
will lose one point of intelligence; a wish,
limited wish, or after reality will save the
victim with no loss of intelligence. Once
the transformation is complete, only a
wish will restore the victim.
Adventurers have asked why the yuan-t
do not simply consecrate an ocean of the
substance on the Night of Venom. The
problem is that the Black Broth is unsta-
ble. Once created, it must be consecrated
within a week or the effort is wasted.
Even consecration does little to add to its
stability; after two weeks, it simply be-
comes a poison equal to what it was be-
fore consecration.
A further question is why no other
being’s power can consecrate the formula
and attain the same effect. The sage Hodu-
kuri speculates that Sch’theraqpasstt de-
creed that only his blessings would
activate the formula. Although his power
is now far reduced, it still exists and the
godly declaration is still empowered. If
that power were destroyed, continued
Hodukuri, there are two possible out-
comes: The formula might be freed for
any to empower, or it may be rendered
useless for all eternity.
| Dragon magazine | Monster Manual III | - | The ecology of the Yuan-ti | Dragon #151 |