Populating a Hollow World?

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

We all know the Underdark; that sprawling maze of deep caverns infested with drow, mind flayers, troglodytes and other horrors that Greyhawk introduced and Forgotten Realms cemented as iconic to the D&D experience. And yet, there's an older form of it - the Hollow World, where the planet's interior contains a secondary sun that warms a world that is very much like the one on the outer skin of the planet. This is an idea that dates back to pulp, and which Mystara readily embraced, and it's an idea I'd like to try and use for one of my own homebrew settings.

Thing is... I'm not entirely sure what to populate it with, in terms of indigenous sapients, so I thought I'd come here and discuss the matter.

What I've managed to figure out so far...

• I prefer the 4e cosmology, especially in terms of presuming that not all mortal races are irredeemably evil just because they're not from Tolkien. Just in case that's worth mentioning.
• The "Inner World" lies at the planet's core; this means that the Underdark serves as a mutual barrier between the two "Worlds". There are a few scattered direct links between the Worlds, portals mostly, but if you want to get there, you gotta find a path through the Underdark first.
• This suggests that a significant portion of the Hollow World's inhabitants would be Underdark immigrants, simply because they're closer.
• I do like the "tradition" of including primeval races/species in a Hollow World, so some kind of serpentfolk and/or dinosaur folk race would be nice.
• I'm not so much a fan of the tradition of putting in survivors of extinct human cultures down there - so, if possible, I'd prefer to avoid directly putting such things there.

My current inklings of potential races would be:

• Tel-amhothlans: Descendants of renegade drow males and their orc slaves; the drow failed to take into account the fertility of their "comfort women". Pseudo-amazonian, in that women tend to be bigger & stronger and thus make up the hunters & warriors, whilst men are the thinkers and mages.
• Dark Dwelves: Descendants of outcast, exiled & renegade drow & duergar who found their way to the inner world, banded together, and ultimately interbred. The smallest "racial faction", and so they rely on a mixture of isolationism, sorcery and their status as the inner world's primary providers of metalwork.
• Tricerans: Humanoid triceratopsians, belligerent and aggressive tribals who are essentially the local equivalent of orcs... if orcs were as big a threat as ogres.
• Pterrans: Jungle and cliff-dwelling pteranodon-folk. Boisterous, brash, loud-mouthed, but ultimately good folk.
• Norkers: Ordinary goblins who followed a mad shaman into the Underdark. There, lost and going insane, they fell into the worship of Ogremoch, who granted them the power to keep going. When the maddened survivors broke through to the Inner World, they had become stony-skinned, aggressive, and zealous.
• Svirfneblin: Found their way here following gemstone. May have some kind of special "crystalpunk" culture going on?
• Serpentfolk: Mystics who value magic above all else, though not to the extent of being evil. Worship several deities based on reptilian/draconic/dinosaur representatives of magic - for example, an expy of Trag'oul from Diablo.
• Clawrunners: Hunter-gather tribals who just happen to be raptor-folk. Raptors as in the dinosaur, to be clear.

I have to get going and take care of stuff now, but I'd love to discuss this. Heck, maybe I've got all the races I need right there in this list of basic concepts. Still, open to discussion and reworking.

[Zorku]

If you combine the Norkers and Svirfneblin you'd have that one race from Guild Wars.

Elements of what you've got going on here kind of made me think of Tekumel, but you lack their bug people with roaming cities. That game's setting is also kind of a different era, which suits the hollow Earth situation. I don't know if they have the bronze fixation that goes with older cultures, but it might be neat for the inner surface to mainly use bronze alloys while the outer surface mainly uses iron alloys.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

As a matter of fact, I actually was planning on making it that this is a predominantly Stone-based society; it helps emphasize their "isolation". There are exceptions - the hobgoblins use Bronze, and there is one race with both advanced metallurgy and access to metal ores, but for the most part, metalworking isn't really present in this environment.

Some other facts about this setting I managed to establish:
The Inner World's light comes from the "Sunmoon" (placeholder name, I suck at names) - a glowing orb of light at the center of the Inner World. It cycles regularly, dimming to a faint orb akin to a full moon to create the night-cycle and then brightening to proper sunny proportions to create a true day cycle. Its origins are unknown; it may be a magitek artifact, or it may be a natural portal to a pocket of radiant energies in the Elemental Chaos.

The Inner World possess a diverse array of terrains; the unifying qualifier is that they're never lifeless. In arid regions, you get dry scrubland and bush country, whilst in arctic regions, you get taiga and steppe, but true "endless expanses of sand/snow dunes" deserts don't exist here. Most of the land is lush and verdant; semi-tropical to tropical forests, jungles, swamps and plains.

Solid(ish) list of races:

• Tel-amhothlans/Guruk-vra: Descendants of renegade drow males and their orc slaves; the drow failed to take into account the fertility of their "comfort women". Pseudo-amazonian, in that women tend to be bigger & stronger and thus make up the hunters & warriors, whilst men are the thinkers and mages. Probably going to use their "orcish" name from KoK due to it being easier to write.
• Dark Dwelves: Descendants of outcast, exiled & renegade drow & duergar who found their way to the inner world, banded together, and ultimately interbred. The smallest "racial faction", and so they rely on a mixture of isolationism, sorcery and their status as the inner world's primary providers of metalwork.
• Tricerans: Humanoid triceratopsians, belligerent and aggressive tribals who are essentially the local equivalent of orcs... if orcs were as big a threat as ogres.
• Pterrans: Jungle and cliff-dwelling pteranodon-folk. Boisterous, brash, loud-mouthed, but ultimately good folk.
• Norkers: Ordinary goblins who followed a mad shaman into the Underdark. There, lost and going insane, they fell into the worship of Ogremoch, who granted them the power to keep going. When the maddened survivors broke through to the Inner World, they had become stony-skinned, aggressive, and zealous.
• Svirfneblin: Found their way here following gemstone veins. Have some kind of special "crystalpunk" culture going on.
• Serpentfolk: Mystics who value magic above all else, though not to the extent of being evil. Worship several deities based on reptilian/draconic/dinosaur representatives of magic - for example, an expy of Trag'oul from Diablo.
• Clawrunners: Hunter-gather tribals who just happen to be raptor-folk. Raptors as in the dinosaur, to be clear.
• Derro: Mad degenerates in league with the Far Realm, the closest thing to unambiguously evil you'll find in the Inner World.
• Thri-kreen: Pack-dwelling carnivorous insectoids who claim the arid regions.
• Hobgoblins: Perhaps the most overtly militaristic culture in the Inner World. Claim direct descent from the legendary hobgoblin empire of old that once held great power in the Feywild. This could be true; they certainly embrace magic more than surface hobgoblins do. Vaguely Roman Empire-themed; ambitious and powerhungry, but not 100% evil.
• Warforged: Ancient magitek constructs, with a more Luminoth-inspired pseudo-robotic cast than the clasic warforged. Exist in reclusive fortress-monasteries. Actually not unique to the Inner World; they're part of the many scattered remnants of the "robot slaves" of a long-lost magocratic empire that once spanned many worlds. Borrow a little inspiration from PF's Androids, in that they literally die of old age and are then reincarnated slash rebuilt anew. Extremely conservative culture; you literally do your duty until you die, then you are reborn and do your duty all over again.
• Shardminds: A new race of living constructs accidentally created by the crystal-obsessed svirfneblins, with both races trying to figure out what to do about them now.

Regional Cliffnotes:
As a warning, none of these names are anything more than placeholders.

The Grassy Sea: The largest prairie/plains region in the Inner World, a rich and verdant land where the grass ripples in the breeze like a green ocean. Untamed and unsettled; this is the ancestral home of the tricerans and clawkillers, whose tribes are found in great numbers here.

The Black Mountains of Viltheed: Towering, ominous, jagged black mountains. This is the homeland of the "svartalfar", hybrid descendants of migrant drow and derro. The mountains were once volcanic, but have gone mostly extinct, and abound in the richest source of metals in the entire Inner World.

The Sea of Mual-Tar: A violent, unexplored, storm-wracked sea. The largest bed of civilization is Sarpacala, a serpentfolk temple-city dedicated to elemental magics of the storm. According to their studies, there are portals to the Elemental Chaos far out in the sea, supposedly even one linking to the prison-field of Mual-tar himself.

The Forest of Death: A feared and untamed wilderness abounding in the most dangerous life-forms known. There are more poisonous and/or carnivorous plants here than anywhere else in the Inner World. Norker tribes are known to lurk on its fringes, their stony hides giving them some protection. It is reputed that a derro city at the forest's center is the source of the horrible mutant vegetation and creatures that make it so dangerous.

The Twilight Jungle: This jungle's foliage grows so thick and deep that its understory is never brightly lit, even in the middle of the day. Tribes of tel-amhothlans dominate the forest floor, whilst tribes of pterrans rule the canopy. The two races get on surprisingly well, with much trade between the two.

The Scorched Forest: This arid bushland (cf: the Australian outback, vis a vis "the bush") is one of the major homes of the thri-kreen.

The Great Prairie: This subtropical plains region ranges from lush and verdant to arid and dusty. It is the center of the hobgoblin empire.

The Tombspire: This mountain-sized fortress-monastery is the primary enclave of warforged in the Inner World.

The Skyclaws: Steep, rugged hill country, inhabited by a mixture of pterrans, clawkillers, norkers and tel-amhothlans. Ostensibly it's hobgoblin territory, but they have only marginal authority here.

The Plains of Teeth: The hobgoblins try to exert a claim over these arid grasslands, but the native clawkillers and thri-kreen aren't having that.

The Glimmershroud: A barren and uninviting mountain valley; this is the center of the svirfneblin presence here.


Political Cliffnotes:
The warforged are extremely isolationist; they have no interaction with the outer world if they can possibly avoid it. Ambitious warlords dreaming of their magical technology have attempted to beseige their fortress-monasteries at times, but all such efforts are doomed to failure. Most races have learned to ignore the warforged, who, after all, certainly ignore their very existence.

The serpentfolk claim the oldest functioning cities in the Inner World, although the truth is that their temple-cities have begun to sink into decay; their nation-states have started to succumb to stagnation and bureaucratic corruption. Each nation-state is still a major power in the world around it, based on their potent magical traditions. They prefer to trade rather than war, and in fact their militaries are beginning to rot from within due to disuse, resulting in a growing reliance on mercenaries.

The hobgoblin empire is restless; though not as old as the serpentfolk, it's been around a while, and has run into the issue of being at that point where reverence for its militaristic past and the political realities of their power are colliding. It may undergo a renaissance and move to a move peaceful civilization, it may suddenly lash out and go on the offensive again, or it may implode into civil war; most of the other races are watching at this point and trying to predict what will happen.

Tel-amhothlans are the "young bloods"; drow intelligence married with orc vitality allowing them to rise and achieve a level of strength and unity that other, older races have not. They are in a constant state of low-faring war with the hobgoblins, neither race liking the other very much. They have perhaps the best relationship of any race with the "svartalfar", exploiting their shared ancestry as an in to gain preferential treatment in trade deals. A lot of their power comes from mercenary work, leading to some accusations that the drow-orcs seek to pick the bones of their elders.

The "svartalfar" are restricted to a single massive forge-city in the Black Mountains of Viltheed. They are the only major suppliers of metalwork in the Inner World; the hobgoblins also know smithing, but their territories don't contain the rich deposits of iron, adamantine and mithril that these drow-duergar hybrids have access to, forcing them to rely on bronze tools. They don't have the numbers to conquer other lands, so they prefer to exert power through their monopoly over forged goods.

Norkers are mostly hostile to everyone. Tribes may trade on occasion, but for the most part, they occupy a similar niche as to orcs on the surface; religiously-motivated belligerents who generally have a hostile attitude towards other races. There are scattered tribes that are finding a new path, but for the most part, these are the main enemies.

Tricerans are pretty much the bottom of the social totem pole; like ogres, they have no great civilization, just scattered clans and tribes, but their aggressive nature and great stature make them a force to be reckoned with.

Clawkillers and Thri-kreen have fundamentally tribal cultures; they are not particularly hostile towards any race, but they will fight to defend what is theirs.

Svirfneblin, much like the warforged, try to have as little to do with the other races as possible.

Shardminds either stay with the svirfneblin or wander the lands to sate their curiosity.

Pterrans are an agrarian society; they haven't built a great empire yet, but they're more sophisticated and much more friendly than clawkillers, thri-kreen and tricerans. They can be found living both in their own villages and as formal vassal races of the big empires.

Derro are the local Always Chaotic Evil Monster race; they the everybody, and the sentiment is returned. They raid the other races for slaves, experiment fodder and food, and are killed for it.


War & Peace Cliffnotes:
Open warfare isn't really the "thing" of the Inner World, for the most part. Small-scale fights, raids, turf-wars, etc are the norm. It helps that the only really hostile races in the Inner World are the Tricerans, Derro and Norkers, who all have reasons for picking fights with anyone and everyone. The Hobgoblins and Tel-Amhothlans also have traditions of war and conquest, especially the former.


Technological Cliffnotes:
In general, the Inner World is fairly magic-focused over tech-focused; metalworking isn't a widely spread skill, with only the "svartalfar" and the hobgoblins having widely spread smithing lore. Even then, only the "svartalfar" have reliable and heavy access to iron and better metals. The hobgoblins use bronze, which they can access and forge, whilst other races rely on the various magical and supernaturally durable stone, wood and bone options available to them.

Arcane magic is quite well-developed, especially amongst the "empire-builders".

Most religious traditions are based around reverence of the Primal Spirits; only the serpentfolk and perhaps the hobgoblins worship true gods, whilst norkers worship Ogremoch and the derro worship the elder evils of the Far Realm.

The warforged possess strange arcane technologies, which roughly emulate advanced technology - thing "Thingamajigs of the Barrier Peaks" (powered armor, laser pistols, etc). This magitek is fiercely guarded and NEVER given out except in the rare cases of an individual earning it from the warforged.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

To complete my list of material provided so far, here's a first draft of the Guruk-vra racial outline. As such, this is very stream-of-consciousness and there are going to be big issues with the sections. I just ran out of ideas to put there. Still, I'm hopeful that with your help, we can fix this up and make 'em shine.

I really, really need feedback on this, if nothing else so I know how to avoid what pitfalls I fell into here for giving similar treatment to the other sapient races of the Inner World.

Guruk-vra
Born from the unlikely pairings of male drow and female orcs, guruk-vra are a relative newcomer to the ranks of the Inner World. That has not prevented them from prospering, orcish vitality and drow wits combining to give them the strength to make a meteoric ascent in power. They are young, vibrant and growing; their destiny as a major player in the Inner World seems inevitable.

History:
The guruk-vra comprise many different clans, groups of intermarried extended families - and having inherited the fecundity of their orcish ancestors and some measure of the longevity of their drow kinsfolk, those families can get extended indeed. Each clan ultimately has a different origin, but most fall under some variant of the same tale: a male drow and a female orc (or sometimes more than one) fleeing from the dark cities of the drow, forced to work together in order to survive and ultimately finding their way to the comparative safety of the Inner World.

Some versions of the tale are surprisingly romantic, spinning stories of unlikely yet sincere affection between this odd couple, sometimes even to the extent of having fled. And evidence suggests that these may not be entirely fictitious. Others are more cynical, describing their clan-founders as motivated by baser needs or fleeing the harsh "justice" of drow society.

Regardless, through the union of these two unlikely races, the seed was sown to create the guruk-vra. Different families began expanding and intersected with each other, allowing the race to continue propagating and to evolve into something unique under the Sunmoon.

Physical Description:
An untrained eye could easily mistake a guruk-vra for an unusually slender and well-formed half-orc. Unlike the more conventional and well-known human/orc hybrids of the Outer World, the drow/orc-born guruk-vra are built for both strength and grace. These humanoids are slenderly built, and even those whose orcish ancestry is particularly prominent do not bulge with muscle like a half-orc. A typical guruk-vra has the chiseled yet lean look of a runner or a lightweight boxer, visibly strong and yet alslo swift and dexterous.

Their facial features owe more to the smooth, refined lines of their elven ancestry, although a tendency towards upturned, slightly piggish noses and small but sharp tusks peeking past the bottom lip makes it impossible to hide their orc blood. Likewise, though the length of their ears suggests elven ancestry, they resemble a orc's ears in general shape or appearance, such as having furry tufts at the tip.

For the most part, guruk-vra inherit drow skin tones of black, purple and blue, or the darker hues of orc skin, predominantly a stony gray. Their eyes and hair can favor either side of their ancestry, with hair that ranges from drow white to blacks, grays or even a strange bluish shade, and eyes in yellows, ambers, greens, blues, lavenders and reds. A guruk-vra's eyes may be a single solid mass of color, like a drow's, or have distinct irises and pupils, like an orc's.

It bears mentioning that, after so long in the jungles and grasslands of the Inner World, a small but growing minority of guruk-vra have skin and hair that comes in various hues of green. This trait doubtlessly comes from their orc blood, a manifestation of the same "camouflage effect" documented in surface-world orcs.

Although the guruk-vra "racial template" is somewhat stronger than the standard half-orc's, the blend of elven and orcish blood is also less stable than theirs; even after generations of intrabreeding, guruk-vra come in three visible subraces.

The first takes more clearly after its orcish ancestry. These guruk-vra are the tallest of their kind and, as much as that can be said, the bulkiest. Their tusks are longer than those of other races, and they are much stronger. This subrace is most unusual in that it's almost entirely comprised of females; for whatever reason the same genes that make female drow the bigger and stronger sex in pure-blooded drow are particularly receptive to these orcish genes; male "orcly" guruk-vra are't impossible, but are extremely rare.

The second subrace favors the physical aspects of their drow heritage. Almost as tall as the "orcish" subrace, these guruk-vra are distinguished by particularly long limbs and a heightened sense of grace. They are the fastest moving and most natural graceful of their kind.

The final subrace favors the mystical aspects of their drow heritage. The smallest and most delicately featured of their kind, they are especially prone to displaying drow coloration and solid-colored eyes. This subrace is strongly male-aspected, although females of this subrace are considerably more common than male "orcish" guruk-vra.

In all subraces, females stand notably taller than their male counterparts. More importantly, all of them possess the same rugged endurance that makes orcs so dangerous, which few overestimate twice.

Psychology:
Guruk-vra meld the most prominent mental traits of both their ancestor races - or, as they would put it, the best parts of them - but without the toxic cultural influence of either.

Guruk-vra are aggressive, driven, assertive, confident, resourceful, and self-reliant. They inherit the intelligence and quick wits of their drow ancestors, but guruk-vra culture relies far less on betrayal and cruelty, making them more straightforward and trusting by comparison.

In stark contrast to drow, loyalty is prized amongst guruk-vra, and betrayal demands revenge. Having grown from small survivalist families who only had each other to depend on, and driven by their hatred of the Demon Queen who tormented their ancestors, guruk-vra reject the unholy "virtues" of murderous self-empowerment and treachery she so promotes. This doesn't make guruk-vra unambitious, because seeking to better themselves is in their blood, it just means they don't stab each other in the back as shamelessly as the drow do.

From their orcish side, guruk-vra inherit passionate emotions, although their drow blood allows them to control themselves far more readily than even most half-orcs can manage.

The race has a rather surprising artistic streak, and almost every guruk-vra has some practiced skill in scrimshandry, whittling, song or some impromptu musical instrument.

Culture:
Most surfacers would expect guruk-vra to be even worse than their parent races, combining the refined cruelty of the drow with the bloodlust of orcs. Those surfacers would be wrong. Guruk-vra are ambitious and driven, but they are nothing like either of their progenitor species.

In no smll part, this is because the guruk-vra have forsaken the gods of their ancestors. After all, no she-orc would dare to call upon Gruumsh whilst sharing the bed of an elf, regardless of his skin's color, and rare indeed is the outcast drow that wishes anything to do with Lolth, especially if he is male. What little the guruk-vra know of these dark gods paints them as fiends and horrors, beings to shun rather than to worship and respect.

Free of these malevolent deities pushing them towards evil, guruk-vra have forged their own path. Having come from hardy survivor stock, they value strength and courage, but also the ability to be loyal to one's allies. Individuals strive to better themselves, but never at the expense of the group. Loyalty is encouraged, especially to one's kin.

That is not to say the guruk-vra are all sweetness and light. They may not subject their young to the torturous training of the drow, but strength is still prized; the weak who cannot find some way to contribute are pushed to the fringes, either to improve, leave or die as they see fit. They relish physical competition, and will happily fight any who challenge them.

This aggressiveness is mostly directed towards the races that already want to pick fights. Tricerans, derro and norkers are the primary enemies of the guruk-vra, but there is also a deep and abiding mutual hostility between them and the hobgoblin empire, mostly due to the hobgoblin's traditional hatred of elves and orcs alike, which gives them little reason to make peace with a race that is born of both.

Their attitudes towards all other races can be mostly summed up as indifference or neutrality; guruk-vra are not, as a species, particularly hostile towards serpentfolk, pterrans, or the other relatively peaceful races of the Inner World.

The one race that they can be said to be allied with are their cousins, the dark dwelves of Viltheed. This gives guruk-vra more ready access to dwelven-crafted goods and weapons, but not so much that they can entirely outfit their forces with them. Guruk-vra make as much use of stone and seized bronze weapons as they do of metal.

Guruk-vra religion is predominantly focused on the primal spirits indigenous to the Inner World. Many clans are not religious at all, instead preferring to put their faith in arcane magic inherited from their drow ancestry; whilst very few of their progenitors were high-ranking members of the drow mystical academies, between the innate magic of dark elves and low-level mages, the guruk-vra have the foundations to build a respectable level of magical proficiency.

Whilst guruk-vra usually don't worship spiders, at least not to the same extent as the drow do, they have been known to use spider venom as a tool for elaborate bodily modification.

Guruk-vra culture can be described as "pseudo-Amazonian". Because the females are bigger and stronger than males, they make up the bulk of the race's warriors, hunters and laborers. However, the males are also respected because of their heightened tendency towards magic proficiency, and so they also have a distinct role to play in the race's internal politics. Indeed, for many clans, males are considered the brains and females the brawn, although others are much more egalitarian.

Guruk-vra clans have been known to "reinforce" their bloodline by taking in drow & orc refugees from the Underdark - sometimes even going so far as to stage raids on unwitting caravans or small drow Houses to recover them. Such "additions" are always male drow and female orcs; male orcs, it has been learned, resent the strength and independence of the guruk-vra females and invariably prove more trouble than they're worth. Female drow, in comparison, are feared and demonized in guruk-vra teachings; they are the one creature that these halfbreeds regard with a true sense of superstitious dread, and a female drow adventurer in guruk-vra territory is very likely to attract trouble unless she emphasizes that she is not the murderous boogeywoman of their childhood stories.

Territories:
When the ancestors of the guruk-vra made it to the Inner World, they gravitated to regions where they were most comfortable; mountains, hills and the deep forests. These were native terrain to the orcs, and the presence of caves and light-blocking canopies made them more comfortable for the drow. As such, their descendants proliferate in these regions still.

Adventurers:
A guruk-vra is likely to adventure either to serve their tribe, or for fame and glory. Some may adventure out of curiosity, others for revenge against an enemy. Regardless, the profession is quite respected amongst the race.

Draft Crunch:
This version of the Guruk-vra is actually modified from my "core" version, replacing the Mystic Talent (you know 1 Wizard cantrip of your choice, cast with Charisma) with what is basically Drow Magic but renamed.

Guruk-Vra (aka Tel-Amhothlan)
Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Dexterity, +1 Strength
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points, but not killed outright, you can instead choose to be reduced to 1 hit point instead. After using this trait, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Fey Ancestry: You have Advantage on saving throws against being Charmed and are Immune to Magical Sleep effects.
Keen Senses: You have Proficiency in the Perception skill.
Muddied Heritage: Guruk-vra are a chaotic breed and can favor either orcish or elvish aspects of their lineage. Choose the Orcish Brutality, Elvish Grace or Fae Magic subrace options.

Orcish Brutality:
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Constitution
Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you increase the damage inflicted by +1 dice.
Powerful Build: You are treated as being one size category larger to determine your capacity to Push, Pull, Drag, Lift and Carry.

Elvish Grace:
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Dexterity
Fleet-Footed: Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.
Natural Athlete: You have Proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Fae Magic:
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Charisma
Drow-Blooded: You can cast the Dancing Lights cantrip, can cast Faerie Fire 1/day at 3rd level, and can cast Darkness 1/day at 1st level, all using Charisma as your spellcasting ability score.

[kopout]

First I want to say that I really like the Guruk-vra, even before you made the big post on them. They look like they have a lot of potential.

I have some questions and critiques as well.

First, about the Tricerans. Are they supposed to be a player race or just an antagonist one? Are they large or large? or even larger? When you say humanoid triceratops are we talking burly lizard folk with a ceratopsian head?

With the Dark Dwelves (Svartalfar is better in my opinion even if it is close to Svirfneblin) I'm curious as to why they are descended from drow/duergar hybrids. You already have the Guruk-vra as a drow hybrid race and the drow never struck me as all that prone to hybridization. Maybe consider making them the descendants of a "lost colony" of duergar founded by a long gone duergar empire.

With the clawrunners I'm just wondering if they're feathery or scaly and if they walk like a theropod with their back parallel to the ground or semi-upright.

Finally, for this round anyway, the Derro. They usually take con damage from sunlight, I assume the sunmoon doesn't have this problem?

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

First I want to say that I really like the Guruk-vra, even before you made the big post on them. They look like they have a lot of potential.

Aw, thank you! I've really been enamored with the orc-elf concept ever since I stumbled across their original PC stats in Kingdoms of Kalamar's "Dangerous Denizens" book for 3.0; awful stats, but the seeds of some great ideas. Add in both my disapproval of the monolithically evil race cliche, my love of interspecies couples, and the fact that "male drow/female orc" is a weirdly cute couple idea given that both are used to being the mistreated and abused sex in their own species, and I couldn't resist them.

I have some questions and critiques as well.

Sure, fire away! I made this thread because I hoped people would talk about it.

First, about the Tricerans. Are they supposed to be a player race or just an antagonist one? Are they large or large? or even larger? When you say humanoid triceratops are we talking burly lizard folk with a ceratopsian head?

They're supposed to be a player race as well as antagonistic; think of them as being this setting's equivalent to...hmm... hobgoblins, or pre-5e gnolls, I guess. They're jerks and often pick fights, but they will also trade when they see it in their best interest, and loners will break off from their usual herd either out of an uncommonly noble attitude or just to look for power elsewhere.

They're a "large" race - mechanically, they use the Powerful Build racial trait.

As for appearance, "big, burly, battle-scarred lizardfolk with a ceratopsian head" is pretty much it. I was actually inspired by dim memories of those malevolent ceratopsian-humanoids from TMNT, if I must make the confession.

With the Dark Dwelves (Svartalfar is better in my opinion even if it is close to Svirfneblin) I'm curious as to why they are descended from drow/duergar hybrids. You already have the Guruk-vra as a drow hybrid race and the drow never struck me as all that prone to hybridization. Maybe consider making them the descendants of a "lost colony" of duergar founded by a long gone duergar empire.

Mostly because I thought it made sense; as with the tel-amhothlans, I can see drow and duergar renegades agreeing to work together, because both of them know that if they get caught, it's a slow and torturous death. Intermarrying would be a political thing, to secure the alliance against backstabbing, with rare couples who genuinely fell for each other being a minority. Plus, dwarves tend to be very resistant to change, so I figured it made more sense than just "non-evil duergar".

With the clawrunners I'm just wondering if they're feathery or scaly and if they walk like a theropod with their back parallel to the ground or semi-upright.

I'm very much leaning towards scaly - I just prefer my scaled dinosaurs. As for the posture, haven't thought about it, in all honesty.

Finally, for this round anyway, the Derro. They usually take con damage from sunlight, I assume the sunmoon doesn't have this problem?

I'm honestly torn between either the sunlight sensitive races just come out during the "night" part of the sunmoon's cycle or that the light itself is harmless - I actually batted around the idea that the Inner World actually exists in an eternal twilight, casting dim light everywhere, but I was persuaded that this would just be complicated and a hassle.

[Knaight]

In terms of the pulp genre and the idea of a hollow world, there are some good sources. The most relevant is a roleplaying game by the name of Hollow Earth Expedition (a.k.a HEX), which is pretty much exactly what you're looking for, albeit a bit more technologically advanced on the surface world.