A Life of Danger and Honor

The kojians place an almost fanatical importance on combat

training and discipline, and this is reflected in their
upbringing. As soon as they're able to stand, training in
sword, bow and warfare begins. Playtime for a kojian child
consists of mock battles with the other children, "duels" with
fake blades and toy bows. By the time they reach
adolescence, they are already well trained in all forms of
warfare, ready and eager to march into battle.
Combat penetrates every facet of kojian life. In fact, it's
rare in kojian society to see a political situation resolved
without an honorable duel, and civil wars are common. After
the battles are done and the dead counted, life continues on
as normal in the kojian society. To many races, the death of a
sibling over a minor dispute would be a tragedy; to a kojian,
it's a mere fact of life.

A Kingdom from Nothing

It has taken the kojian kingdoms many thousands of years to
reach their current status, and knowledge of how their kind
truly came to be is extremely rare, even among the kojians
themselves.
Their oral tradition tells of a time before their
enlightenment, when they lived as animals in the jungle. One
day, an ape appeared, walking on two legs and talking with
the speech of man. This ape would be known forever as the
Great Prophet. He taught them of honor, of language, of
armor and swords. These were the teachings, he claimed, of a
man named Kojo. There are only two things known about
this man: he was a samurai that lived thousands of years ago,
and the kojians revere him as their sole deity to this day.
With all of this new knowledge, their way of life soon
changed. Through language, their kind grew smarter with
each passing year, eventually smithing their own weapons
and making homes from the wood of the trees. It took
centuries, but the kojians had managed to make a kingdom
Kojian from the very jungle that birthed them.
Honor. Loyalty. Discipline. These are the values that the
kojians place above all else, even their own lives. Kojians are Finding Glory in the Wide World
extremely loyal to their companions, and will gladly fight In kojian society, family status is considered a matter of grave
through the depths of the Seven Hells just to help a friend in importance. Most kojian children, once grown, end up in
need. However, as good of an ally they may be, they can also arranged marriages for more familial power or training for
make for terrifying enemies. Strong and quick to anger, it's duels to resolve challenges against their family's honor.
always best to stay on a kojian's good side. Those rare few that question this life end up becoming
adventurers, preferring to go out and seek glory instead of
Grim and Imposing being used as a bargaining chip or a weapon. Some kojian
Kojians appear very much like the jungle apes they are adventurers are so called "dead souls," a title earned from
directly descended from. Standing well over 7 feet tall and living after losing a life or death duel. These unlucky warriors
weighing in at close to half a ton, they exude an intimidating are considered beyond redemption, so leaving the homeland
presence. Their fearsome appearance belies an intense becomes a necessity.
curiosity and thirst for knowledge; many kojians study history
just as often as they study the blade. They are quick to anger,
and find little humor in a bard's jests. To a kojian, a seemingly
benign joke can often be a serious insult.
Kojian fur color is anywhere from black to a dull orange
and in some rare cases a blood red. The difference between a
male and female of the species is difficult to tell at a glance,
as they stand around the same height, with females only
being slightly slimmer than males. They favor simple yet
practical clothing or armor, often adorned with a family
emblem or crest.
 Primal Rage. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not
A Steadfast Ally killed outright, you can go into a primal rage, dropping you to
Kojians respect anyone that can hold their own in 1 hit point instead. You drop any weapons you are holding,
combat. It's a very common occurrence for a kojian along with any shield. During this time, your speed increases
adventurer to "test" his allies by challenging them to a to 40 feet, and your unarmed strike damage increases to 1d6.
friendly duel. If they show skill and honor during this You cannot cast spells while under the effects of a primal
duel, then he has made a friend for life. If the ally
rage, nor can you concentrate on them. You lose control of
attempts underhanded trickery (or what the kojian
perceives as trickery, anyway), then the kojian will still yourself, and must move to and attack the closest enemy until
begrudgingly travel with them, but will cast a that enemy is incapacitated. When there are no enemies
distrustful eye on them in the future. present, your primal rage ends and you fall unconscious. If
you are healed by any source, your primal rage ends.
At the end of each turn you must make a DC 5 Constitution
save, which increases by 5 every turn. During the primal rage
Kojian Names you can not drop below 1 hit point but must immediately
Kojian names are taken from the ancient culture of their god, make the save again each time you take damage. When the
Kojo. The meaning of the words is lost to time, but their save is failed you instantly drop to 0 hit points and are
continued use is a tradition that the kojians hold on to tightly. knocked unconscious. No matter how the primal rage ends,
Due to the importance of family in kojian society, the family you can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
name is always put first. In the case of a dead soul kojian, Languages. You can speak, read and write in Common
their family name is dropped completely, as it only stands as and Kojian. The Kojian language is a strange tongue that few
a painful reminder of the life left behind. outside of their jungle home ever bother to learn. Its written
form is a series of characters that many would confuse for
Male Names: Akira, Ayumu, Daiki, Daisuke, Fumuhiro, arcane symbols.
Hiroshi, Ichirou, Jirou, Juro, Katsurou, Ken'Ichi, Kohaku,
Makoto, Naoki, Noboyuki, Rokuro, Ryouta, Shota, Shouhei, The true origins of the kojian stem from a 3.5
Takahiko, Takumi, Tarou, Yuuto campaign I played in long ago. One of the players
decided to play as a demon possessed sword, and
Female Names: Hikaru, Itsuki, Kaiya, Mao, Nariko, Natsuko, chose a blood ape from the jungle we were near as his
Nishi, Noriko, Rei, Ren, Sachi, Tamiko, Umeko, Yoko, wielder. Using one of his many abilities, the demon
Yoshiko, Yuri sword caused the ape's intelligence to raise up to
average human level. Then, the samurai in the party
Family Names: Akiyama, Hisakawa, Ishikawa, Kojima, (the aforementioned Kojo) decided to help train the
Maeda, Matsumoto, Nakano, Nijimura, Shimizu, Tachibana, ape in the ways of the samurai. When the campaign
Ueno, Yamauchi, Yoshida was over and everyone died, it was revealed that the
blood apes, having taken up worship of Kojo, had
Kojian Traits actually become a full fledged civilization, and because
of their worship Kojo became a minor deity on God
Your kojian character shares many traits in common with Street.
other kojians, a manifestation of years of martial training.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by It was an awesome campaign, and though the kojians
2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1. might be the silliest thing that came out of it all, the
Age. A kojian has a slightly shorter lifespan than a human, idea of samurai gorilla men was too cool not to keep
reaching adulthood in their mid teens and not living more alive somehow.
than 80.
Alignment. Most kojians tend towards lawful alignments
as a result of their regimented upbringing, with non-lawful
kojians being an extreme minority. They don't tend toward
good or evil; both are equally possible in their society. A good
kojian sees the laws of society as a means of keeping order.
An evil kojian sees those same laws as a tool to further his
own schemes.
Size. Kojians are very tall, standing 7 feet tall and at their
tallest reaching 8 feet. Your size is Medium (though just
barely).
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You also have a
climb speed of 30 feet.
Kojian Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the
longsword, shortsword, and shortbow.

All images shamelessly taken from Google

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