Kuo-toa

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In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, kuo-toa are a debased humanoid fish-like race that dwell in the Underdark. The have human-like bodies and fish-like heads. Kuo-toa often raid seaside settlements for human victims. They worship their goddess Blibdoolpoolp.

Their creation was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's demonic fish-men, the Deep Ones, introduced in his horror novel The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The name Kuo-toan may have come from 'Croatoan', a mysterious word carved into a tree -- the only clue left when an English colony vanished from Roanoke Island after colonizing it in 1587. Alternatively, the name may be related to the Kulullu - fishmen that the ancient Babylonians believed in, a race of demons that Tiamat gave birth to.

Kuo-toa in the Forgotten Realms

In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting kuo-toans maintain friendly relations with drow, their Underdark neighbours. Blibdoolpoolp is the focus of the kuo-toans' lives, and even has her own monstrous, deformed kuo-toa breed - the giant kuo-toa leviathan.

References

• Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1994).
• Turnbull, Don, ed. Fiend Folio (TSR, 1981).