The diminutive silt runner proves that even the smallest of Athas’s creatures are disproportionately deadly. Distantly related to Ssurran (Athas’s lizardfolk), silt runners combine greed with cold-blooded ruthlessness. Their xenophobic hatred of other races is renowned. Survivors of attacks by silt runners describe how their companions were swarmed over and gradually lacerated to death by numerous tiny, razor-edged blades – a particularly unpleasant way to perish.

Silt runners live in tribal warrens, temporary camps spread between dunes and connected by tunnels. They use these bases as staging areas for raiding small communities or slow-moving caravans. As their name implies, silt runners move easily across loose sand and silt, preferring to hunt where the terrain works to their advantage.

Silt runner wear the clothes, treasures, and body parts of their victims as trophies. The rest of their prey is consumed.

For reasons lost to history – perhaps nothing more than a quirk of biology – these humanoids harbor a particular hatred for fey. They have been known to break off attacks against far more numerous or vulnerable foes to attack a lone elf.

Silt Runner Darter
Scurrying about the periphery of a battle or lurking behind rolling dunes, darters skim across the sand on broad, webbed feet. They keep careful watch for the right moment to launch their stinging projectiles into tan enemy’s exposed flesh.

Silt Runner Inciter
Although inciters are similar to the other child-sized silt runners around them, something about them draws the eye – or perhaps the mind. These reptilian warlords direct their allies in battle, channeling the Way to blast foes or drive other silt runners to extraordinary feats.

Silt Runner Rager
Clutching slender spears twice their height, silt runners rages are comical sights. Once those spears have drawn substantial quantities of blood from a prodigious distance, humor is transformed to alarm.