Bladeling are human-shaped creatures who dwell in Ocanthus, the fourth Layer of the Plane of Acheron. They were supposedly once tieflings who settled in the plane after much wandering throughout the planes, protecting themselves from the deadly ice shards of Ocanthus by surrounding their city, Zoronor, with living, self-healing wood, a being they call the Blood Forest and worship as a goddess named Hriste, the Gray Whisper. The Blood Forest is studded with thorns on its interior, and massive shards of ice embed themselves in its exterior.
Bladelings themselves look almost more like constructs than living beings at this point; their flesh is made of iron, with blades of iron, wood, and ice protruding from their bodies at all angles, which they can also fire at opponents. After the first two centuries in Ocanthus, they completed a ritual that gives their bodies protection from rust attacks; this comes in especially handily when hunting Rust Dragons and other predators of Acheron.
Bladelings are xenophobic, fond of the ritual sacrifice of sentients to their bloody goddess. They no longer reproduce as mammals; new bladelings grow fully-formed from the woody flesh of the Blood Forest. They are also rumored to be connected to (or even creations of) the shadowy god Amatsu-Mikaboshi. There are attempts by Dispater to establish a cult within Zoronor as well.
Of interest is the recent purchase of the Great Foundry by Bladelings once the Godsmen vacated that structure following the Faction War.
Acheron also hosts another race closely related to bladelings, the spikers. Spikers were introduced in the Planar Handbook.
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