Lore

Cretox are primarily born as twins, with single and triple births happening with the roughly the same frequency twins occur in humans. This particular quirk, along with their relatively short lifespans, inform much of cretoxan cultural values. Family and societal progress is pursued at the expensive of personal gain, with the life of any given individual cretox meaning little compared to the service of the greater whole.

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Cretoxan society values legacy, honour, and strength in all forms - martial, athletic, mental, and spiritual strength are all equally recognized, praised, and sought after traits. This breeds a hearty people, and paired with a long martial history, a formidable military might. Unfortunately, this thought pattern has frequently lead to a predisposition towards Might is Right arguments, with most cretox falling in line behind a leader they disagree with due to their strength. This predisposition has historically resulted in many tyrants and warlords turning otherwise pleasant cretoxan settlements into fierce raiders nearly overnight, a fact which has lead to a great amount of outsider distrust even of peaceful settlements.

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The bond between siblings, especially twins, is one that is sacred to the cretox. To fight or even disagree with one's twin is rare, and such events are settled quickly or turn into lifelong grudges with little in between. Twins typically remain members of the same household even after marriage, which can get out of hand rapidly as their partners' twins (and their partners’ twins’ partners, and their…etc.) also move in. Cretoxan households then can sometimes be an entire generation of a village, all in one large building, but will often be saved from that by a sibling without a partner, a marriage to a single birthed cretox, a twin who perished or left in search of fortune, or a practical acceptance that there simply wasn't enough room and a second nearby building needed to be made.

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Quirks

• Cretox are biologically omnivores, but typically eschew meat for a vegetarian diet.

• Cretoxan settlements often produce adventurers and mercenaries with a desire to gain wealth and power for their home - most commonly those born alone, who's twin has perished, or to a too crowed home.

• Spellcasters, while rare, are not unheard of among the cretox. They typically take the form of shamans who practice ancestor worship, though the role provides them no excess respect beyond the strength they display in fulfilling it. 

• Cretox are fond of games of cunning, including board games. To them, such games are artistic parallels of real life competition and an excellent display of mental strength.

• Cretox are the physically largest of the mortal races, standing above even the towering orcs.

• While the average cretox is significantly larger than the average human, this does not stop the occasional much smaller cretox from being born. These runts are typically seen as weak, and rarely given the needed time, attention, and resources to grow into their potential.