The yurians,[2] also known as crabmen,[3] aldani, lobster men,[6][7] or lobsterfolk,[1] were a race of crustacean beings that inhabited the seas and rivers of Faerûn.[6]


An aldani resembled a lobster the size of a human being, walking on two humanoid legs but they could swim like lobsters. Its face was also similar to that of a human, though encased in chitinous armor and with eyes on stalks.[6]


Despite a heavily armored appearance, aldani were quite intelligent and very civilized, with a society. Disputes between them were resolved with courtly tournaments, though these were usually to the death. However, outsiders who fell afoul of the aldani were rarely offered the option of a tournament battle.[6]


According to Chultan legend, the Aldani were once a peaceful tribe of fisherfolk, but when they brought all of the lobsters in a river to extinction by over-fishing, this angered the god Ubtao, whose punishment was to turn them into the race of lobsterfolk.[8]

During the Second Serôs War in −8298 DR, the sea elf empire, Aryselmalyr, used crabmen, merfolk, and locathah forces to destroy the Kuo-Toan Consortiums. The war ended in −8282 with a massacre of the kuo-toa in the Sea of Fallen Stars.[9]

Around 1363 DR,[6] Mainu of Mezro, a bara, dwelt in the River Olung with a dozen aldani guards in her throne room.[6]


Communities of up to twenty aldani lived at the murky bottoms of the largest rivers in Chult, namely the Olung, the Soshenstar, and the Tath. They never left the water, so few outsiders saw them outside this environment. They claimed a very specific section of the river as their territory, and patrolled it strictly. Aldani patrols could be accompanied by up to twenty trained piranha.[6]

Many yurians made their homes in the caverns surrounding the Snout of Omgar.[7]

Crabmen could also be found in the Sea of Fallen Stars. They had colonies settled under the surf between the southern coast of Impiltur and the western coast of Aglarond.[10]


See alsoEdit


  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Christopher Perkins, Will Doyle, Steve Winter (September 19, 2017). Tomb of Annihilation. In Michele Carter, Scott Fitzgerald Gray eds. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 210. ISBN 978-0-7869-6610-3.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matthew Sernett, Chris Thomasson, and James Wyatt (April 2003). Fiend Folio. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 198, 199. ISBN 0-7869-2780-1.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Doug Stewart (June 1993). Monstrous Manual. (TSR, Inc). ISBN 1-5607-6619-0.
  4. Don Turnbull (1981). Fiend Folio. (TSR Hobbies). ISBN 0-9356-9621-0.
  5. James Wyatt (August 1998). “Heroes of the Sea”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #250 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 26–35.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 James Lowder, Jean Rabe (1993). The Jungles of Chult. (TSR, Inc), pp. 6, 11, 16. ISBN 1-5607-6605-0.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader (July 2004). Serpent Kingdoms. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 117. ISBN 0-7869-3277-5.
  9. Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood (September, 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  10. Steven E. Schend (1999). Sea of Fallen Stars. (TSR, Inc), pp. 38, 42, 184. ISBN 0-7869-1393-2.