Editing Skum (section)

==AD&D-3e==
The classic model for a skum is a piscine humanoid engineered by the [[aboleth]]s from their stock of servitors - humanoids mutated by aboleth mucus into slimy, brainwashed, water-breathing creatures with translucent skin. The aboleths "improved" the genetic stock through [[fleshcrafting]], engineering them into a more fish-like shape that is both more useful in their typically underwater environments and more appealing to their sense of aesthetics. They serve their creators as general beasts of burden, laboring on their behalf to do all the things that a giant (and lazy) fish can't really do.

The AD&D version has far more lore tied to it, covering such things as reproduction and what features the aboleths actually removed or added. It also describes them as having been bred to be coldly logical and free of emotions, but also of sharply limited intellect; so they're kind of dumb, but the things they do always make logical sense, albeit to a moron. They also have a telepathy that only works with aboleths and fellow skum, and are extremely susceptible to mental control.