[Shrink]

I believe they could have told the story just fine with mudokons.
The mudokon race is not one dimensional; it's easy to accept the riverbank dwellers would 'worship' steefs for the protection it brought them.

Grubbz istead of mudokons is one of my gripes with Stranger's Wrath. It smacks of being gratuitous.

Edit: And while we're on the topic of how the grubbs were inspired - you can bet your bottom dollar east asia is in there somewhere.