Member
Konan375Name: Grot
Alias: Champion of Chaos.
Gender: Male.
Race: Grot is the only one of his kind. As such, the term 'race' does not apply.
Appearance
Hundreds of feet tall, Grot is as big as, if not larger than, most Djinni. He has no eyes, the thick bone plate over his head leaving only his mouth free. He possesses four arms and two legs, all ending in appendages with razor sharp claws. His skin always seems to be writhing, as if something is living beneath it and portions of it will occasionally turn blackened and fetid looking, swelling and bursting open. Black sludge will rain down on whoever is unfortunate enough to be beneath him at this time, and it burns whoever it lands on, absorbing into their skin. Nothing has survived the experience. A screeching sound can be heard coming from the wound, as long and spindly limbs that end in spikes (not unlike a spider's legs) spew out and claw at the outside world. Occasionally it will grab something that had gotten too close and drag it into Grot's body. When the limbs had captured whatever they were looking for, be it a living creature or simply air, the limbs withdraw, sewing up the skin they had just burst from and making the swelling go down and the skin return to normal.
History: Vestec created Grot from combining the lava of a volcano, a Djnnni, several Urtelem, and some of Jvan's creations. What resulted was the gigantic monster you see before you. He hasn't done much other than establish himself as the leader of the Vestec's armies and wander the Changing Plains. But Vestec has promised him a war, and it is one he eagerly awaits.
Personality: Barbaric and bloodthirsty, Grot is the perfect champion of chaos. He's willing to tear down anything and kill anyone if they get in his way. He doesn't understand the terms 'diplomacy' or 'kindness'. Only the strong survive in his world and he is the strongest.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Items: Nothing. All of the armor on his body is natural, thick, bone plate.
Capabilities:
-Natural armor. Grot can cause thick bone plate erupt from his body in whatever shape he desires. He only has a limited amount however, and generally prefers it in the arrangement he has now.
-Healing. Due to whatever is inside his body, most of the wounds Grot gets are immediately sewn up and healed.
-Strong. With great size comes great strength.
-Aura sense. Due to not having any eyes, Grot can see things by the aura they give off. Everything is colored by what they are. Vestec's ashlings are pulsing with black and red, while angels have a blinding white light, while Urtelem have muted earthy colors, and so on so forth.
Alias: Champion of Chaos.
Gender: Male.
Race: Grot is the only one of his kind. As such, the term 'race' does not apply.
Appearance
Hundreds of feet tall, Grot is as big as, if not larger than, most Djinni. He has no eyes, the thick bone plate over his head leaving only his mouth free. He possesses four arms and two legs, all ending in appendages with razor sharp claws. His skin always seems to be writhing, as if something is living beneath it and portions of it will occasionally turn blackened and fetid looking, swelling and bursting open. Black sludge will rain down on whoever is unfortunate enough to be beneath him at this time, and it burns whoever it lands on, absorbing into their skin. Nothing has survived the experience. A screeching sound can be heard coming from the wound, as long and spindly limbs that end in spikes (not unlike a spider's legs) spew out and claw at the outside world. Occasionally it will grab something that had gotten too close and drag it into Grot's body. When the limbs had captured whatever they were looking for, be it a living creature or simply air, the limbs withdraw, sewing up the skin they had just burst from and making the swelling go down and the skin return to normal.
History: Vestec created Grot from combining the lava of a volcano, a Djnnni, several Urtelem, and some of Jvan's creations. What resulted was the gigantic monster you see before you. He hasn't done much other than establish himself as the leader of the Vestec's armies and wander the Changing Plains. But Vestec has promised him a war, and it is one he eagerly awaits.
Personality: Barbaric and bloodthirsty, Grot is the perfect champion of chaos. He's willing to tear down anything and kill anyone if they get in his way. He doesn't understand the terms 'diplomacy' or 'kindness'. Only the strong survive in his world and he is the strongest.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Items: Nothing. All of the armor on his body is natural, thick, bone plate.
Capabilities:
-Natural armor. Grot can cause thick bone plate erupt from his body in whatever shape he desires. He only has a limited amount however, and generally prefers it in the arrangement he has now.
-Healing. Due to whatever is inside his body, most of the wounds Grot gets are immediately sewn up and healed.
-Strong. With great size comes great strength.
-Aura sense. Due to not having any eyes, Grot can see things by the aura they give off. Everything is colored by what they are. Vestec's ashlings are pulsing with black and red, while angels have a blinding white light, while Urtelem have muted earthy colors, and so on so forth.
Life:
Species
Name: Ashlings
Lifespan: Immortal
Description: Corrupted and warped White Giants, Ashlings are very similar in design to their counterparts. Their once porcelain shells have been corrupted and ruined to crystallized ash. Much more flexible and adaptable than the porcelain of the White Giants, but also far weaker. They can manipulate the ash on their body to create weapons, more limbs, claws, whatever they need to attack their prey. This leads to their jagged and holey appearance. Their mass never changes, but they do have to take their weaponry and new limbs and such from somewhere. Whereas the White Giants exist to defend life, Ashlings exist to hunt down and destroy it. They're an inherently violent species.
Ashlings repopulate their race by chasing down and dragging off those victims that they don't kill, implanting their crystallized ash, and watching as it takes over their prey. The prey's body doesn't change, but it's primary reason for existing does. Rather than whatever it had been, it changes to expanding the Ashling race and attacking other races they see. They also possess the talents of whatever the infect, provided changing itself doesn't take it away. Such as the White Giant's resistance and healing as their porcelain is replaced with a set amount of crystallized ash. Currently, Ashlings possess only the intelligence of animals. As soon as a sentient species is created, however, the Ashlings will get one of it's members and that will bring about intelligent Ashlings.
Most of the Ashling's internal organs are replaced when it is drawn into the race, except for the heart and brain. These are the two most vulnerable parts of any Ashling. Anything sufficiently strong enough can shatter them apart as well, given that they are crystallized ash.
Species
Name: Ashlings
Lifespan: Immortal
Description: Corrupted and warped White Giants, Ashlings are very similar in design to their counterparts. Their once porcelain shells have been corrupted and ruined to crystallized ash. Much more flexible and adaptable than the porcelain of the White Giants, but also far weaker. They can manipulate the ash on their body to create weapons, more limbs, claws, whatever they need to attack their prey. This leads to their jagged and holey appearance. Their mass never changes, but they do have to take their weaponry and new limbs and such from somewhere. Whereas the White Giants exist to defend life, Ashlings exist to hunt down and destroy it. They're an inherently violent species.
Ashlings repopulate their race by chasing down and dragging off those victims that they don't kill, implanting their crystallized ash, and watching as it takes over their prey. The prey's body doesn't change, but it's primary reason for existing does. Rather than whatever it had been, it changes to expanding the Ashling race and attacking other races they see. They also possess the talents of whatever the infect, provided changing itself doesn't take it away. Such as the White Giant's resistance and healing as their porcelain is replaced with a set amount of crystallized ash. Currently, Ashlings possess only the intelligence of animals. As soon as a sentient species is created, however, the Ashlings will get one of it's members and that will bring about intelligent Ashlings.
Most of the Ashling's internal organs are replaced when it is drawn into the race, except for the heart and brain. These are the two most vulnerable parts of any Ashling. Anything sufficiently strong enough can shatter them apart as well, given that they are crystallized ash.
Creation, Species
Name: Rovaick
Lifespan: Varies from species to species (Will explain in individual sub-species)
Descriptions:
General Race traits
-Can eat anything. If it exists, the Rovaick can eat it.
-Strong Jaws and teeth, tough digestive track. The Rovaick can bite through and eat the strongest of materials. Their jaws are incredibly strong, as are their teeth. So long as it’s attacking the inside of their digestive tract, it’s difficult to damage it (Basically, if they’re eating glass it won’t hurt them but if you shove glass into their throat it still hurts. Probably kills them too.)
-Can see in pure darkness. Born in the dark, they can see in it.
-Can’t lose their way. Rovaick can unerringly retrace their steps, should they ever get lost.
General Culture: They all obey a council made of equal parts Trolls, Tedar, and Azibo, for fear that any one ruler would force the other species to worship their God. The Goblins are content to let the other species handle the ruling business.
Goblins
Lifespan: 20-50 years.
How common are they: Fucking everywhere Absurdly common. If you’re near a Rovaick settlement, you’re gonna see them.
Most Revered God: Teknall.
Culture: Goblins follow whomever is the biggest and the baddest amongst them.
Species traits
-Promiscuous. To make up for their simple mindedness and their relatively short lives, Goblins breed incredibly fast.
-Master Miners and Smiths. They can mine like no other(indeed, they enjoy it) and can make the very best of whatever it happens to be. Mithril, Steel, Bronze, so on so forth.
-Not too bright. They’re a very simple race. This leads to a lot of mine flooding and being eaten by local wildlife.
Trolls
Lifespan: 60-100 years.
How common are they: Common. They primarily reside in Rovaick settlements, and make up most of their populations.
Most Revered Gods: Vulamera.
Culture: Trolls generally decide social status by who is the better merchant. The more money you have, the more important you are and the more likely you’re to be their leader.
Species Traits
-Natural merchants. For whatever reason, trolls are naturally charismatic and naturally have a head for mercantilism.
Tedar
Lifespan: 100-160 years.
How common are they: Uncommon. They’re primarily wandering with their herds, or locked in their workshops.
Most Revered God: Toun. Illunabar.
Culture: Tedar typically live by themselves or in small groups. The leader of said groups is decided through surprisingly peaceful deliberations.
Species Traits
-Strong. Tedar are one of the strongest humanoid races out there.
-Shepherds. For some odd reason, Tedar have a way with animals, able to calm and tame them with ease.
-Craftsmen. Where Goblins are good at making things, Tedar are the ones who come up with the designs and the aesthetics making everything look good.
Azibo
Lifespan: 200-250 years.
How common are they: Rare. If you see one, and it’s not on the battlefield, you’re probably not where you should be.
Most Revered Gods: Beluarc, Astarte, Mammon.
Culture: Who is the strongest mage? That’s their leader and then it goes down from there.
Species traits
-Mages. They are the only Rovaick who can use magic. There are several different mage types, that can be told from what armor the Azibo is wearing. If they’re wearing bone armor, they can summon spirits and turn them into eldritch monstrosities to slay their enemies. If they’re wearing stone armor, they can manipulate the elements, especially earth. If they’re wearing dark metal armor, they’re increasing their physical speed and power and a slight bit of other magic to attack with and manipulate their armor. If their armor is patchwork of all previously stated armors, they’ve managed to master all of them.
They’ve also developed a black magic that any Azibo can use called “Igregora”. Quite simply, they manipulate the subject’s body and energies, giving them incredible strength, speed, toughness, and generally just make them better at killing things. Unfortunately, it also often turns the subjects into rage monsters that hate everything and only want to kill. Fortunately, they can use it briefly in the battlefield for less of a buff but also less insanity. Dark Blessings, basically.
Ogru
Lifespan: Varies. Some die immediately from the Igregora, others live centuries, and still others live mere seconds.
How Common are they: Ultra Rare. If you see them, you’re being attacked by the Rovaick and should probably run.
Most Revered God: None. They hate everything and that includes the Gods. The only ones they obey are the Azibo, and that’s from fear alone. And even then the Azibo struggle to control them in large groups.
Culture: Beat the hell out of each other until one gives in and acknowledges the other is stronger.
Species Traits
-Bred for War. The Ogru are Tedar with a birth defect that leaves them with missing limbs, usually hands. The Azibo take these children and use Igregora to it’s full powers upon them, allowing them to attach steel or stone limbs and make them terrifyingly strong, fast, and resistant to damage. They also force the inbred fear and obedience of the Azibo into them, so the Ogru obey someone.
-Hate filled. Ogru hate everything. Be it child or warrior, animal or warbeast, if they can they will destroy it.
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There are two different kinds of Rovaick.
The ones that Vestec left alone to their own devices in Teknall's mountains, they developed on their own. They have the society mentioned above, and are generally agreeable to all races that don't attack them.
Then there are the ones that Vestec took with him. They are called the Forsaken (by the other Rovaick) and the Chosen (by themselves). They were influenced (but not corrupted) by Vestec. THey're far more vicious and war orientated than their counter parts. Their council is more of war leaders than council leaders.
Name: Rovaick
Lifespan: Varies from species to species (Will explain in individual sub-species)
Descriptions:
General Race traits
-Can eat anything. If it exists, the Rovaick can eat it.
-Strong Jaws and teeth, tough digestive track. The Rovaick can bite through and eat the strongest of materials. Their jaws are incredibly strong, as are their teeth. So long as it’s attacking the inside of their digestive tract, it’s difficult to damage it (Basically, if they’re eating glass it won’t hurt them but if you shove glass into their throat it still hurts. Probably kills them too.)
-Can see in pure darkness. Born in the dark, they can see in it.
-Can’t lose their way. Rovaick can unerringly retrace their steps, should they ever get lost.
General Culture: They all obey a council made of equal parts Trolls, Tedar, and Azibo, for fear that any one ruler would force the other species to worship their God. The Goblins are content to let the other species handle the ruling business.
Goblins
Lifespan: 20-50 years.
How common are they: Fucking everywhere Absurdly common. If you’re near a Rovaick settlement, you’re gonna see them.
Most Revered God: Teknall.
Culture: Goblins follow whomever is the biggest and the baddest amongst them.
Species traits
-Promiscuous. To make up for their simple mindedness and their relatively short lives, Goblins breed incredibly fast.
-Master Miners and Smiths. They can mine like no other(indeed, they enjoy it) and can make the very best of whatever it happens to be. Mithril, Steel, Bronze, so on so forth.
-Not too bright. They’re a very simple race. This leads to a lot of mine flooding and being eaten by local wildlife.
Trolls
Lifespan: 60-100 years.
How common are they: Common. They primarily reside in Rovaick settlements, and make up most of their populations.
Most Revered Gods: Vulamera.
Culture: Trolls generally decide social status by who is the better merchant. The more money you have, the more important you are and the more likely you’re to be their leader.
Species Traits
-Natural merchants. For whatever reason, trolls are naturally charismatic and naturally have a head for mercantilism.
Tedar
Lifespan: 100-160 years.
How common are they: Uncommon. They’re primarily wandering with their herds, or locked in their workshops.
Most Revered God: Toun. Illunabar.
Culture: Tedar typically live by themselves or in small groups. The leader of said groups is decided through surprisingly peaceful deliberations.
Species Traits
-Strong. Tedar are one of the strongest humanoid races out there.
-Shepherds. For some odd reason, Tedar have a way with animals, able to calm and tame them with ease.
-Craftsmen. Where Goblins are good at making things, Tedar are the ones who come up with the designs and the aesthetics making everything look good.
Azibo
Lifespan: 200-250 years.
How common are they: Rare. If you see one, and it’s not on the battlefield, you’re probably not where you should be.
Most Revered Gods: Beluarc, Astarte, Mammon.
Culture: Who is the strongest mage? That’s their leader and then it goes down from there.
Species traits
-Mages. They are the only Rovaick who can use magic. There are several different mage types, that can be told from what armor the Azibo is wearing. If they’re wearing bone armor, they can summon spirits and turn them into eldritch monstrosities to slay their enemies. If they’re wearing stone armor, they can manipulate the elements, especially earth. If they’re wearing dark metal armor, they’re increasing their physical speed and power and a slight bit of other magic to attack with and manipulate their armor. If their armor is patchwork of all previously stated armors, they’ve managed to master all of them.
They’ve also developed a black magic that any Azibo can use called “Igregora”. Quite simply, they manipulate the subject’s body and energies, giving them incredible strength, speed, toughness, and generally just make them better at killing things. Unfortunately, it also often turns the subjects into rage monsters that hate everything and only want to kill. Fortunately, they can use it briefly in the battlefield for less of a buff but also less insanity. Dark Blessings, basically.
Ogru
Lifespan: Varies. Some die immediately from the Igregora, others live centuries, and still others live mere seconds.
How Common are they: Ultra Rare. If you see them, you’re being attacked by the Rovaick and should probably run.
Most Revered God: None. They hate everything and that includes the Gods. The only ones they obey are the Azibo, and that’s from fear alone. And even then the Azibo struggle to control them in large groups.
Culture: Beat the hell out of each other until one gives in and acknowledges the other is stronger.
Species Traits
-Bred for War. The Ogru are Tedar with a birth defect that leaves them with missing limbs, usually hands. The Azibo take these children and use Igregora to it’s full powers upon them, allowing them to attach steel or stone limbs and make them terrifyingly strong, fast, and resistant to damage. They also force the inbred fear and obedience of the Azibo into them, so the Ogru obey someone.
-Hate filled. Ogru hate everything. Be it child or warrior, animal or warbeast, if they can they will destroy it.
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There are two different kinds of Rovaick.
The ones that Vestec left alone to their own devices in Teknall's mountains, they developed on their own. They have the society mentioned above, and are generally agreeable to all races that don't attack them.
Then there are the ones that Vestec took with him. They are called the Forsaken (by the other Rovaick) and the Chosen (by themselves). They were influenced (but not corrupted) by Vestec. THey're far more vicious and war orientated than their counter parts. Their council is more of war leaders than council leaders.
Creation:
Physical
Name: Shattered/Changing Plains
Description: Created when Vestec was busily beating back one of the Gods in his body from escaping and growing in power. Their exact size is indeterminable, but they are kilometers long and wide and have no discernible purpose.
Appearance: There is only one constant about the Shattered Plains is that they are burned and ruined rock. Everything else is in constant fluctuation. Mountains rise and fall, valleys disappear and walls rise for no reason.
Physical
Name: Shattered/Changing Plains
Description: Created when Vestec was busily beating back one of the Gods in his body from escaping and growing in power. Their exact size is indeterminable, but they are kilometers long and wide and have no discernible purpose.
Appearance: There is only one constant about the Shattered Plains is that they are burned and ruined rock. Everything else is in constant fluctuation. Mountains rise and fall, valleys disappear and walls rise for no reason.
Creation:
Physical
Name: Rings of Galbar
Description: Vestec got bored, and sent a couple moons(Lex and Perfectus) flying towards Galbar. He smashed one into the other, causing Lex to explode into chaotic rocks. Vestec manipulated these rocks of pure chaos and created the Rings of Galbar.
Appearance: Two rings of pulsing chaos rocks that cross in space and create a shining belt of multicolored and pulsing lights at night. Natural asteroid belts around Galbar.
Physical
Name: Rings of Galbar
Description: Vestec got bored, and sent a couple moons(Lex and Perfectus) flying towards Galbar. He smashed one into the other, causing Lex to explode into chaotic rocks. Vestec manipulated these rocks of pure chaos and created the Rings of Galbar.
Appearance: Two rings of pulsing chaos rocks that cross in space and create a shining belt of multicolored and pulsing lights at night. Natural asteroid belts around Galbar.
Creation:
Physical
Name: Galbar's atmosphere
Description: Zephyrion's prolonged presence above Galbar led to him inadvertently creating a thick atmosphere as the air in his body was pulled by gravity down to the planet's surface. While the atmosphere is mostly normal and very hospitable for lifeforms, worth noting is that it has an abnormally rich amount of oxygen. Flames burn hotter, metals rust faster, and gigantic animals like the dinosaurs and massive insects are capable of existing. The atmosphere originally had a large content of hydrogen as well, and this slowly formed large quantities of water for Galbar.
Physical
Name: Galbar's atmosphere
Description: Zephyrion's prolonged presence above Galbar led to him inadvertently creating a thick atmosphere as the air in his body was pulled by gravity down to the planet's surface. While the atmosphere is mostly normal and very hospitable for lifeforms, worth noting is that it has an abnormally rich amount of oxygen. Flames burn hotter, metals rust faster, and gigantic animals like the dinosaurs and massive insects are capable of existing. The atmosphere originally had a large content of hydrogen as well, and this slowly formed large quantities of water for Galbar.
Creation:
Physical
Name: The Seasons (Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring)
Description: By tilting Galbar upon its axis, Zephyrion created the phenomena of seasons. On Galbar this takes on a rather extreme form; each season lasts at least a full year, with unusual weather making a three year winter or summer not unheard of either. The winters are bitter cold and the summers blisteringly hot. Agriculture is made difficult by these extreme conditions, and only a few thin latitudinal belts of land can truly be temperate and hospitable year-round.
Physical
Name: The Seasons (Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring)
Description: By tilting Galbar upon its axis, Zephyrion created the phenomena of seasons. On Galbar this takes on a rather extreme form; each season lasts at least a full year, with unusual weather making a three year winter or summer not unheard of either. The winters are bitter cold and the summers blisteringly hot. Agriculture is made difficult by these extreme conditions, and only a few thin latitudinal belts of land can truly be temperate and hospitable year-round.
Creation:
Physical (Holy Site)
Name: The Celestial Citadel; Zephyrion's Palace; Zephyrean Citadel; The Floating Fortress; Mount Olympus
Description: The Celestial Citadel is a palatial castle of gleaming white that soars through the heavens above Galbar, resting atop a mountain of earth which is in turn carried atop a thousand clouds. It was built by the combined efforts of both Teknall and Zephyrion, and as a result both are empowered by its very existence. A great magical gem adorns the highest spire, and within that jewel is contained a magical power that allows the fortress to defy physics and remain in its precarious position. Worth noting is that Zephyrion can summon winds to move this Holy Site at will.
Physical (Holy Site)
Name: The Celestial Citadel; Zephyrion's Palace; Zephyrean Citadel; The Floating Fortress; Mount Olympus
Description: The Celestial Citadel is a palatial castle of gleaming white that soars through the heavens above Galbar, resting atop a mountain of earth which is in turn carried atop a thousand clouds. It was built by the combined efforts of both Teknall and Zephyrion, and as a result both are empowered by its very existence. A great magical gem adorns the highest spire, and within that jewel is contained a magical power that allows the fortress to defy physics and remain in its precarious position. Worth noting is that Zephyrion can summon winds to move this Holy Site at will.
Creation: Physical/Spiritual (Avatar)
Name: Yang'Ze
Description: Ull'Yang's Avatar, Yang Ze, serves as the link between the Primordial Sun and the mortal realm. He shares the same personality with Ull'Yang as it is Ull'Yang himself that's possessing it most of the time unless he retracts his consciousness in favor of other things. When Ull'Yang isn't in control, the Avatar either shuts down, seemingly entering a state of unconsciousness, or acts in the most rudimentary of ways.
General Abilities
Appearance
Name: Yang'Ze
Description: Ull'Yang's Avatar, Yang Ze, serves as the link between the Primordial Sun and the mortal realm. He shares the same personality with Ull'Yang as it is Ull'Yang himself that's possessing it most of the time unless he retracts his consciousness in favor of other things. When Ull'Yang isn't in control, the Avatar either shuts down, seemingly entering a state of unconsciousness, or acts in the most rudimentary of ways.
General Abilities
- Supernatural Condition (minus all the mind related stuff since those already come straight from Ull'Yang possesing the Avatar.)
- Solar Energy Absorption
- Flowmotion
Appearance
Life: Species
Name: Dov racial - Dovah individual, singular/plural
Lifespan: Anywhere between 600 to 1200 years
<Snipped quote>
Name: Dov racial - Dovah individual, singular/plural
Lifespan: Anywhere between 600 to 1200 years
- Dov, or more commonly known as dragons or wyrms, are giant, winged beasts closely resembling reptiles. Their wide arsenal of powerful abilities set them at the top of the food chain, making them some the most potent hunters of the natural world. All dragons have distinct age categories and grow in power and strength as they progress through those categories. Every dragon has both a breath weapon and an array of supernatural abilities, including an aura that induces overwhelming fear. All dragons also have the same basic body structure.
- Covered in scales and in possession of four legs and a long, writhing tail, a dragon appears to be a giant reptile at first glance. Nevertheless, dragons are a classification unto themselves, with characteristics of predatory mammals as well as reptiles. In fact, a dragon’s external anatomy — with four legs directly beneath the body rather than splayed to the sides — is more mammalian than reptilian.
- At the center of a dragon’s eye is a thin, vertical pupil, like that of a cat. Whereas a cat’s pupil expands to admit more light in dark areas, however, the expansion of a dragon’s pupil allows primal energy flowing in the creature’s bloodstream to emanate from the pupil. This minute absorption of magic grants a dragon night vision.
Dragons do not have external ears. As with snakes, an internal mechanism detects sounds. From the outside, the only evidence of this mechanism is a tiny hole between the scales. Some dragons have frills or fringes of scales along their heads; in such cases, one such set of scales might surround the auditory canal, focusing sound inward in a manner similar to that of a mammal’s external ear. These scales are not, however, a necessary part of the design.
Due to their scales and thick hides, dragons have a poor tactile sense. Hence, a dragon can be comfortable sleeping on jagged and rough surfaces, as long as the pile vaguely conforms to the dragon’s shape. Dragons are, however, sensitive to pain. Anything capable of penetrating their hide and scales receives their full attention.
A dragon’s sense of smell is split between its nostrils and its tongue. The nasal aperture can detect odors from a great distance, but that aperture is less capable than the tongue of differentiating an odor’s components. When a dragon draws near the source of an interesting scent, its flickering tongue identifies and pinpoints various odors, much as a snake’s tongue does.
The tongue is also a dragon’s organ of taste. Dragons can detect nuances of flavor better than humanoids can. For example, a dragon could describe every ingredient of a stew after ingesting a single large mouthful. - As with the common crocodile, the muscles that close a dragon’s jaw are more powerful than the ones that open it — yet only the mightiest foe could hope to hold a dragon’s jaw shut if a dragon wants to open it. The teeth, also resembling those of a crocodile, include fangs for tearing and puncturing, incisors for severing flesh from bone, and a series of molars for gripping and grinding.
The jaw can also unhinge, stretching a dragon’s maw to massive proportions similar to the way a snake’s jaws unhinge. Dragons rarely display this ability, because they use it only to bite larger foes or to swallow prey too tough to be torn into smaller bits. The throat can stretch wide enough to accommodate anything the unhinged jaws can encompass though swallowing something so large that a dragon must unhinge its jaw is a painful experience.
A dragon’s teeth and fangs consist of a hard substance more closely related to the substance of a dragon’s bones than to the enamel and dentin that comprise the teeth of most creatures. Similarly, the interior of the tooth resembles marrow more than it does pulp. A dragon grows a new set of teeth each time it increases in size. Between these periods, if a dragon loses a tooth, it has to do without unless it has a means of healing magically. - All dragons have some combination of protrusions in the form of spines, claws, horns, or all three. These protrusions are made of a substance similar to that of dragons’ teeth. They are not keratinous, as are the horns of most horned animals, nor have they the same composition as dragon bones though they’re close.
Spines are anchored in muscle, connected to the skeleton by a series of ligaments. Claws and horns connect directly to the skeleton. Horns and spines grow as a dragon grows. Its claws, like its teeth, fall out and regrow when a dragon increases its size.
A dragon’s feet have both reptilian and avian characteristics. A foot normally has three forward-facing claws plus a single claw near the rear of the foot, though a significant minority of dragons has four forward-facing claws. The rear claw normally faces backward when a dragon is walking or running, but it can twist forward to serve as something akin to an opposable thumb. Although the rear claw is not fully prehensile or as dexterous as a human hand, it does allow a dragon to grip objects and even to use tools or writing styluses if they’re properly sized and designed for draconic use. - The texture of a dragon’s hide depends, in part, on a dragon’s variety. Some dragon's outer layer of scales may feel rough and leathery, like that of an alligator, whereas other's scales might generally feel smoother, like hardened snakeskin. These tendencies are not absolute. Dragons of different bloodlines might have markedly different textures.
In any case, individual scales are more or less the same. The way they fit together determines the skin’s texture. Larger scales, such as those that cover the head, neck, and back, connect to the skin at one end and overlap neighboring scales at the other. This arrangement creates a layer that resembles scale armor or shingles on a roof. Smaller scales, such as those that cover a dragon’s underside, rest side by side rather than overlapping.
Dragon scales are slightly more flexible than steel and substantially stronger, making them perfect armor. Unfortunately for those who desire to make armor from dragon scales, harvesting scales is difficult, and armor constructed from such scales lasts only a few weeks after it is taken from a living dragon. Although it's possible to magically enhance dragon scales in order to create unique sets of magic armor; it's virtually impossible to construct a long-lasting, plain armor from harvested scales with common blacksmithing techniques.
A dragon never sheds its skin, since its scales grow slowly throughout the course of its life. It occasionally loses individual scales through injury or illness or as a result of natural molting. These patches remain bare for a few months at most before replacement scales grow large enough to fill the gap. - A dragon’s wings are simple in structure. Each consisting of a membrane of thin hide stretched across a structure of lightweight bones, like a bat’s wing.
Each wing is large enough that nothing short of numerous large tears can threaten a membrane’s integrity. As a result, it’s difficult to injure a dragon so severely that it cannot fly. Such tears heal relatively quickly.
- Many details that differentiate dragons from other creatures are internal. Although a dragon’s scales and flesh somewhat resemble those of reptiles, a different story unfolds underneath...
- A dragon’s brain is large both in absolute terms and as a proportion of body mass. A significant part of the brain is dedicated to memory and reasoning, and other parts control two functions unique to dragons: the mystical power of the eyes and the channeling of learned behaviors into the instinctive, “reptilian” brain.
Directly above the sensory centers of the cerebral cortex, a dragon has an extra growth — a miniature lobe — that has a direct synaptic connection to the optic nerves. It is this growth that generates a dragon’s frightful aura. Although not a true gaze attack, the effect emanates from the eyes, which might be why beings of inferior intelligence may find the gaze of a dragon hypnotic. This miniature lobe draws mystical power from blood that flows through the brain. After a dragon expends that power, it must concentrate for a few moments to reinvigorate the lobe and thus ready the ability for another use.
The second major factor that sets a dragon’s brain apart from those of other creatures is the connection of the learning and memory portions of the brain with the so-called reptilian brain, which is responsible for rage, the fight-or-flight mechanism, and other instinctive behaviors. Thick clusters of synapses form this connection, incorporating anything a dragon learns into its instinctive behavior. Learned techniques such as effective combat and hunting tactics become an innate part of the wyrm’s automatic responses. Knowledge even passes to offspring. Young dragons inherit all their parents’ instincts and reactive behavior, including those traits that the parents have developed from their own memories and experiences. - The larynx contains an array of vocal cords capable of producing a wide array of sounds. Although most dragons prefer to speak in a narrow range of tones, a dragon can produce any sound from a dull rumble to a shriek so high-pitched that's borderline undetectable. The trachea, as in most creatures, is the passage for a dragon’s respiration.
- The lungs take up an enormous portion of a dragon’s chest cavity, given that they must oxygenate the blood for such a massive creature. They more closely resemble avian lungs than those of reptiles or mammals. They extract oxygen on both inhalation and exhalation.
- A dragon’s heart is the source of its dragon’s power. This huge, four-chambered organ pumps strongly enough to send blood flowing throughout the enormous beast. If a dragon’s heart could be filled with granite, the strength of the heart’s constriction would crush the stone to powder.
The heart also generates the elemental energy that grants dragons their breath weapons and other powers. It is a dragon’s most magical aspect. Without the mystical energy distributed by their hearts, dragons might be merely intelligent lizards. This energy suffuses the entire body through the blood. For parts of the body that require more focused power, the fundamentum is a more direct conduit.
A dragon’s blood is somewhat thinner than regular blood and is darker, appearing black in dim lighting. The blood’s temperature depends on the variety of dragon. Some dragon's blood might give off steam while other's might be barely above freezing, and so forth. - The fundamentum is an organ unique to dragons. Once thought to be the source of a dragon’s breath weapon, the fundamentum is an enormous blood vessel, like an extremely large, complex artery. The fundamentum channels the energy-rich blood from the heart directly into the upper stomach of a dragon’s gizzard.
When examined outside a dragon, the fundamentum looks something like a rubbery hose, with a muscular outer layer capable of pumping blood similar to the way the heart does. This outer layer allows the fundamentum to constrict and open rapidly from one end to the other, propelling a wash of blood into the upper stomach. - The gizzard of a dragon contains two hollows: a smaller “upper stomach” and the gizzard chamber. Elemental energy, transferred from the heart through the fundamentum, remains in the upper stomach until needed. This energy either aids in digestion — in which case it flows into the gizzard whenever food arrives from the esophagus — or it comprises a dragon’s breath weapon.
In truth, “breath weapon” is a misnomer, since the fire, poison, acid, or other substance discharges not from the lungs but from the upper stomach. The stream of energy is more accurately vomited than exhaled.
Traces of this energy might leak from a dragon’s upper stomach into the esophagus, mouth, and nostrils, from which they might emerge as puffs of smoke or wisps of poison — another reason the uninformed might believe that the breath weapon is part of the respiratory system. This leaking energy also causes the damage dealt by most dragons’ bite attacks.
After food reaches the gizzard, the hard plates inside the organ, similar in composition to the horns and teeth, grind it up. The upper stomach bathes the swallowed food in energy from its pool.
- The musculature of a dragon somewhat resembles that of a great hunting cat from neck to rump and that of a constrictor serpent along the neck and tail. The area that defies comparison is the area at the wing-base and along the chest.
Wing and chest muscles are dense and larger than any other muscle group in dovah anatomy. Despite their great power, however, they could not provide lift to such a massive beast without magical assistance. It is the elemental energy coursing through a dragon's cardiovascular system contributes to the beast's ability to fly. According to this theory, magic in the wings grants a dragon strength beyond that provided by the muscles.
The alar pectoral (1) is the main flight muscle, used on the wing’s downstroke. The alar latissimus dorsi (2) draws the wing up and back, and the alar deltoid (3) and alar cleidomastoid (4) draw them up and forward.
The muscles of the wings themselves serve primarily to control the wings’ shape, aiding a dragon’s aerial maneuverability. The alar tricep (5) and alar bicep (6) fold and unfold the wings, and the alar carpi ulnaris (7) and alar carpi radialus (8) allow the wings to wrap and twist.
In addition to being the strongest muscle group in a dragon’s body, the pectoral muscles are also the most enduring. Enormous quantities of blood flow in and out of the muscles regularly, sweeping away — or even destroying, thanks to the blood’s innate energy — toxins that cause fatigue. A dragon can fly for many minutes at full speed, for hours at a reasonable pace, and for days on end if it relies substantially on gliding and updrafts. Dragons maintain their average overland flight speeds by switching back and forth between true flight and periods of gliding. - A dragon’s skeletal system consists of more than five hundred separate bones. As with the muscular system, the skeleton between a dragon’s neck and rump — the bones of its legs and torso — somewhat resembles the skeleton of a great feline, although the neck and tail bones more closely resemble those of serpents. The bones in and around the wings, like the muscles thereof, defy comparison.
Dragon bone is strong. In fact, it is stronger than any known non-magical material other than adamantine, in terms of the amount of pressure it can withstand. As with scales, when bone is removed from a dragon’s body, it becomes relatively brittle. If a person were to consider dragon bone as a building material, good quality stone or heavy wood would ultimately make better choices because of their comparable durability and wider availability.
Dragon bones are hollow like those of birds, making them remarkably light for their size and strength. The marrow within is yet another repository of the elemental energy that flows through the bloodstream.
The sternum (1) serves as an anchor for a dragon’s flight muscles, and the scapula draconis (2) supports the wing. The metacarpis draconis (3) and alar phalanges (4) in each wing support the wing’s flight surface.
- People assume that dragons are cold-blooded due to their apparently reptilian nature. In truth, a dragon does not depend upon the environment for warmth, but rather maintains a consistent internal temperature. By broad definition, that makes dragons warm-blooded, but true warm-blooded creatures maintain their body temperature by increasing their metabolic rate when the environment grows cold and by slowing their metabolism and shedding heat — through sweating, panting, or similar methods — when the environment warms.
The elemental energy flowing through a dragon's bloodstream, on the other hand, maintains the wyrm's proper range of internal temperatures, regardless of external environment. Even dragons whose breath weapons have no intrinsic temperature requirements — such as breath weapons of poison or acid — use that energy to maintain internal heat. Naturally, dragons that have fire or heat-based attacks maintain the highest body temperatures while those that use frost or cold-based attacks maintain low body temperatures.
A dragon can enter a long sleep similar to a state of hibernation. Such a sleep allows the creature to pass decades or even centuries without waking. Dragons might enter this sleep as a way of surviving periods of famine without having to find a new lair, grieving the loss of a loved one, or withdrawing from the world out of sheer boredom.- Because dragons make use of supernatural energy as part of their digestive process, they can consume and digest all sorts of food. They can also consume substances that wouldn't qualify as food to other living creatures.
Dragons are predators — instinctive hunters at the top of the food chain. They find meat and other organic material the easiest fare to digest. When meat is unavailable, dragons resort to eating large plants such as trees and large bushes.
In emergencies, when the alternative is starvation, dragons might eat anything they can swallow: dead wood, rock, and other inorganic materials are all fair game. However, dragons find these substances distasteful. Furthermore, since rock, for instance, holds little nutritional value, a dragon must eat a lot more of such a substance than it needs of organic material — at least as much as its own body weight per day to maintain health. Dragons consider such measures humiliating, to the extent that some dragons prefer to starve for a time rather than depend on food they weren't meant to eat.
The elemental aspect of a dragon’s digestive system, in addition to allowing the creature to eat substances others cannot, also makes it hyper-efficient at digesting meats and other normal foods. Although a dragon can consume more than half its body weight in such food over the course of a day — and many do just that, with sufficient prey a dragon needs to eat only about 15 to 20 percent of its body weight in organic food on a daily basis. At the other end of the scale, a dragon must eat an obscene amount of food to gain weight.
Dragons might make use of their breath weapons even when hunting prey that could not possibly survive a melee encounter. Some dragons breathe on prey that is already dead. Since dragons use the same energy in digestion that they use for their breath weapons, they find it easier to digest prey that they have already bathed in their particular form of energy.
- More so those that of other creatures, a dragon’s life cycle and life span shape its capabilities and even its personality. Barring violence or disease, even the shortest-lived dragon can expect to see a score of centuries. A dragon's life cycle is divided into four main age groups: young, adult, elder, and ancient. In truth, dragons must first pass through an earlier stage that few adventurers see: wyrmling. They also pass through a final stage called twilight.
- Although the specifics of mating rites and relationships vary from one kind of dragon to another, several commonalities exist. Young dragons can mate, and might do so out of sheer biological urge — or even, at times, for love—but they are rarely prepared to rear young. They might abandon clutches of eggs wherever the eggs will have a decent chance of survival. Few eggs left in this way survive — and dragons that hatch from them might not learn to fend for themselves well enough before becoming prey.
By the time they reach adulthood, even evil or selfish dragons have developed a measure of parenting instinct. They keep their eggs in their lairs, watching over them to ensure safe incubation. Most mated pairs remain together until the eggs hatch, though at other times a single parent — often the female but sometimes the male — cares for the eggs alone. Sometimes the adults stay together even after eggs hatch, staying together until the hatchlings can fend for themselves, at which point the pair splits up.
Elder dragons lay eggs less often than adults do but treat them with the same care. Ancient dragons almost never produce offspring, but those that do are highly protective—more so even than adults.
A few dragon varieties are monogamous, mating with the same partner every cycle while others have multiple partners throughout their lives and retain little emotional attachment to former mates.
Both male and female dragons become fertile roughly halfway through the young stage of life and remain so until well into their ancient years. The urge to mate emerges at roughly the same time that fertility takes hold, grows to its height during the early adult stage, and fades — sometimes slightly, sometimes to nothing — at the late elder or early ancient stage. - Dragons lay eggs in small clutches, the exact number varying according to the kind of dragon. Females can lay eggs as often as once per year but rarely do so that frequently. Dragons have a greater degree of influence over their own reproductive systems than humanoids do. Although a female dragon cannot completely control whether or not mating produces fertile eggs, the chance of fertilization falls dramatically if the dragon does not wish to reproduce.
One of the parents — usually the female — typically locates the nest deep in the lair. The nest consists of a mound or pit where the parent gathers the eggs and buries them in sand, dirt, snow, leaves, or whatever medium is best suited to the dragon and to the environment.
The average dragon egg is about the size of a small rain barrel. Eggs normally have the same color as the dragon variety, though somewhat duller in hue. They are roughly ovoid and have a texture somewhere between dragon scale and stone.
When first laid, a dragon egg has resistance to the energy type of its parents' breath weapon (Mixed breed dragon eggs have resistance to one parent’s damage type, and don’t survive if the other parent is incautious with his or her breath.) As the egg nears hatching, the shell grows harder but more brittle, and that resistance diminishes. By the time the wyrmling is ready to hatch, the egg has no resistance at all.
Incubation time varies according to the variety of dragon. In all cases, the eggs are fertilized inside the female and are ready for laying roughly one-quarter of the way through the incubation period. - Hatchling
When a wyrmling is ready to hatch, it begins feeding on the inside of the egg’s shell, absorbing the remaining nutrients. This activity strengthens the young dragon and weakens the shell. The wyrmling then breaks free by clawing at the sides, pressing against and cracking the shell with brute strength, and blasting the shell occasionally with its own already developed breath weapon.Wyrmling
A newly hatched dragon has a full array of abilities. Although inferior to those of a young dragon, these abilities are sufficient for the wyrmling to take care of itself, at least against relatively weak threats and predators. Although an emerging wyrmling is sodden and somewhat awkward, it can run within hours of hatching and can fly within a day or two. A wyrmling’s senses are fully acute, and—due to the interweaving of a dragon’s centers of memory and instinct—it is born with a substantial amount of its parents’ knowledge imprinted in its mind.
Even so, a dragon is not born with the full memories of prior generations. Rather, a wyrmling has a grasp of the generalities of the world and of its own identity. It knows how to move, how to use its innate abilities, who and what its parents are, and — perhaps the most important — how to view the world around it. This awareness is one reason that even the youngest dragons are capable of surviving to adulthood.
Parents might accompany a wyrmling on its earliest hunts, to protect it and to make certain it knows how to hunt efficiently. Wyrmlings left to fend for themselves and wyrmlings that don’t have protective parents still must leave the nest within a few days of hatching to find food. By the third or fourth foray, even solicitous dragon parents let wyrmlings hunt on their own, lest the wyrmlings grow too dependent on parental assistance.
Wyrmlings spend a few years dwelling with one or both of their parents. Some parents welcome this time as an opportunity to teach their offspring lessons beyond its inherited knowledge: the best areas to hunt, what to look for in a lair, and other knowledge a growing dragon needs to gain. Other parents look on wyrmlings as necessary evils: competitors for resources and for space in the lair that must nevertheless be tolerated for a brief time. Only evil dragons that lack any parenting instinct, although extremely rare, consider forcing a wyrmling to leave the nest early.
A wyrmling whose parents abandoned it before it hatched or could not care for it after it hatched takes longer to hone its abilities. It still has the advantage of its inherited instincts, but the lack of a teacher makes perfecting its abilities an arduous task. Some wyrmlings manage to do so on their own, through trial and error. Others seek out mentors of their own kind. Even an evil dragon might willingly take on a short-term apprentice if the younger dragon shows adequate respect, such as material gifts. These relationships rarely last more than a few months, because the older dragon inevitably begins to view the younger one as a rival. The younger dragon either departs or ends up on the menu.
Although wyrmlings are small and weak by dragon standards, a wyrmling is roughly the size of a large wolf or a full-grown human. Even at their youngest, dragons have few natural predators.Young
By the time a wyrmling becomes a young dragon, it has grown to roughly the size of a horse, and its lairing and territorial instincts are stoked into a raging fire. A young dragon must leave the nest (if it has not already done so) before territoriality and greed transform the parent-child relationship into a bitter rivalry.
The relationship between a dragon and its fullgrown offspring depends on the individuals in question. For the most part, dragon parents and children retain a loving relationship; though they do not share territories, they harbor affection for each other and render assistance if the other is in danger. A rare few go the opposite route, treating their parents or offspring as competitors for resources — highly dangerous competitors at that, since each knows the other so well — and end up violently at odds.
The first task of a young dragon is to find a lair of its own. This task can prove challenging, because the territory the dragon knows belongs to either a parent or a mentor. Thus, a young dragon must depart the region it knows best to find a spot isolated enough to serve as a lair, yet still near enough to viable hunting grounds to make foraging possible.
Young dragons use existing structures (such as abandoned castles or mines) or natural hollows (such as caves) for their lairs. Later in life, when a dragon has more power, knowledge, and confidence, it might build, or find others to build, a better home. At the young stage, though, it just needs to find something viable.Adult
Adult dragons revel in the fact that they are among the mightiest predators in, particularly if they have had a successful youth. At this age, adult dragons seek to expand their territories dramatically or even to move their lairs, abandoning whatever haphazard sanctuary they might have found as youths in favor of larger, more comfortable, or even custom-built homes. These efforts sometimes pit them against other dragons or territorial creatures. Thus, adult dragons are the most likely to initiate combat with other wyrms.Elder
By the time it becomes an elder, a dragon has likely found or created its permanent lair and has well and truly established its territory. Although a few elder dragons continue to expand their domains, most are content with their holdings (barring environmental changes or famine) and are more likely to be the defender against encroaching younger dragons than they are to initiate such conflicts.
Elder dragons have lived long enough that they have fully adopted the long view in terms of their goals and efforts. Unless they are acting in immediate defence of their territory or offspring, there is hardly ever a reason to hurry, and it is better to do something right then to rush. To fill the time between, they will entertain their minds with puzzles, whether benign pursuits or malicious scheming as well as the accumulation of knowledge and magical treasures.Ancient
By the time it becomes ancient, a dragon ranks among the most powerful creatures to walk the earth. Its lair is nigh impregnable. Its name (or at least one of them) is known far and wide among dragons and humanoids both. The dragon has survived longer than most nations.
The truth is, the dragon doesn’t have much left to do. The dragon’s territory is as large as the dragon wants it to be. If the dragon wants to manipulate and control the nearby communities, it does so. Few rivals exist with sufficient power to offer the dragon anything resembling sport. For an ancient dragon, perhaps the greatest challenge is staving off boredom.
Some ancients spend years hibernating for lack of anything better to do. Others ignite conflict, invading other dragons' territories or inspiring humanoid allies to go to war, in hopes of finding a challenge to pass the time. A few revert to behaviors of younger dragons, hunting and raiding at whim. Some devote themselves fanatically to whatever religious beliefs they hold, or seek out new ones.Twilight
Even dragons eventually succumb to the ravages of age. As death approaches, the wyrm enters a state dubbed as "the twilight." Although the average age of a twilight dragon is within a couple of decades of maximum age, some dragons enter the twilight more than a century earlier. Others enter twilight only in the last few years of life. Some never enter twilight, going overnight from full, ancient health to death of old age.
Twilight is the only time during a dragon's life span when the creature grows weaker rather than stronger. Precisely how this weakening develops differs from dragon to dragon and appears to have no correlation with the dragon's variety.Death
The mighty dragons, despite all their power, are still mortal. With the exception of those who extend their existence by unnatural means, death eventually comes to them all. Most dragons die in battle — defending their territory from rivals, invading other wyrms' territories, or falling victim to the business ends of humanoid adventuring parties' swords and spells.
Those who reach the end of old age find themselves in a quandary. Although some dragon varieties can will themselves to die, others do not have that capability. Thus, those powerful or lucky enough to reach old age face the slow decline into twilight, further weakening, and, eventually, death.
- Although dragons are very territorial and aggressive towards other dragons they think are invading their area of influence; all dovah have one thing in common and that is respect for seniority and a deep sense of responsibility towards their respective clan. Although most dragons distance themselves from their parents after they leave their protective wings, even the weakest and most insignificant dragon takes pride in its lineage.
- Dragon psychology centers on a nature tempered by strong cultural ideals. From a fierce intensity and a well-developed sense of self sprouts a resolve born of an honest desire to be the best one can be and to be worthy of one's heritage.
Tradition focuses the inner ego with principles of personal excellence, honor, and wisdom. Strongly emotional, dragons approach life with a natural enthusiasm. Passion comes easily, and dragons readily invest themselves in the tasks set before them. At its simplest and perhaps basest level, this fervor expresses itself in extremes of feeling — dragons don't hide anger or joy. Such emotion also surfaces as ferocity in battle, especially when dragon feel their resolve faltering. When failure comes into view as a possibility, dragons become more tenacious.
This is partly because a healthy self-image is common among dovah. Few dragons are timid or reserved, except as a matter of showing proper respect to others. Guided by their respective personal morals, dragons look out for themselves, along with those creatures and items they value. They have no trouble asking for/taking by force what they need or taking time to improve their abilities. And they expect others to do the same. - Although most of the time, their overly independent nature gets the best of them and as a result, making living in large groups and the formation of societies very difficult, all dragons from the moment they are born belong to a clan.
Clans, which play an enormous role in the life of dragons, are led by wizened, aged clan-masters, preferably ancient dragons. However, since it's so rare for a dragon to actually stay alive for so long, it's usually elder dragons that are appointed this position. They are chosen for their ability to lead and to provide guidance to the younger generations, should they come looking for it.
All clans have reputations, for good and ill, that often last for generations. A dragon's actions are expected to bring favor and good will to his or her clan, improving this reputation. For this reason, dragons typically go by their clan names rather than their family names, hoping to bring honor and glory to their clan.
This pressure to either right the wrongs of the past or continue a clan's glory can define a dragon's life. Some dragonborn flee from the imposing responsibilities their clan puts on them, choosing infamy over such a burden. Others accept the responsibility or even turn it into an additional drive for their ambition, hoping to one day become the clan-master.
Recalled Soul
Name: Custodian Esau
Soul: Proud soul of a jealous caretaker
Description: A proud soul recalled during a moment of desperation gained this new body. Outwardly, Esau features the shape of a vibrantly red-skinned lion, rippling with muscle and very short-furred. Esau’s internal temperature is far higher than a normal organism’s, and his blood runs very hot. His shelled tail serves more like a bendable lance, able to skewer living things and inject them with burning blood. While his mane is orange fur, his mouth it hidden inside it across the front of his neck, and it is capable of biting and ripping with every ounce of strength as a normal mouth. A white mask doesn’t cover its face, but in fact is its face, and golden eyes gleam from its holes. Various clothes and golden trinkets adorn Esau’s body, giving him a ceremonial look. Esau is servile in nature, deferring to Slough in terms of judgment, but he is a vicious and powerful fighter. Along with destructive claws able to cleave flesh from bone with ease, Esau has an ability to rouse blood and other fluids within living things with his roars, boiling their blood or even causing it to form spikes that break the skin and pierce organs to get outside the body.
Appearance: Custodian Esau
Name: Custodian Esau
Soul: Proud soul of a jealous caretaker
Description: A proud soul recalled during a moment of desperation gained this new body. Outwardly, Esau features the shape of a vibrantly red-skinned lion, rippling with muscle and very short-furred. Esau’s internal temperature is far higher than a normal organism’s, and his blood runs very hot. His shelled tail serves more like a bendable lance, able to skewer living things and inject them with burning blood. While his mane is orange fur, his mouth it hidden inside it across the front of his neck, and it is capable of biting and ripping with every ounce of strength as a normal mouth. A white mask doesn’t cover its face, but in fact is its face, and golden eyes gleam from its holes. Various clothes and golden trinkets adorn Esau’s body, giving him a ceremonial look. Esau is servile in nature, deferring to Slough in terms of judgment, but he is a vicious and powerful fighter. Along with destructive claws able to cleave flesh from bone with ease, Esau has an ability to rouse blood and other fluids within living things with his roars, boiling their blood or even causing it to form spikes that break the skin and pierce organs to get outside the body.
Appearance: Custodian Esau
Forest Creatures
Name: Stripe-faced Aphid
Lifespan: 4 years
Description: Communities of these aphids can be found in many forests across Galbar. They are opportunistic omnivores and work together with their fellows to find food and even hunt prey, though the aphids themselves are rather weak. Alpha aphids emerge occasionally, distinguishable by dark-green stripes across their bodies, which exhibit greater intelligence still. Aphids live in holes in trees, and given a big enough hole, build hives. They are nonaggressive, curious, and even mischievous to those they neither consider prey nor a threat, but become very defensive about their hives.
Appearance: Stripe-faced Aphid
Lifespan: 4 years
Description: Communities of these aphids can be found in many forests across Galbar. They are opportunistic omnivores and work together with their fellows to find food and even hunt prey, though the aphids themselves are rather weak. Alpha aphids emerge occasionally, distinguishable by dark-green stripes across their bodies, which exhibit greater intelligence still. Aphids live in holes in trees, and given a big enough hole, build hives. They are nonaggressive, curious, and even mischievous to those they neither consider prey nor a threat, but become very defensive about their hives.
Appearance: Stripe-faced Aphid
Name: Nectar Blush
Lifespan: 11 years
Description: Territorial, fleshy beasts roughly the side of a King-size bed. With their muscular tongues they pilfer great quantities of rich nectar from Deeptree flowers, sustaining themselves on that alone. While able to fly for short periods of time, they prefer to move about using their limbs, and display both a remarkable strength and agility. Their stings are highly venomous, paralyzing and inducing hallucinations in the host. If disturbed, they tend to get violent, but otherwise ignore those who don’t provoke them. When feeding or mating, their pink skin takes on a deep scarlet hue. On occasion, an explorer might encounter a Severe Blush, which are larger, stronger, orange-shelled, more aggressive, and far less discerning about what fluids on which they sup.
Appearance: Nectar Blush
Lifespan: 11 years
Description: Territorial, fleshy beasts roughly the side of a King-size bed. With their muscular tongues they pilfer great quantities of rich nectar from Deeptree flowers, sustaining themselves on that alone. While able to fly for short periods of time, they prefer to move about using their limbs, and display both a remarkable strength and agility. Their stings are highly venomous, paralyzing and inducing hallucinations in the host. If disturbed, they tend to get violent, but otherwise ignore those who don’t provoke them. When feeding or mating, their pink skin takes on a deep scarlet hue. On occasion, an explorer might encounter a Severe Blush, which are larger, stronger, orange-shelled, more aggressive, and far less discerning about what fluids on which they sup.
Appearance: Nectar Blush
Name: Violet Slug
Lifespan: 3 months
Description: Both herbivores and fungivores, Violet Slugs inch their way around the forest floor and the bottom of the trees, engulfing whatever tasty morsels they can find. They are single-minded and incredibly oblivious, making them prey for a great many creatures. Even sentient beings can sustain themselves on its oddly-textured but bland-tasting meat. Their phosphorescent patches glow in the absence of light. They breed and reproduce quickly, and might plague the ecosystem if not for their idiocy.
Appearance: Violet Slug
Lifespan: 3 months
Description: Both herbivores and fungivores, Violet Slugs inch their way around the forest floor and the bottom of the trees, engulfing whatever tasty morsels they can find. They are single-minded and incredibly oblivious, making them prey for a great many creatures. Even sentient beings can sustain themselves on its oddly-textured but bland-tasting meat. Their phosphorescent patches glow in the absence of light. They breed and reproduce quickly, and might plague the ecosystem if not for their idiocy.
Appearance: Violet Slug
Name: Duster Ooze
Lifespan: 17 weeks
Description: Gelatinous creatures found suspended like slimy nets between the trunks of trees, or their branches. In darkness they lay in wait, their sensitive tentacles ready to snatch any unwitting passers-by and stuff them into its maw, but they are also capable of extruding a luminescent yellow dust that the creature can shape, mimicking things it’s seen. These dust constructs are incredibly lifelike but not alive, and used as lures to bring creatures close enough to snatch. They are patient but highly aggressive. They reproduce by splitting off a portion and implanting it into a caught victim, which slowly dissolves the victim over time into a new Ooze. Oozes can move, slowly and inefficiently, between trees.
Appearance: Duster Ooze
Lifespan: 17 weeks
Description: Gelatinous creatures found suspended like slimy nets between the trunks of trees, or their branches. In darkness they lay in wait, their sensitive tentacles ready to snatch any unwitting passers-by and stuff them into its maw, but they are also capable of extruding a luminescent yellow dust that the creature can shape, mimicking things it’s seen. These dust constructs are incredibly lifelike but not alive, and used as lures to bring creatures close enough to snatch. They are patient but highly aggressive. They reproduce by splitting off a portion and implanting it into a caught victim, which slowly dissolves the victim over time into a new Ooze. Oozes can move, slowly and inefficiently, between trees.
Appearance: Duster Ooze
Name: Marble-eyed Gargoyle
Lifespan: 14 years
Description: Neither codependent or sociable, these Gargoyles –so named purely because of their ghastly appearance- can be found in dark, high places, be it the canopy of a dark forest or the spires of urban high-rises. They are carnivorous, hunting small mammals, other birds, and large insects by dropping from above, but are skittish and will always flee from a fight. If threatened, they shriek at painfully high decibels. Tall tales of banshees may have sprung from them.
Appearance: Marble-eyed Gargoyle
Lifespan: 14 years
Description: Neither codependent or sociable, these Gargoyles –so named purely because of their ghastly appearance- can be found in dark, high places, be it the canopy of a dark forest or the spires of urban high-rises. They are carnivorous, hunting small mammals, other birds, and large insects by dropping from above, but are skittish and will always flee from a fight. If threatened, they shriek at painfully high decibels. Tall tales of banshees may have sprung from them.
Appearance: Marble-eyed Gargoyle
Name: Sentinel Spider
Lifespan: 1.5 years
Description: Slow-moving trap hunters that feed on insects, small birds, and eggs. Their hooklike feet allow them to walk up rough surfaces with ease and even hang from the branches in the wooded areas they inhabit. They spin relatively small, funnel-shaped webs, but may work together with a couple other spiders to reinforce an area. While they are named for the eyes that cover their carapaces, most of them are in fact fakes. Their nonaggressive nature and variety of exotic colors make them interesting pets.
Appearance: Sentinel Spider
Lifespan: 1.5 years
Description: Slow-moving trap hunters that feed on insects, small birds, and eggs. Their hooklike feet allow them to walk up rough surfaces with ease and even hang from the branches in the wooded areas they inhabit. They spin relatively small, funnel-shaped webs, but may work together with a couple other spiders to reinforce an area. While they are named for the eyes that cover their carapaces, most of them are in fact fakes. Their nonaggressive nature and variety of exotic colors make them interesting pets.
Appearance: Sentinel Spider
Deepwood Exclusives
Species
Name: Deepwood Sloth
Lifespan: 31 years
Description: Huge, lumbering, and oddly majestic, Deepwood Sloths are completely unique to their homeland, but even there they are a rare site. Seldom can be seen and even more seldom do they gather; only mating brings these gentle giants together. For all the creatures in the Deepwood, the sloths are simply too big to challenge. Oozes ignore them, arborgators let them pass by, and striders give them a respectful berth. Sloths feed on fungus and fruit, culling the massive mushrooms that can be found in the Deepwood’s lower levels. To civilizations, they will doubtlessly be almost as epitomes of reclusive but amazing nature as Slough herself. Interestingly, these sloths are capable of a deep but melodic singing, which they appear to do for no more reason than personal enjoyment, and to unwittingly give its forest home an even greater aura of mystery.
Appearance: Deepwood Sloth
Name: Deepwood Sloth
Lifespan: 31 years
Description: Huge, lumbering, and oddly majestic, Deepwood Sloths are completely unique to their homeland, but even there they are a rare site. Seldom can be seen and even more seldom do they gather; only mating brings these gentle giants together. For all the creatures in the Deepwood, the sloths are simply too big to challenge. Oozes ignore them, arborgators let them pass by, and striders give them a respectful berth. Sloths feed on fungus and fruit, culling the massive mushrooms that can be found in the Deepwood’s lower levels. To civilizations, they will doubtlessly be almost as epitomes of reclusive but amazing nature as Slough herself. Interestingly, these sloths are capable of a deep but melodic singing, which they appear to do for no more reason than personal enjoyment, and to unwittingly give its forest home an even greater aura of mystery.
Appearance: Deepwood Sloth
Name: Emerald Strider
Lifespan: 6.5 years
Description: Emerald Striders are, in effect, symbionts. The Strider itself walks about, slowly and deliberately, on the forest floor, though it can sprint if startled. It seeks out detritus to suck up for nourishment, aided by the colony of Jade Mites living on its body, which derive shelter and protection from it. They also live off the nutritious green rays given off by the Strider’s special organs. Mites can fit into tight places while Striders can reach great heights; working together and sharing nutrients, they serve as the woodland’s janitors.
Appearance:Emerald Strider
Lifespan: 6.5 years
Description: Emerald Striders are, in effect, symbionts. The Strider itself walks about, slowly and deliberately, on the forest floor, though it can sprint if startled. It seeks out detritus to suck up for nourishment, aided by the colony of Jade Mites living on its body, which derive shelter and protection from it. They also live off the nutritious green rays given off by the Strider’s special organs. Mites can fit into tight places while Striders can reach great heights; working together and sharing nutrients, they serve as the woodland’s janitors.
Appearance:Emerald Strider
Name: Rainbow Silky
Lifespan: 22 years
Description: Majestic, beautiful, and rare, Silkies inhabit the very top of the forest. Easily two hippos from wingtip to wingtip, they soar on the breeze and dazzle those below with their glorious colors. Silkies feed on the abundant and nutritious nectar growing from Deeptree flowers with their proboscis, and make their homes within hollowed-out branches. They actively avoid confrontation, but if forced, can whip their long tails hard enough to break bones or constrict foes with them.
Appearance: Rainbow Silky
Lifespan: 22 years
Description: Majestic, beautiful, and rare, Silkies inhabit the very top of the forest. Easily two hippos from wingtip to wingtip, they soar on the breeze and dazzle those below with their glorious colors. Silkies feed on the abundant and nutritious nectar growing from Deeptree flowers with their proboscis, and make their homes within hollowed-out branches. They actively avoid confrontation, but if forced, can whip their long tails hard enough to break bones or constrict foes with them.
Appearance: Rainbow Silky
Gilt Savannah Creatures
Species
Name: Fleet-footed Mangler
Lifespan: 14 years
Description: Without a doubt one of the fastest creatures on the planet, Manglers are solitary hunters that move at ludicrous speed for short bursts. Odd amalgamations of reptile and arthropod, they sprint across savannahs using their tails as rudders for the air, and with their mouths closed can cannon themselves into prey and impale them with their sharp mandibles. From there, the Mangler has only to shred and devour its food, regain its stamina, and start off again. When individuals meet, they often stay together for some time, which can lead to the formation of packs, but the Manglers do not cooperate when hunting. Among the creatures of the savannah, they are the most intelligent.
Appearance: Fleet-footed Mangler
Name: Fleet-footed Mangler
Lifespan: 14 years
Description: Without a doubt one of the fastest creatures on the planet, Manglers are solitary hunters that move at ludicrous speed for short bursts. Odd amalgamations of reptile and arthropod, they sprint across savannahs using their tails as rudders for the air, and with their mouths closed can cannon themselves into prey and impale them with their sharp mandibles. From there, the Mangler has only to shred and devour its food, regain its stamina, and start off again. When individuals meet, they often stay together for some time, which can lead to the formation of packs, but the Manglers do not cooperate when hunting. Among the creatures of the savannah, they are the most intelligent.
Appearance: Fleet-footed Mangler
Species
Name: Brush Beast
Lifespan: 80-101 years
Description: The largest land animals on Galbar have little to fear from anything less than a god. These beasts wander not only the Savannah, but the world itself, moving with impunity through climates cold and hot, wet and dry. They eat trees themselves, oftentimes in a single bite, but with enormously complex and efficient digestive systems harvest every ounce of nutrients from not only the tree, but whatever small organisms might have been in it at the time. While very protective of their babies, who are giants themselves, Brush Beasts are normally oblivious to other creatures. Rather often, they crush slow-moving animals beneath their feet. Naturally the Brush Beasts prefer flatlands, as they are not only unable to jump, but even unable to step onto small vertical rises. Their excrement is notoriously fast to degrade, and acts as a fertilizer for many plant species. They have no known predators; even the so-called apex predators of Reathos could not touch them.
Appearance: Brush Beast
Name: Brush Beast
Lifespan: 80-101 years
Description: The largest land animals on Galbar have little to fear from anything less than a god. These beasts wander not only the Savannah, but the world itself, moving with impunity through climates cold and hot, wet and dry. They eat trees themselves, oftentimes in a single bite, but with enormously complex and efficient digestive systems harvest every ounce of nutrients from not only the tree, but whatever small organisms might have been in it at the time. While very protective of their babies, who are giants themselves, Brush Beasts are normally oblivious to other creatures. Rather often, they crush slow-moving animals beneath their feet. Naturally the Brush Beasts prefer flatlands, as they are not only unable to jump, but even unable to step onto small vertical rises. Their excrement is notoriously fast to degrade, and acts as a fertilizer for many plant species. They have no known predators; even the so-called apex predators of Reathos could not touch them.
Appearance: Brush Beast
Species
Name: Feathered Slouch
Lifespan: 22-26 years
Description: Lumbering beasts approximately the size of giraffes if only their necks stood upright, Feathered Slouches are in fact enormous flightless birbs grown huge thanks to open space, plentiful plants to eat, and evolutionary selection. Their deep calls resonate across the savannah, and alongside the brilliant coloration of their foreheads help attract mates. They move in small family units, but bunching up with others for safety is not unheard of. Their forearms command significant strength, Slouches are often too slow to adequately defend themselves against smart, speedy predators.
Appearance: Feathered Slouch
Name: Feathered Slouch
Lifespan: 22-26 years
Description: Lumbering beasts approximately the size of giraffes if only their necks stood upright, Feathered Slouches are in fact enormous flightless birbs grown huge thanks to open space, plentiful plants to eat, and evolutionary selection. Their deep calls resonate across the savannah, and alongside the brilliant coloration of their foreheads help attract mates. They move in small family units, but bunching up with others for safety is not unheard of. Their forearms command significant strength, Slouches are often too slow to adequately defend themselves against smart, speedy predators.
Appearance: Feathered Slouch
Species
Name: Pearskin Cattle
Lifespan: 12 years
Description: Slow-moving, dull-witted, and thoroughly strange creatures, herds of Pearskin Cattle range through the savannah, digging up and then slurping up roots and tubers to eat while relying on numbers for protection. In a pinch, the cattle can attempt to bash in the skulls of aggressors with their own hard heads, or try to burst a vital vein with a quick thrust of the proboscis, but more often than not Pearskin Cattle are among the bottom of the food chain. Their unnerving, whistling cry can cause severe hearing damage if an entire herd takes up the call.
Appearance: Pearskin Cattle
Name: Pearskin Cattle
Lifespan: 12 years
Description: Slow-moving, dull-witted, and thoroughly strange creatures, herds of Pearskin Cattle range through the savannah, digging up and then slurping up roots and tubers to eat while relying on numbers for protection. In a pinch, the cattle can attempt to bash in the skulls of aggressors with their own hard heads, or try to burst a vital vein with a quick thrust of the proboscis, but more often than not Pearskin Cattle are among the bottom of the food chain. Their unnerving, whistling cry can cause severe hearing damage if an entire herd takes up the call.
Appearance: Pearskin Cattle
Species
Name: Tender Birb
Lifespan: Indefinite when partnered; 1 year on their own
Description: Among the animals of Galbar, birbs –birdlike creatures with four legs, tails, and pronounced ears, somewhat like a missing link between mammals- are some of the least remarkable. They are small, exhibit no special ability or striking physical oddities, and tend to blend in to their habitats. Tender Birbs are more interesting, however. They are incredibly social creatures, and not only crave the company and affection of a single partner, but waste away and eventually die if lonesome. When partnered with another birb, however, these animals exhibit heartwarming love and loyalty. Be it some sort of symbiosis or something else, Tender Birbs cannot die of old age when partnered. They reproduce infrequently, but more than enough to sustain the species. Birbs eat berries and flowers, primarily, and will carry around what they find to give to their partners.
Appearance: Tender Birb
Name: Tender Birb
Lifespan: Indefinite when partnered; 1 year on their own
Description: Among the animals of Galbar, birbs –birdlike creatures with four legs, tails, and pronounced ears, somewhat like a missing link between mammals- are some of the least remarkable. They are small, exhibit no special ability or striking physical oddities, and tend to blend in to their habitats. Tender Birbs are more interesting, however. They are incredibly social creatures, and not only crave the company and affection of a single partner, but waste away and eventually die if lonesome. When partnered with another birb, however, these animals exhibit heartwarming love and loyalty. Be it some sort of symbiosis or something else, Tender Birbs cannot die of old age when partnered. They reproduce infrequently, but more than enough to sustain the species. Birbs eat berries and flowers, primarily, and will carry around what they find to give to their partners.
Appearance: Tender Birb
Drenched Flowerbed Creatures
Species
Name: Common Seapig
Lifespan: 6-10 years
Description: Plentiful, porcine, and pleasant, seapigs are found in the ocean shallows amid the sprawling marine plains of seagrass and seaweed. They feast, bask in the sun, and enjoy one another’s company with few cares in the world. When assailed, their drifts (groups of seapigs) scatter to improve the odds of survival, not terribly quickly but exhibiting remarkable stamina. Seapigs sport a notable ability to find one another via long-range grunting noises. They are highly social, clean, and intelligent creatures, and constitute one of the few species that displays any indication of actual friendliness to living things that don’t harm them. Funnily enough, seapigs are capable of hauling themselves onto land like seals, where they get around more efficiently by rolling than floundering. This occurs primarily to escape seabound predators. Naturally, the meaty seapigs are prey for many carnivores, aquatic or not.
Appearance: Common Seapig
Name: Common Seapig
Lifespan: 6-10 years
Description: Plentiful, porcine, and pleasant, seapigs are found in the ocean shallows amid the sprawling marine plains of seagrass and seaweed. They feast, bask in the sun, and enjoy one another’s company with few cares in the world. When assailed, their drifts (groups of seapigs) scatter to improve the odds of survival, not terribly quickly but exhibiting remarkable stamina. Seapigs sport a notable ability to find one another via long-range grunting noises. They are highly social, clean, and intelligent creatures, and constitute one of the few species that displays any indication of actual friendliness to living things that don’t harm them. Funnily enough, seapigs are capable of hauling themselves onto land like seals, where they get around more efficiently by rolling than floundering. This occurs primarily to escape seabound predators. Naturally, the meaty seapigs are prey for many carnivores, aquatic or not.
Appearance: Common Seapig
Species
Name: Frondy Walrus
Lifespan: 35-40 years
Description: As walruses go, even their unusual subspecies do not constitute anything truly bizarre. Frondy Walruses eat fish, play with one another, clamber onto land, and breed just like their more mundane brothers; they can even interbreed with common walruses to produce Pale Walruses. However, frondies are almost completely blind, primarily nocturnal, and capable of breathing underwater. As such, they remain underwater –and deeper underwater than most mammals- for the majority of the time. Other than these characteristics, these walruses are directly comparable to others.
Appearance: Frondy Walrus
Name: Frondy Walrus
Lifespan: 35-40 years
Description: As walruses go, even their unusual subspecies do not constitute anything truly bizarre. Frondy Walruses eat fish, play with one another, clamber onto land, and breed just like their more mundane brothers; they can even interbreed with common walruses to produce Pale Walruses. However, frondies are almost completely blind, primarily nocturnal, and capable of breathing underwater. As such, they remain underwater –and deeper underwater than most mammals- for the majority of the time. Other than these characteristics, these walruses are directly comparable to others.
Appearance: Frondy Walrus
Species
Name: Barnacle Hexetacean
Lifespan: 89 years
Description: Sharing the vast majority of their DNA with ordinary whales, hexetaceans nevertheless sport a glaring point of contrast: their legs. Armed with six-legs, hexetaceans are fully capable of swimming, walking across the sea floor, and exiting the ocean to walk on land. Feeding on great swarms of shrimp and krill, they can be found in all regions of the sea but for the oppressive abyss. They are fairly social creatures, traveling in groups of three often, and hexetacean parents stay together for a lifetime. Compared to other hexetaceans, Barnacled Hexetaceans are larger and crustier, less mobile swimmers but more durable against potential threats, as well as being too large for effective predation by tyrants. When at ease, they exhibit a
predilection for playfulness with others of their own kind—a kind of graceful childishness.
Appearance: Barnacle Hexetacean
Name: Barnacle Hexetacean
Lifespan: 89 years
Description: Sharing the vast majority of their DNA with ordinary whales, hexetaceans nevertheless sport a glaring point of contrast: their legs. Armed with six-legs, hexetaceans are fully capable of swimming, walking across the sea floor, and exiting the ocean to walk on land. Feeding on great swarms of shrimp and krill, they can be found in all regions of the sea but for the oppressive abyss. They are fairly social creatures, traveling in groups of three often, and hexetacean parents stay together for a lifetime. Compared to other hexetaceans, Barnacled Hexetaceans are larger and crustier, less mobile swimmers but more durable against potential threats, as well as being too large for effective predation by tyrants. When at ease, they exhibit a
predilection for playfulness with others of their own kind—a kind of graceful childishness.
Appearance: Barnacle Hexetacean
Species
Name: Seabed Tyrant
Lifespan: 42-68 years
Description: Large predators that walk along the ocean floor, eternally hunting for sharks, walruses, seapigs, and anything else that is either too slow to get away or too dull to realize the danger that has come. Tyrants are apex predators of the seas; only gargantuan megalodons and legendary monstrosities of the deep challenge its power and deadliness. Hunting primarily by electromagnetic sense and smell, like sharks, they stride through the coral reefs and kelp forests of the mid-ocean. While capable of walking out onto dry land, they dehydrate quickly and suffocate if they stay, and seldom remain. Their scales are remarkably –and nonsensically- immune to water resistance.
Appearance: Seabed Tyrant
Name: Seabed Tyrant
Lifespan: 42-68 years
Description: Large predators that walk along the ocean floor, eternally hunting for sharks, walruses, seapigs, and anything else that is either too slow to get away or too dull to realize the danger that has come. Tyrants are apex predators of the seas; only gargantuan megalodons and legendary monstrosities of the deep challenge its power and deadliness. Hunting primarily by electromagnetic sense and smell, like sharks, they stride through the coral reefs and kelp forests of the mid-ocean. While capable of walking out onto dry land, they dehydrate quickly and suffocate if they stay, and seldom remain. Their scales are remarkably –and nonsensically- immune to water resistance.
Appearance: Seabed Tyrant
Species
Name: Fortress Reefback
Lifespan: 300-350 years
Description: Titanic shellfish that patrol, in a slow, silent, and vigilant aimlessness, the bottom of the Fractal Sea. Beneath the outer shell is a great mass of soft purple flesh, similar in design to a gigantic, blobby octopus, and at the front of the organism is a beaked mouth meant to cut into coral and stone alike for the sustenance within. More remarkable than the lumbering, hulking creature itself, however, is its exoskeleton. Grown with chitin hard and thick enough to be stone, reefbacks’ shells function as miniature ecosystems in and of themselves. Great quantities of coral flourish on their exteriors, ironically out of the reach of hungry reefbacks, and various fishes and invertebrates make it their home. Plants can even grow on their shells; some ‘overgrown’ reefbacks resemble moving kelp forests. They enjoy extraordinarily long lives, but truly pitiful intelligence. In addition to their rocky armor, they are often protected by the creatures that use it for shelter.
Appearance: Fortress Reefback
Name: Fortress Reefback
Lifespan: 300-350 years
Description: Titanic shellfish that patrol, in a slow, silent, and vigilant aimlessness, the bottom of the Fractal Sea. Beneath the outer shell is a great mass of soft purple flesh, similar in design to a gigantic, blobby octopus, and at the front of the organism is a beaked mouth meant to cut into coral and stone alike for the sustenance within. More remarkable than the lumbering, hulking creature itself, however, is its exoskeleton. Grown with chitin hard and thick enough to be stone, reefbacks’ shells function as miniature ecosystems in and of themselves. Great quantities of coral flourish on their exteriors, ironically out of the reach of hungry reefbacks, and various fishes and invertebrates make it their home. Plants can even grow on their shells; some ‘overgrown’ reefbacks resemble moving kelp forests. They enjoy extraordinarily long lives, but truly pitiful intelligence. In addition to their rocky armor, they are often protected by the creatures that use it for shelter.
Appearance: Fortress Reefback
Physical Location
Name: Deepwood
Description: The Deepwood is the landing cite for Slough on Galbar, and serves as her home. Her life energy runs through the entire ecosystem, giving the Deepwood a kind of life entirely its own, one that is vibrant, self-sustaining, and oddly satisfying. The Deepwood is home to a great variety of life, both mundane and interesting.
Appearance: Essentially, the Deepwood is a gargantuan bowl-shaped pit several miles across and several hundred feet deep.
Its bottom is lined with soil, and from the dirt rises a great many titanic trees, all several meters in diameter if not bigger. Some have deformed partway up the trunk, becoming long, winding branches that snake between the trees like giant anemones, but the others reach past the lip of the pit and even up into the sky. These trees have dappled bark, chocolate-brown in some places and very dark on the whole, as well as verdant leaves. The trees themselves grow clusters of flowers in white, yellow, orange, and red. They are rich in nectar, and their pollen glows like stardust. The trees also feature strange swellings where the bark is broken, revealing burst green sacs where the first creatures spawned.
Name: Deepwood
Description: The Deepwood is the landing cite for Slough on Galbar, and serves as her home. Her life energy runs through the entire ecosystem, giving the Deepwood a kind of life entirely its own, one that is vibrant, self-sustaining, and oddly satisfying. The Deepwood is home to a great variety of life, both mundane and interesting.
Appearance: Essentially, the Deepwood is a gargantuan bowl-shaped pit several miles across and several hundred feet deep.
Its bottom is lined with soil, and from the dirt rises a great many titanic trees, all several meters in diameter if not bigger. Some have deformed partway up the trunk, becoming long, winding branches that snake between the trees like giant anemones, but the others reach past the lip of the pit and even up into the sky. These trees have dappled bark, chocolate-brown in some places and very dark on the whole, as well as verdant leaves. The trees themselves grow clusters of flowers in white, yellow, orange, and red. They are rich in nectar, and their pollen glows like stardust. The trees also feature strange swellings where the bark is broken, revealing burst green sacs where the first creatures spawned.
Location
Name: Gilt Savannah
Description: The Gilt Savannah encompasses the land from the southeastern side of the Deepwood to approximately 3/5s of the way to the Fractal Sea. It is a great expanse of grass interspersed with trees and rivers, with variable landscape. There are small hills and mountains, places where rivers join up to form deltas, canyons, plateaus, ravines, spires, and even arches. All, however, are blanketed in the same grass unique to this region: up to two feet long and seven inches thick, the guilded grass is a rich green frosted with a glossy gold color all around the edges, making the savannah appear to be a sea of gold in the right light. It is home to a great variety of creatures, such as the Fleet-footed Manglers, gigantic Brush Beasts, bizarre Pearskin Cattle, Feathered Slouches, and Tender Birbs.
Appearance: Gilt Savannah
Name: Gilt Savannah
Description: The Gilt Savannah encompasses the land from the southeastern side of the Deepwood to approximately 3/5s of the way to the Fractal Sea. It is a great expanse of grass interspersed with trees and rivers, with variable landscape. There are small hills and mountains, places where rivers join up to form deltas, canyons, plateaus, ravines, spires, and even arches. All, however, are blanketed in the same grass unique to this region: up to two feet long and seven inches thick, the guilded grass is a rich green frosted with a glossy gold color all around the edges, making the savannah appear to be a sea of gold in the right light. It is home to a great variety of creatures, such as the Fleet-footed Manglers, gigantic Brush Beasts, bizarre Pearskin Cattle, Feathered Slouches, and Tender Birbs.
Appearance: Gilt Savannah
Life: Species
Name: Angel
Lifespan: 765 - 789 years
Description: Angels are beings created by Niciel just for the purpose of seeing them live and interact with the world the gods and goddesses have created.
-Growth: Angels are born similarly to how humans are: they mate, an Angel is conceived in the female, and it is born. Their babies and children are also indistinguishable from humans, as they are born without wings, and will not have wings until they reach the age of 16. As they age, their bodies continue to grow and develop similarly to humans as well until they reach the age of 18, at which point their growth suddenly slows down tremendously. As a result, Angels have an extraordinarily life span.
-Nourishment: Angels do not require food or water to survive, and not even necessarily sleep. Instead, a simple relaxation period is enough for them to survive. However, should they get involved in physically stressful situations like exercising, food, water, and sleep will definitely speed up their recovery. Otherwise, they may take even longer than humans to recover from fatigue.
-Society: Angels have a caste system based on their charisma, age, and power, their power ranking scaling from F to S. Those in the lower castes form the working class and tend to serve those in the higher castes. However, Angels are generally kind to one another and support others and their goals.
Angels have no concept of marriage, and instead choose mates to spend a certain period of time with. Both must consent to stay with and leave each other, and failure to do so is looked down upon for the offender. The act of creating children is sacred to them, and is considered to be the ultimate form of romance, not to mention that doing so essentially guarantees that the couple stay together for the rest of their lives. As a result, birthrate for Angels is quite low.
-Abilities: All Angels, except for those whose wings have not developed, are capable of flight. They can move in all basic directions and even hover in the air. However, it is not necessary for their wings to flap or anything of the sort; instead, it seems to be a magic-based ability.
All Angels are highly adept in holy magic. By imagining their desired scenario and concentrating on the power within them, they can harness that power and make their image become reality. While Angels can use all forms of holy magic, the color of their hair and eyes tend to determine the magic they specialize in.
Blonde Angels tend to specialize in offense, creating shapes from energy, such as swords or lances, to attack the enemy, or just firing rays and/or bullets of holy energy. These Angels are the fastest and physically strongest, making them very dangerous if fought head-on.
Blue-haired Angels tend to specialize in defense, creating powerful barriers that can stop many an attack. Their bodies are also the most durable out of all the Angels, making them great meat shields.
Pink-haired Angels tend to specialize in healing and purifying, being able to heal even fatal wounds, but even they cannot revive the dead. In addition, pink-haired Angels can turn their bodies into pink mist for short periods of time, although doing so wears them out greatly.
-Death: when Angels die, whether naturally or otherwise, their bodies turn into dust, as they are beings of solidified energy. This dust is surprisingly useful in many ways, from fertilizer to power generation, and more.
Appearance: An Angel's appearance tend to be indistinguishable from a human's, albeit a rather beautiful human. The only visible way to determine a human from an Angel is the Angel's wings. An Angel's wings are white as snow, and the size and shape of them vary for each Angel, although they are generally quite large. Angels have either pink, yellow, or blue hair. The color of their eyes tend to match their hair, and those that have differing colors are rare.
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Fallen Angels are just angels who use chaos energy rather than holy energy to fight. Their healers cause rot and disease rather than healing. Their hair colors are constantly changing and incredibly bright, as are their wings and eyes.
Name: Angel
Lifespan: 765 - 789 years
Description: Angels are beings created by Niciel just for the purpose of seeing them live and interact with the world the gods and goddesses have created.
-Growth: Angels are born similarly to how humans are: they mate, an Angel is conceived in the female, and it is born. Their babies and children are also indistinguishable from humans, as they are born without wings, and will not have wings until they reach the age of 16. As they age, their bodies continue to grow and develop similarly to humans as well until they reach the age of 18, at which point their growth suddenly slows down tremendously. As a result, Angels have an extraordinarily life span.
-Nourishment: Angels do not require food or water to survive, and not even necessarily sleep. Instead, a simple relaxation period is enough for them to survive. However, should they get involved in physically stressful situations like exercising, food, water, and sleep will definitely speed up their recovery. Otherwise, they may take even longer than humans to recover from fatigue.
-Society: Angels have a caste system based on their charisma, age, and power, their power ranking scaling from F to S. Those in the lower castes form the working class and tend to serve those in the higher castes. However, Angels are generally kind to one another and support others and their goals.
Angels have no concept of marriage, and instead choose mates to spend a certain period of time with. Both must consent to stay with and leave each other, and failure to do so is looked down upon for the offender. The act of creating children is sacred to them, and is considered to be the ultimate form of romance, not to mention that doing so essentially guarantees that the couple stay together for the rest of their lives. As a result, birthrate for Angels is quite low.
-Abilities: All Angels, except for those whose wings have not developed, are capable of flight. They can move in all basic directions and even hover in the air. However, it is not necessary for their wings to flap or anything of the sort; instead, it seems to be a magic-based ability.
All Angels are highly adept in holy magic. By imagining their desired scenario and concentrating on the power within them, they can harness that power and make their image become reality. While Angels can use all forms of holy magic, the color of their hair and eyes tend to determine the magic they specialize in.
Blonde Angels tend to specialize in offense, creating shapes from energy, such as swords or lances, to attack the enemy, or just firing rays and/or bullets of holy energy. These Angels are the fastest and physically strongest, making them very dangerous if fought head-on.
Blue-haired Angels tend to specialize in defense, creating powerful barriers that can stop many an attack. Their bodies are also the most durable out of all the Angels, making them great meat shields.
Pink-haired Angels tend to specialize in healing and purifying, being able to heal even fatal wounds, but even they cannot revive the dead. In addition, pink-haired Angels can turn their bodies into pink mist for short periods of time, although doing so wears them out greatly.
-Death: when Angels die, whether naturally or otherwise, their bodies turn into dust, as they are beings of solidified energy. This dust is surprisingly useful in many ways, from fertilizer to power generation, and more.
Appearance: An Angel's appearance tend to be indistinguishable from a human's, albeit a rather beautiful human. The only visible way to determine a human from an Angel is the Angel's wings. An Angel's wings are white as snow, and the size and shape of them vary for each Angel, although they are generally quite large. Angels have either pink, yellow, or blue hair. The color of their eyes tend to match their hair, and those that have differing colors are rare.
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Fallen Angels are just angels who use chaos energy rather than holy energy to fight. Their healers cause rot and disease rather than healing. Their hair colors are constantly changing and incredibly bright, as are their wings and eyes.
Life: Species
Name: Holy Tree
Lifespan: Varies depending on original species, 50-3000+ years
Description: Holy Trees grow and develop similarly to most other species of tree in Galbar. Most of these trees grow only within the Valley of Peace and the Nice Mountains, but a fair number do grow just outside the Nice Mountains. The trees seem to radiate an aura of power, although it seems to only cause chaotic and/or demonic forces to avoid them, and even that effect can be ignored by such forces if given enough effort. Their wood is slightly more durable and flexible than wood from other trees, which makes them a bit more of a hassle to cut down, but tools and shelters created with them tend to be better and longer-lasting. Their leaves also possess strong medicinal properties that can be used to treat wounds and illnesses. Yellow leaves tend to work best with wounds and injuries, while blue leaves tend to work best with illness, and pink acts as sleep and pain medicine would.
Appearance: Holy Trees retain a similar shape as the trees from which they were originally converted from. However, the color of the bark of the trees are instead shades of white, ranging from silver to snow white, while the wood underneath the bark is blue. Also, the color of each tree's leaves are a single shade of either pink, yellow, or blue. The color of the leaves and the original species of the Holy Tree have no correlation. Two similar species may have two differently colored leaves, while two different species may have the exact same color.
Name: Holy Tree
Lifespan: Varies depending on original species, 50-3000+ years
Description: Holy Trees grow and develop similarly to most other species of tree in Galbar. Most of these trees grow only within the Valley of Peace and the Nice Mountains, but a fair number do grow just outside the Nice Mountains. The trees seem to radiate an aura of power, although it seems to only cause chaotic and/or demonic forces to avoid them, and even that effect can be ignored by such forces if given enough effort. Their wood is slightly more durable and flexible than wood from other trees, which makes them a bit more of a hassle to cut down, but tools and shelters created with them tend to be better and longer-lasting. Their leaves also possess strong medicinal properties that can be used to treat wounds and illnesses. Yellow leaves tend to work best with wounds and injuries, while blue leaves tend to work best with illness, and pink acts as sleep and pain medicine would.
Appearance: Holy Trees retain a similar shape as the trees from which they were originally converted from. However, the color of the bark of the trees are instead shades of white, ranging from silver to snow white, while the wood underneath the bark is blue. Also, the color of each tree's leaves are a single shade of either pink, yellow, or blue. The color of the leaves and the original species of the Holy Tree have no correlation. Two similar species may have two differently colored leaves, while two different species may have the exact same color.
Creation: Physical
Name: Nice Mountains
Description: A large mountain range with Niciel's purifying mist covering it. The mist is the main feature of the mountains, as it causes negative effects on those with ill intentions. The degree of negativity depends on how ill intended a being is, ranging from mere headache or slight difficulty in breathing for those with perverted intentions to downright incapable of surviving very long for those with murderous/mischievous intentions. It is currently a Holy Site, created using 4 Might.
Within the mountain range lies the Valley of Peace, the area the circular mountain range is holding. Inside, the weather tends to be peaceful. Usually it is sunny, though rain does come in from time to time.
Appearance: A circular mountain range that extends for many miles, both around and up. The mountains are partially shrouded by a pink-and-yellow mist.
Name: Nice Mountains
Description: A large mountain range with Niciel's purifying mist covering it. The mist is the main feature of the mountains, as it causes negative effects on those with ill intentions. The degree of negativity depends on how ill intended a being is, ranging from mere headache or slight difficulty in breathing for those with perverted intentions to downright incapable of surviving very long for those with murderous/mischievous intentions. It is currently a Holy Site, created using 4 Might.
Within the mountain range lies the Valley of Peace, the area the circular mountain range is holding. Inside, the weather tends to be peaceful. Usually it is sunny, though rain does come in from time to time.
Appearance: A circular mountain range that extends for many miles, both around and up. The mountains are partially shrouded by a pink-and-yellow mist.
Creation: Physical
Name: Holy Wisp
Description: A ball of light that serves as Niciel's eyes and ears around the planet. Each one is capable of self-replicating by absorbing a small amount of energy from surrounding areas and then splits itself in half, similar to cell mitosis. Each Wisp is capable of emitting a shaft of holy light that can either damage whatever tries to harm it or heal injured creatures. Wisps can also self-destruct, releasing a wave of holy energy that can also either heal or harm nearby life forms.
Holy Wisps have a hive mind, allowing all of them to know and learn what any new bit of information a single wisp has learned. However, they have low intelligence, which means they can only learn basic commands and how to avoid danger. Wisps are also attracted to the injuries of sentient living creatures, as well as their own kin, and will either heal or finish off creatures based on the circumstances.
Holy Wisps are quite fragile, so care should be taken when handling them. No one wants a Wisp to explode in their face, after all.
Appearance:
Name: Holy Wisp
Description: A ball of light that serves as Niciel's eyes and ears around the planet. Each one is capable of self-replicating by absorbing a small amount of energy from surrounding areas and then splits itself in half, similar to cell mitosis. Each Wisp is capable of emitting a shaft of holy light that can either damage whatever tries to harm it or heal injured creatures. Wisps can also self-destruct, releasing a wave of holy energy that can also either heal or harm nearby life forms.
Holy Wisps have a hive mind, allowing all of them to know and learn what any new bit of information a single wisp has learned. However, they have low intelligence, which means they can only learn basic commands and how to avoid danger. Wisps are also attracted to the injuries of sentient living creatures, as well as their own kin, and will either heal or finish off creatures based on the circumstances.
Holy Wisps are quite fragile, so care should be taken when handling them. No one wants a Wisp to explode in their face, after all.
Appearance:
Creation: Physical
Name: Orb of Escry
Description: The orb that serves as the source of the hive mind of the Holy Wisps. Niciel uses this to guide Holy Wisps to specific destinations when she requires them to, and peers into this orb to learn what the Wisps are surveilling. Otherwise, though, the wisps are free
to move as they wish.
Appearance: A ball that radiates pink light.
Name: Orb of Escry
Description: The orb that serves as the source of the hive mind of the Holy Wisps. Niciel uses this to guide Holy Wisps to specific destinations when she requires them to, and peers into this orb to learn what the Wisps are surveilling. Otherwise, though, the wisps are free
to move as they wish.
Appearance: A ball that radiates pink light.
Creation: Physical
Name: Orb of Holy
Description: The orb that serves as the attack and defense mechanism of the Holy Wisps. Niciel can use this to have Wisps attack and heal specific targets, as well as to defend herself and heal others by emitting a much stronger holy light than what the Wisps are capable of.
Appearance: A ball that radiates yellow light.
Name: Orb of Holy
Description: The orb that serves as the attack and defense mechanism of the Holy Wisps. Niciel can use this to have Wisps attack and heal specific targets, as well as to defend herself and heal others by emitting a much stronger holy light than what the Wisps are capable of.
Appearance: A ball that radiates yellow light.
Life:
Species
Name: Ants
Lifespan: 12-15 years, Queen ants can live up to 30 years
Description: Ants were the very first living creatures to come about. They were created in order to maintain the Oxygen cycle along with the trees Slough created, though they are not restricted to trees or land - some species can swim while most can survive 24 hours underwater. Other than that, they are vital in preserving various life cycles, and the existence of other creatures would be impossible without them as they clean up the environment and improve soil quality - capable of moving 50 tonnes of soil per year in one square mile.
To help them with cleaning, ants have incredibly powerful jaws called mandibles which allow them to lift up to fifty times their weight and break items apart to carry them to the colony, and they can cooperate to lift even heavier things - in some ants, these mandibles can close at a speed of 230km/h, exerting force 300 times its own weight and allowing it to both kill other creatures and fling itself to safety by burying its head into the ground and using its mandibles for leverage. This is the record for fastest movement in the animal kingdom.
Moreover, ants are able to walk up steep surfaces and even on ceilings with ease, and certain sub-species can do so while carrying 100 times their own weight. Some are carnivorous while others leaf-eaters, making them among them ultimate scavengers.
Worker, soldier and queen ants are all female, with male ants, drones, only living a few months for no other purpose than to fertilise a princess, after which they die - and some ants are in fact capable of asexual reproduction, meaning they do not need males at all.
By creating colonies, defecating and bringing food back to the colony, ants unintentionally aerate the soil and introduce extra nutrients into the earth, thus increasing its quality greatly. Other than humans, ants are the only creatures that farm other animals (aphids) - and not only that, they are capable of enslaving other ant species. Further, ants are a vital pollinator, without which many flowers would die out, and also do a very good job of managing their own population - different colonies are perpetually at war with one another.
Overall, these little creatures are incredibly important for the development of advanced life on Planet Galbar.
Name: Ants
Lifespan: 12-15 years, Queen ants can live up to 30 years
Description: Ants were the very first living creatures to come about. They were created in order to maintain the Oxygen cycle along with the trees Slough created, though they are not restricted to trees or land - some species can swim while most can survive 24 hours underwater. Other than that, they are vital in preserving various life cycles, and the existence of other creatures would be impossible without them as they clean up the environment and improve soil quality - capable of moving 50 tonnes of soil per year in one square mile.
To help them with cleaning, ants have incredibly powerful jaws called mandibles which allow them to lift up to fifty times their weight and break items apart to carry them to the colony, and they can cooperate to lift even heavier things - in some ants, these mandibles can close at a speed of 230km/h, exerting force 300 times its own weight and allowing it to both kill other creatures and fling itself to safety by burying its head into the ground and using its mandibles for leverage. This is the record for fastest movement in the animal kingdom.
Moreover, ants are able to walk up steep surfaces and even on ceilings with ease, and certain sub-species can do so while carrying 100 times their own weight. Some are carnivorous while others leaf-eaters, making them among them ultimate scavengers.
Worker, soldier and queen ants are all female, with male ants, drones, only living a few months for no other purpose than to fertilise a princess, after which they die - and some ants are in fact capable of asexual reproduction, meaning they do not need males at all.
By creating colonies, defecating and bringing food back to the colony, ants unintentionally aerate the soil and introduce extra nutrients into the earth, thus increasing its quality greatly. Other than humans, ants are the only creatures that farm other animals (aphids) - and not only that, they are capable of enslaving other ant species. Further, ants are a vital pollinator, without which many flowers would die out, and also do a very good job of managing their own population - different colonies are perpetually at war with one another.
Overall, these little creatures are incredibly important for the development of advanced life on Planet Galbar.
Name: The Tundras at the ends of the world.
Purpose: Biodiversity and a cold place to escape the Fiery memories.
Description: A cold, barren icy place. Little grows here except the hardiest of plants and only beasts with skill at keeping warm could stand a chance of survival. The land has its ups and downs with terrain varying greatly.
Things it does: Explains why the poles are colder. Freezes foolish mortals who wander in. Gives Vakarlon R&R. Will eventually guard a magnificent citadel at the northernmost tip of the world.
Purpose: Biodiversity and a cold place to escape the Fiery memories.
Description: A cold, barren icy place. Little grows here except the hardiest of plants and only beasts with skill at keeping warm could stand a chance of survival. The land has its ups and downs with terrain varying greatly.
Things it does: Explains why the poles are colder. Freezes foolish mortals who wander in. Gives Vakarlon R&R. Will eventually guard a magnificent citadel at the northernmost tip of the world.
Name: The Caverns of Not-Death
Purpose: Creates an underground world/environment full of minerals and potential for exploration. Gives Ug the Caveman a home until he figures out how to make one.
Description: A sprawling unconnected series of tunnels, caves and caverns. Pitch black except for lava.
Things it does: Now houses the Hall of Reathos. See above for other stuff.
Purpose: Creates an underground world/environment full of minerals and potential for exploration. Gives Ug the Caveman a home until he figures out how to make one.
Description: A sprawling unconnected series of tunnels, caves and caverns. Pitch black except for lava.
Things it does: Now houses the Hall of Reathos. See above for other stuff.
Creation: Physical
Name: Dreamweaver
Description: Crafted with a twig from Slough and a string from the Codex this harp was used by Ilunabar to make dreams something beyond a bunch of electrons in a person's mind.
After the Codex was used to create the universe the Harp became bound to Ilunabar but most of its divinity is gone. It can be used to create music and to channel Ilunabar's powers but it doesn't hold any extraordinary powers.
Appearance:
Name: Dreamweaver
Description: Crafted with a twig from Slough and a string from the Codex this harp was used by Ilunabar to make dreams something beyond a bunch of electrons in a person's mind.
After the Codex was used to create the universe the Harp became bound to Ilunabar but most of its divinity is gone. It can be used to create music and to channel Ilunabar's powers but it doesn't hold any extraordinary powers.
Appearance:
Creation: Conceptual
Name: Dream
Description: Thanks to Ilunabar dreams became an energy of its own, it goes far beyond a single person's mind and often two or more persons can share the same dream while sleeping. Things composed of Dreams are entirely built on emotional energy instead of matter and logic.
Name: Dream
Description: Thanks to Ilunabar dreams became an energy of its own, it goes far beyond a single person's mind and often two or more persons can share the same dream while sleeping. Things composed of Dreams are entirely built on emotional energy instead of matter and logic.
Name:
Raka (The realm of dreams)
Description:
Dreams have existed ever since the Dreamweaver was crafted, after the birth of the universe, dreams it became a possible energy, like electricity or magic. But it was only after the creation of a plane for dreams, Raka, that they turned into a natural occurrence to all sentient beings.
To dream doesn’t mean being teleported into Raka, the person’s mind connects to the plane, sometimes just as an expectator feeling things, other times with a temporary body that might or might not be a copy of his own.
(Plot bait for Vulamera) Injury or death in a dream means little, however some mental trauma might happen. Another disease caused by dreams is called Ilunacy (wink wink) when a person is so connected to Raka that she starts to lose sense of what is real and what is not.
Appearance:
If one were to look into Raka the main feature of the plane would be the tourbillon of colors where dreams happen along with the few dreams that were intense enough to temporarily create floatings islands, globes, boxes and all sorts of weird things. Ultimately however it all dissolves in the storm of emotions spiraling up around the tower called Arpeggio.
The flow of dreams changes as it flows up. In the lower and most chaotic parts it is like a messy cloud of colors. In the middle, it starts to take a flow and its looks changes to one of an impressionist painting. Finally, in the upper areas it starts to crystallize.
The “final” destiny of the flow is the “roof”, a crust formed by the crystallized dreams. It is not a still thing however, the mass moves like living stone and slowly forms towers that try to “reach” the Arpeggio’s core.
Raka (The realm of dreams)
Description:
Dreams have existed ever since the Dreamweaver was crafted, after the birth of the universe, dreams it became a possible energy, like electricity or magic. But it was only after the creation of a plane for dreams, Raka, that they turned into a natural occurrence to all sentient beings.
To dream doesn’t mean being teleported into Raka, the person’s mind connects to the plane, sometimes just as an expectator feeling things, other times with a temporary body that might or might not be a copy of his own.
(Plot bait for Vulamera) Injury or death in a dream means little, however some mental trauma might happen. Another disease caused by dreams is called Ilunacy (wink wink) when a person is so connected to Raka that she starts to lose sense of what is real and what is not.
Appearance:
If one were to look into Raka the main feature of the plane would be the tourbillon of colors where dreams happen along with the few dreams that were intense enough to temporarily create floatings islands, globes, boxes and all sorts of weird things. Ultimately however it all dissolves in the storm of emotions spiraling up around the tower called Arpeggio.
The flow of dreams changes as it flows up. In the lower and most chaotic parts it is like a messy cloud of colors. In the middle, it starts to take a flow and its looks changes to one of an impressionist painting. Finally, in the upper areas it starts to crystallize.
The “final” destiny of the flow is the “roof”, a crust formed by the crystallized dreams. It is not a still thing however, the mass moves like living stone and slowly forms towers that try to “reach” the Arpeggio’s core.
Name:
The Arpeggio
Description:
At first Raka was a bit underwhelming, dreams flowed randomly and some conglomerated into crystals who would float aimlessly. While Ilunabar wanted dreams to be free from any laws except the ones it decides to set that didn’t mean that she couldn’t organize the dream realm itself and guarantee a better variety and quality of dreams.
She started to analyse dreams and noticed patterns, ultimately dividing those by consistency, closeness to reality and control over the dream, in a scale of 7 harmonics. Dotty, Reave, Mirage, Fantasy, Solitude, Labyrinth and Simulacrum. (My language uses Si instead of Ti for the last note)
There was a clear flow from the potential of the chaos to the stillness of the logic, so Ilunabar decided to use the flow. She created a tower which would work as the guide for the flow of dreams around so they would follow the scale.
Ultimately the energy would become so still that it would crystallize in a crust called “the roof”. The Arpeggio however pull them back, in a spiral that eventually will reach a “reactor”. The reactor condenses the energy and forces different rules to clash, eventually so many paradoxes are happening that the logic breaks into pure chaos, which flows inside the tower until it reaches the bottom and is released back to the flow. Ilunabar has jokingly called it “The Tounelic Effect”, but don’t tell it to anyone.
Appearance:
At the top one would see the odd moving towers spiraling out of the roof until it reached the reactor, formed by a spinning ring and a few crystals. From there on until the lower part we have a plain looking tower until the bottom, with a few rings of crystal across the way to help Ilunabar to collect data.
If one could look from far away at the flow of energy the Arpeggio creates they would see something like this.
The Arpeggio
Description:
At first Raka was a bit underwhelming, dreams flowed randomly and some conglomerated into crystals who would float aimlessly. While Ilunabar wanted dreams to be free from any laws except the ones it decides to set that didn’t mean that she couldn’t organize the dream realm itself and guarantee a better variety and quality of dreams.
She started to analyse dreams and noticed patterns, ultimately dividing those by consistency, closeness to reality and control over the dream, in a scale of 7 harmonics. Dotty, Reave, Mirage, Fantasy, Solitude, Labyrinth and Simulacrum. (My language uses Si instead of Ti for the last note)
There was a clear flow from the potential of the chaos to the stillness of the logic, so Ilunabar decided to use the flow. She created a tower which would work as the guide for the flow of dreams around so they would follow the scale.
Ultimately the energy would become so still that it would crystallize in a crust called “the roof”. The Arpeggio however pull them back, in a spiral that eventually will reach a “reactor”. The reactor condenses the energy and forces different rules to clash, eventually so many paradoxes are happening that the logic breaks into pure chaos, which flows inside the tower until it reaches the bottom and is released back to the flow. Ilunabar has jokingly called it “The Tounelic Effect”, but don’t tell it to anyone.
Appearance:
At the top one would see the odd moving towers spiraling out of the roof until it reached the reactor, formed by a spinning ring and a few crystals. From there on until the lower part we have a plain looking tower until the bottom, with a few rings of crystal across the way to help Ilunabar to collect data.
If one could look from far away at the flow of energy the Arpeggio creates they would see something like this.
Species
Name: Realta
Lifespan: Ageless - Do not reproduce
Description: The Realta are Logos's first creation as a sentient race, created as a means of defense for the Planet of Arcon. Forged from the heart of the Citadel, the Realta are being of pure white etheral plasma often wrap in varying ores and minerals, each resumbling the rough shape of their maker. Each Realta's shell is unique and substantially different from the next, giving them each a sense of solidarity. Deep within their core lies Logos's own divine essence, and it is this power which fuels their inner light.
As the first line of defense for Arcon, Logos bid the Realta to surround the planet's upper atmosphere and cast their eyes out into the dark abyss, ever watchful and waiting for incursion from beyond the void. From the surface of Arcon, the Realta appear as bright stars in the night sky, their curious formations and alignments seen as constellations by the humans on the surface.
At any given moment, only a fraction of the Realta are actually on watch; the rest slumber in the dark and cold, curled in a tight ball of light as they float though the thin shell that seperates the atmosphere of Arcon from the Void. The pattern at which a Realta becomes a Watcher or a Sleeper is unknowable: tens of millenia might pass before a Realta finally determins its shift has ended, only for another seemingly at random to awaken. Though they share no spoken language, a form of communication certainly exists that allows the Watchers to rapidly wake the Sleepers in the event of an enemy incursion.
Rarely, a damaged Realta or Sleeper will become caught in the pull of planet and find itself burning in the lower atmosphere, cascading to the ground below in a streak of light. Such Realta are usually destroyed on impact; usually. A Realta could remained buried within the crater, unharmed or damaged, until mountains formed upon it.
As soldiers and protectors, they use the essence given by Logos without heisitation, without mercy, and without restraint for collateral damage. Each shell of the Realta, despite the materials of its appearance, is extremely hard to pierce or damage, thereby shielding the Realta inside from harm. Attacking the foes of their gods with streams of white, fiery plasma, the Realta are capable of achieving great speeds due to their thin atmospheric enviroment. Both, of which, they use liberally, along with their great numbers and flanking, to deal with invaders. By itself, a single Realta is worth any mortal army.
Unthinking and unspeaking, the Realta know only one higher purpose and that is the servitude of Logos.
Weakness: The Realta are limited in number from the moment of their creation, and no power save intervention of Logos himself can repair the damage done to a Realta. Furthermore, the longer the Realta remain in existence, going through varying cycles of watching and sleeping, the less likely the chance of them waking up. Though they burn, and live, as long as the stars they are named after, the essence of Logos that gives them life is limited. One day every star, and every Realta, will finally be extinguished.
Appearance:
In numbers uncountable the Realta's beautiful frames vibrated with blinding light and power, each different from the other in subtle ways. Some were sheathed in stone and bronze, iron and gold, silver and steel, mithril and adamantium, platinum and titanium. Each was wrought more beautifully and delicately than the last in the shape of a winged fascimile of Logos, feathers composed of lightning and flame, manes aglow of dancing light. Even their eyes shone bright as the true creatures within gazed out from their armored shells. They formed into ranks, and each and every one turned towards the King of Order.
Name: Realta
Lifespan: Ageless - Do not reproduce
Description: The Realta are Logos's first creation as a sentient race, created as a means of defense for the Planet of Arcon. Forged from the heart of the Citadel, the Realta are being of pure white etheral plasma often wrap in varying ores and minerals, each resumbling the rough shape of their maker. Each Realta's shell is unique and substantially different from the next, giving them each a sense of solidarity. Deep within their core lies Logos's own divine essence, and it is this power which fuels their inner light.
As the first line of defense for Arcon, Logos bid the Realta to surround the planet's upper atmosphere and cast their eyes out into the dark abyss, ever watchful and waiting for incursion from beyond the void. From the surface of Arcon, the Realta appear as bright stars in the night sky, their curious formations and alignments seen as constellations by the humans on the surface.
At any given moment, only a fraction of the Realta are actually on watch; the rest slumber in the dark and cold, curled in a tight ball of light as they float though the thin shell that seperates the atmosphere of Arcon from the Void. The pattern at which a Realta becomes a Watcher or a Sleeper is unknowable: tens of millenia might pass before a Realta finally determins its shift has ended, only for another seemingly at random to awaken. Though they share no spoken language, a form of communication certainly exists that allows the Watchers to rapidly wake the Sleepers in the event of an enemy incursion.
Rarely, a damaged Realta or Sleeper will become caught in the pull of planet and find itself burning in the lower atmosphere, cascading to the ground below in a streak of light. Such Realta are usually destroyed on impact; usually. A Realta could remained buried within the crater, unharmed or damaged, until mountains formed upon it.
As soldiers and protectors, they use the essence given by Logos without heisitation, without mercy, and without restraint for collateral damage. Each shell of the Realta, despite the materials of its appearance, is extremely hard to pierce or damage, thereby shielding the Realta inside from harm. Attacking the foes of their gods with streams of white, fiery plasma, the Realta are capable of achieving great speeds due to their thin atmospheric enviroment. Both, of which, they use liberally, along with their great numbers and flanking, to deal with invaders. By itself, a single Realta is worth any mortal army.
Unthinking and unspeaking, the Realta know only one higher purpose and that is the servitude of Logos.
Weakness: The Realta are limited in number from the moment of their creation, and no power save intervention of Logos himself can repair the damage done to a Realta. Furthermore, the longer the Realta remain in existence, going through varying cycles of watching and sleeping, the less likely the chance of them waking up. Though they burn, and live, as long as the stars they are named after, the essence of Logos that gives them life is limited. One day every star, and every Realta, will finally be extinguished.
Appearance:
In numbers uncountable the Realta's beautiful frames vibrated with blinding light and power, each different from the other in subtle ways. Some were sheathed in stone and bronze, iron and gold, silver and steel, mithril and adamantium, platinum and titanium. Each was wrought more beautifully and delicately than the last in the shape of a winged fascimile of Logos, feathers composed of lightning and flame, manes aglow of dancing light. Even their eyes shone bright as the true creatures within gazed out from their armored shells. They formed into ranks, and each and every one turned towards the King of Order.
Arcon
The planet of Arcon is a world of Logos's own design, painstakingly crafted over the long aeons in his absence from Galabar.
Arcon's axis of rotation is tilted 23.2° away from the perpendicular of its orbital plane, producing seasonal variations on the planet's surface with a period of one tropical year 360 solar days. The moon, Luna, is one of two of Arcon's only permanent natural satellite, the other being the miniature star which orbits the planet, Sol. Their gravitational interaction with Arcon's causes ocean tides, stabilizes the orientation of Arcon's rotational axis, and maintain's Arcon's rotational rate.
Arcon's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. 45% of Arcon's surface is covered with water, with the remainder consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere. Arcon's polar regions are mostly covered with ice, including the Hyperborean ice sheet and the sea ice of the Thule ice pack. Arcon's's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the magnetic field, and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics.
Due to the 'cooler' light of Sol in comparison to other stars, the skies of Arcon are tinged in purple.
Beautiful and hidden, as white flower in the winter's snow,
Amid the mountains of Solace, beyond the eyes of the black foe
They sang of the trees, which in the forest have shone.
They sang of the fountains, which glittered beneath the sun
And their streams under Logos, joyfully ran.
They sang of the world, and his shaping in toil
Of the clouds of the sky, and the ways of the soil
Of the depths of the sea, and the Stars of the Knight
Which were made long ago, by Elysium the Light.
Name: Urtelem
Lifespan: Dependant on the stone they are made from, but typically ranges from 200 to 900 years.
Appearance: The Urtelem are sturdy creatures of rough-hewn living rock and stone with a generically humanoid shape and hunched posture. Their stone body takes on the type of stone in their region, be it granite or sandstone or marble or whatever is common in their territory. Their body may also be flecked with ores and maybe gems, especially in older individuals. Moss and lichen often grow on their back. An average specimen stands around two meters tall, although extreme variation is a rare possibility, and is about as broad as it is tall. They typically weigh over 10 tonnes. Compared to their size, their limbs are somewhat short and stocky. Their body can readily roll up into a rough yet tightly locked sphere, allowing them to roll as a boulder.
Description: Being made of solid stone, the Urtelem do not constitute 'natural' life, but are instead more closely related to elementals. Despite this, they lead relatively natural lives, although their physiological processes are starkly different. They eat stone and dirt, to provide sustenance and replace bits of themselves which get eroded away or chipped off. They can regenerate from any injury which doesn't kill them, although this process is rather slow. They reproduce by a strange process involving two individuals fusing together and then, after about a day, splitting back apart, with a tiny newborn Urtelem being produced in the fission.
Urtelem are extremely strong creatures, yet they are slow and sluggish in their movements. As their preferred means of locomotion, they curl up into a ball and roll across the ground. When fighting, they will usually charge their enemies as a rolling boulder.
Teknall, when creating these magical creatures of stone, was not content to give them only mundane abilities. So within the Urtelem he imbued within them a power to manipulate earth and stone to some degree. Urtelem use this power to allow them to glide through solid rock and earth, the earth parting in front of them and sealing behind them without leaving a trace of their passage. Gliding through solid earth tends to be quite tiring over long distances, but they will readily use it over short distances to circumvent obstacles, escape predators or ambush enemies. Partial application of this power also allows them to climb vertical stone surfaces with ease, or root themselves to the spot to make them immoveable. This magic within them gives them the potential to become great geomancers, should they gain the intellect to harness such power.
The Urtelem have an intelligence only slightly above bestial. They are generally found in groups of 5-20, which stay together for protection and companionship. Most of the time they are sedentary, slowly digesting the stone they have eaten. However, should a creature intrude on their territory, they note and observe. Ingrained into their psyche by Teknall is the ability to sense the intent and disposition of other creatures. Docile creatures, such as most beasts, will be ignored and left alone. However, aggressive and violent creatures, especially Ashlings, will elicit a similarly violent response from the Urtelem, who will seek to destroy the creature or at least drive them away. In a fight the Urtelem are terrifying opponents, for they are very strong and often impossible to harm without having the strength to smash stone, and their use of pack tactics and self-geomancy gives them cunning to add to their physical might.
White Giants are a special case- they are typically docile, so will not draw aggression from the Urtelem, but since the Urtelem constitute unnatural life they evoke a violent response from the White Giants. In such a case, where a normally docile creature is turned aggressive by the presence of the Urtelem, the Urtelem will flee from the creature and stay away from it. It is by these sets of instincts that the Urtelem can fulfill their purpose as protectors of Galbar.
Should a sentient race so desire, they could guide and possibly even train Urtelem to act as guardians, provided the people they are made to guard are of a mild disposition. At a minimum, keeping Urtelem around your borders is a good way to deter the more dangerous beasts of Galbar from entering. They can be fed with crushed stone or metals, with preference for harder stones.
The Urtelem themselves also carry the potential for sentience, although this is only a potential. Their lives are too slow and uncompetitive for them to naturally develop into a civilised race. Such developments would have to be fostered.
Lifespan: Dependant on the stone they are made from, but typically ranges from 200 to 900 years.
Appearance: The Urtelem are sturdy creatures of rough-hewn living rock and stone with a generically humanoid shape and hunched posture. Their stone body takes on the type of stone in their region, be it granite or sandstone or marble or whatever is common in their territory. Their body may also be flecked with ores and maybe gems, especially in older individuals. Moss and lichen often grow on their back. An average specimen stands around two meters tall, although extreme variation is a rare possibility, and is about as broad as it is tall. They typically weigh over 10 tonnes. Compared to their size, their limbs are somewhat short and stocky. Their body can readily roll up into a rough yet tightly locked sphere, allowing them to roll as a boulder.
Description: Being made of solid stone, the Urtelem do not constitute 'natural' life, but are instead more closely related to elementals. Despite this, they lead relatively natural lives, although their physiological processes are starkly different. They eat stone and dirt, to provide sustenance and replace bits of themselves which get eroded away or chipped off. They can regenerate from any injury which doesn't kill them, although this process is rather slow. They reproduce by a strange process involving two individuals fusing together and then, after about a day, splitting back apart, with a tiny newborn Urtelem being produced in the fission.
Urtelem are extremely strong creatures, yet they are slow and sluggish in their movements. As their preferred means of locomotion, they curl up into a ball and roll across the ground. When fighting, they will usually charge their enemies as a rolling boulder.
Teknall, when creating these magical creatures of stone, was not content to give them only mundane abilities. So within the Urtelem he imbued within them a power to manipulate earth and stone to some degree. Urtelem use this power to allow them to glide through solid rock and earth, the earth parting in front of them and sealing behind them without leaving a trace of their passage. Gliding through solid earth tends to be quite tiring over long distances, but they will readily use it over short distances to circumvent obstacles, escape predators or ambush enemies. Partial application of this power also allows them to climb vertical stone surfaces with ease, or root themselves to the spot to make them immoveable. This magic within them gives them the potential to become great geomancers, should they gain the intellect to harness such power.
The Urtelem have an intelligence only slightly above bestial. They are generally found in groups of 5-20, which stay together for protection and companionship. Most of the time they are sedentary, slowly digesting the stone they have eaten. However, should a creature intrude on their territory, they note and observe. Ingrained into their psyche by Teknall is the ability to sense the intent and disposition of other creatures. Docile creatures, such as most beasts, will be ignored and left alone. However, aggressive and violent creatures, especially Ashlings, will elicit a similarly violent response from the Urtelem, who will seek to destroy the creature or at least drive them away. In a fight the Urtelem are terrifying opponents, for they are very strong and often impossible to harm without having the strength to smash stone, and their use of pack tactics and self-geomancy gives them cunning to add to their physical might.
White Giants are a special case- they are typically docile, so will not draw aggression from the Urtelem, but since the Urtelem constitute unnatural life they evoke a violent response from the White Giants. In such a case, where a normally docile creature is turned aggressive by the presence of the Urtelem, the Urtelem will flee from the creature and stay away from it. It is by these sets of instincts that the Urtelem can fulfill their purpose as protectors of Galbar.
Should a sentient race so desire, they could guide and possibly even train Urtelem to act as guardians, provided the people they are made to guard are of a mild disposition. At a minimum, keeping Urtelem around your borders is a good way to deter the more dangerous beasts of Galbar from entering. They can be fed with crushed stone or metals, with preference for harder stones.
The Urtelem themselves also carry the potential for sentience, although this is only a potential. Their lives are too slow and uncompetitive for them to naturally develop into a civilised race. Such developments would have to be fostered.
Creation: Physical
Name: Ironheart Ranges
Description/Appearance: The Ironheart Ranges are a colossal mountains range, stretching from the southern tundra, up to a short distance south west of the Nice Mountains, then heading west to the Fractal Sea and Shattered Plains. These mountains cover a large variety of shapes, some with relatively gentle slopes and only stretch to one or two kilometers in height, others jagged and unapproachable and soaring many kilometers into the sky. And because they were built along a fault line seismic activity will ensure that these mountains slowly change with time, the grinding merge of two tectonic plates competing with the earthquakes and erosion that would wear them down. Much of the Ranges consist of harsh, rocky terrain, unforgiving to those who are ill-prepared. In the higher altitudes there will be snow and permafrost, and over time glaciers and glacial valleys will form. Rivers will come out from the Ranges, flowing out across this half of Galbar.
Notable of the Ironheart Ranges is the high concentration of metals, gems, and other precious minerals. With relatively easy access to an abundance of minerals, the Ironheart Ranges will be a boon to any civilisation capable of mining them.
Additionally, as the Ironheart Ranges are built along a fault line, they are susceptible to earthquakes and volcanism.
Name: Ironheart Ranges
Description/Appearance: The Ironheart Ranges are a colossal mountains range, stretching from the southern tundra, up to a short distance south west of the Nice Mountains, then heading west to the Fractal Sea and Shattered Plains. These mountains cover a large variety of shapes, some with relatively gentle slopes and only stretch to one or two kilometers in height, others jagged and unapproachable and soaring many kilometers into the sky. And because they were built along a fault line seismic activity will ensure that these mountains slowly change with time, the grinding merge of two tectonic plates competing with the earthquakes and erosion that would wear them down. Much of the Ranges consist of harsh, rocky terrain, unforgiving to those who are ill-prepared. In the higher altitudes there will be snow and permafrost, and over time glaciers and glacial valleys will form. Rivers will come out from the Ranges, flowing out across this half of Galbar.
Notable of the Ironheart Ranges is the high concentration of metals, gems, and other precious minerals. With relatively easy access to an abundance of minerals, the Ironheart Ranges will be a boon to any civilisation capable of mining them.
Additionally, as the Ironheart Ranges are built along a fault line, they are susceptible to earthquakes and volcanism.
Creation:
Physical (Holy Site)
Name: The Celestial Citadel; Zephyrion's Palace; Zephyrean Citadel; The Floating Fortress; Mount Olympus
Description: The Celestial Citadel is a palatial castle of gleaming white that soars through the heavens above Galbar, resting atop a mountain of earth which is in turn carried atop a thousand clouds. It was built by the combined efforts of both Teknall and Zephyrion, and as a result both are empowered by its very existence. A great magical gem adorns the highest spire, and within that jewel is contained a magical power that allows the fortress to defy physics and remain in its precarious position. Worth noting is that Zephyrion can summon winds to move this Holy Site at will.
Physical (Holy Site)
Name: The Celestial Citadel; Zephyrion's Palace; Zephyrean Citadel; The Floating Fortress; Mount Olympus
Description: The Celestial Citadel is a palatial castle of gleaming white that soars through the heavens above Galbar, resting atop a mountain of earth which is in turn carried atop a thousand clouds. It was built by the combined efforts of both Teknall and Zephyrion, and as a result both are empowered by its very existence. A great magical gem adorns the highest spire, and within that jewel is contained a magical power that allows the fortress to defy physics and remain in its precarious position. Worth noting is that Zephyrion can summon winds to move this Holy Site at will.
Life: Species
Same word for singular and plural forms.
Hain
Same word for singular and plural forms.
Lifespan: 40 to 60 years typically. Old age takes them at around 130 given good quality of life.
Appearance:
A small crowd of vaguely humanoid pale creatures busy themselves in and around communities of huts. Instead of skin and bones, they have smooth porcelain in scaled plates covering them and acting as an exoskeleton.
Hain are just over half the size of adult humans, but take different proportions. Their waists are thin compared to their chests and hips, their long forearms are thick and end in three dextrous fingers and a thumb textured to grip things, and their feet are large and digitigrade (walk on the balls of their feet rather than their heels), with each section of leg being about the same length. This makes for a skittering and awkward frame, but the hain move as naturally as any other biped.
The most prominent feature of hain are by far their heads. A single pale skull of elongated porcelain roughly takes the shape of a curved beak. The underside of the beak reveals another piece that makes up the jaw, opening to reveal a rough set of omnivorous teeth. On the middle-rear of this beak-head, on either side, are pairs of small eyes. Their beak head flits from side-to-side when looking at something, not unlike a bird. Two small holes near the front of the beak serve as nostrils.
(Author's note: the appearance of these creatures are inspired by the myr from Magic: The Gathering. However, their proportions and appearance were a tad too extreme to use for reference images here. Not to mention, most of those little guys were metallic and glowy.)
Description:
The hain are a mostly failed attempt by Toun to create a slave race with longevity to serve his purposes. Hain take the essences of both Toun and Slough to make something unique and intelligent, but still driven by the influences of natural life.
Physiology
Hain are a drastic turn from the previous creation of Toun--the white giants. Instead of the bulky and powerful magical siphon, the cores of hain contain fully fledged respiratory, digestive, reproductive, muscular systems, etc. As well, their nervous system includes a brain that operates with true sentience, soul and all. Their senses are also conventional, save for two pairs of eyes that allow for depth perception on either of their flanks. A consequence of their eye arrangement make for blind spots directly in front and behind hain heads.
Their porcelain exoskeletons replace internal bones. This requires a specialised digestive system to cater for the raw materials. If the surface of the exoskeleton is damaged, they develop a replacement plate underneath the damage and moult the damaged plate off, all within a few days. They often break up the discarded plate to eat later. The exoskeleton is not nearly as thick as the hide of a white giant, breakable as a human bone would be. However, they do provide protection from scratches, insects, and parasites. Though small, hain can move swiftly and strongly in these heavy hides.
Diet
Wild hain are tool using hunter-gatherers, feeding on creatures they can ambush and edible plants that they can find. In particular, their diet requires the bones of creatures that they can break in their jaws as well as patches of aluminium silicates. They have a taste for both and an adapted digestive system to process them. Both unusual supplements primarily feed their porcelain exoskeleton.
Early Development
The reproduction cycles of hain are reptile-like. There are males and females that mate to fertilise large eggs in clutches of one to three at a time. These eggs must be protected in an open nest for fifteen weeks before hatching. Newborn hain have an egg pipping tooth and an exoskeleton so thin that you can see the beating veins underneath. They grow quickly via pre-chewed food provided by their mother. Once they moult their birth exoskeleton over their first white porcelain skin--normally after two years--they are considered old enough to start eating without assistance and become hain children.
Hain children moult their exoskeleton once every month for ages two to four, with each moulting period becoming less common. Their moults slow to every two months for ages four to six, then every four months for six to eight, eight months for eight to ten, sixteen months for ten to twelve, continuing on as they grow until sexual maturity at around age fourteen when the moulting period changes slow to a reliable constant of a year and eight months. At this point, the hain is physically an adult. Adult hain continue to develop mentally as they experience life, as is to be expected.
Society
Hain are curious and social creatures that currently live in tribes that can range from ten to forty individuals, depending on availability of food. They are led by a group of the oldest hain in the tribes
Generally, hain have similar levels of intelligence to humans, though they tend to have different proportions of personality traits amongst them. For instance, hain have a keen eye for improving process, either by taking routes of less resistance or by inventing new things. They think outside of the box and innovate wherever they can. As well, they are conflict-adverse when it comes to matters within their own tribe. This is simply because compromise is much easier than injuring their friends, given their exoskeletons. Fighting for the sake of fighting is seen as child’s play. Rough-housing is common between hain children and rarely causes too much damage.
Warfare between tribes is not unheard of, but primitive weapons made for fighting are restricted to heavy clubs and wrestling techniques to break joints. Arrows and spears are used for hunting, but aren’t very effective against one another unless they find a joint. As much as possible, hain try only to injure and deter their enemies. It is seen as undesirable to be a hain murderer.
As it stands, hain are polygamous, with loving relationships forming in groups of between two and six interweaved partners. If a hain falls in love with another, they tend to also fall in love with their paramour's other partners. If there is a partner that they do not fall in love with, or rejects them, they tend to fall out of love with the original paramour. Their perception of love and relationships follow on to be fundamentally different to humans in this way.
Given their social nature and cooperative attitude, hain tend to be somewhat collective in their thinking. Their wills are much stronger when they have friends around, but utterly weak and cowardly when alone.
Two caveats follow these observations: All of these features may change as hain develop in the future, though vestigial influences may shine through. Also, individual hain may show completely different behaviours from time to time, much like humans.
Slave Hain
Five tribes of hain were mentally subjugated by an enraged Toun in order to use them as intended. These hain have had their minds permanently stunted and follow Toun's will unquestioningly. When not serving a purpose, they operate with a base animal intelligence to sustain themselves. Other hain see these creatures as uncanny and tend to avoid them at all costs.
Flaw:
In Toun's eyes, the flaw of hain are their complexity. They are too susceptible to outside influence, too belligerent, too weak, and they have to be taught the required skills to serve him. They just have too much Slough in them. He mitigated this by creating slave hain; a shadow of the creatures he wrought, devoid of their once great potential.
White Giant
Lifespan: Ageless - does not reproduce.
Appearance:
Take the limbless, headless body of an elephant. Attach six, bulky, hairless arms shaped like that of a gorilla's on either side, each measuring at least a quarter of the torso's body weight. On the front is a long, flexible neck that squirms like a worm and can reach almost any part of its body. This is capped with a smooth, mostly featureless ovoid head that scans the surroundings and peers at you like it knows whether you are being honest or lying. Like mandibles, two small arms extend from this head and end in spindly, clawed hands for fine manipulation. Every surface on this creature is then covered with thick, interlocking plates of white porcelain that clink and scrape softly as it slowly strides through the wilderness. Only in the tiniest gaps between these plates can you spot the unnatural arrays of designed flesh reinforced with metal underneath. What you just saw was a white giant.
Description:
The white giants are a side project of the Porcelain Sire made for two reasons. The first reason was simply to have something to do while he tried to ponder what he should do about the mess that was the universe. The second reason was as a temporary buffer against the horrors that could assail the developing world of Galbar from the outside. Predominantly, Jvan's horrors of flesh and Mammon's demons.
To call the white giants 'living creatures' is a stretch, because they do not breathe, they do not eat, they do not defecate, they do not reproduce, and their intelligence is rudimentary at best. They are better described as automatons of flesh and clay, sustained by internal siphons of magic designed by Toun himself to exploit his intimate knowledge of the design of the universe.
For the most part, white giants are incredibly gentle creatures. They wander the world apparently aimlessly, but for a particular patrol pattern devised by Toun. They make pains to harm as little life as possible, with compromise to small things, like stepping on grass. If they hear an alarm cry of a creature in need, they will occasionally heed the call and investigate, but they will only help if it doesn't have to harm or adversely obstruct another creature in the process. For instance, they will help a cat get down from the top of a tree, but they will not help a gazelle being chased by a pride of lions. Funnily enough, their gentleness may allow them to be exploited by life in various ways, mostly stemming from riding on its back. While plants may simply start growing on the scattered soil that gets stuck on a white giant, animals may ride on one for transport. Their patrol patterns are nothing if not consistent after all.
The senses of a white giant are limited to touch, sound, and a special life-sense. The latter takes the form at the end of their ovoid head, as it pulses like an extra-dimensional sonar and detects the reflected signals of any living creatures. Otherwise, a soft, regular ticking from the head is evidence of a separate echolocation system, but it is limited in its effective distance compared to the life-sense. Tremors and textures are detected through nerves laced into their porcelain, but is not particularly sensitive. They are otherwise blind and do not detect scent.
For all their apparent aimlessness and assistance, white giants have a hard-wired imperative that reveals a much more violent side. If their life-senses detect aberrant life (that being, creatures not native to Galbar, but with other specific exceptions), they sound an angry rumbling from their cores and fly into a fit of rage, charging whatever aberrant creature is detected and assaulting until the creature is dead. Any creature may disguise themselves from a white giant by bearing the touch of either Slough or Toun in their being, or by simply being obscured completely by a life form of similar description.
As Toun did not create white giants as a renewing species, there are and will be no more than two billion on Galbar. The number will only decrease as they may be destroyed, unless more are made for some reason. To counter this, white giants do not die from old age. Their flesh heals and continues to function so long as the magic siphon in their bodies is not breached. If this happens, there is an outburst of entropic magical power that can cause 'undefined behaviour' in the immediate vicinity. When this dissipates, the corpse of the white giant is left behind; an empty husk of clay, flesh and metal. You monster.
White giants do not favour any particular biome. They are evenly spread across Galbar in any place that they will not be trapped. Currently, the only way to truly avoid them is to climb a mountain or go to the shattered lands.
Flaw: (This section will be included for all of Toun's creations.)
Toun assembled the intelligence of the white giants from manufactured imitations of soul components. In order to make these compatible with the body, empty slots for remaining soul components currently fit the consciousness of white giants. This is such that a white giant may be 'empowered' by a soul, causing it to become sentient in a WALL-E-esque fashion. It will still be a slave to its imperatives, but it could be considered truly sentient at that point. Without doing this in a controlled fashion, the end result may mean taking on strange habits and interests. It might start collecting rocks, playing with infant creatures, falling in love, or something similar.
The true flaw is that Toun could not guarantee that this could not happen accidentally during the lifetime of a white giant. If there is a strange scattering of spirits nearby a white giant, one could accidentally inhabit said white giant and trigger sentience. The chance of this happening is, of course, incredibly narrow and may make certain curators of spirits a little frazzled.
Fibrelings
Species - Bestial - the Other
Appearance: A Fiberling is an aggregate structure composed entirely of hair, animated by a cloud of ultraterrestrial energy emanating from the Gap, with a maximum mass of about two tonnes. No other Galbaric material is present in its body. Each hair can very rapidly bend, curl, or crinkle into a variety of shapes independently of the others, and can stiffen to become a less flexible bristle. Each strand of a fiberling remains animated for as long as it is in contact or fused with others in its body. The hairs themselves can be a variety of colours depending on their source and age, and different fiberlings have different concentrations of each colour, but most are dark, matte brown or black in overall colour, and only a minority have any gloss.
Due to the amorphous nature of their bodies, fiberlings can arrange their lattice of strands into an enormous variety of shapes. Rapid shifting of alignment and adaptive curling of each hair allows a fiberling to 'flow' at an astonishing speed over any solid surface they can find purchase on, even, when flattened, vertical or upside-down faces. Other terrain may induce a fiberling to try other modes of transport, such as rolling themselves over sand, and they often travel with the wind, widening themselves into an airy hollow shape like a tumbleweed. The strength of a fibreling is proportional to its currently manifested mass, and is generally lower than that of a strongly-muscled animal; However, a large one can still exert a significant amount of force to a target area, and most sizable adults can overwhelm a human via brute strength.
The only prominently supernatural feature of a fiberling's body other than its animation is that it can compress via fusion of hairs, storing mass as energy in the Gap. This allows even a fiberling the size of a rhinoceros to fit into a space the size of a single hair. The inherent instability of storing standard-model mass in the Gap means that compression comes at the cost of mobility. The more mass a fiberling is hiding, the more static it must keep its position. A fiberling at maximum size and maximum compression can be forced into its full size even by a loud noise. Decompression at such levels of instability will result in a chain reaction often violent enough to tear the fiberling apart and kill it, or at least lose most of its mass. Fortunately, fiberlings are instinctively aware of their limits, and will always try to compromise between concealment and stability. A one-tonne fiberling can rest indefinitely in just under a litre of space, expanding only at will, or upon a heavy impact to its direct vicinity, and even then slowly enough not to lose more than a few kilograms. Between compression on the one extreme and leaving unusually large amounts of hollow space in its lattice of strands on the other, fiberlings occupy a size range anywhere between a mouse and a mining truck, and can expand from former to latter in seconds. Compression, of course, takes longer than decompression.
Life Cycle: Fiberlings have no living cells that might age, and their energy source does not wane with time or exertion. However, they do wear out. Both high and low temperature extremes will increase the speed at which fiberling strands break or shed, and though one may change its behaviour to compensate for this, warming itself by friction or travelling by night, the average fiberling will still lose several kilograms of mass each year. To compensate for this, they are programmed to seek out and make use of whatever flexible and durable organic matter they can find- Anything from chitin to cellulose to animal collagen, and, of course, keratin. Integration of new hair takes a few days, and re-absorption of separated hairs takes a similar but more variable amount of time depending on the quality of hair lost.
These hair monsters reproduce by binary fission. If an environment is unusually devoid of fiberlings, even taking into account their constant wanderings, one may deliberately seek out enough strands to increase in size while its extradimensional body begins a more complex mitotic replication process. When, and only when, this process is complete will a fiberling be able to divide without just losing half of its mass to inanimacy. Attempts to manually split or force division in fiberlings will not succeed. Although they do inherit some mental traits of their parent, fiberlings have a very high rate of mutation, and thus vary enormously in temperament.
When two fiberlings share a range, they will regularly interact by flowing through one another, their physical bodies exchanging hairs without any lapse in integration. This process has little use in Galbar's plane of existence, although it can lead to new combinations of fibre type and colour. It is a much closer interaction in the Gap, in which the exchange results in the sharing of memories, though each fiberling's personality remains unchanged.
Description: The first creation of Jvan to make full use of her contribution to the Universal Blueprint, fiberlings are not, by nature, functional. Psychologically, they are rather cat-like, and follow their natural instincts of curiousity, survival, and, most of all, sadistic playfulness.
Although their need for material sustenance is rather minimal, fiberlings are predators by choice. They delight in observing an organism unseen until they can predict where it will be, then compressing themselves and waiting. Fiberlings will kill a target in a variety of ways, varying by individual, prey species, and mood, but the most common and efficient method is an extremely sudden sequence of expansion, entanglement, and bodily invasion through any available orifices. Once a fiberling has expanded into an animal, it is free to asphyxiate its victim, rupture it, or gently play with it and see how long it takes to die of stress and bleeding, crucified within an enormous mass of hair.
Of course, fiberlings are very intelligent and have plenty of room for variation in personality. Cognitively, they stand at least on par with dolphins, ravens and chimpanzees, although they exceed them in some aspects and are lacking in others. They do not have any form of language other than sharing memories repeatedly, do not form a social hierarchy and do not often display tool-making behaviour. Their perception of the world is largely self-centred and it is difficult, but not impossible, to teach a fiberling to feel affection for any but its own kind. However, they do possess the ability to plan their actions, coordinate with others, learn and experiment.
The average fiberling is largely nocturnal and very fond of stealth, although many enjoy daylight, even to the point of sunbathing. Some are far more patient than others, and no aspect of their personality is free from variation. One fiberling may prefer to abandon concealment and exploit their limitless supply of energy to simply tease and chase its prey until it dies of exhaustion. Another might not kill at all, only mutilate and cripple. Fiberlings are long-distance wanderers that follow no pattern of movement, but some may settle in areas they particularly like for extended periods of time, and some will seek out their own kind while others shy away.
Fiberlings are in no way limited to animals in their playful curiousity, and will gladly uproot trees and tear up grasses for fun, or even drag around available materials like rocks and moss to form small structures and nests- Although why exactly they do this is unknown, seeing as they can't make use of them. Like cats, fiberlings are not fond of swimming, but sometimes attempt it in order to escape danger or corner prey, and there are, of course, the occasional anomalies who enjoy water.
Fiberlings might not be sentient, but they share one common field in which any specimen will far outstrip even a learned human in their instinctive knowledge of population dynamics. Fiberlings unconsciously record and model the populations and predator-prey balance of any ecosystem they find themselves in, and despite their whimsical behaviour, they will never upset an established habitat beyond what it can handle at any given moment. Although they do enjoy harvesting the finest-quality hairs from their surroundings, the species is always conscious of over-exploitation and may even protect their prey if a particularly bad stroke of luck causes its population to collapse, although they will not stand in the way of more gradual decline and evolution. Fiberlings never show preference towards their prey other than their need to take hair to survive, and even then, do not predate prize species any more than they do others. Fiberlings are therefore never a strong evolutionary pressure. Indeed, the only points at which the presence of fiberlings actually bears a noticeable effect on other species as a whole is when an ecosystem has been upset suddenly and beyond its ability to survive with its biodiversity intact, such as by a natural disaster or an introduced species that out-competes all others by orders of magnitude.
Needless to say, fiberlings love humans, and find them endlessly entertaining in their diversity of behaviour and construction.
Interactions: Under threat, most fiberlings are defensive but skittish when they realise that they can be overpowered. Although they are tough, due to the strength of their constituent materials and their lack of internal organs to damage, it is entirely possible to kill a fiberling simply by destroying or dispersing its strands. Sudden impacts can separate chunks of mass from a fiberling, as can slashes from a sufficiently sharp object. Magical forces can be used to separate strands from one another until too little remains for the extradimensional body of the creature to reconnect with the physical plane. Fire is an effective way of destroying fiberlings constructed of volatile materials.
Fiberlings protect themselves depending on the situation. Their immense mobility allows them to outrun or outlast most danger. Like a beetle on its back, a fiberling knows that it is more vulnerable the smaller and less dense it is, and it is standard behaviour for a cornered specimen to expand to full mass but wrap itself into an intricately woven, airtight, enormously dense sphere that can resist most onslaughts, even crusting over rather than incinerating when burned. This does leave the fiberling unable to move until it sees a chance to unravel and try its luck running or attacking.
The Horrorsome Engineer sometimes embeds a Jvanic Eye within a fiberling, giving her full awareness of its actions while simultaneously boosting its perception, and, when necessary, overwriting its will with her own. The destruction of the eye does not necessarily kill the fiberling, or vice versa, but upon its loss the fiberling will be unusually docile, unmotivated, and susceptible to training- At least for a while.
Wild fiberlings can also be trained or conditioned to act a certain way, although their natural instincts are hard to curb and it is tricky to teach them to accept a master without killing it or running from it. That said, they are not incapable of affection, at least of a rather weak self-centred variety, again reflecting their feline nature. Magical restraints are recommended.
Fiberlings interact with White Giants rather like cats interact with dogs, although a pack of several fiberlings working in tandem can break open even these behemoths, and may be motivated to do so rather than watch themselves be driven to extinction in any particular area.
The Fractal Sea
Physical - Landform - Habitat - Galbar
Description: The Fractal Sea is a large ocean promptly created by Jvan after she made planetfall, in a playful experiment with the raw materials available on Galbar. It is a saltwater body and rather cold, bar its northernmost section. The southern edges of the Sea freezes over with the coming of winter and the seasonal expansion of Vakarlon's ice caps. Despite this, it is still fairly rich in phytoplanktonic life, making it a strong contributor and recycler of oxygen to Galbar's already nourishing atmosphere. Other forms of life are beginning to spread through it from their points of origin at the border of the Deepwood and the Jvanic Peninsula, where the goddess herself resides in body.
Appearance: This ocean, at its point of birth, took the exact form of a Mandelbrot Set, its axis of symmetry aligned perfectly perpendicular to the equator of Galbar, and its edges measured almost to the molecular level. Like any unenchanted landform, of course, it has been changing and shifting ever since. Notably, its southern edge, which lies just within the south polar circle, is distorted by seasonal ice, its north-eastern edge has been twisted out of shape by the Shattered Plains, and simple wind and weather patterns have smoothed its more jagged edges. Despite this, it still possesses an incredible and beautiful assortment of inlets, estuaries and peninsulas, its northern reach penetrating even past the northern tropic of Galbar, and has almost no islands. The 'cleft' of the central cardioid is a stone spire reaching deep into the ocean's heart, and at its apex rests the body of Jvan, large enough to be seen from space as a carmine glow on a rounded, porous grey plateau. Her lower body is largely hidden from view and flooded to sea level, though regular shifts in her shape often result in waterfalls from above or below.
Beneath the surface, the Fractal Sea shows every sign of its violent origin as briny blood was squeezed from air and earth alike. The sea floor is mostly metamorphic stone rent into wild arches, 'natural' monuments, mesas, tunnels and trenches, all of greatly varying depth and entirely irregular in their arrangement, a stark contrast to the measured edges of the ocean. These bizarre formations are most prominent at the center of the main cardioid body, which is separated from its adjoining shapes- Including the large northern circle that touches the equator- by an encircling continental shelf, and grow less pronounced towards its edges. The outlining of the cardioid by this underwater cliff means that if you drown within the waters of the main water body, even just fifty meters away from a beach, it will take a long time to sink.
Life: The first life of the Fractal Sea was photosynthetic plankton, and as it spreads and fluctuates, it has become a pulsing green tint in the ocean. These microbial forms are a combination of bacterial and eukaryotic life in many different shapes, mostly the latter by mass, and produces a rich and endless stream of marine snow for deep-dwelling and current-filtering organisms to feed on. The first multicellular species are the creations of Jvan using samples of the spawn of Slough, and as such, have a somewhat similar aesthetic to the species of the Deepwood. Jvan's modifications deviate greatly from one another on even the most basic levels, though, and some species have been taken apart and put back together again with pieces of one another so many times that it is very difficult to tell what their genetic donors were- Plant, fungus or animal, vertebrate, mollusc, arthropod or annelid. Much of this life can afford to be predatory or live by filtration, due to the high reproductive rate of the phytoplankton. Although the larger species do tend to wander, all breeding populations initially cluster on, around and within the body of Jvan herself, who edits them and experiments with them routinely.
Name: Heraktati (single: Herakt)
Lifespan: 20 – 30 years
Description:
First off, Heraktati are carnivores and thus constantly hunt. They operate in packs lead by an alpha. Their main purpose is to track down weak, sick or too old animals and kill them. The packs constantly move, going in the direction of the setting sun. Should they ever be blocked by something (by a large mass of water for example), then they will turn around and start following the rising sun. They sleep a maximum of 5 hours, merely to rest their muscles. They don’t dream, and are driven by a constant insatiable blood thirst. Weak Heraktati are unable to stay with the pack, and thus quickly die. Even fresh born younglings are expected to keep up with the fast paced pack.
To maintain a certain population, pack mentality is highly encouraged. While even alone a Herakt can be very dangerous, no-one in their right mind should take on a pack. However, it is entirely possible that the pack grows too big. Reathos designed them so that at a certain size, the pack’s younglings will start challenging the older Alpha and other older Heraktati. The resulting infighting will shrink the pack back to a more manageable size.
Appearance:
Heraktati are hexdruped beings. They are about the size of a pony. With short, black fur all over their bodies. Their powerful, muscular hind legs allow them to jump up to 3 times their own height. As well as to keep up a certain running speed. At the end of the foot there is a very sharp claw. Used to make deep gapping wounds. Heraktati have 2 pair of front legs. The first pair, closest to the hind legs are often used to keep balance during running. These legs have small but very sharp claws. Though they don’t often use them, except for when a target is big enough to jump it. The second pair of front legs, the ones most in front, look just like the first one except that their toes are almost completely claws. While running next a fleeing prey, they use these claws to cut op wide spots of skin.
They have a next which is about 2 feet long. The back along the spine is extremely though and muscular But there are ‘breathing’ holes here. When running these holes open up, allow carbon dioxide to escape. When biting, they breathe through these breathing holes, so they don’t have to release the bite for lack of breathe.
Their head is slim and long. They have no nose, 2 pair of eyes, 1 pair of ears and one big mouth. Down their throat is their smell-sense. It’s far less accurate then with most species but can detect blood and even sickness from miles away. They use it mostly to get the general direction. The first pair is open during the night. Their eyes have a lot more rod than cone cells. Allowing them to track motion easier through the dark and seeing shapes better. The second pair is used when there is plenty of light. For starters the retina can shrink to a much smaller size and in this eye there are more cones. Allowing for a rather broad spectrum of colors (not as broad as humans). Their ears mostly function to detect what they can’t see. In other words, it’s to warn them form attacks from behind. Heraktati are very visual based hunters.
Now for their mouth. They have 2 sets of jaws. The first, outer jaw (and set of teeth) is mostly made to hook up against their pray. The teeth are curved, thus anchoring themselves into the flesh. The second, separate jaw is mostly used to start eating from the animal. The muscles inside are not be underestimated. They are specifically made to crunch bone and get to the internal organs as fast as possible.
Heraktati inject a powerful poison with the first bite they deliver. They mostly depend on the animal exhausting itself. By making it bleed heavily from the first few delivered wounds. The poison injected is an Anticoagulants and a mixture of thyroid hormones, making the heart beat faster.
Purpose: They systematically cross the world, constantly killing the weak, the old and the sick to make place for the young and better. Making sure that any creature has a natural predator. Forcing it to either evolve and improve or be hunted to extinction.
Lifespan: 20 – 30 years
Description:
First off, Heraktati are carnivores and thus constantly hunt. They operate in packs lead by an alpha. Their main purpose is to track down weak, sick or too old animals and kill them. The packs constantly move, going in the direction of the setting sun. Should they ever be blocked by something (by a large mass of water for example), then they will turn around and start following the rising sun. They sleep a maximum of 5 hours, merely to rest their muscles. They don’t dream, and are driven by a constant insatiable blood thirst. Weak Heraktati are unable to stay with the pack, and thus quickly die. Even fresh born younglings are expected to keep up with the fast paced pack.
To maintain a certain population, pack mentality is highly encouraged. While even alone a Herakt can be very dangerous, no-one in their right mind should take on a pack. However, it is entirely possible that the pack grows too big. Reathos designed them so that at a certain size, the pack’s younglings will start challenging the older Alpha and other older Heraktati. The resulting infighting will shrink the pack back to a more manageable size.
Appearance:
Heraktati are hexdruped beings. They are about the size of a pony. With short, black fur all over their bodies. Their powerful, muscular hind legs allow them to jump up to 3 times their own height. As well as to keep up a certain running speed. At the end of the foot there is a very sharp claw. Used to make deep gapping wounds. Heraktati have 2 pair of front legs. The first pair, closest to the hind legs are often used to keep balance during running. These legs have small but very sharp claws. Though they don’t often use them, except for when a target is big enough to jump it. The second pair of front legs, the ones most in front, look just like the first one except that their toes are almost completely claws. While running next a fleeing prey, they use these claws to cut op wide spots of skin.
They have a next which is about 2 feet long. The back along the spine is extremely though and muscular But there are ‘breathing’ holes here. When running these holes open up, allow carbon dioxide to escape. When biting, they breathe through these breathing holes, so they don’t have to release the bite for lack of breathe.
Their head is slim and long. They have no nose, 2 pair of eyes, 1 pair of ears and one big mouth. Down their throat is their smell-sense. It’s far less accurate then with most species but can detect blood and even sickness from miles away. They use it mostly to get the general direction. The first pair is open during the night. Their eyes have a lot more rod than cone cells. Allowing them to track motion easier through the dark and seeing shapes better. The second pair is used when there is plenty of light. For starters the retina can shrink to a much smaller size and in this eye there are more cones. Allowing for a rather broad spectrum of colors (not as broad as humans). Their ears mostly function to detect what they can’t see. In other words, it’s to warn them form attacks from behind. Heraktati are very visual based hunters.
Now for their mouth. They have 2 sets of jaws. The first, outer jaw (and set of teeth) is mostly made to hook up against their pray. The teeth are curved, thus anchoring themselves into the flesh. The second, separate jaw is mostly used to start eating from the animal. The muscles inside are not be underestimated. They are specifically made to crunch bone and get to the internal organs as fast as possible.
Heraktati inject a powerful poison with the first bite they deliver. They mostly depend on the animal exhausting itself. By making it bleed heavily from the first few delivered wounds. The poison injected is an Anticoagulants and a mixture of thyroid hormones, making the heart beat faster.
Purpose: They systematically cross the world, constantly killing the weak, the old and the sick to make place for the young and better. Making sure that any creature has a natural predator. Forcing it to either evolve and improve or be hunted to extinction.
Name: Reathos’ Crows (singe: crow)
Alias: Death’s witnesses
Lifespan: 10 – 15 years
Description:
In nearly all aspects of life, the crows of Reathos and normal ones are equal. However, the crows of Reathos server a greater purpose. They are all cursed by Reathos. The name of this curse is ‘The Lesser Eyes of Reathos’. The Sight allows the perception of a living, sentient being’s name. The true, soul name. Furthermore, the curse allows to take over the crow. In a very invasive way.
Purpose:
Reathos senses that in the era of sentient creatures emerging, he needs to have his eyes everywhere. Making sure no sentient being evades his or her death.
Alias: Death’s witnesses
Lifespan: 10 – 15 years
Description:
In nearly all aspects of life, the crows of Reathos and normal ones are equal. However, the crows of Reathos server a greater purpose. They are all cursed by Reathos. The name of this curse is ‘The Lesser Eyes of Reathos’. The Sight allows the perception of a living, sentient being’s name. The true, soul name. Furthermore, the curse allows to take over the crow. In a very invasive way.
Purpose:
Reathos senses that in the era of sentient creatures emerging, he needs to have his eyes everywhere. Making sure no sentient being evades his or her death.
Name: The first Wraith Stone cave
Creator: Reathos
Purpose: It houses the first ever created Wraith Stone. It serves as a soul magnet, drawing all damned soul towards it, and keeping them within the hall.
Description: A rather sizeable cave, with at the center a massive black obelisk stretching halfway to the ceiling. The obelisk serves as the magnet itself, and the walls of the cave as a physical boundary to keep the spirits imprisoned. After several hundred years of sentient life, damned souls can be found here. In various forms of sanity. Most are seen as green ghosts or even small lights. Howling around in the cave.
Things it does: Keeping the dead spirits there.
Creator: Reathos
Purpose: It houses the first ever created Wraith Stone. It serves as a soul magnet, drawing all damned soul towards it, and keeping them within the hall.
Description: A rather sizeable cave, with at the center a massive black obelisk stretching halfway to the ceiling. The obelisk serves as the magnet itself, and the walls of the cave as a physical boundary to keep the spirits imprisoned. After several hundred years of sentient life, damned souls can be found here. In various forms of sanity. Most are seen as green ghosts or even small lights. Howling around in the cave.
Things it does: Keeping the dead spirits there.
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