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[Ecosystem Lore] - The Caves & Caverns


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The Caverns

Though existing in all climates and regions, caverns are a separate realm unto themselves, boding cold, dark, and ominous whilst housing many secrets and horrors within. It is among the few biomes that may be both natural and man-made, from gaping caverns to sprawling mineshafts. There are many creatures which dwell here, and though not many descendants settle amongst these stone halls, save for the dwarves, grand caves as these nevertheless pose as enthralling find to any roaming spelunker or explorer who travels within.

Flora

Not bearing any rich soil nor sunlight to warm its depths, the stony cavern is often thought as inhospitable to plantlife, though those well-versed in botany would argue quite the opposite, for there are many unique things that grow within the darkness.

 

Blood Lotus

Cryptus Mushroom

Miner’s Helmet

Jailor’s Moss

Murkshroom

Bat’s Eye Bulb

Fauna

Whereas the mountains and hills claw towards the heavens, the caverns burrow themselves deep into the bowels of the earth. Thus, whether driven underground or birthed by the earth, there are many things that dwell here, for not all things that live crawl upon the surface.

 

 



Cave Leech

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Physiology

Cave leeches appear remarkably like a naked bat with an extended neck and featureless face. It has no facial features save for a large, drooling maw with several rows of razor-thin teeth. Cave leeches have two legs upon which they may walk, yet although they do possess wings, their ability to fly has not been confirmed. Due to it’s highly aggressive and repulsive nature, the creature is widely avoided and investigation on a live subject is nearly impossible. More terrifying yet, adult cave leeches can scale up to the size of an uruk.

Habitat

These creatures simply crave a massive dark and damp space within which to hide. Due to environmental preferences, the creature resides within the icy northern reaches, and is known to plague the cave systems of the Norlandish and Haenseti lands.

Behavior

Though incredibly aggressive, cave leeches are also keen trappers, clinging to the ceiling of vast cave systems whilst awaiting opportunity to fall onto its prey, typically aiming to behead their unfortunate victim immediately. They will excessively attempt to maul their prey with its razor sharp teeth, and should it manage to kill its target, it would proceed to gradually drain away the victim’s blood over the course of the next few days.

Abilities

Though cave leeches cannot perform successful flight, it may use its wings to briefly glide when falling upon its prey. The teeth of this creature have been known to cleave iron as if paper, making the loss of a limb a common occurrence if not careful. Furthermore, the high-pitched screech emitted from this creature’s maw is deafening, often resulting in loss of hearing for several narrative days.

Redlines

- Cave leeches are grotesque and frightening.

- Cave leeches cannot at all be tamed or controlled.

- Cave leeches cannot fly, though they can glide.

- It typically only takes an emote or two for their teeth to sever an unarmored arm.

- Cave leeches are weak to fire and light.

 

Lurker

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Physiology

The Lurker is a gargantuan, carnivorous cavedweller and shadow-prowler, growing up to sixty feet in height given its home can accommodate its size. It’s carapace can withstand the weight of falling boulders and stalagmites, protecting its otherwise fleshy innards. These creatures possess six insectoid legs which allow it rather frightening speed and strength, though often the creature moves in a serpentine fashion. Lurkers reproduce asexually, forming broods that compete with one another for territory or carve new caves into the ground outright by digging them out with their mighty legs.

Habitat

A Lurker’s natural habitat is a cavernous system, preferably one with many traversable routes inside it. Lurkers themselves often create these routes to better invade territory they seek to usurp from their kin or to set up ambushes on cave ley lines that prove to have a lot of traffic moving through them. Less commonly, Lurkers can live in tall, damp and dark swamplands, where the jagged pattern of their carapace can often have other predators mistake it as a lazy crocodile under the water until they pounce. Lurkers found outside their environment always die, given there is no moisture to add a thick layer of mucous onto their underbelly; thus allowing the neurotoxin they produce to attack their own nervous system, leave them paralyzed and as such, easy prey for vultures.

Behavior

Lurkers act reclusively and seem unaware of their colossal stature. Their relative blindness prevents them from gauging their own depth. Because of this, they move slowly and weave their head about to give their long antennae room in which to sway and scope out scents and vibrations alike. Those that make caves their homes are especially astute when it comes to pinpointing potential food as the sounds echoing from the walls quickly make their way to the Lurker whose mastery over its rocky environment is unparalleled. It will, unless famished, settle itself into a dark hole it dug for itself and then ambush whatever prey walks by with stomps and neurotoxins. Once paralyzed, it spends the rest of the encounter pushing the prey into its perpetually-open maw. It’s easy to identify a Lurker that has just eaten: its head always points up to straighten its neck so that whatever it ate might slide down its slimy throat and into its stomach. At this time, they are most vulnerable; thrashing their head and moving too quickly is a surefire way to have their food either slide back out of their mouth or be regurgitated with the paralytic bile they ordinarily produce. Because of this, they recede into burrows or swampwater with their heads facing the sky so gravity might do the work for them; unfortunately being forced to expose their neck in the process. When confronted with insurmountable odds, a Lurker flees through one of the many escape routes it is never without. Should it not be detained and pinned, its escape is guaranteed. Should a Lurker’s eggs be targeted and the Lurker notice it, it will thrash in a manner that could verge into the self-destructive to do away with the threats.

Abilities

Serpentine in nature, the Lurker’s head sways as a cobra’s would to angle the button eyes flanking its torso around. These are relatively vestigial, given they can only detect light or lack thereof. Instead, they use two long, slow-moving antennae on their head to sense vibrations and scents in the air. Mouth more akin to a hole than anything else, the Lurker predates with paralyzing toxins, the might of its heavy legs and lashings of its carapaced head; all but its oozing underbelly. This spot on their body is not only responsible for securing the eggs but for producing a potent, paralytic neurotoxin said to have developed in the Lurker due to a diet of Mandragora mushrooms in the earliest days of their infancy. This neurotoxin oozes like thick mucus under them, leaving a snail-like trail wherever they go. They have also been known to projectile vomit this bile onto their prey.

Redlines

- Lurkers cannot exist outside of caverns or swamps.

- A Lurker’s bile cannot be extracted or repurposed.

- Lurkers are not by any means tameable but druids can commune with them.

- Lurkers who have ingested an animal will instinctively crane their heads up to the sky or cavern roof, at which point they are vulnerable. Lurkers who have fed take one narrative day to finish digesting their meal.

- Lurkers who have their eggs targeted will use the full force of their strength and size against an opponent and adopt much more reckless, albeit effective, combat strategies. This is up for player discretion but should always be a final option for a Lurker rather than the norm.

 

 

 

Hyfowl

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Physiology

Unverified accounts claim that a Hyfowl can range in size from a small chicken to tubby pig, and its body appears to consist of small, reptilian scales cloaked in feathers. Its serpentine head, mounted on a slender neck, seems clad in a bony exoskeleton with narrowed eye-holes and a long, sharp beak. Elsewise, its features are identical to that of a chicken, with talons and a tail. The colour of its body usually seems consistent with the environment as a whole; for example, common reports of Hyfowl - if a few notes from a magistrate about some disturbances in the local farms can be called reports - say that Hyfowls in grasslands farms usually have a green, brown, and red plumage. Others have claimed that Hyfowls can be grey, blue, or even black.

Habitat

Much to the woe of a farmer who tills his land far from city walls, Hyfowls have been known to one day just appear among their flock of chickens, as if that is where they have always been, with no disturbance among the rest of the chickens. While some have hypothesised that a Hyfowl may be a chicken warped by some kind of magical process, there is no real evidence to support this, and, despite appearances, a Hyfowl’s anatomy appears fundamentally different from that of a chicken. Besides farms, though, Hyfowls have been known to be found in certain caves or ruins. The Farador Hunting Guild on Arcas, for example, explored a series of ancient ruins related to the Daemon Valaen, and they often found that these ruins appeared to be deliberately guarded by Hyfowls, as if to ward off adventurers. Incidents such as these have begun to imply that Hyfowls may have some relation to Valaen - perhaps even a direct descent - and have been set to guarding sites of importance. 

Behavior

When they joined a farmer’s flock of chickens, they gradually begin to slaughter all other farm animals. The strange part is, however, that they do not eat the other animals -- merely kill them. It is entirely unclear how a Hyfowl feeds, or if they even need to eat. They will bother a Descendant if approached, but it will not actively hunt one. When accosted by a Descendant, the Hyfowl will not always kill; if it triumphs over an attacker, which it most often will, it will only kill them if they perceive them to be a real danger. Oftentimes, a Hyfowl appears to fight Descendants for the sake of a challenge rather than self-defense or aggression. When defeated, a Hyfowl will defecate upon a defeated foe as a mark of pride if it does not kill them.

Abilities

The sonic screech a Hyfowl can unleash after a few moments of inhaling air is powerful enough to shatter glass within a radius of ten meters. Without ear protection, direct exposure to a sonic screech within ten meters can stun and temporarily deafen, and repeated exposure to screeches can permanently damage hearing. Fabric or armour over the ear will only mildly dampen the impact; distance is the real measure. Being right next to a Hyfowl when they screech can completely knock someone out, while those at the edge of the ten meter radius will be left with a bad headache. Though they resemble chicken feet, the talons of a Hyfowl are one of its most versatile tools. It allows a Hyfowl not only to climb on walls and ceilings, but the grip of a Hyfowl’s talon is incredibly strong. The talons themselves are not necessarily sharp, but the strength of its leg muscles can allow it to break armour straps off (rather than rend the armour itself). A Hyfowl may also shoot feathers from its back with spines like metal. The velocity of these spines is not nearly so strong as a bow or crossbow, but rather more like a dart in a blowpipe. A single feather will never kill, but they can cause bleeding, and prolonged exposure to spines shot from a Hyfowl can take a heavy toll in blood loss.

 

Redlines

-N/A.

 

 

Skelt

 

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Physiology

 

Skelts are footlong mosquitoes with legs long & sharp enough to cut, a crustacean shell body with 3 segments, & a probing jabber that can drain blood or implant larvae. They can weigh several dozen pounds (36-48) when fully engorged. Their droning wings create a distracting noise in groups. The skelt body can curl up into a size of a baseball & it is exceptionally easy to miss when hidden.

Once a year, after fully engorging themselves, Skelt will implant larvae into a dead body & float it out to water. Up to eight skelt can be born from the body of a descendent. Skelt are all the same creature, each is capable of parasitic reproduction.

 

Habitat

 

The cruel skelt dwell in caves, caverns, swamps, marshes, bogs, tropics, & jungles. They are always near still water, preferably a large body of it. Darkness is not necessary, but ideal. Skelt grow hives from their dried up prey’s bodies, often living inside the remains in caves.

A Skelt Swarm contains 6-8 Skelt, and a Hive may contain anywhere from 2-5 swarms.

 

Behavior


If discovered in their cave, or otherwise intimidated, skelt attempt to flee unless fighting is necessary. The skelt prefer to attack at dawn & dusk, tracking signatures of creatures with blood through the air. Individual Skelt prefer the weakest, sleeping targets, but a swarm is happy to sacrifice one or two to gorge upon a massive creature.

 

Abilities

1.        Puncture - The Skelt’s probing skewer can pierce armor up to chainmail. The skewer is coated with barbs and a slick oil, so it is hard to grab and pull out. Blood that is drained out only makes the skewer slipperier & harder to grab.

a.     If multiple Skelt pierce one victim, their movement is greatly hindered as the skelts leverage their skewers in controlling the target.

2.        Drain - Once a target has been punctured, the Skelt can drain the blood from the limb. Two emotes after puncture, whatever limb (including the torso) will be completely numb, and if unremoved after six continued emotes, death is certain.

3.        Disconnecting Whine – When 10 or more Skelts are flying, the droning sound of their wings is too overwhelming for voidal connection in the nearby area. This also makes communication difficult in the chunk.

1.        (15x15 square with the ET/swarm at the center.)

 

Redlines

-Playable by ET only
-A single Skelt counts as a medium sized creature for use in Conjuration.
-Skelt proboscis cannot be combined in chimeric conjurations, the mechanics of the skewering jabber is too complex to function in association with non-skelt biology.

 

 

Gremlins

 

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Physiology

 

Gremlins are quite short and peculiar little runts who range up to 3-4ft tall with scaly skin. They have quite cartoonish features, such as random splotches of hair lining their backs. Or their oversized ears and hands.  

 

 

Habitat

These small pests reside within caverns, or dark spaces, where they’re able to easily make nests safely stowed away for the suspecting adventurer to have a hard time coming across. In most cases they often inhabit areas in the vicinity of cities or small towns.

 

 

Behavior

  • Are able to use small tools they find, though are unable to craft their own.
  • Anything within the nearby range of their nest will likely fall prey to its pranks that it pulls on a normal basis.
  • Pranks and meddlings are rarely harmful, and are more of just a way to try and ruin another’s day.
  • If the Gremlin has set up somewhere, and has been pulling pranks for a while, it will start to listen in on the general chatter of the people - pulling even more devastating and witty jokes on them as it learns more of their lives and such.
  • These things tend to act bratty when interacted with, due to its isolation and loneliness that a Gremlin often experiences throughout its life.
  • Easy to aggravate.
  • Won’t cooperate with any descendants it meets.

 

 

Abilities

  • Have rather keen hearing due to their giant ears.
  • somewhat quick on their feet, at the expense of them being rather frail and brittle.

 

 

Redlines

-Aren’t tameable.

-Cannot speak or understand common.

-Won’t attempt to attack someone if caught, but instead will try to run.

-Aren’t able to craft anything with tools or materials they find.

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