TreeSmoothie 4865 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Content Warning – This submission contains Body Horror. Art by Avargus Creature Fluff [Lore Below] Spoiler Tap. Tap. . Tap. . Two children skipped through their city, snickering to themselves. Their arms were full of candy, a successful heist: and as they arrived home, they received an earful from their father. “You can’t keep doing this! . . . You’ll get us in trouble with the guards!” He told them the same thing every time, and every time they’d pout, kick their feet, and get off with a slap on the wrist - sometimes, punished with being grounded. During this time, they’d instead cause havoc around the house, tipping over jars of herbs, breaking windows, ripping their mother’s canvases and spilling her paints. After the fifth day - their final day of being grounded, their mother had gotten sick of their misbehaviour and concocted a plan. With one of her torn paintings, she took ink and began to smear and ruin the face’s proportions upon it – widening its eyes, making its grin have far too many teeth – making it so uncanny to look at, that even she was repulsed. And as the sun set and the two children went to bed, she set it between their two beds, alongside a written note: ‘You’ve hurt us.’ Their father protested the idea, but she assured him her sister had done the same when she was just as rowdy. It’d work, and perhaps they’d even stop their thievery, too. When they came running in the morning to find their parents, they wept and apologised, and said that those painting’s of her’s were haunting them. They were quick to get out of the house, and just as the parents had predicted, they’d forgone theft. Yet they were plagued with a different issue, now. The image of that portrait stuck in their minds, and as the sun sank they swore they could see things lingering at the corner of their eyes. They could hear voices calling to them, yet when they followed them, nothing was there. They’d become paranoid and caught in a cycle of believing they’d existed, and one day … Tap. Tap. . Tap. “Peter! Adam! There you two are … we’ve been looking for you all day.” It was their father’s voice coming from behind them - they could see a silhouette that looked like him, too. He never walked this far from their house. “A-ah? Sorry, pa’. What’s wrong?” “Come here. You’ve got mud all over your shirt.” “Huh? Do I?” The two children turned their heads to look at his tunic - perhaps, a bit unwashed, but not muddy. As they looked back up at their father, their hearts dropped. His flesh pulsated and his mouth hung agape far too wide. His eyes were opened as much as they could, and then some, with pitch-black irises. Their father’s voice crackled and glitched, as though being played back to them on some record. . . . Tulpa’s origins are widely disputed, thought of as a work of fiction by many. They are the creations of the paranoid, brought to life by the fear of the collective, often appearing in times of great destruction or change like events such as the Siege of Shattered Skies, or created by Necromantic Covens for their peculiar shifting ability. Akin to the mobs of skeletons and zombies that roam the continents, arisen by themselves from mass graves and battlefields, they too typically rise in by their own accord. Anatomy & Appearance Tulpa varies wildly from each specimen. Some might have slack jaws and crooked limbs, others may have oblong, bloodshot eyes, and others’ tells may merely be a too-toothy, too-white smile that never changes - however, they always look like a descendant. Versus who they’re mimicking, it may often be hard to tell the difference - but once revealed, they become blatantly uncanny and horrid. Unrevealed: The Tulpa will look just as the one they’re mimicking does, with slight differences such as paler skin, wider eyes, longer limbs, etc. Revealed: The Tulpa sucks in the shadows around it, seeming to reject any light that shines on its form. Its differences it had while unrevealed become exaggerated - wide eyes become completely round, popping out of their sockets, long limbs will become crooked and broken, etc. An unrevealed Tulpa VS. A revealed Tulpa Art by smisi.psd Habitat Tulpa first spawn within areas where many people live, and thus where death occurs often. They can survive in any habitat, save for extreme cold, extreme heat (volcanolands), or places of extreme moisture (swamplands). Behaviour Tulpa will often act friendly or concerned to lure in unsuspecting victims, with stolen items to offer to them or invitations to go elsewhere. Once catching the victim alone, or their irregular appearance or behaviour is pointed out (i.e a Tulpa mimicking someone who has a phobia of water inviting someone to go swimming), they will become incredibly aggressive and attack the victim, even in broad daylight. They do not have a self-preservation instinct until heavily wounded. If they encounter another Tulpa, they will attempt to work together, however, are known to sometimes brutalise the other when hungry for lifeforce. Abilities Mimicry: Once setting their eyes upon someone they can mimic, they will often stalk them for upwards of five days in order to observe their behaviour, voice, et cetera. Before mimicking them, they will often find a way to kill or subdue the target, though not always. Tulpa are unaware of slang and only repeat what they’ve heard, using sentences they’ve heard already to regurgitate. Over the course of two emotes, a Tulpa can change from one appearance to another, able to mimic what the target looks and sounds like. Depending on if it has studied the target before, they will either be a quite convincing copy, or someone that merely looks like the target. During events, the host(s) are encouraged to roleplay the Tulpa mimicking its target in a certain way: Spoiler - When speaking, rather than plain text, random words will often be slurred, repeated, or bolded to show emphasis (i.e.: “Hhi, how are you?” “Follow me – ME to my hous-se!”). - Should a party encounter both the Tulpa and its target in the same scenario, the party has the option to roll a 1d2 to see which they believe to be the real person - if other things have not hinted at it already. If the Tulpa has already been revealed, this is optional. - Tulpa will first try to convince their hopeful food source first via coaxing and assuring, though if it fails, they immediately become aggressive. Redlines: Spoiler - Mimicry can be done in combat. - Tulpa are unable to be made of or mimic anything larger than an Uruk (8 ft +), or animals. - Over the course of the event, in order to look convincing, the Tulpa will have to have observed the target to pick up their behaviour and quirks. If they haven’t, they will simply appear as a physical copy of them. - If the Tulpa attempts to shift using Mimicry in front of others, they will always appear as their Revealed version. - Tulpa can only mimic those participating in the event/encounter. Feeding: In order to sustain themselves, they must kill a descendant and devour its lifeforce completely. Unlike their other brethren of necromantic origins & necromancers themselves, Tulpa have no way of carefully siphoning out Lifeforce: they must devour the recently deceased corpse, bones and all, in order to gain it. Redlines: Spoiler - Feeding must be done once an OOC week in order for the Tulpa to remain alive during any sort of event. - Tulpa cannot extract lifeforce without eating the entire corpse, and cannot use it for anything other than keeping themselves alive. - A starved Tulpa will be stuck in their Revealed state, unable to use any ability but Feeding. If, after 3 OOC days they’ve still gone unfed, they will wither away and die. Brute Strength: Tulpa have no innately magickal abilities save for their Mimicry. As a result, they rely on their pure strength: no matter the form they take, they will always have strength just above that of a Seasoned Uruk, unless they're starved of lifeforce. Redlines: Spoiler - Tulpa are slightly stronger than a Seasoned Uruk, but certainly are no match for Olog-strengthed beings. - When starved of lifeforce, their strength recedes to that of a Voidal Mage. Weaknesses Tulpa, no matter if revealed or unrevealed, are incredibly weak to Holy magick. If assaulted by a weapon blessed by Paladinism, Templarism, or a Shamanic weapon blessed by a spirit that purifies, it will go through the creature like a knife to warm butter and disable their ability to mimic. Aurum & Slayersteel weapons also do similar damage - anything solid such as an aurum pole, sword, etc causes their flesh to shrivel and burn. Tulpa also have an aversion to sunlight, making them uncomfortable to the point they often choose to linger in darkness when they can. Creation Tulpa, for the purpose of DIY events , can be created in one single way: - 1. Tulpa, like skeletons and zombies used for player events, can spontaneously arise in places where many people live and die. Redlines: Spoiler - Tulpa may be used by regular players in DIY events. - The second way of making Tulpa do not have a specific emote count but should be (or longer than ) 3 emotes -- their creation cannot be done in combat. - Tulpa are unable to be made of or mimic anything larger than an Uruk (8 ft +), or animals. - Tulpa cannot somehow be tamed, nor can they be used to guard a city or fight for them. - As a benefit of it having to devour each week, Tulpa look more-or-less alive unlike zombies and other reanimations, save for their uncanny-valley inducing features. - Tulpa cannot use compex weaponry (such as crossbows). They are restricted to mundane melee weaponry. Purpose After watching a few too many videos about the Mandela Catalogue & the Longeyed Project, I really wanted to make some funky creature lore for things that mimic descendants. I decided to tie it to Necromancy due to its unique Fleshsmithing abilities, and class them similar to the Zombies & Skeletons that can also be used in player events and can spawn in the same way. As a little treat, necros can bind them to oculi if they want (with the cost of their upkeep), or simply set ‘em free. Credits TreeSmoothie – Writing Smisi.psd & Avargus – Art Olandyr – Feedback The Mandela Catalogue & The Longeyed Project – Inspiration 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrophysical 999 Share Posted February 20, 2023 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olandyr 452 Share Posted February 20, 2023 me when 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeSmoothie 4865 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 3 minutes ago, Olandyr said: me when this face made me pause writing for a solid 10 minutes so I could stop laughing. theyre so silly. goofy even Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DistantCryprid 265 Share Posted February 20, 2023 OH YEAHHH i love my mandela catalogue refferences! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexmagus 576 Share Posted February 20, 2023 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exogens 934 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Backrooms Tupla event when? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemomancy 2835 Share Posted February 20, 2023 i expect backrooms lore after this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannamannaa 1626 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Looks great, few questions: Does the original body used to make a tulpa have an impact on ability (Orc strength vs Human strength, etc?)? If the original body (crafted Tulpa) was altered somehow (animii limb, redstone tattoos, etc) how would that carry over? Does mimicry only copy the physical form or the outfit/garb as well? Are there limits on what race's bodies can be used to make tulpas? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeSmoothie 4865 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 On 2/20/2023 at 3:47 PM, Mannamannaa said: Looks great, few questions: Does the original body used to make a tulpa have an impact on ability (Orc strength vs Human strength, etc?)? If the original body (crafted Tulpa) was altered somehow (animii limb, redstone tattoos, etc) how would that carry over? Does mimicry only copy the physical form or the outfit/garb as well? Are there limits on what race's bodies can be used to make tulpas? Heyo! Most of these are answered in the lore. All Tulpa have seasoned Ork strength, and due to their shifting, the original body matters very little. It does copy the outfit/clothing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleur___ 92 Share Posted March 1, 2023 I really like this 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vilebranch 280 Share Posted March 3, 2023 help im being gangstalked Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Songwitch 1438 Share Posted May 15, 2023 This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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