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| Rime Slick |
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Posted by: __denby - 05-01-2026, 10:27 PM - Forum: Fungi
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Rime Slick
"There ain't ice in the 'greal, don't go touchin' no iced-up trees." - Woodsman' Advice #4
![[Image: ZYVu7pt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ZYVu7pt.png)
Summary:
Erupting outwards from certain species of evergreen conifers within the upper heavy-rainfall regions of Sangreal, appears a white fungus. It appears almost crystalline, jutting outwards in spine-like structures that tend to group in clusters of five to seven. It is this appearance and similarity in structure to ice crystals of the far north that have given it the moniker, 'Rime Slick'. Wet to the touch, and visibly almost transparent, this fungus is particularly aggressive towards conifer trees, The main tactic of this aggressive fungus is a progressive girdling of the conifer's bark, and once accomplished this inexorably leads to the death of the trunk. Once deceased, the entirety of the tree will be consumed from the bark, inwards. It is an off-white, translucent color being much like the ice of its namesake.
Word-of-mouth tails warn of extremely large examples of Rime Slick being capable of expressing digestion processes that can erode and progress through living tissue. That being said, scholars do not believe in the validity of a fungus being able to infest or deal much damage to living tissue beyond contact with toxins. Younger samples of Rime Slick do not seem to exhibit much toxicity, and there has been little success in alchemical cultivations of the plant to an age great enough to investigate these claims.
Basic Description:
Rime Slick is a surface-dwelling fungus that exclusively infests the bark of conifer trees on the island of Sangreal. It maintains the appearance of a crystalline, frost-like structure upon the bark, often forming structures of spikes in clusters of five to seven. Similar in translucency and appearance to rime frost of the far north, the crystals are generally off-white in color. Texture is similar to to that of tofu or cheese, firm but able to be crushed and pressed between the fingers.
Rarity: Uncommon
Location:
General throughout the Sangreal. It is a fairly common fungus when small, and larger sizes in the progress of girdling trees are typically rarer. Most have been destroyed due to association with folklore, but rumor is held that there was once an entire copse of trees in the Goggledol that were infested by fully-grown Rime Slick. Allegedly destroyed by an expedition, there have been no appearances of colonized rime slick organisms.
Properties:- Spongy, ice-like appearance.
- Inedible, high water volume, invasive fungus.
- Exclusive to conifer trees.
Special Properties:- Extremely large and mature varieties of Rime Frost may be capable of digesting living tissue.
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| Greal Goat |
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Posted by: __denby - 05-01-2026, 04:04 PM - Forum: Fauna
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Greal Goat
"It will test you not as a curiosity, but as a question it intends to answer with its teeth.” - Naturalist Peltyr Brambivich
Summary:
It stalks with impunity among the whole island of the Sangreal, a creature whose status among the field animals cannot be explicitly determined. Studied extensively, the Sangreal Goat, often shorted to Greal Goat is a goatlike cloven-hoofed animal whose preferred terrain is as varied as its diet. This goat much like its Westcontre counterpart can easily survive in most climates on the island, and is capable of greatly supplementing its food sources with flesh and bone. Whether this originated as a survival strategy for hard winters amongst the species of goat, it is presently unknown. Roughly sixty percent of the Greal's diet is suspected to consist of meat and carrion, including bone, cartilage and otherwise discarded elements of a prey-kill. Appearing very similar to a typical goat, barring heightened muscularity, quicker reflexes and forward-facing eyes, they can go unnoticed amongst a group of the typical domestic herd ungulates. Farmers in the periphery of settlement on Sangreal have suspected that some share of the nighttime losses of livestock are due to the Greal Goat and not wild canines or bears.
The Greal Goat forms small familial groups, often with one larger male and a pair of females with their offspring. These groups can reach in excess of twenty to thirty goats at times - and when such groups grow that large, they are capable of preying even on other herds of livestock or even villages of weaker fare. Like their herbivorous cousins, the Greal Goat is a master of breaking-and-entering, challenging even the most experienced farmers with keeping them contained against their will.
Basic Description:
Greal Goats are on average shoulder-high to a halfling, two to three feet at the horn and somewhat larger than the typical goat species on the island, possessing of much greater musculature. They also possess thicker jaws and heavier jaw musculature for the purpose of tearing flesh from carcasses. Front incisors are elongated and scissor-like, with developed canine-like teeth in place of the standard herbivore pre-molars. Fur can range from dark grey to mottled browns and whites, often possessing a darkened 'mane' of hair across the back of their neck and spine much like a horse. These goats possess narrow cloven hooves with pliable webbing, permitting extremely sure footing across a variety of terrain.
Rarity: Uncommon
Location:
Greal Goats are widespread across the island, appearing to be documented in every territory except for the adjacent island of Sol Pylece, where humidity and temperature would make it miserable for such a goat to exist. The animals prefer to live in the highlands, though are not particularly afraid of sapient life and take their common misidentification as an herbivore for an opportunity to infiltrate and thrive in areas free of the species that would otherwise prey on the goat.
Properties:
- Obligate carnivore, consuming 60-70% of diet in meat and bone while supplementing with vegetable and plant-matter.
- Front-facing eyes, strategic group-based predator behavior. Known to stalk prey over long distances on occasion, and engage in ersatz tactics.
- Sharp, canine-like teeth and scissor-like incisors allow the tearing of flesh and cracking of bone.
Special Properties:- The bones and horns of the Greal Goat are almost identical to brass in their density and durability due to the increased nutrient intake of the carnivorous goat. They cannot hold an edge.
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Ascension of the Magicks |
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Posted by: __denby - 04-28-2026, 06:07 PM - Forum: Mythos and Faith
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Ascension of the Magicks
A Primer of Magicka and Spirituality of the Sangreal
![[Image: 9heu8NE.png]](https://i.imgur.com/9heu8NE.png)
~~~
Of the great and terrible things roared forth unto the differentiated abyss, there were a series of words in counter-nature to the Illumination, woven by the great thinking beast that themselves underpin the torrents of creation issued forth out of the shadowed Mother. Intelligence, raw and pulsing with disgust and bile, like tainted surreptitious worms the power and will of the beast was lashed to the abyss. It was the nature of this corruption, the thing that could behold and the beholder of the thing to be corrupted which imbued within it a sort of power. Understanding, or the capacity to understand being given unto the great beast, its emanation having the capacity for metacognition, saw itself as the first child. Of blackest mirror, issued forth out of an act of carnal anger between illumination and the abyss. The cosmic dance had been set forth, and it was the echo of the child's anguish that set certain things into motion. Where of the Illumination descended the known Wills, the emanations of the childly beast enraptured the cage of experience that the godhead now found its power mired. In such, the tone and the hand may itself emanate and shape these. Such is the secret knowledge that is claimed to be held by those who in clandestine cloisters worship. Culturally speaking, the words contained in the 'Ascension of Magicks' are commonplace. Some used as curses, some seen as words unworthy uttering for their connections to death and disease. Hedge-witches mutter them and alchemists trace the runes associated with them out of mere superstition - yet there are still rumors of those who work real power. It is said the power of the Beast, whose worshippers refer more reverently as the Child, marks those that wield it. Progression along the 'path' erodes the light of the divine that flickers within.
It is worth noting that the Ascension starts at 'thirty', noting that there must have been thirty utterances of the Beast in that event of pre-incarnate rage that underweaves our current presence in the Sangreal. Six forms - themselves being both words and symbols, somehow - represent the six elements, known as magicks of the elements.
30. Pashteq - Water - a Circle.
29. Amahn - Air - a Dot.
28. Kalion - Fire - a Line.
27. Molliyan - Earth - a Triangle.
26. Encegon - Metals - a Square.
25. Pashkegon - Light - a Triangle divided left by line.
Reaching the twenty-fourth form, it is suggested by texts that one passes a threshold in some supernatural power. Many of the hedge-magick association suggest that only after 'mastery' of the previous five forms, is one able to progress. Whether this means having used it, having drawn it, memorized it or something else - the layfolk is unsure. Of the next set of forms, we find represented the five courses of emotion that tie man and beast together in form. These are known as the magicks of the spirit. It is assumed that a master of these forces would possess the capacity, somehow, to manipulate it within their own and other flesh.
24. Mohtep - Thought - a Square flanked right by two Dots.
23. Qolpha - Control - a Triangle bisected and crowned by Line.
22. Emis - Prophecy - Two Squares adjacent.
21. Kohn - Suffering - Double Triangles crowned by Line bearing a single Dot.
20. Daija - Bliss - Triangle divided left by Line, flanked by three Dots separated by Line.
Upon the nineteenth form, there is only one historical account of a practitioner. A solar elf of the House Ireaht possessed runic seals of the 19th Form, Ykele allegedly granted to him by a divine emissary. This elf of Ireaht could in essence, cure any ailment and restore even lost limbs and organs - it is with this known record, that there is some guarantee the names and forms of magick are legitimate. A mechanism of use still eludes even the devout practitioners. From the nineteenth form, we descend through what are known as magicks of the blood, the shackles of divine flame within flesh.
19. Ykele - Healing - Double Square crowned Triangle.
18. Golyon - Harm - Square emerging Line right, flanked by four Dots, buttressed Line right.
17. Aishtep - Aging - Triangle trisected top by double line, central Dot and flanked by two Dots. Accompanied right Triangle bisected by Line left legged by Line.
16. Cacoillon - Necromancy - Double square capped top and bottom by Triangle, bridged double Line.
15. Mintassa - Polymorphosis - Tenth framed triangle, bisected by line, downward facing.
Of thirty utterances, only nineteen possess known symbols reflecting them. The final four with known symbols are those known as the magicks of the spheres. Associated with the physical structure of the realm of the Sangreal, it is presumed that knowledge or effectuation of these forms would enact some sort of control over these fundamental forces. It is noted that as the descending order progresses, the complication of each symbol increases.
14. Poryphassa - Space - Tenth quadresected line and thrice Dot arrayed leading left to ascendant right.
13. Axkon - Gravity - Tenth square trine Dots, facing down.
12. Belisor - Acceleration - Tenth, containing descending Triangle, framed ascending Triangle crowned by two Dots.
11. Ont - Time - Tenth trisected above and below, crowned by Triangle and footed by Line.
Some scholars would suggest the 'casting' of spells was accomplished either by compounded runic inscriptions, or by the vocalization of the symbols' less-than-divine nomenclature. A scrap of spellpaper from the aforementioned House Ireaht presumably describing rune placement reads, 'Amahn-pashteq trisected below Kalion, crowned in Molliyan and served by ...' No surviving fragments fully describe the process by which one 'activates' these runes - though it is also believed this may have been a symbolic language describing some internal esoteric process.
~~~
![[Image: 2wkaLzT.png]](https://i.imgur.com/2wkaLzT.png)
~ ~ ~
The final set are rumored to exist, approaching a concept known as 'Monadus'. A state of being known as 'the abyss of mind' is referenced as being necessary to achieve forms beyond the 11th. Given that the lowest form known to have been utilized in ancient history to be the 19th, it would be an impressive 'mage' indeed to achieve the 11th. A man (or woman) of measure beyond measures. Cults, as one knows require the uninformed to see a path of 'ever-striving'. These are known as the 'passage of the archmage.'
10. Tont, 9. Yamele, 8. Gokyon, 7. Seb, 6. Saballon, 5. Quinto, 4. Quartos, 3. Theysan, 2. Dorok, 1. Ayne, 0. Monadus.
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| Ash Cricket |
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Posted by: __denby - 04-28-2026, 05:19 PM - Forum: Fauna
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Ashcricket
"Where the mountain cracks and smoke sings, the ashcricket waits with jaws of steel." - Neatapolitan Miner's Tale
![[Image: AD_4nXcybo9uwNxuKeiUtljaebJaRBsNsIHGRIHP...RGDhueRcjB]](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcybo9uwNxuKeiUtljaebJaRBsNsIHGRIHPR4M7SGtXtjIN3ZtOnFIL-2FyKVOVs4DbxcYPwxGJJz745sM7sqZ1mb5fK8cHETFqLNFZ8aTHQH6NBOIvrM1_NLo_4ANv1AJzzXrRRA?key=OOWtNvvcxLEd0kRGDhueRcjB)
Summary:
The ash-cricket is a rare, wagon-sized insectoid creature found within the volcanic and mountainous regions of the continent. Typically localized to Grafangu or Neatapori, the beasts do make their way elsewhere depending on underground lava flows, caves, or even the rare overland forage. Dwelling deep within tunnels and vacancies within the earth, it sustains itself on combustibles - particularly coal, charcoal and sulfurous rocks - which it ignites internally, essentially a walking metabolic furnace. Byproducts are typically combusted and expressed as a toxic vapor or fume that emits from beneath the wing-like appendages of the ashcricket.
Basic Description:
Being roughly the size of a wagon, ten to twelve feet in length and up to eight feet wide, these ashcrickets are covered with a segmented black exoskeleton. It is believed that the exoskeleton is comprised of iron sulfate and elements of high-carbon content metalloids. Confirmation of this theory can be made by anyone unlikely enough to engage with one, the beasts' armor being almost too tough for standard weapons to penetrate. It possesses six jointed limbs, each barbed with sharp spines capable for digging and climbing. Multifaceted ember-like eyes sit afront it, capable of low-light vision and thermal detection. Twin mandibles, serrated and glowing orange at the tips - they are superheated, and incredibly dense for digging within and crushing stones. Small gaps within the thorax exoskeleton emit sulphureous black fumes, toxic to those organics within a near radius.
Rarity: Ultra Rare
Location:
Centralized to Grafangu and Neatapori, there are known nests in the Ashneedle Peaks and the networks of lava tunnels nearby. It is native to most mountainous volcanic regions of the continent, burrowing deep into coal and metal seams, emerging only when disturbed or excessively hungry. Sightings have been noted to increase after rockslides, mining explosions or volcanic tremors; these events often awakening dormant colonies below.
Properties:
Feeds on combustive, or metallic materials. Notably coal, sulphur, saltpetre, iron, etc.
Converts heat to movement by thermal locomotion.
Molten and Gaseous excretions of toxic sulphuric gases and iron sulfate.
Emits a sonar-like pulse of clicking sounds that echo through stone.
Special Properties:
Capable of emitting a 'vomit attack' of whatever molten contents remain currently in its stomach.
Armor made of an iron-sulphate/carbon steel matrix, capable of making effective armor plates.
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| Verduran Colossus |
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Posted by: __denby - 04-28-2026, 04:54 PM - Forum: Fauna
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The Verduran Colossus
"Not all that walks in the forest is of it; some are of the stars." - Elder Botanist Luren Thay, Encounters Beyond the Veinlands
![[Image: AD_4nXdCNgecVyPxfHBmnMtmtnVXZNp3dCQRQbkK...RGDhueRcjB]](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdCNgecVyPxfHBmnMtmtnVXZNp3dCQRQbkKQo-rkZkDMl6LCxIECqvDP_R9cb3p7-Uhalsz2kKJykB9rq0jYE4SCHT7i-5dzALAB7e-UJBbwGveuViTHE1mL0MJB7_cyubWLeOwoA?key=OOWtNvvcxLEd0kRGDhueRcjB)
Summary:
The Verduran Colossus is a legendary, plant-originated turtle-like behemoth of the continent's more wooded regions. Made mostly of ancient trees, moss-covered stones and living vines, the creature is less of a living thing and more of an idea of nature given shape. It has no true head, more a headlike stone, often with gemstone eyes and molten currents pulsing beneath the surface. Some believe the beast to have formed around a magical stone fell from the heavens, much like a pearl forms around grains of dust. It is believed these beings to be older than most kingdoms, seeing as their great size forms only slowly. It is a moving ecosystem, bearing soil, plant and animal life across its great shell. The beast itself consumes coal and other minerals, potentially possessing some sort of reactionary furnace within.
Basic Description:
Generally fifty feet in height, seventy feet in length, incredibly slow moving. More akin to a shambling mountain or hillock than a creature, should one make itself apparent it is likely to be tracked and pursued either by hunters or other opportunists. Its body is a mountainous shell of interwoven tree trunks, moss-draped stone, and living flora, with birds and insects making temporary homes in its canopy-shell. The mouthlike front cavity contains various gem-like sensory organs, some possessing perceived arcane properties.
Rarity: Legendary
Location:
The verduran colossi wander forests and ridgelines on the cool side of the valley or range, often in shadow, making advantage of the more shaded regions of the forests to hide its immense size from potential predators and would-be thieves. Rarely decsending into valleys, the colossi prefer higher altitude where mineral-rich soils dominate over the loam of the alluvial plains. As a byproduct of its habitat, large areas of earth are often rooted - as swine would - promoting often an overgrowth of thickets and small underbrush amidst ruts where previously the forest floor was solid and clear.
Properties:
- Huge, Armored Shell of tree and stone.
- Non-hostile, but territorial if surrounded or if coal is removed from nearby deposits that it claims. It can easily level buildings if threatened.
- Considered a natural spirit or divine custodian - many city-states bans on attacking or mining the beasts for risk of vast destructive rampages.
Special Properties:
- 'Astera Core' - Made of a sort of star-metal, it is believed to be the motive force of the colossi. Radiating heat and low sound pulses, scholars suggest the stone acts as a sensory matrix, allowing the colossus to sense and process information. Alchemists claim that this is the root of bringing golemaic forms to life.
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| The Verduran Colossus |
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Posted by: BigDrago53 - 05-04-2025, 10:10 PM - Forum: Approved Lore Applications
- Replies (1)
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?? The Verduran Colossus
“Not all that walks on roots is of the forest. Some carry stars in their chests.”
—Elder Botanist Luren Thay, Encounters Beyond the Veinlands
? Summary
The Verduran Colossus is a legendary, plant-born tortoise-shaped behemoth, standing 50 feet tall and 70 feet long, dwelling deep in the mountainous regions of Grafangu and Neatapori. Made entirely of ancient trees, moss-covered stone, and living vines, the Colossus has no head—only a gaping, tunnel-like void at its front, within which floats a molten iron asteroid bearing a single glowing gemstone eye, suspended and guided by blue luminous energy. This being is believed to be older than the kingdoms, a living convergence of plant-life and star-metal, feeding not on soil, but on coal, which it consumes to fuel its mysterious movement and internal heat.
? Basic Description
Size: 50 ft tall, 70 ft long; slow-moving but unstoppable in stride.
Body: A mountainous shell composed of interwoven tree trunks, moss-draped stone, and living flora, with birds and insects making temporary homes in its canopy-shell.
Front Cavity: A deep tunnel-like opening where a metallic, semi-molten asteroid floats—its single gemstone "eye" rotating slowly, glowing violet-blue.
Suspension Field: A blue light (thought to be arcane or elemental in nature) holds the asteroid aloft and directs the Colossus's path like a beacon or sensory organ.
?️ Habitat
The Verduran Colossus wanders the high ridgelines, collapsed calderas, and basaltic crags of:
Grafangu’s Blackroot Alps.
Neatapori’s Broken Range: Especially near geothermal fissures.
It rarely descends into valleys, preferring elevations where coal-rich stone meets deep-rooted ancient vegetation. No one knows if it sleeps, or if its slow pace is its dreaming.
?? Properties & Behavior
Coal Consumption: Unlike herbivorous beasts, the Colossus burrows its front cavity into coal deposits, drawing the energy up into the asteroid’s core. The glowing eye intensifies as it feeds, releasing gentle tremors and thermal pulses.
Mobile Forest: Its shell supports an entire living biome. Flora growing on its back changes with elevation and temperature, suggesting climatic control or resonance.
Soundless Movement: Despite its massive form, it moves without footfalls. It causes tremors only when feeding or disturbed, otherwise gliding over the terrain as if partially weightless.
Ecosystem Restoration: Trails left behind often bloom with fast-growing plant life, rejuvenating stripped mines or scorched forests. Some scholars believe its steps awaken the land.
? Special Properties
Property
Description
Asteroid Core
Made of pre-Sangreal star-metal. Radiates heat and gravitational pulses. The gemstone acts as a sensory matrix, allowing the Colossus to "see" through terrain and emotion alike.
Gem-Eye of Kalmarith
Said to be a fragment of the Celestial Archon's gaze. When threatened, it flashes bright blue, releasing a pulse that disorients thought and freezes action in sentient beings.
Symbiotic Flora
The Colossus hosts sapient lichen, bioluminescent creepers, and air-purifying vines, some of which only grow on its body and are used in sacred medicine and memory rites.
Root-Sense Navigation
It does not see with eyes or hear with ears. It feels the pulse of root, rock, and resonance beneath the soil. It is drawn to coal by heat and emotional memory left in the stone.
Mystic Vitality
Cannot be harmed by fire or blade alone. Its living body reconstitutes over time, especially when in contact with raw coal or sacred ash.
⚠️ Legends & Beliefs
Called “The Walking Shrine” by Neatapori druids, who consider it a sacred beast of balance, walking the seam between life and combustion.
Grafangu myth says it was once a fallen star, broken in grief when its twin perished during the creation of the world.
Hunters and scholars alike claim that those who gaze too long into the gemstone eye may receive visions—or lose themselves in forgotten memory.
? Known Risks and Curiosities
Non-hostile, but territorial if surrounded or if coal is removed from nearby deposits it claims. Its eye-pulse can level small buildings if threatened.
Considered a natural spirit or divine custodian—both kingdoms enforce bans on attacking or mining near its path.
Alchemists and geomancers offer ritual coal sacrifices to draw its path closer for study, or to reclaim blighted land.
“When the stars fall, they burn. But when one takes root, it walks.”
—Inscription found on a weathered druidic tablet in the Blackroot Vault
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| Ashcricket of Grafangu and Neatapori |
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Posted by: BigDrago53 - 05-04-2025, 09:21 PM - Forum: Approved Lore Applications
- Replies (1)
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Ashcricket of Grafangu and Neatapori
“Where the mountain cracks and the coalsmoke sings, the Ashcricket waits with jaws of embered steel.”
—Old Neatapori Miner’s Warning
? Summary
The Ashcricket is a rare, car-sized subterranean insectoid creature found only in the volcanic and mountainous regions of Grafangu and Neatapori. Dwelling in the deep coal-veins and ash tunnels of the earth, it sustains itself on combustibles—particularly coal, charcoal, and sulfurous rock—which it both consumes and ignites internally, becoming a walking furnace. Regarded with a mix of fear and reverence, the Ashcricket is both predator and natural phenomenon.
? Basic Description
Size: Roughly the size of a small wagon or car (10–12 feet long)
Body: Segmented black exoskeleton streaked with glowing red fissures. Plates resemble volcanic rock fused with obsidian.
Legs: Six jointed limbs, barbed for digging and climbing, capable of incredible bursts of leaping power.
Eyes: Multifaceted and ember-red; capable of low-light vision and heat detection.
Mandibles: Serrated, glowing orange at the tips—superheated and capable of biting through stone and steel.
Internal Furnace: Visible through gaps in its thorax plates; glows white-hot after feeding.
?️ Habitat
The Ashcricket is native to mountainous volcanic zones, particularly:
Southern Grafangu: Especially the Ashneedle Peaks and collapsed lava tunnels known as the Embercoil.
Northern Neatapori: The Blackvein Mountains and the Fireroot Rift.
It burrows deep into coal seams and dormant volcanic veins, emerging only when hungry or disturbed. Sightings increase after rockslides, mining explosions, or volcanic tremors—which awaken dormant nests.
? Properties & Behaviors
Combustion Feeding: The Ashcricket consumes combustible minerals and ignites them in its internal furnace. The heat fuels its movement, reproduction, and bioluminescent mating displays.
Thermal Locomotion: Converts coal into raw heat energy, allowing for short-range flame-propelled leaps and rapid tunneling.
Flame Breath (Minor): When threatened, it can vent pressurized superheated gas from its spiracles, briefly igniting surrounding material. Not a true “flame breath,” but devastating in confined tunnels.
Molten Excretion: Leaves behind a trail of half-digested mineral slag—often mistaken for volcanic flow—used by alchemists as a source of rare trace elements.
Sound Emission: Emits a rhythmic crackling-chirp that resonates through rock. Often mistaken for tectonic movement or machinery by untrained ears.
? Special Properties
Coal-Seeking Instinct: Possesses a hyper-acute sense for carbon-rich materials. Some miners report it can detect coal seams before they're visible.
Heat Aura: Proximity to an active Ashcricket raises ambient temperature drastically. Tools become hot to the touch. Torches often sputter or extinguish due to local oxygen disruption.
Ashbirth: Rarely, when overfed, an Ashcricket will go dormant and give rise to a nesting mound—a hissing cocoon of slag and ash that hatches 2–3 emberlings after several weeks. These juvenile Ashcrickets glow brighter and move faster, though they lack full armor.
⚠️ Known Risks and Uses
Highly Dangerous to miners and travelers near active coal seams. Attacks are often mistaken for collapses or gas explosions.
Hunted only by experienced beastmasters using coal-bait traps.
Valuable Slag: Their waste material is used in alchemical forging, especially for heat-resistant alloys and incendiary powders.
Superstitions: Neatapori lore considers them “Children of the First Fire” and bad omens of deep-earth anger.
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| Race - Deep Kindred |
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Posted by: BigDrago53 - 05-04-2025, 12:23 AM - Forum: Lore Applications
- Replies (1)
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Deep Kindred
“To understand them is not to disarm them. It is to kneel beside a mountain and hear it speak.”
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![[Image: AD_4nXdsot2MIEMPF7fEZPMaNGetOVYDB3I6sDcX...RGDhueRcjB]](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdsot2MIEMPF7fEZPMaNGetOVYDB3I6sDcXNaniEKezznz011fhiXbIfdYnm1IVg4IpCYwdA76GADmQF6eessgwL4xp4rlSC07_WlQg75mDKazDP_ihFP1z9s3zLrQAkzMEjYCeQw?key=OOWtNvvcxLEd0kRGDhueRcjB)
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✦ The Deep Mythos of the Kindred Below
"All that is hidden is not dark. All that burrows is not blind."
—Inscription from the Gate of Silor-Vaan
❖ The Song Beneath the Stone
In the beginning of the shaping of the world Sangreal, before the stars were counted and the mountains were named, there walked a lesser divinity called the Archon of Trust. He was not made by the demiurge who shaped the world’s bones, but born instead from a single act of sacred belief—a trusting hand offered in darkness, before even language, before even light.
The Archon was not strong in flame or storm. He ruled no sky, bore no spear. But he could not be lied to, and those who stood in his presence found themselves speaking plainly, or fleeing. From his breath came the Resonance, a living vibration that moved through rock and soul alike, sounding falsehood as a bell sounds a crack.
It was in the forgotten caverns of Sangreal’s belly that the Archon took clay and memory, iron and intention, and made the first of the Deep-Kindred—not as beasts, nor soldiers, but keepers. Their purpose was not conquest, but remembrance. Each was a living vow.
❖ The Covenant of Memory
The Deep-Kindred were gifted with the Heartstone, a luminous shard of the Archon's own soul, grown within their chests. It did not merely give life; it gave direction. In it was written the Law of Trust:
Speak only what you mean.
Remember all that is given to you.
Do not break the silence of stone lightly.
For many ages they served beneath the world, keeping the Resonance pure, crafting vaults of memory beneath the mountains, where the oaths of kings, the confessions of the wicked, and the final songs of dying races were stored in crystal.
They were known then as the Silorim, the Faithful Below.
But soon those confessions of wickedness from the haflings corrupted the archon of truth forming wrath that corupted half of us filling them with haterid.
❖ The Shape Beneath the Vow
As wrath grew, a hidden truth surfaced: the Deep-Kindred bore within their souls an ancient, deeper form—the Deep-Form, vast and burrowing, made for flightless survival, not reason. In ages past, before they had language, this was their shape. It was not sin—but it was danger without counsel.
Now, in pain, many returned to that shape. Some did so in battle. Others in grief. And some simply could no longer bear to be misunderstood.
The world above remembers these transformations not as sacred grief, but as monstrous terrors. The Deep-Kindred do not correct them. They simply withdraw deeper into the stone, where false stories cannot reach.
❖ Prophecy of the Stoneborn Heir
Some wyrms—especially the eldest—believe in a coming age when one of the Kindred, born from the womb of a Wither-Wyrm and a Faithful, will walk both worlds. This child, called the Stoneborn Heir, will bear a Heartstone neither blue nor red, but white, and their voice will cause even the Archon of Wrath to pause.
Until then, the Deep-Kindred do not forgive. But they do remember.
❖ Their Creed
Before each battle, at each birth, and after each betrayal, the Deep-Kindred speak these words:
“We are the silence that keeps the oath.
We are the hands that do not strike first.
We are the wrath that does not lie.
We are the stone that remembers.”
When the world of Sangreal was still pliant as soft clay, the Archon of truth beheld that all things above were made with glory: beasts of fire who leapt from mountain peaks, wingéd creatures who laced the skies with wind-song, and giants of bark and iron who danced upon the plains. Yet below, the earth was hollow and waiting, a promise unfulfilled. And so he went downward, not as a master nor as a conqueror, but as a gardener descending into shadow to tend a seed.
In the caverns beneath, where light had never passed and the stones slept without dreams, he stooped and whispered into the bones of the world. With hands of light wrapped in patience, he shaped the Deep-Kindred—the burrowing wyrm.
The Flesh of Stone, the Blood of Trust
The Deep-Kindred are bipedal, humanoid wyrms the males standing between 11 and 13 feet tall and the females standing between 9 and 10 feet tall, broad-shouldered and thick-boned. Their silhouettes are unmistakable—part colossus, part monk, part forgotten god. To see one standing still is to mistake them for a statue; to see one move is to forget breathing.
Their skeleton is made of calcite-laced bone, veined with quartz filaments that conduct not only nerve signals but minute vibrations from the world around them. Musculature is dense and slow-burning, optimized for endurance rather than speed. Their strength is titanic—not in burst, but in persistence. A wyrm can dig through bedrock with bare hands and lift collapsed stone pillars from the ruins of old cathedrals. Their joints are reinforced with stone-hard cartilage and flexible silicate discs that shift slightly with emotional state—fear tightens them, calm relaxes them. Their skin is layered dermal armor, a composite of living tissue and embedded minerals.
Over the course of their life, their skin absorbs traces of the stone they live among—basalt, obsidian, limestone—becoming a map of their journey. In wyrms who remain aligned with Trust, their skin is a polished grey-blue, flecked with runes of bio-luminescence (a soft white or blue glow) which pulse gently during conversation or contemplation. Wither-Wyrms, having fallen into wrath and judgment, show blackened, jagged skin—cracked like volcanic stone, glowing faintly from the fire of the Heartstone within. Injury does not bleed easily. The skin seals itself through mineral coagulation, and scars remain forever, forming rune-like fissures that tell stories without words.
Their eyes are deep-set and crystalline, layered like a geode. Each eye is capable of sensing thermal shifts, tremors, and moral incongruities (a kind of “truth-sight”).
They do not blink. They simply gaze, long and still.
Rather than ears, they possess internal resonance chambers in their collar and upper chest. These detect subterranean shifts, heartbeats, and changes in voice that mortals cannot perceive.
Their sense of smell is carried by vapor spiracles in the neck and jaw—these can detect mineral content, emotional pheromones, and even ancient decay.
Wyrms speak not from the mouth but from a chest resonance chamber, where voice is formed like a slow bell tolling in stone. Their words reverberate through caves, metal, and dreams.
Their neural tissue is intertwined with crystalline memory-strands. They do not forget. Memory is not stored—it is grown.
The Heartstone At the center of every Deep-Kindred's chest, partially visible beneath translucent chest-plates, is the Heartstone: a bio-crystalline organ that regulates emotion, memory, and moral clarity.
It glows with resonance—blue for peace, white for solemnity, red-gold for wrath.
It responds not just to the wyrm’s own emotions but to those around them.
The white Heartstone only happens when the one of the prophesy is born.
The red Heartstone symbolizes someone with a sadistic mind with poor morals and a darkend soul. Wyrmlings are born about 3–4 feet tall, already able to walk within days, but mentally infantile. They reach maturity by age 60, and are trained by both parents in memory-discipline, stone-speech, and moral philosophy.
Their Average lifespan: 900–1,200 years.
Old age is marked not by frailty, but by deepening resonance—their voices gain depth, their thoughts slow, their judgment sharpens.
Ancient wyrms develop rune-cracks across their skin and glowing rings around their Heartstone—signs of a life heavy with memory.
Some elder wyrms choose stone-sleep: a voluntary hibernation in caverns of silence, awaiting an age when trust might rise again. Some wyrms who are righteous and devout to the people are trained to become rune writers who put the first rune on a child's heartstone and they can write runes on older wyrms.
The white heartstone can only be acheived by being born to a blue and a red heartstone wyrm.
Note: One playing this race must make a special character request.
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| Roller-Poly |
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Posted by: __denby - 05-03-2025, 12:17 AM - Forum: Fauna
- No Replies
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Roller-Poly
"The Sulfur Burrower of Grafangu"
![[Image: AD_4nXfx3wwbdErQywqWbknrZWC5OliyXBIH-TWr...v5Wtznhabg]](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfx3wwbdErQywqWbknrZWC5OliyXBIH-TWrqDSV2oR1Ghk_PzRognjWvI1zEOaTR3iBuulRlNR1jVyK8iNfdNyTO_BjIDEFyO09tO2WouuiyUNr6a4bnOJcggYepsgCjmfbhzhr?key=TkSBtgn38ew_v5Wtznhabg)
Summary:
The Roller-poly is a colossal insect native to the high-altitude peaks of Grafangu. Characterized by its massive size, unique plough-shaped head, and affinity for sulfur, this creature plays a crucial role in the ecological and geological balance of its remote environment. Often traversing the mountainous terrain by rolling around on a giant granite sphere, the Roller-poly at times uses the sphere as a hunting tool.
Basic Description:
The Roller-poly, or Sulfur Burrower, named for its diet and subterranean habits, resembles an enormous beetle with armored plating and a forward-projecting, wedge-like head. Averaging the size of a small car, it uses its robust, scoop-shaped cranium to dig through rock and snow, exposing mineral veins. Its segmented body is coated in a waxy, heat-resistant shell, allowing it to navigate the harsh and acidic conditions of its niche environment.
Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Location:
This insect inhabits the high, wind-scoured ridges and fumarolic slopes of the Grafangu mountain range. These mountains, known for their frequent seismic activity and rich sulfur deposits, provide the ideal setting for the Roller-poly. The creatures are rarely seen below 3,000 meters elevation and are most active during the volcanic seasons when sulfur emissions are at their peak.
Properties:
- Size: Approximately 4 meters long and 2 meters wide
- Coloration: Deep slate-gray with yellow striations, helping it blend in with sulfur-coated rocks
- Diet: Primarily feeds on crystalline sulfur and other volcanic minerals
- Behavior: Solitary, slow-moving, and mostly nocturnal; known to emit a low, rumbling hum while burrowing
Special Properties: - Sulfur Metabolism: The Sulfur Burrower has a highly specialized digestive system that converts sulfur into a viscous, flammable mucus used to line its burrows and deter predators.
- Plough-Head Structure: Its head is reinforced with a dense, chitinous alloy, making it capable of cleaving through solid rock with ease.
- Thermal Resilience: Its body can withstand extreme temperature shifts, from glacial cold to geothermal heat, due to an adaptive bio-reactive shell that adjusts density based on thermal readings.
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![[Image: Et3yvIu.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Et3yvIu.png)
