[ September 1st - October 1st ]

Spooky things are afoot. Mysteries abound. Ahh--look there, in the shadows! A contest!

ORIGIN is giving our players a chance to help shape the wildlife of [REDACTED]. This means that you can submit your designs for a new set of Lesser Gembounds! What we're looking for can be summed up (mix and match as you wish) with these aesthetic notes:

• Ethereal
• Evasive
• Elusive
• Magic
• Dim pinks and purples, charcoal greys, blues (but feel free to experiment or go wild)
• Mystical
• Mythical
• Echoes and whispers

Please note that additional themed behaviors and abilities will be designed by GMs, and then rolled randomly to apply to various chosen Lessers, so you will mainly only need a description, niche, behaviors, etc. For an additional design aid, these creatures will still exist within Origin Cave, in (relatively) dimly lit, specific areas of high magic concentration.

Submit your concepts using the form below; you may include art if you want, but it is not required. You can give us a mental image using words, instead. In a couple weeks, we'll gather up all the submissions and--depending on how many there are--likely start a voting process to see which make it into [REDACTED].

Rewards

You may submit as many Lesser concepts as you like. Every submission, up to three, will be awarded 50 Magicka--just claim that in Magicka Market with a link to your submission. That means you can earn 150 Magicka by submitting at least three, but you can submit as many as you like--it's just that the reward caps at the third.

Those that wind up chosen to exist on-site will garner additional rewards! Depending on how many submissions we get, competition may be tight...

Please use the following form, and make your submissions here. You may make separate posts for each, or edit existing posts to add more concepts. (Just make sure images don't stretch the board!)

Code:

<b>OOC Name:</b>
<b>Creature Name:</b>
<b>Creature Size:</b>
<b>Creature Diet:</b>
<b>Creature Description:</b> (include any art, physical description, along with info about the creature's danger level, behavior and quirks here!)

ENTRIES close October 1st and then VOTING begins.

OOC Name: Cicada
Creature Name: Mirrorbeast
Creature Size: Gorilla
Creature Diet: Mainly herbivorous, also includes some insects/small animals like lizards or mice. Things it could grab in its hand and put in its face without needing to rip it apart first (e.g. no deer)
Creature Description: Approximately the shape and size of a gorilla, the distinguishing trait of a Mirrorbeast is the unique texture and appearance of its... fur? It is unclear what its 'coat' is really made of. When viewed from any side from afar, the Mirrorbeast almost seems to be a flat surface, with no third dimension, but up close, it is like a cut diamond with many angled crystalline surfaces. Although its smooth black surface is mirror-like in that one can see reflections of oneself and the surroundings, it seems to absorb ambient light rather than reflect it back. However, its outlines and edges give off faint blue or violet glimmers. It has no face or facial features like eyes, a nose, ears, or a mouth. When it eats, it delivers the food to its head with its hands, but instead of a visible mouth opening, the food seems to fall right through the dark, reflective surface of its head and disappear within its body.

It does not usually make sounds and does not have a voice in the traditional sense; even its movements are eerily silent. However, if one is close enough to touch it, one may begin to hear indistinct whispers emanating from its mirror-like surfaces. When truly angered, it roars, a sound reminiscent of a waterfall just out of sight and a thousand voices faintly speaking jumbled words.

The Mirrorbeast is largely solitary and avoids others of its own species. It neither seeks out nor flees from outsiders, and will largely ignore anyone who approaches or even touches it, but it is sensitive to strong emotions (e.g. intense anger or fear) and strong and disruptive magic (e.g. high-intensity energy spells, corrupted magic) and will react violently to either one until they are eliminated. It avoids loud noise and bright lights, but never runs away: at most, it walks at a speedy but still elegant pace. Its ideal seems to be calmness. It refuses to interact with Gembound-made tools, objects, or technology.

Creature Name: Nebula Newt
Creature Size: The length of your forearm, including your hand
Creature Diet: Mosses, flowers, fruits, and insects. Will eat leaves and stems if they are succulent and juicy enough, but cannot digest things like grass, tree leaves, or woody stems. It has a preference for colorful foods, especially flowers, and will bite off an entire flower and just chew and eat it. Will eat pastries, sweets, and other such processed foods if fed.
Creature Description: A large newt-like creature, with clouds of swirling colors on a pale pink, purple, or (rarely) blue 'background' on its skin. Its patterns vary in size and color based on what it has recently eaten, and how much. A runty newt that cannot compete for more colorful foods may only have a few specks of color, while a well-fed newt may have a swirling galaxy of beautiful colors on its skin. Newts who are very well fed have enough resources and energy to grow extra folds of tissue on their newt-like tail, allowing it to spread out like a fan behind them while resting. The most colorful newts with the biggest fans tend to be the most successful in finding mates.

Nebula Newts tend to congregate in groups from three to twenty, but there may be fierce competition over the prettiest foods. The fastest, smartest, strongest, or most agile newt wins. Sometimes groups of weaker newts may form "alliances" among themselves to acquire and defend pretty foods together, and then share the spoils. These alliances are sometimes honored, sometimes betrayed. They are extremely skittish when active and feeding, but while resting, they can be found clustered on cave walls, rock outcroppings, or in patches of plants/flowers, where they will not flee unless attacked. One can take all the time in the world to observe their beautiful colors up close in this state.

Nebula Newts are generally not aggressive toward larger gembound, or even smaller gembound (as long as the small ones don't compete with them for food, but even then, the goal is simply to get the food, not murder).

Creature Name: Souls-in-a-jar
Creature Size: Variable, from the size of a pencil jar to double the size of a large closet.
Creature Diet: Anything organic, magical energy
Creature Description: Named for its love of hiding in enclosed spaces, souls-in-a-jar can be found in rock crevices, abandoned belongings, half-open geodes, old buildings, or even skeletons (or individual skulls and ribcages)--pretty much anything even vaguely resembling a 'container' can house a soul-in-a-jar.

A souls-in-a-jar is made up of a dark violet or blue material with a soft pink, violet, or blue glow around the edges. Unhealthy souls lose the glow and turn a greyish shade of the original color. Although amorphous enough that it can fit itself into the container shape of its choosing, as long as the volume is right, it can also form limbs solid enough to reach out of its container and grab things--mostly food. The limbs mostly take the shape of slender, human-like arms and hands, although different limbs can be observed once in a while. The size and number of limbs depends on the size of the souls-in-a-jar, as that determines the volume of material available to form limbs.

It can sense food outside its container through vibrations, heat, moving shadows, or simply by reach out once in a while and feeling around blindly. Once it locates food, it pulls it inside its container and envelopes it, sapping its magical energy and then digesting its physical matter. Any indigestible matter is thrown from the container by a limb as far as it can, to avoid leaving suspicious piles around... though the success of this strategy depends on the strength of the souls-in-a-jar. They do not appear to communicate with others of their own kind, even if some are nearby. Their number one goal in life seems simply to acquire more food and grow. They are dangerous to Gembound they are large enough to eat. Souls-in-a-jar grow to fit their container, and they can divide themselves once large enough by splitting another mass of amorphous tissue from themselves and letting it crawl away to find a container of its own.

OOC Name: Dark
Creature Name: Scryer
Creature Size: 1-2 Feet Long
Creature Diet: Omnivorous
Creature Description:

Scryers

These harmless, koi-like fish with long fins appear to have once been introduced as beautiful decoration. Their pearlescent scales shimmer in any light, splashed with hues of alabaster white, dark slate gray, black, and rich purples. Long whiskers and six (usually purple) eyes help them to navigate the waters of [REDACTED]. A strange adaptation has taken form as a defense: if the school senses danger, for example a predator above, they turn to flash their flanks toward the threat, and illuminate a bioluminescent marking that looks like a purple eye to stare toward the potential danger. This tends to ward off predatory Lesser Gembound (and the occasional naive Greater). It can be eerie to see a cascade of glowing eyes abruptly illuminate darker waters. Aside from that, the Scryers' flesh is nutritious and tasty, and their diet--surface-going insects, tiny aquatic life and even plants--leaves them easy prey to any who can 'see' past their staring defenses.

art traced off multiple koi on unsplash! i can't draw fish okay

OOC Name: Dark
Creature Name: Witness
Creature Size: ~4 Foot Wingspan
Creature Diet: Carrion
Creature Description:

Witness

Social, shy owl-like Lessers, the Witnesses are reclusive and hard to find. They avoid any conflict, and do not usually prey on anything larger than a mouse--and even then, only when very hungry. The preferred food of the Witness is carrion: they seem to be industrious cleaners, of a sort, their small and mostly silent flocks moving between the higher points of [REDACTED] in search of food. Physically, their soft and slightly iridescent feathers provide soundless flight and tend toward dark gray-purple and -blue, while glowing, toxic blood comes in hues of phosphorescent blue-green through various violets, indigo and pink. That blood informs the color of both their eyes and the tips of their quills: pointed and sharp as a defense mechanism, strewn throughout the feathers of their chests, neck and back. These quills light up when the Witness feels threatened, infusing with the toxic blood in case of attack. Four long-taloned claws on two legs grip the branches or rocks upon which they roost. Two stiff, cartilaginous ridges draw up and back in a hammerhead shape above the eyes; between them is a feathery crest that raises in times of stress or lowers when relaxed.

The Witness has two strange quirks that make it notable. First, their flocks--upon locating a creature that seems to be sick or dying--will cluster overhead, following and watching with glowing eyes against the shadows, waiting for it to die. They never attack still-living prey, but they are skilled at arriving at the precise moment of chrysalization or death to pluck a visible gemstone away, ensuring that they have a meal and not an inedible rock. Any resistance, however, sends them flying off in a glowing panic. Second, they are mimics, with soft-spoken voices. While generally quiet, they call to one another with random words and phrases they have heard, although they're not intelligent enough to attach the correct tone to their calls. Given their prediliction for being present at the point of death, the Witness's calls are often the soft last words of Greater Gembounds. It isn't uncommon to hear a gentle, toneless "help" or "please" drifting through the shadowed corners of [REDACTED].

OOC Name: JayTheBird
Creature Name: Crystalback Rats
Creature Size: ~ 1 ft
Creature Diet: Omnivorous
Creature Description: Among Origin Cave, these rats are the odd ones out. Though omnivorous scavengers, they are smaller and can be fairly docile. Perhaps they did not have to evolve to be as dangerous as others, because of their elusive appearance that blends in among their preferred habitat in [REDACTED]. They tend to have colonies near gemstone deposits, and blend in quite well when lounging lazily due to the symbiotic crystal formations that grow along their backs which give them their name.

Vocally, while they seem to open their mouth to make noises, their voices are only audible to other Crystalback Rats. With patience and a careful search to find them in the first place, it is possible these rats could even be tamed and trained. Perhaps one could collect the shed of their crystal symbiotes for material, or simply keep them as entertaining companions.

Appearance wise, they can be very diverse, but the most common coloration can be seen below. However, they come in all colors of the rainbow for their crystal symbiotes and their fur tends towards more subdued colorations with a variety of markings.







OOC Name: JayTheBird
Creature Name: Storm Whisperers
Creature Size: 12-13 inches from head to tail
Creature Diet: Scavengers
Creature Description: Storm Whisperers are very quiet birds. They rarely make any noise at all, with the one of two exceptions being when a storm is coming to [REDACTED]. They seem to have a strong sense from when an oncoming storm is. Some less scientifically minded Gembounds might even think they summoned the storm themselves.

When they do make noise, it is a hissed whisper that grows louder and louder as more of the flock takes on their call.

They also make noise to 'help' more dangerous beings hunt by alerting them to prey with their whispers and then scavenging off the body. In either case, the lessers of [REDACTED] know that to hear a Storm Whisperer is to hear danger.

OOC Name:
Creature Name: Chandledeer
Creature Size: 3-4 feet at the shoulder
Creature Diet: Herbivorous
Creature Description:
Danger: extremely low
Chandledeer are a enigmatic deer species. They are silent, usually roaming in small groups of three to four, seeming to appear and disappear when one looks away. They are most notable for their massive antler racks, in the vague shape of a chandelier made of deer antlers. On their necks as well they have three sets of short, tubular antlers. All of the chandledeer's antlers are hollow and end in holes. Their bodies have long, silky straight hair that covers their legs and bodies, partially concealing them and making the chandledeer difficult to grab. The tail of chandledeer are long as well, ending in a donkey-like tail with the same flowing hair. Chandledeer are unusually passive, even for cave deer. They dont seem to run away from most creatures. They remain aware of them, watching lazily, but do not bolt. That is, until a creature comes within seven or so feet of them. Once that line has been crossed, their defense mechanism comes into play. The chandledeer's hollow horns exude a deluge of pale, opaque smoke and the chandledeer bolt away with stunning speed. The chandledeer also use this smoke for communication between individuals, letting out small puffs from their nose or neck antlers. They can control the color of the smoke, and have different colors and puff frequencies for different things. Male chandledeer rarely fight between each other, but those that do become an easy snack for predators as their antlers readily entangle.

Creature Name: Duplicator
Creature Size: 6-8 feet long
Creature Diet: Carnivorous
Creature Description:
Danger Level: High
The duplicator is a bizzare newt-like amphibian covered in soft spines with the ability to change colors. The duplicator has a spade shaped face with seven eyes, and its tail is very similar in build, with markings resembling its eyes. The duplicator's real eyes are small and beady, a pearly opalescent, save for the large eye in the center of its head. It is normally grey, but when spotting prey or something interesting it will swirl with changing colors. Its tail eye, predictably, matches these color changes.

Duplicator bodies are chunky, flat, soft, and slimy, potentially leading one to believe they are harmless. However, the jaws of the duplicator are strong enough to punch through most hides. The duplicators most often lie in areas of low foilage, slowly raising their tail when they spot prey. Once their tail is raised enough to be used it splits down the middle, revealing a pearlescent orb in the center. The orb projects a harmless but lifelike mirage of the duplicator, which they use to lure terrified prey towards their real bodies.

The duplicated duplicator stalks towards their prey, rapidly flashing colors and patterns and baring silent jaws as the real duplicator hopes to terrify their prey into walking straight into them. When something sees through the duplicators ambush, though, they immediately give up. The disgruntled duplicator lugs its body away, searching for another ambush spot. Young duplicators may throw a tantrum when spotted, rolling around, growling in frustration, and biting at random things around them.

Creature Name: Maresnake
Creature Size: 1-4 feet long
Creature Diet: Hematophage
Creature Description:
Danger Level: None
The maresnake is a winged, hooded snake. Its head is long and thin, and not as flexible as most snakes, though they can open them horizontally a near 180. Inside the mouth of the maresnake are strangely small and numerous fangs, all of which are hollow, and a tongue with many flanges. Its eyes are large with wide horizontal pupils. The mare snake's hood is strangely shaped and droopy, with long specialized scales with star shaped projections at the end. Most maresnakes lack any display inside the hood. Its wings have four padded fingers, as well as gripping spikes. The maresnake is mostly nocturnal, coming out when the cave lights dim, as most of its prey is sleeping then. Its heatpits, belly scales, and ears are highly sensitive, which it uses to locate the sounds of snoring or sleeping creatures.

When it finds one, the maresnake finds a soft spot to bite, uses its hood and wings to clamp itself to the area, and digs in its tiny, straight fangs. The maresnake's tiny fangs make the incision mostly painless, which it uses to inject its potent venom. Maresnake venom numbs the area and sends their victims into an even deeper slumber. Despite their names, the dreams given by most maresnakes are good albeit strange dreams, as they leave victims less likely to wake up. However a small percentage of maresnakes, notable by the eyespots on their hoods, give nightmares rather than good dreams. Their venom is no less potent than normal maresnakes, though their victims tend to wake up quicker due to the unpleasant dreams. Regardless of type, all maresnakes will ignore any creatures smaller than them, not even seeing them as potential prey. The only sideffect most feel once waking from a mare dream is slight fatigue.

Creature Name:Mystfox
Creature Size: 1.5-2 feet high at the shoulder
Creature Diet: Omnivorous and magivorous
Creature Description:
Danger Level: Annoying, potentially dangerous to tiny gembound
The mystfox is a slender blue and pink fox-like creature with long legs. Topside it is covered in soft, floppy, cerata(i had to look that up i had NO IDEA what to call them) that extend from its neck to its tail. At the center of its tail is a pale blue orb. Mystfoxes have long ears and a pair of floppy antennae. The mystfox's face is shaped in such a way that it seems to always be smiling, and its calls are echoing giggles. They are curious and playful creatures, and may trail an interesting gembound or lesser from afar in slowly amassing groups that end up as a gaggle of ten to fifteen mystfoxes. Though normally shy, as more amass they begin to grow more confident, and may dart at the target to engage in bouts of play, occasionally trying to take bits of their fur, feathers, or their items, playing games of keepaway and chicken with themselves and their unfortunate target. When sufficiently spooked all of them go silent and the cerata on their back shiver, turning them invisible in a flash. The mystfoxes flee, usually dropping whatever it was they stole.

Mystfoxes are opportunistic omnivores, and most often go for whatever is easier to eat, be it fruit, carrion, or insects. While they may eat smaller gembound, they are more inclined to use them as unwilling play things and toss them between each other. Mystfoxes can sustain themselves on magicka, and a hungry mystfox may stalk an unwitting gembound to slap with their tail orbs. They then turn invisible and dart off to snack on bits of the unfortunate gembound's magic. When the magic orb on a of a mystfox is at capacity, the mystfox will sprout another orb next to its original tail, then from that a full tail begins to grow, fuelled by the filled magicka orb. The age of a mystfox can usually be determined by how many tails it has.

OOC Name: Comet
Creature Name: Glow Wisps
Creature Size: 2in - 1ft
Creature Diet: Insects and flying things same or smaller in size
Creature Description: (include any art, physical description, along with info about the creature's danger level, behavior and quirks here!)
These look very much like jellyfish, except they float in the air instead of underwater. Depending on the variety, the umbrella of the creature can in the shape of domes, pyramids, diamonds, spheres, spirals, or spheroids. The tentacles look like wisps, so that when these lessers float about or "swim" in the air they seem to leave a trail of light behind them.
They can come in all sorts of colors as well. The most common are shades of pink, purple, blue, grey, and yellow, though it has not been unheard of to see them in shades of red, green, or white as well. The are transparent, and pulse with light. The light is the most intense in the center of their bodies. They may float in groups, though they can also be seen drifting off by themselves.
They are passive creatures, always choosing to flee. When they are being chased by a predator, they propel themselves in similar fashion to jellyfish and they increase their glow in an attempt to blind the predator or make it hard to see them. Some may also release glitter behind them which may induce drowsiness or cause sneezing to deter predators.
The tentacles can sting, but it is harmless to anything that's not insects. It may be fun to touch them for a strange tingling feeling.

OOC Name: Shadowlugia711
Creature Name: Weeping Cloak or Wailing Cape
Creature Size: Ranges greatly even in adults, from 6 feet tall to 9 feet tall
Creature Diet: Opportunistic - Primarily carnivorous but will eat fruits, honey, and other calorie dense foods.
Creature Description:

The Weeping Cloak is a wyvern-like creature, with a pair of legs and large wings. It stands mostly upright, if somewhat hunched, stalking around on three-toed talons. Its main body is covered in scaled plates and smooth skin, that are grey or black.

Its wings are also smooth, and their 'hands' only have one finger separate from the wing membranes. The wings typically have a similar coloration as the main body on the top side, but are a bright and vibrant color on the underside. This is often red, pink, purple, or blue. They also additionally have a third membrane hanging off their back from the base of the neck, giving the illusion that the entirety of their wings are a cape around them.

Their head is smooth and scaled. Their lower jaw splits into two mandibles when opening, but they are still connected by skin and flesh. Weeping Cloaks have needle-like teeth, for grabbing a hold of prey and not letting go. Their eyes glow, often in the same color as their wing undersides, and escaping magical energy leaks out of their eyes, causing a trailing set of wisps that often appears as ethereal flames or lightning. These wisps typically fade when the Cloak's eyes are closed.

Its preferred method of hunting is ambush, in which the Weeping Cloak will tuck its head down and wrap its wings about it, to hide its bright colors and appear as a large, weird rock. Should a fitting prey item wander too close, it flares open its wings, before wrapping them around its target, snaring them to tear into with its jaws. The same magic energy that leaks from their eyes is uses to burn and shock the constricted prey.

Should they not be hiding, they typically walk around, haunting [REDACTED]. When on the move, they usually don't attempt to hunt, and are instead looking for a new place to rest, a mate, a scavenged meal, or otherwise something that won't come to them.

Their vocalizations are loud, haunting cries, that can sound like weeping, crying, or wailing. They often employ these calls to lure prey to investigate their hunting grounds.

This thread is now closed while we look it over!