Teratan Elementals

Elementals with "monstrous" forms.

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Chehhalput

Peninsular elementals shaped like giant reptiles.

• Lifespan: 500 years
• Diet: Elemental slurry
• Habitat: Peninsulae
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed or Colonized

Chehhalputs are, in their base form, the size of the peninsulae they represent; however, they usually channel their consciousness into a smaller vessel, usually about 8’ tall if they are bipedal or up to 20’ long if they are not. They always take the form of a large reptile made up on the land, water, and vegetation of their peninsula. The reptile is usually crocodilian (even if no crocodilians are native to their area). If they are not bipedal and anthropomorphic, they can have as many legs as they want, up to 20. They always have six eyes made of shells, stones, or seeds that burn with a green light.

Chehhalputs convert anything they eat into an elemental slurry, melting it in their gullet and swallowing it. This is easy if it is not industrial magic, but they can even convert industrial magic with some effort. Thus, they are omnivorous.

In their smaller form, they have the ability to speak to any animal, plant, or fungus native to their home peninsula (including any underground or off the coast thereof, up to a limit). They can commune with other elementals, especially viridianites, of the region, and they have control over one specific aspect of the peninsula (its earth, water, air, animals, plants, or fungi, usually). In their larger form, they are the peninsula and therefore have complete control over it.

To take on their smaller form, they must give up most of their power and control, and while they can return to their larger form so long a they are on the peninsula, they cannot switch back and forth easily. If they return from their smaller form to their larger form, they cannot return again to the smaller form for a year and a day thereafter, and must rest substantially between.

If they are on another peninsula, they have limited control and power over it, and they can commune with the local chehhalput, if there is one.

Chehhalputs worship elementals and Mother Shem, oceanic deities and elementals, and other beings of nature, and they consider themselves protectors of the natural world they embody.

They rarely leave their own peninsulae, but if they do, there is always a good reason for it, usually to do with protecting it. Some. however, have been captured and enslaved by imperials or somehow prevented from returning to their greater form.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 17 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 8 STH 6

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Crystal Folk

Elementals of light, made of crystal.

• Alignment: Elemental

• Lifespan: 500 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Crystal fields and light forests in the sky

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Crystal folk never stop growing unless they trim themselves regularly. As adults, they can reach up to 30’ in height if they are untended, but most keep themselves to 10’ or so for practical reasons. If they dwell in non-giant societies, they shave themselves down to the height of those they dwell with. They are made entirely of jagged crystals filled with different colored lights. Crystals are all translucent, but they also vary in colors. They are anthropomorphic to a vague degree - they have arms, legs, and long, jagged fingers - but their faces are blank unless they sculpt them intentionally - something they do only to appease other mortals. They do have mouths, but only to speak with. Their voices come from the energies within them vibrating the crystals in their throats. They have natural indentations in their heads that are sometimes confused with eyes, but these are simply a consequence of how they grow.

Crystal folk have excellent vision. They can absorb esoteric energies and convert them into elemental light within their bodies (this is how they “eat”). They are made of crystal and therefore do not feel the cold, and heat is often absorbed unless it is extreme.

When any form of light touches their bodies, it is refracted. Part of it becomes elemental light, part of it becomes mundane light, and the rest remains the kind of esoteric light it was to begin with (if it was esoteric).

The energy within a crystal person can be directed by them from within their core (torso) and out of their hands in beams. These beams are pure elemental light or mundane light, usually, though they can redirect other forms of esoteric light if they have stored enough of it. If they use their inner light, however, they must recharge.

Most crystal folk come from the sky continent Gyrah, where they dwell in a country called Lesedi and tend a massive magical mirror called the Lesedian Mirror. They live in a classless, stateless, egalitarian society and commune with the light of the world and all magical energies. They are deeply spiritual and worship Sedeia, the Mother of Light. They have no concept of gender.

In the imperial lands, they are extremely oppressed. They are considered too strange to keep as slaves, though the lack of needing to feed them sometimes means people attempt it. They are very much pariahs and outcasts.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 10 Toughness 12 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 6

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Malakonian

Shrimp-like salt lake elementals.

• Lifespan: 60-80 years
• Diet: Fish
• Habitat: Salt lakes
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Malakonians are 2’ long beings with the lower body of a shrimp made of salt and the upper body of a fey being.

Malakonians can breathe underwater, swim very well, and can walk along the bottom of deep salt lakes without being affected by cold or pressure. They are affected by cold if they are outside of salt water. They can speak to the animals of those lakes and know everything that happens in any saltwater lake, pool, or pond they are in. This does not work in seas or oceans. They do not need to drink water, but they do need to submerge themselves in saltwater once a week.

Malakonians are part of the ecosystems of salt lakes. They live in small communities and mostly hunt fish and crustaceans. They are often blissfully unaware of the larger world, but when they find out about it, they want to explore it and see it. Imperials oppress and exploit them.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Swim 10 STR 4 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 11 ESS 8

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Megamanos

Pressure elementals taking the form of giant hands.

• Lifespan: 50 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed or Unknown

Megamani exist in places with intense pressure, taking the form of the material under pressure - magma, rock, petroleum, water, air, or any other natural material - formed into a living, conscious hand about 2’ tall and wide.

As pressure elementals, megamani can exert or release pressure both literal and metaphorical. They can grasp pressure and either intensify or release pressures, which they sense via their palm. The more metaphorical, unnatural, or magical the pressure, the harder it is for them to interact.

Megamani exist anywhere the natural pressures increase to a certain point, though few become strong enough to gain consciousness. Those who do are released from being tied to the pressures that created them, and these form small bands that exist independently in strange places - underground, undersea, and in powerful storms, mostly. They absorb elemental energies around them for sustenance.

However, many are found and captured by imperials to be used as slaves for powerful weapons or industrial machinery. These sometimes “earn”, gain, or steal their freedom and find themselves in imperial society. They are often still exploited, much like pretty much everyone else, but they can sometimes force greater payments and support because of their rare powers.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 Grip 15 AWA 8 WIL 10 PRS 7 STH 9

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Nightgaunt

Elementals of darkness.

• Lifespan: 150 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Places where light is rare

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Nightgaunts are impossibly thin, with black, slick, rubbery skin. They have no faces. Their horns curl inward. They have prehensile claws and a barbed tail. Their wings are large and membranous. They make no sound, not even when they move.

Their claws and tail cause an intense tickling sensation if not used as a weapon. They have acute senses despite not having faces, and they can control the darkness around them. They fear nothing and are impossible to control. They can survive in deep space and frigid cold.

They feed off energy of any kind, which they absorb through simple proximity, which is why they dwell near the Spirit Gate under Shem or in areas of the moons where energies are high.

Nightgaunts dwell within shadow and can wrap it around them protectively, command it to consume anything that has ever reflected light or cast a shadow itself, or use it to move through nearly instantly. When something is consumed by shadow, it ceases to be and often never was, and its substance is absorbed by the nightgaunts. They rarely do this except in cases of extreme danger, however, and only the most powerful can do so. Shadowwalking is also energy-consuming and only used to retreat into the safety of pure darkness.

There are six nations of nightgaunts, but one dwells on the Grey Moon: the Annogtl, living in the shadowy areas of the far side of the moon.

The far side of the Grey Moon has a region that never sees sunlight, and there, strange flowers grow. The Anoggtl keep these strange gardens and protect the night itself.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 17

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Rychelley

NPC only

Island turtles.

• Lifespan : 10,000 years
• Diet: Fish and plankton
• Habitat: Bodies of water
• Socioeconomic Status: Matriarchal

Rychelleys are elemental island turtles. They embody different kinds of islands, floating in water with some kind of island on their backs. They can be as small as a few feet or as large as a few miles

The powers of a rychelley are determined by the kind of island they represent. Sandbar turtles and volcanic isle turtles are very different. But all of them are very perceptive, can sense fluctuations in the waters around them, and can control the island on their back at will. They are sea turtles who will protect their island at all costs, and thus, they do not dive or go on land.

They are feared even by the ruling class, so no one hunts them except the most vicious, ruthless, or suicidal. They live in small clustered communities, cooperating with other species living upon them.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Swimming 14 STR 25 Shell +10/+10 AWA 17 WIL 17 PRS 11 STH 7

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Yarthen’pa

Flat-topped dust people of the plateaus.

• Lifespan: 60-100 years

• Diet: Minerals and common mortal fare

• Habitat: Plateaus

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Yarthen’pa are 4’ tall hominids made of dark brown or black dust. The top of their heads are completely flat and a little taller than they should be proportionately. They have four legs (two below their torso, and two on their elongated rear body, like a centaur) and bright brown eyes. Their rear legs end in hooves; their forelegs end in claws.

All yarthen’pa can climb up anything no matter how steep. They have impeccable balance and endurance. They can camouflage in rocky, sandy, dusty, or dirt-based landscapes by standing still. And they can sense the pulse of the plateau they are from, even when far from it.

Yarthen’pa live in extended family communities, often with complex matriarchal and matrilineal clan systems. They have a culture that focuses on protecting and preserving their plateaus, hunting and gathering for food and resources, sculpting the cliff sides, digging tunnels, and various sports and games, especially running and ball games similar to football/soccer. They have annual gatherings where every clan or community brings a team out to play and compete, though the stakes are always low.

In imperial societies, they are often enslaved or exploited.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Endurance 13 Climbing 20 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 9

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Zahar

Cave elementals.

• Lifespan: 200 years
• Diet: Minerals and water
• Habitat: Caves
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Zahars have different forms depending on the kind of cave they are from. Their base form is that of a bat-faced figure made of stone and darkness, about 3’ tall, with claws and fangs, usually grey and black in hue.

• Alcove: winged with an extra pair of arms
• Anastomotic cave: six fingers on each hand and a third eye in their forehead
• Anchialine cave: gilled and finned with bluer flesh where it is usually black
• Angular network cave: narrower bodies, better climbing claws, and long tongues
• Ant hill: ant-like chitin instead of stone
• Blue hole: worm-like legs
• Branchwork cave: gator-like features
• Breathing cave: huge bulbous throat
• Burrow: furred bodies
• Canyon: pika-like legs
• Cave-in: flat bodies
• Cavern: basic form
• Cenote: open hole in their chest so their heart is visible
• Chasm: centipede lower body
• Communal burrow: multi-animal form
• Crater: metallic eyes
• Crevasse: icy skin
• Endogene cave: large lower bodies
• Erosional cave: blue skin and gills
• Estavelle/Inversac: huge mouths
• Exogene cave: large upper bodies
• Foiba: long reptilian tail
• Fracture cave: fractured skin
• Geode: crystalline eyes and studs on body
• Glacial cave: icy spines
• Grotto: pocked skin
• Gully: insectoid eyes
• Hole: greenish skin
• Ice cave: icy eyes and tail
• Karst spring: large hands
• Karst/solutional cave: large feet
• Lava tube: burning flesh
• Littoral cave: gills and bulging eyes
• Maternity den: smaller body
• Mine: metallic flesh
• Mortuary cave: bony spikes
• Overhang: upside down form
• Paleoburrow: skeletal thinness
• Pit: darker shadows
• Ponor: huge tongue and teeth
• Ramiform cave: randomized
• Ravine: slug-like lowerbody
• Rock shelter: longer arms
• Root cave: leafy flesh
• Salt cave: salted flesh
• Scalloping: constant weeping
• Sealed cave: no lungs
• Show cave: more human-like face
• Spongework cave: holes in stony flesh
• Talus cave: muscular legs and arms
• Tube: very narrow form
• Tunnel: smoothed out form
• Warren: rabbit-like ears and legs
• Waterfall: spider-like legs

A zahar will have powers also based on their base cave form, but they all have echolocation, darksight, direction sense, and digging claws. They can smell life in their caves, and they can sense water within a mile of their cave. Gravity has no meaning within their cave, but exerts itself outside their home cave.

Zahars live in their caves in small communities that shape the cave into a small village or town, living on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cave. They build complex structures, maze-like passages, and images out of the stone. They believe that deeper underground is the Source Cave from which they all originated.

Imperials use them to find minerals and metals to mine.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 9