Commission from Yivah of my Arhulian in a war morph. This came out amazingly!
Arhulians possess a 'living metal' inside of them called Arhdrargyrum. This material is able to be sculpted and manipulated by the Arhulian that created it. (This is "tamed" Arhdrargyrum where it's all but impossible to manipulate by anyone that is not the creator. Untamed Arhdrargyrum can be produced, but it is rare, and often used as a gift or ceremonial purposes.) This living metal can be used for a variety of dynamic morphs, blades, shields, reinforced bones, sub dermal armor, etc… how much Arhdrargyrum and Arhulian can control and how quickly they can morph it depends on their psionic ability and training. Blade morphs are regarded as the easiest combat morph due to their simple function and lack of reconfiguring more complicated parts of the vessel.
Down below is a vignette of a fully realized/mature Arhulian taking on a platoon of soldiers with roughly late 1800's level equipment. Although not explicitly a fan story, it draws a lot of inspiration from @chocodile's / @kwillow's Amaranthine setting. Perhaps it could exist in the same AU with Niadris.
It would have been simple to terminate their sentry and slay each soldier in their sleep. But optimal was not on this Arhulians mind. They had watched it all from the distance, They had a vow to observe theriantropes quietly from a distance to avoid undue panic and fear. A vow they now regret adhering to so strictly. Although Vorandrus had no formal connection to the hamlet in the tundra, the remnants of the hamlet and its inhabitants, filled the Arhulian with a maternal rage. What was this decimation for? If there was no language barrier, the truth would have done nothing to extinguish the Arhulian's anger, perhaps even inflaming it all the more. The villagers had been reporting of "monsters" yet these soldiers took such offense to the contradiction of their state sponsored truth, these people were put to death to silence their dangerous ideas. After all, if monsters were real, a missing hamlet would be perfectly ordinary.
Three. Those would be the allotted witnesses. The other twenty-seven would be slain, and they would be made sure to see their end coming for them. The assault had started slow and conspicuous at first, to ensure this collection of soldiers could bring their full might to bear - so they may be confronted at their zenith, and struck down for an ever louder statement. Rifle bolts clicked into place. The Arhulian could sense the spatial position of the bones in their arms as each shot was readied. For a fifteen foot long beast, the Arhulian were a damned hard shot as they dashed, leapt into the air, and even bounced in between the trees. A lavender halo shimmered behind their head. Vorandrus' veins tingled, - stung even - as power coursed though their body. Unlike magic, this power came from within. The soul. This power fed into the vessel to overcome the physical limits of the body and pushed it beyond. The comparatively few shots that would find their mark would be hollow victories, for Vorandrus had no vital organs to hit, each punctured vein pinched itself shut, the flesh itself defiant to damage as solid wood.
The Arhulian forelegs had been morphed into scythes that slice flesh and bone with cold indifference. Every slash would render its quarry cleaved in twain, and every thrust impaled as deep as the Arhulian could reach. The strikes were as precise as they were devastating - each felled soldier had their brain or heart destroyed with each attack, sometimes both. Their deaths having swiftness equal to their ferocity was the only mercy afforded to them.
The soldier's morale shattered completely once they were composed enough to recognise that half of their number was already dispatched in brutal fashion. They began to retreat on their snow mobiles, but those that were not quick enough found their means of egress tipped over or impaled through the engine with a mighty lance of tungsten. Others found the Arhulian's tail or a thrown object hurdling towards them at a deadly velocity. Eight managed to speed away on their snow machines.
There will be three, and only three that remain.
Vorandrus was fast and agile, unnaturally so even, but these noisy contraptions had the Arhulian beat in a straight line on deep snow while lacking the burden of stamina. Even with channeling psionic energy - power of the will and soul - into their vessel to draw upon impossible reserves of vigor, they still could only run down one target at a time. Wounding their pride somewhat, Vorandrus picked up the rifle of a dispatched soldier. The weapon seemed almost toy like in the Arhulians' large, three fingered hands. This particular rifle had been reloaded just before the skull of it's wielder had been pulped by a blunt strike. From how they counted shots in between reloads, this bolt action rifle had five shots with the assumption that it matched the others. The Arhulian operated the mechanism, and aimed. They hoped that this range and the steadiness of their large frame would compensate for any defects in the weapon. Fortunately the men had begun accelerating away in a straight line with little angular velocity. The first shot missed. Just a bit to the left of the windpane of the four seat vehicle. That was a close enough visual cue to compensate. The second shot found its mark in the back of the skull of the driver. Seven.
Without a second breath, the Arhulian turned to the other vehicle while the first one veered off its trajectory. The third shot missed. The Arhulian cursed in their mind as their hand was operating the mechanism, the brass flying through the air seemingly in slow motion. An Arhulians nervous system normally signaled and received information about ten times faster than that of a therianthrope, and hyperexertion pushed it even further beyond that. Unlike the Arhulian 'guns' that accelerated an inert projectile across a series of rails or coils, these weapons operated with comparatively unpredictable combustion. The fourth shot wounded the driver and their recoil of pain spelled doom for their transport and they collided with a tree. Before the tree even finished rattling and creaking, Vorandrus moved position and advanced to regain line of sight of the first vehicle. It had come to a stop, and it's three living passengers were just finished heaving the deceased driver. One shot left. They aimed for the center of mass of the group. Two of them were wounded. Lunging at full speed, the snow machine's cast iron engine casing was smashed open. No escape.
The two with wounds already were fully extinguished. Five. Vorandrus circled back to the crashed snowmachine as its occupants scrambled, leaving their wounded compatriot to die alone, as their mouth shouted shrill venomous sounds that could only be curses. The Arhulian's six eyes locked with his fearful two. Vorandrus could not admit to pity... but, this one has endured enough. The three dashing on foot shall only have one of their kin spared as a reward befitting their bravery. Three.
Although officially not acknowledged by the military, this incident has been declared the Massacre of West Pass. The accounts of the three men were written off as a vivid hallucination brought about by trauma, yet those in the field - those who saw the aftermath - knew deep down there was no state provided answer that could explain the situation with any satisfaction. Animal attack? The damage inflicted is consistent of an edged weapon. And what animal could take on thirty men with rifles? 'Self defense' from hostile locals? The idea that a hamlet with only hunting equipment to their name at best could inflict devastating nintey percent losses on trained soldiers would be a hideous emberassment. Militant hostiles? Nevermind the impossiblity of damage inflicted, there was nary a single casualty of the enemy or even a damned boot print at the site of the incident.
Perhaps most concerning of all, even if extremely hypothetically the military did entertain the idea of the culprit being "not of therian nor nature", the wounds were too targeted with a startling amount of decapitations and punctured hearts, along with the snow mobiles having their engines singled out. However, this refusal of the truth had a different undercurrent than incidents before. Those were simply not belived. This incident, did not want to be belived, for what it would mean. Either their idea of monsters - if they existed - was completely wrong... or more distressingly, there was something other out there that was beyond even the monsters.
At last, I got my big ref sheet for my original species! Art done by the wonderful monster master creepy_gun!
As hinted in one of my last posts, Arhulians are beings outside of this world. What are they? Where do they come from? At last, with a proper ref sheet, I can finally deliver the answer!
Morphology
I'll start with the former. Arhulians take on the appearance of large, vaguely musteline being with distinctly myriapodic morphology, with six (or rarely 7) pairs of legs. The foremost legs are bigger and more scythe-like as you would find on a praying mantis. Arhulians are mammalian, but laid out like a centipede. An mature individual averaged around 12-15 feet long from head to base of tail. There does not seem to be a maximum size they can reach. Rather, they choose to inhibit growth based on environmental factors such as habitat, food availability and convenience. Rumors have it that truly gargantuan specimens reside exclusively in the oceans...
Arhulians have three pairs of eyes, with the forward most set being the smallest, and gradually becoming larger towards the back of the skull. Each pair of eyes can focus on an independent subject, or examine a singular subject in extreme detail. Their irises faintly glow in dark environments.
Arhulians have a pharyngeal jaw - a second set of jaws nested inside the throat to aid in swallowing large prey - not unlike that of a moray eel. Arhulian bodies have the means to maintain the vital functions of their ingested prey, so that they may feed upon the psionic energy of their capture - nourishing their bodies in ways that defy mundane explanation. Depending on various factors, and the intensity of the feeding, the specimen is often released after several days to a week, with minimal atrophy, and little to no recollection of the event.
In addition to their primary appendages, Arhulians posses a series of fine skeletal arms, tendrils, and what appears to be natural syringes nested in cavities in between their ribs all along their body. These appendages are retracted when not in use, as they are frail enough to be damaged under an Arhulian's own body weight. The uses of these appendages range between nursing, administering natural remedies, fine manipulation, and more.
CW//Biology stuff, and mild body horror below.
Lastly, Arhulians are hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. Their male organs are housed inside their body when not needed, much like a cetacean. Their uteruses are unique as they are permanently enlarged, and capable of interfacing with live specimens - even that of other species - to host them, and preform fine manipulation such as; gene tailoring, consciousness manipulation, cellular reconstruction, or vivisection of the specimen without disrupting their vital functions.
In rare cases, Arhulians have been able to transplant a consciousness of a being from a failing body, into a newly gestated vessel.
Biological Wonders
Arhulian physiology has several qualities to it that leave biologists utterly stumped as to their finer workings of. The few that have had the privilege of getting up close with one consider their bodies to be living natural wonders.
One of the more 'straightforward' details is their complete immunity to disease, and their bodies ability to seemingly sterilize offending vectors without also destroying non-harmful specimens. Likewise, their bodies process toxins incredibly well, making poisons and drugs nigh-useless. For areas where contact with the beings have been established "A drinking contest with an Arhulian' is slang for taking on a challenge with an opponent that hopelessly outmatches you.
The next wonder is their bodies ability to not only quickly heal wounds in days that would take mundane beings weeks or months to heal, but their flat-out resilience to damage to begin with. This is credited to their circulatory system being able to detect injury and pinch off the ends of severed blood vessels. Given that most fatal injuries trickle down to blood loss at their core, this is a huge boon. In addition, the nervous system of the Arhulian seems to be capable of withstanding more severe damage than that of a mundane, much to the misfortune of anyone who has found themselves the subject of their wrath without mass firepower or liberal quantities of explosives.
Not last, and far from least, is their most wonderous ability of all. The ability to directly interface with the anatomy of living beings outside their species. The womb inside their large abdomen can house an adult sized person, and function as wholly extracorporeal life support.
Arhulian wombs have numerous internal hands and tendrils that assist in manipulating their patient, and posses specialized proboscis that can grow into the flesh and tap into the nervous system of the patient to maintain vital functions, and even establish a direct, mental link. In extreme cases, a patient can even be 'deconstructed' at the cellular level, right down their brain, and be fashioned a new vessel 'from scratch'.
As effective as the results are, such processes are invasive in the most absolute sense, and require the utmost trust between the patient and their Arhulian 'doctor'.
Tying in with the above, Arhulians posses hereditary memory. Allowing them to share lived experiences or even inherited memories of their own with the occupants of their abdomen through their dreams. Arhulians that are 'newly born' have often spent years inside their parent's womb conscious and 'baking' until they are developmentally on par with an adolescent.
Some Arhulians even take up the profession of being 'memory brokers' and allow visitors of their body to assimilate information and experience at levels that leaves 'higher education' in the dust... provided, you are willing to go into the belly of a multilegged beast and peer into your mind unfiltered... As before, the results are second to none, but they require nothing less than absolute trust.
And of course, there's the memories and knowledge gained of beings they have assimilated.
Psionic Abilities
One of the first things an Arhulian becomes acquainted with in life as they develop their psionic powers, is gaining access to the 'thoughtsphere'. The Thoughtsphere is a place where thoughts and memories can play out as vividly as if one were experiencing these events themselves. Like lucid dreaming, but at the same time, so much more.
Arhulians do not require sleep in the sense that other beings do. Instead, "sleep" is quieting their mind of external stimuli to gain access to the thoughtsphere, like deep meditation. The amount of information stored in an Arhulians hereditary memory may be too much for waking mind, and thus the thoughtsphere must be entered, much like how one would visit a library to consult the information stored there.
As an Arhulian matures, the Luminescent rings for their irises go from white to pink, to purple as they gain psionic power.
The other signature ability Arhulians posses is their 'Lifesense'. Arhulians can see the auras given off by living things. This sense is omni-directional, and it pierces solid matter. For non-thinking beings, such as plant life, their signature is like a very faint glow or hum. Thinking beings like animals produce more distinct signals, and conscious beings like people (or people-animals in my setting) are brighter/louder yet still. And the brightest of all are magic users and other psionics.
Each person, gives off their own signal with minor variances that can be distinguished from one another, as you would with a thumbprint. A person's signal can fluctuate based on their emotional state, becoming brighter, more 'jagged' and so on. Hence Arhulians themselves seeming outwardly calm and stoic - they have been trained at an early age to pay mind to the visibility of their aura.
The average detection range of an Arhulians lifesense is about 300 meters. When meditating, this detection range can be focused to a greater range, but in a relatively narrow cone. At close range, their lifesense can register a being right down to their nerves and veins.
With this ability in mind, it explains why Arhulian sightings are exceedingly rare despite the exploration being at an all time high - (The setting I envision them in is a low-fantasy Victorian era setting.) Arhulians have the means to observe without being observed themselves, and thus, remain hidden until they choose to reveal themselves.
It is speculated more powerful, and large Arhulian individuals have far greater detection ranges. Perhaps this is why no colonizer has ever found what island or small continent they hail from - none who have witnessed it has ever returned to tell the tale.
Habitat
With their myriapodic body structure, six eyes, and purple blood, it's clear that Arhulians are simply not natural beings - to this world anyways. Yet, *where* do they come from has never been answered, and any Arhulian is not willing to part with such information.
As to where they live, there is a mysterious island shrouded by a great shell of fog. Outside, this fog seems like a natural weather event. Inside, things are different. The sky is a deep lavender. The sun has become a blacked disk with an amaranthine corona. Outsiders that are not turned back and cross this threshold are not permitted to return.
The 'island' that makes up the Arhulian's home continent is a mass that's about 100 square kilometers (~40 sq. Miles) and a mile deep. This floating island glides across the deeper portions of the ocean, and is able to move to specific positions. This mass is a hive of Arhulian biomass that form organic, root like structures, with woven bone and inside are countless caves and cavities. The Island is covered in spectacular plant life that luminesces in blues, greens, purples, and pinks, while the air is completely free of any impurity.
This 'island' was once an Arhulian vessel that sailed the stars eons ago, and settled upon the world, acting as a gate between this world, and the Arhulian's enigmatic home.
Society
In a time that cannot be put into words - the concept of matter itself had congealed - the Arhulian collective consumed and devoured ravenously, leaving nothing behind but more of themselves. When faced with the consequences of their endless growth, the Great Mind of their kin faced a crippling, near-maddening isolation. Turning inward, the Great Mind condensed and reformed itself. In this new, young universe, The Arhulian collective resolved that no matter what, they would not consign themselves to solitude again.
Although not consciously knowing their true origin, Arhulians are possessed by a drive to become unseen stewards of the world. Quietly observing from a distance, maintaining the natural order, and when necessary, intervening. At smaller scales, they know unmoderated consumption would only drive them to devour all life as the world knows it, and in knowing that danger, they are resolved to prevent their 'younger siblings' from going down a path with no good end. Likewise, when an imperious upstart decides these moral bindings are too cumbersome to respect, the Arhulian collective is quick to remind them those bindings are also the chains that keep the 'real monsters' restrained.
After a period of isolation, when the world has become interwoven with ships of great sails, and even steam, have the Arhulians made their presence 'formally' known by revealing themselves. However, the world at large knows nothing of the abyssal depths these enigmatic 'tribals' truly reside in.
It would be incorrect to wish you a pleasant meeting from these 'visitors' from the stars, as in reality, they were here long before you. But nonetheless, sit down, and offer a spot of tea - they do find the ways people assemble flavor molecules quite novel - and you just might be given a vision of the cosmos no mind of this world has witnessed before. That is, if you are comfortable with their 'cozy' 'accommodations' and about a week of your time.
