i like your art a lot
do you have more Zerna lore you're willing to share?
I've actually had a master document that I've been sleeping on for years now because I wanted to accompany it with cool doodles but I suppose I can give a tiny teaser of what the Zerna are x3
The Zerna (plural: Zerna) are a species of semi-solid creatures of all shapes and sizes. They are essentially slime golems of completely artificial origin, and were originally created by an unknown ancient precursor race as a way to safeguard their most powerful Magitech from grave misuse. This unknown race is long gone now, but their Zerna constructs still persist to this day.
Zerna are composed primarily of two parts: a crystalline Magicite core which holds their lifeforce, and the viscous goo-like mass that acts as their main body.
The shape of the crystal is unique to an individual and is determined by the signatures present in their lifeforce (kinda like a fingerprint of sorts!). These crystals grow and shrink depending on how much energy they are storing. Zerna individuals, despite looking like slimefolk, are actually just the crystals themselves. The goo simply acts as an appendage for them!
Zerna goo is made of organic material that is supercritically charged with magic (think of it as like how matter turns into plasma when energized enough). Because Zerna goo is a non-essential body part, Zerna can actually exist purely as a crystal for extended periods of time where they are essentially in a state of suspended animation.
Zerna do not need to eat and sleep in the traditional sense. They consume ambient magic for sustenance, but if they want to increase their gooey mass, they are capable of consuming organic material to assimilate into their goo. This assimilation is a conscious and selective process, and does not automatically occur because of the large amount of energy required to supercharge organic matter into Zerna goo (except in very specific circumstances).
The form that Zerna bodies take depends purely on their lifeforce. Despite being mostly made of amorphous goo, they have limited shapeshifting capabilities. Zerna bodies always want to return to a stable form, and extreme amounts of focus is required when shapeshifting. However, some Zerna (like Cil) can have multiple stable forms, just like how some minerals in real life can take on multiple crystal structures!
That's all I can share for now, have an unfinished Cil sketchpage for all your troubles