A World of Monsters. (An Encyclopedia on the creatures of the world of Null, Original Writing.)

[TripleMRed]

Cackler.

[Sketches depict an enormous armored wyvern like beast. However, it has the tell tale armored, eyeless face of the native Hydras of Null, and it seems this is a flying species derived from them. Sketches show it flying in small packs, casting down bolts of lightning from its mouth to targets down below, the lighting powerful enough to forge entire monuments of glass from wherever on the ground they hit. Some sketches resemble more medieval artworks, depicting Stonecutters in armor riding atop true Wyverns battling the creatures in the skies.]

(A note is attached. It reads 'Every Nation has a beast that is their arch nemesis. Royalbacks have the Jaco Killer, Bughunters have the Slycers, and us Stonecutters? We've got these things. Flying tanks with a sick sense of humor who love nothing more than to rain lightning down on those that happen to be in its way. What a bunch of janked off jerks!')

Scientific Name Translation: Eyeless Sky Killer.

Average Size: Ranges between 15-29 meters long from nose to tail tip, highly variable on a specimen by specimen basis due to age and diet.

Average Weight: Average between 20-75 tons, depending on specimen.

Notable Sexual Dimorphism: Females have sharper horns and edges on their armored plating..

Habitat Range: Predominantly in Stonecutter Territory, but can be found in mountain ranges all over the Arisa continent..

Summary:​

The flexibility and mutability of the Hydra and is ability to fill in any niche if given the time to adapt and remold itself is truly fascinating, even admirable. However, not all results of this mutability are relatively benign additions to the ecosystem. Indeed, one of the most infamous divergences from the mainline Hydra family line is the Cackler, an enormous, Wyvern like beast that has terrorized mountain based societies for millennia. None are more familiar, or more embittered, against these beasts than those of the Stonecutter Nation, who due to their mining heavy culture and history, are deeply entrenched in the extensive networks of mountains in their homelands. [A note is attached. It reads 'There's nothing that puts the fear of thunder storms into a kid's hearts like the periodic Cackler Raid Sirens. My birthplace was decked out with anti air equipment, and those things made a game of attacking through the AA fire.]

Hulking in size, the Cackler gets its name due to its signature 'laugh', an ethereal cackling noise they produce both to communicate and as a signal of satisfaction when they locate prey to attack. Cacklers are omnivores with a preference for meat, making them historically massive problems for those that raised livestock in the territories they claimed as their patrol regions. This problem was only worsened as the Cacklers would kill more than was needed out of a sense of amusement, as they can feed upon a single Oliphant or Apo easily but always tend to kill two or three per attack. With the Oliphant beef industry being a prized commodity for trade in Stonecutter history alongside their mining products, this quickly and easily set both parties into a long and brutal feud between one another. If there is one element of their sadistic games that is to our collective benefit, they do not discriminate or care what species catches their attention. As such, things such as Spider Ant or Dream Lotus invasions can find themselves targeted by Cacklers just as much as their targets.

Biologically, the Cackler is covered head to toe in heavy armor plating, extremely durable that in the modern day, direct anti-tank rail weaponry is required to reliably penetrate all but the most fragile portions such as the relatively vulnerable wings. On its own, its weight and mass would prevent it from flying with the size of the wings it has, however, as with many creatures in its size and weight range to achieve flight, Cacklers consume Floatstone in their diet early on in their lives until they assimilate it into special sets of organs dubbed 'flight glands' that assist such heavy creatures in being able to achieve and maintain flight despite their size and density. For Cacklers in particular, they levy this to make themselves extremely durable while still being able to fly, albeit at a slower top speed and acceleration than most. [A note is attached. It reads 'You'd think that would make them easier targets, but I've seen the fights against these things in the air. What they lack in speed, they make up for in agility. They can turn on a dime like nobodies business, and their long necks means they can aim behind themselves to blast a volt on anything chasing them.']

In addition to armor, claws, a heavy tail and crushing bite, the Cackler is also in possession of organs that process Fulgerite into a usable form for use in ranged combat. Unlike true dragons who can make their own elemental breath weapons indefinitely without outside assistance, Cacklers require periodic 'reloading' by consuming Fulgerite crystals or, in a pinch, being struck by lighting. This is a non issue in their stormy, mountainous homes, but it does mean they are running on a limit of shots outside of their preferred territories. They can even use their electrical abilities to electrify their bodies into a sort of shield, one that can even destroy incoming missiles when active. These lightning blasts are so concentrated, that a direct hit can vaporize meters of vehicle armor plating, making any vehicle that is not on the move an almost guaranteed kill. Anti Air units in territories with Cacklers are armored with specialized repeating gauss cannons and anti armor missiles to bring down Cacklers, forcing them to a ground fight where their threat is more limited. [A note is attached, reading ''Limited'. You ever get chased by a grounded Cackler? There's nothing 'limited' about that!']

The biggest rivalry in nature they have is with Wyverns, as the flying dragon relatives meet their distant cousins in the skies in fierce duels until one or both parties are dead or driven off. With Wyvern riding being extremely common among the peoples living around mountain regions, Wyvern Cavalry Corps even to this day find themselves leading their steeds against their mutually hated rivals. [A note is attached. It reads 'Ohoho, don't ask WCC jockies what they think of Cacklers. You'd think they were sailors with what comes out of their mouths!']

In terms of reproduction, it is as simple as it can get: During mating season, males and females join together in non-committal relationships before separating, the females spawning anywhere from 4-7 young per gestation. These young Cacklers are at their most vulnerable, making them ideal targets for Wyverns seeking to kill their hated enemy, causing nests to be protected around the clock. Nesting on their mountains of choice, Cacklers are born and raised high in the cloud layers, observing their mothers movements and mimicking them until they are old and strong enough to fly on their own. Around the time they first learn to fly, they are ready to begin following their mothers on her hunts to learn how to survive on their own, as well as learning the 'games' of attacking and blasting prey down below with near impunity. Once they reach full maturity, they depart to seek out new mountains and Cackler communities to become a part of.

Cacklers are the bane of mountain communities across Arisa, and the Stonecutters in particular have been their favored targets for untold centuries. The two sides bitterly fight one another, the Cacklers mountain homes near unassailable due to the inability to bring about the heaviest firepower under the threat of destabilizing the local geology and ecosystem with the destruction of whole mountains, causing something of a bitter stalemate of sorts. Still, as hated as they are, Stonecutters also use Cackler iconography commonly in their armored aerial vehicles as something of a send up and mockery of their biological foes. [Attached is a note. It depicts a sketch of an Oros woman in a flight armor, helmet in her hands, next to a gunship, smiling at the viewer. Words follow, reading 'Love you, Ma!']

 

[TripleMRed]

Nerve Worm.

[Sketches depict a small, dark colored worm, its various stages of life, as well as its life cycle. The creature appears to be a parasite that burrows into the nervous system of the host before lying dormant. Disturbingly, upon the victims death, the worm awakens, replacing all the victim's nerves before reanimating the body as a zombie like husk covered in black spikes jutting out of the flesh.]

[A note is attached. It reads 'I saw the reanimation process of someone's pet dog once. It was like something out of a Displaced's horror movie, I couldn't look away.]

Scientific Name Translation: Death Eating Worm.

Average Size: 10mm's in larval stage.

Average Weight: .1 ounces in larval stage.

Notable Sexual Dimorphism: N/A, asexual species.

Habitat Range: Continent Wide, largest concentration in the Ethereal Forest biomes.

Summary:​

There are many parasitic species in our world, for wherever there are the evolutionary pressures for life to fill every possible niche, there will be those life forms that evolve to benefit themselves off of other species without anything given back in return. One such species that proves itself a threat more to other than its host is the Nerve Worm. Believed to be descended of Elder stock, the Nerve Worm is a parasitic life form that begins its life as eggs that are unknowingly ingested by the host, or implanted by a transformed host. Upon ingestion, the eggs hatch and the newborn worms burrow into the creatures nervous system, where they then go dormant and await the death of their host. [A note is attached. It depicts a drawing of a dawg with a tiny worm riding on its back, a word bubble over it declaring 'Go, my steed.']

Unlike most parasites, which can only survive when the host is still alive, the Nerve Worm feeds on the metaphysical essences released upon death itself. Being at ground zero of their own host's demise, the influx of necrotic energies released upon their expiration awakens the worm and feeds it immensely, giving it the power it needs for the next step of its evolution. Upon feeding on the death of their host, the Nerve Worm replaces the host's nervous system with itself, growing and morphing into a vast, root like structure to accomplish this. The exact time frames for this transformation varies on host to host, but the maximum time is always an hour at most. Once the replacement is complete, sensory spikes erupt from the host body and the corpse is reanimated. [A note is attached. It reads 'Like I said, I watched the final stages happen. The poor pupper had been hit run through by rebar into its heart, something had exploded in an animal attack. The body was just left there until we could get everything under control, but that just meant it could reanimate without any trouble. Its furry skin shifted and bulged until spikes tore out of it it, its eyes went milky white, and it just stood up, jaw hanging open and blood still oozing out of the wound in its chest. I sometimes still get nightmares from seeing that.]

The Nerve Worm's primary food source is the entropic energies from the death of a living creature, and in a world like ours, there is no end to the feeding. This endless source of nourishment sustains and improves them, causing further mutations as they grow in power and ability. Spikes and tendrils begin to grow even further, making them more adept in combat in order to hunt down and slay others, allowing them to cause the very death they feed on in order to grow further, infecting living hosts to spread their species. While little threat to any Civilized Race, they can wreak havoc in local ecosystems and destabilize local food chains with their over hunting as they kill off keystone species and common food sources in order to cause localized starvation to weaken creatures to make them easier to kill.

As threats to any ecosystem they are located in, their eradication is a top priority for the Hunter's Guild. Their intense war and research against these creatures has found they can only infect already living hosts as the death of a living creature is essential for their initial transformation due to the proximity to such a source of entropic energies upon death. Additionally, there seems to be a narrow but impactful size range in which they can infect, as creatures too small are not worth the effort as they offer too little energy to transform, and to large have immune systems to burn them out. Additionally, Civilized Races appear safe due to their equally heightened immune systems, but Displaced are at risk of infection. Those living in regions at risk of these creatures appearing often have routine vaccination campaigns to immunize their Displaced populations from potential infection, as the threat of a Worm Husk is proportional to the ability to manipulate tool use amongst themselves. [A note is attached. A sketch of a feline man standing in the shadows holding a hatchet is depicted, his eyes milky white, jaw slack and flesh decayed as black spikes erupt from his body. Words follow, reading 'Truth is worse than fiction....']

Overall, efforts to eradicate them completely have met with only mild success. Scavengers such as Cadaver Beetles, Bark Bugs, and Ghuls have the potent acid necessary to eradicate the eggs and larva, but the speed in which they can reanimate leaves little time to get all the bodies in the wild, and they lack true necromancy power that would cause Ghuls to come after them with full force. As such, research and development has begun to look into ways to sterilize the creatures using biochemical methods, though the ongoing research is slow due to wanting to make sure there are no risks to any creatures outside of the Worms. After all, it would be an abject failure in trying to save the ecosystem if you accidentally sterilize it alongside the things causing it to be under threat in the first place.