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Thatdudeover

The Behe/Sloth
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So, I'll be bored, or I need a good mental restart to get into a writing mood. As such, I will be asking you, the reader, to help me out. This is a high fantasy world with no greater plan to it. It is here to be filled with stories, people and creatures from your comments. Because that is the purpose of this, to force myself to think about things creatively with minimal information about it. I was inspired by Dungeon Meshi, Monster Hunter, and Cain for this personal project. Dungeon Meshi and Monster Hunter for that grounded feel of an ecosystem and a wild world. Cain for the concept of using questions asked directly to the player/reader to develop the setting.

If you want me to make a creature, quote these questions with your answers:
Questions:
  • What habitat does it live in? (Forest, Hills, Ocean)
  • What makes this specific habitat stand out? (Oil Lake, Glass Plants, Endless Thunderstorm)
  • What kind of creature is it? (Can be real animal, a mythological one, or a category such as bird or even toed mammal)
  • Randomly select one thing, anything. (Anesthetics, purple, Nintendo, ect)
If you want me to make a character with a short story about them, quote these questions with your answers:
Questions:
  • What species are they?
  • What gender are they?
  • Where do they live?
  • What is their profession?
  • Randomly select one thing, anything.
 
Creature Files 01- Rampram, Dropper Bird, Tear Fish, Ripper Frogs, and Sweet Viper New
Godlike Warrior of Man: Rocky Mountains, Densely Packed Evergreen Forest on the Mountain Itself, Goat, Waffle House.

Rampram

A special type of goat that lives on the Greenstone Mountain. Named as such for the dense trees that seem to sprout directly from the rocks of the mountain. At the base of these trees and in hidden grottoes, is where these creatures will most frequently graze but have been seen traveling to the base of the mountain for food as well.

These herbivores are named as such for their aggressive temperament, and for the unique forward facing curved horns. They utilize these horns to excavate or push aside detritus in the way of food, and are used as a mating display to signal their health to potential mates. The males have larger and denser horns than females, which serves as a defense mechanism and the mating display to defeat another male for female attention. Their coats of wool lean towards monochromatic shades of black, grey, and white.

They are a highly sought out for culinary reasons. Their peculiar diet of herbs, grass, and berries leaves their meat with a consistent rich flavor with a variety of undertones depending on the season and local herbs. Its recommended to use low and slow methods of preparation, alongside strong marinades to truly complete their taste. Their milk is also an excellent ingredient, very frequently selling at a high price after being turned into cheese or butter.

While their wool can be used for clothing, it is typically of lesser quality due to wool collecting many bits of dust and pebbles that weakens the texture in the eye of textile specialists. As such it is mostly used as stuffing for objects like pillows, as the texture of the fibers matters less than its softness.


Vine_sama: Undercity Ruins, toxic pockets of air, Flamingo, parachute.

Dropper Bird

The catacombs of the Ancient City are a hot spot of scavenger activity. Customs of those ancients dictated that they be buried with their possessions. However, the same reason why the city fell is what holds greed at bay. The city was founded on top of a mountain looking out around its surroundings. But years of the ancients digging into the underground cave systems made a rather worrisome discovery.

The caves were incredibly steep, and the amount of metallic particles in the air made it impossible to breathe. The presence of exposed minerals that are constantly sheared by endemic beings causes the air to be hurtful and borderline toxic depending on the nearby deposits. Certain sections are completely blocked off due to fumaroles ejecting massive amounts of Sulfur and other harmful gasses into the cavern. A species of bird was found in the underground, so far removed from its better known cousins that it was a shock to find any similarities at all.

Dropper Birds are a predatory bird species found in the highly vertical parts of the caves. Distantly related to the flamingo, they share basic features in the beak, wings, long neck, and long legs. Their talons have grown to be tougher to dig into cavern walls, and their beaks have developed a hooked section at the front to tear the flesh or carapace off prey.

When hunting they cling to roof structures and wait for prey to enter a sweet spot below them. Due to their vision having been mostly lost through evolution, they use the modified feathers on their wings to act as sensors to pick up vibrations. These feathers are much longer and thinner than normal feathers, allowing the Dropper Birds to feel the vibrations even when hanging from stalactites. When prey is in place, they will let go and drop onto their prey silently. By extending their rounded wings, they form something akin to a canopy around themselves, slowing their fall by using air pressure in such a way that does not cost extra energy.


Vine_sama: Island, tangible clouds/rainbow, Minnow Fish, dumplings.

Tear Fish

The Skylands are a unique spectacle in the form of an archipelago that floats above the clouds. A rare moment that many wish to see is the Starfall. Despite its ominous name, it is not a dangerous event. Quite the opposite. Its a beautiful view of the most common denizen of the Cloud Seas. Tear Fish.

These fish normally glide through the solid clouds feeding on microorganisms and other floating wildlife. However the Starfall is their mating period. When the fish are ready to mate, they gorge themselves on food to become rotund and plump, which hampers their ability to float. But this also allows their scales to reflect the light in a dazzling myriad of colors.

As they fall towards their breeding grounds, they leave colorful streaks in the air for their mates to follow. Hence the name 'Starfall' as from a distance it looks like stars falling from the sky. Successful mating will lead to both Tear Fish assisting each other to fly into the air via air currents after they had lost some of the weight they gained. The ones who did not mate can reach the sky by their lonesome but it is more exhausting. Some catch Tear Fish as they are falling as pets, while others use their plump meat as the protein for various dishes.



Stagnant_Sloth: Forest, Absurdly Foggy/Moist, Amphibian, Corkscrew.

Ripper Frogs

Despite what many will believe, the Fog Hollows is not a swamp, or a marsh, but just a very wet forest. This is due to a rather unique situation of being in the direct path of mountainous ice caps melting, and being above an aquifer, meaning that the humidity is always high.

Within this unique landscape, there is no more interesting creature than the Ripper Frogs. These small amphibians are not the most numerous species within the Fog Hollows, but are one of the most successful hunters. Not particularly large animals, nor are they toxic, but are cunning.

They primarily hunt arthropods, especially a local variant of wasp called Glue Wasps. These make their homes inside of hollowed out trees, mixing their saliva and wood pulp into a tough mixture to form seals and build a hive. Ripper Frogs are uniquely adapted to hunt these wasps.

The tips of their tongues have a special set of rough barb like muscles that form a spiral pattern. This allows the frogs to send out their tongues with enough force to tightly penetrate the durable exterior of the Glue Wasps hives and pull back, attempting to tear down or open a hole into the barrier. The barb like muscles flex after making contact, gripping onto the wood-pulp seals as the frog pulls its tongue back and breaking apart the hive walls through force.

This rough tongue is still particularly adhesive, allowing the frogs to then use this powerful tongue to devour the wasp. By constantly attacking the wasps, the saliva of the ripper frog will cause the insects to stick to themselves or one another making them easy pickings for the clever animal.


Guardian1999: Forest, crystal fruit, snake, banana coffee bread.

Sweet Viper

The Glassgrove is a unique environment brought about by the titular and endemic Pane Trees. A type of plant that absorbs many minerals from the soil resulting in their reflective and tough exterior. Not all of these minerals are beneficial however, as such they are excreted in the form of gemfruit.

Gemfruits serve as the basis for a micro-ecosystem revolving around these Pane Trees. Being consumed or utilized by a variety of fauna, most importantly Shrieking Mice. These small rodents will use their high pitch calls to fracture the gemfruits to get to the seeds protected within the crystal flesh.

This is where the Sweet Vipers come in. These serpents are a carnivorous species who hunt Shrieking Mice. They secrete an oil which collects around specialized scales at the end of their tails that look a lot like gemfruits. They release a thick sweet scent that distracts the mice into thinking a gemfruit had already been broken apart.

This brings the prey closer for the snake to lash out in surprise and attack the mice to feast on. The same sweet oil can be refined and utilized as a stimulant by adventurers and cooks.
 
Character File 01- Selvianna New
Example: Elf, Female, Arctic, Craftsman, Ice Skating.

Elves have many kin all over the world, and one of these are the Frostsingers. A clan of Ice Elves that lived deep in the snowy mountains of the Arctic Regions far to the north of the Grand Continent. A key aspect of their culture is that of the March.

The March is the point at which an Ice Elf can finish their 'apprenticeship' and claim the title of Expert. To do so, the Ice Elf will venture out of the clan's sacred grounds and collect resources and experience. Then, they will return and create their Song before the elders. A Song is a unique craft/style/magic of their own making, not just any tweaked sword or optimized spell will do. It must be something that speaks to who the elf is, as a person and as what kind of legacy they wished to leave behind them.

Selvianna left her clan grounds with her tools and her survival kit, thinking. She was a craftswoman, and a hunter. What did she want? Who did she want to be? And so she traveled, at first staying in the arctic region that she knew so well. A hunt for inspiration, and she found it in the most unexpected place. She found a port, and saw human children grabbing stones and skipping them on the surface of the cold water giggling. The young ones taught her how to skip stones, and she realized she wanted that.

The sense of freedom, having focused so much on such a childish thing instead of honor and worry. The movement, the pattern… she wanted to move like that. And so, with a plan in mind, she began to hunt. Her lithe frame, pale hair and blueish skin allowed her to sneak within the snow to strike at her prey. Mammoths for the tough hide and sinew, Iceberg Leviathan scales for the armor, everything was going so well.

And then tragedy struck. She could not find the material she wished. Bones were too heavy and would not allow her to glide, layered scales cracked under the weight… she just could not find something that fit her requirements. She brooded at a tavern, seeking to drown her impatience in drink until a curious dwarf asked about her plight. As a fellow craftsmen, the dwarf sympathized with being inspired and finding the material world lacking.

He had an idea, and offered to bring the Frostsinger to his natal mountain. If the frozen surface did not contain what she was looking for, then the underground might solve her issues. And they set off, with Selvianna being enlightened to a broader world. She learned from the dwarves of their customs, to use heat to shape metal instead of relying just on magic, weaving magic into words imprinted in the item, and other techniques she had never thought of. It was deep beneath the earth that she found what she needed, a tunneling worm covered in barbs that helped the beast gain traction when burrowing.

After hunting the beast, and experimenting with the help of the dwarves she began to travel the long path home, having been on a 5-year-long March across the world. She returned to her home, stronger and more knowledgeable, and ready to craft. She lay down her bags, and began her challenge before the elders.

She revealed the mammoth hide, turned into tough leather, before beginning to weave it into boots, using sinew and scale to reinforce it. She unsealed a cask filled with an acidic solution and dipped the drill worm barbs into it, and using a hair-thin needle to inscribe her elvish magic with dwarvish runes into the barbs themselves. It was a crafting process that gave enough time for the sun to set and for the moon to reach its apex above her Song.

The Elder of Beasts nodded in approval, able to tell that every material had been acquired personally.

The Elder of Rites nodded in approval, for her magic had developed beyond what the Clan normally could and fused a completely different system of magic into her own.

The Elder of Recognition nodded in approval, as her creation was unique and had not been a copy.

And the Elder of the Hammer smiled, appreciating the exquisite craftsmanship shown before her. And so the Elder proclaimed her name to the winds, bestowing her the title she had earned.

"Selvianna, the Snow Dancer and her Song of Freedom."
 
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