Nyxie
【夢狐】
- Image credit: Black Rose Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Name: Aal'run "Dragon"
- Designation: Non-Sentient to Sentient, Vong-Shaped, Flora
- Homeworld: Transplanted by Vong
- Language: Coos and Purrs
- Average height of adults: 3.05 meters
- Skin color: Maroon to Dark Brown
- Hair color: Blood Red (extremely rare mutations of Azure or Light Pink (ask permission first))
- Breathes: Type-I to Type-II, Carbon Dioxide
- Strengths:
Lightsaber-Resistant Scales: The scale-like petals of the Aal'run are thick and heavy biological wonders similar to Vonduun shell. They are able to withstand significant amounts of force while also being more flexible than crab shell. Each scale could easily shrug off lighter blaster fire and it would take a few consecutive hits of a saber to cut through one. The scales along the underside of its neck and stomach, running down its tail are much harder and twice as strong, making them valuable for armor. They are conversely twice as heavy as well. - Tendrils of Undoing: Underneath the wings of the Aal'run are two long, retractable vines on each side. These vines are covered in hard bone-like spines which can easily cut into flesh. When used like a whip, these vine-like arms can cause serious damage to unarmored targets and even wrap around armor, slowly constricting it with the force of five men. Their tail is a similar, larger appendage which cannot wrap around an object but is capable of swinging with bone-crushing force. The vines are not lightsaber resistant.
- Sweet Scent: Because they are carnivorous predatory plants, Aal'run generate a special saliva which has an incredibly strong, honeyed rose-like scent. This saliva is actually a rouse, luring potential pray close to the confines of the creature, which will then entangle it with its vine limbs and slowly crush. This substance has special enzymes that enter the bloodstream and attack key locations in the brain responsible for interpreting fear. Without minutes, its prey all but forgets the danger they are in while the plant does away with them as a quick meal.
[*]Weaknesses:
- Fire: Because of their plant-like nature, Aal'run can burn - especially in dry or arid environments, where the fluid retained in them is limited.
- Grounded: The wings of the Aal'run are mostly for glamour and rouse, the large creature technically unable to fly. These are mostly to attract prey and to shield the creature's weaker undersides where its vines emerge. However, if the Aal'run were to fall, these wings could be used as a sort of parachute to slow its descent to a potentially non-lethal rate.
- Eyes Set to Stun: The Aal'run have a very limited need for strong vision. Their eyesight is generally weak and their color spectrum dulled. They are able to see in infra-red scales to a degree which humans cannot, useful in seeing their carbon dioxide breath to identify when prey is near. However, they are somewhat nearsighted and cannot see further than fifty feet away clearly.
- Non-Sensitivity: Aal'run, Vong-Shaped beings, are Force-dead and cannot use the Force. Likewise, they are invisible to the Force and can only be detected through techniques such as the White Current.
- Distinctions: Aal'run are Vong-Shaped flora with very limited individual sentience. They are carnivorous, luring their prey in the same way earthen carnivorous plants do. They can go for weeks without meat food, living off of only sunlight and water, so long as they remain immobile. Aal'run start off very small, growing as bulbous shells from the ground which only bloom when their body is fully developed. They first birth blind, tiny figures as small as a conventional rose. Over the next hundred years, their bodies slowly develop until they are the size of a fully grown adult member. Over the next three hundred years, they continue in good health and only in their last century of life does floral decay set in, where they slowly wither and die much like a flower though prolonged. Upon death, Aal'run make compost that is actually toxic to the growth of natural floral life. What is unique about their slow but steady growth rate is that a Shaper Adept can stunt their growth at any set point with small but complex alterations, confining them to a set size for the remainder of their lives. This technique is a high-level cortex procedure and is often done to produce concealed or even decorative effects that can be turned into potent little backup weapons or protective pets. Aal'run do not sexually reproduce. They are asexual creatures and reproduce through pollination, similar to a conventional flower. This can occur at any point in their lives so long as they have already bloomed out of their first year as a bud. Reproduction is annual, and depends solely on the seasonal cycle of the world they are inhabiting. They are an invasive but slow-spreading species whose numbers grow in very small quantities even when grouped by the masses. A hive-mind takes years to develop and requires many members of a Field, however this can be sped up greatly with the help of a Yammosk and a Master Shaper. Doing this is very taxing on the shaper, limiting its use to only one or two per continental region.
- Average Lifespan: ~500 Galactic Standard Years
- Races: Not Applicable
- Diet: Carnivorous
- Communication: Verbal, Telepathic (if hive minded)
- Culture: Aal'run have strange social rules. On the individual level, they can live singularly and continue to thrive. They can live in solitude without any recourse to their instinctual behaviors. They congregate like plants, continuing to reproduce in an area until they have covered the region. When enough come together, however, something strange happens; the Aal'run naturally elect the founding or eldest member of the congregation to a hive-mind being. Slowly, the collective consciouses of the group contribute to the one, forming a sort of intelligence as the central member evolves. This is presumed to occur around approximately seventy to a hundred members called a Field, and can take up to three years from process start to finish. Once a Field has gained a hive-mind, that member becomes sentient, able to think for the collective whole so long as they remain stationary and within planetary range. Commands and information is exchanged telepathically across the group, and the hive-mind individual is even able to communicate with other life forms through telepathic thought which translates to that individual's language. It takes an incredibly influential hive-mind to do this effectively.
- Technology level: Aal'run do not have technology of any kind, though a minded Field may very well be capable of labor under a willing hive-mind.
- General behavior: Aal'run live to hunt. They are incredibly patient predatorial plants who can move on bipeds at a rate of up to 16 kilometers per hour when fully grown (speed and strength scales down with size on a 1:1 ratio). Most will find a suitable location to settle, and remain in one small area for very long periods of time until food crosses their path. They will wait out their prey, using their surreal beauty and strong scent to attract them, then entangle them once they are within reach. When pray is scarce, they take the time and energy stored to migrate to a new location where food is more readily available. One instinct hard-coded into every Aal'run is the ability to distinguish the one who created their very first kind as friend and not prey, thus they will never attack Lady Saybin unless provoked or if hive-minded, persuaded.
- History: Aal'run Dragons as they are dubbed, are the shaped productions of Ashelotte Saybin Malfrost upon her escalation to the Pantheon of the Horde. A misleadingly compassionate and fearlessly family-dedicated individual with a strong soul, Lady Saybin had naturally shaped a species of vicious carnivorous flora in her daughter's image. After slight trial and error, and plenty of exploration for suitable component biologies, the vixen had felt her final creation perfected and readied them for the life ahead of them. Starting with the very first two Blossoms, they pollenated with each other and had eventually developed several more small Aal'run Buds. One of the two original specimens and the second to be shaped was altered to retain its relatively small size and kept as both a pet and hair ornament. The rest will see use in the Horde's quest to scour and raze the galaxy clean of heretics with their alluring, misleading ways.
- Notable Player-Characters: None to Note
- Intent: I felt like making a carnivorous floral race in the image of my character's daughter because I am a shaper and leader. We don't have any floral creatures so I thought this would feel right at home. The name does, indeed, derive from "Alraune" the floral demon of German mythos.
