Bookworm
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To submit a Sithspawn mutant created in the aftermath of the corruption of Elrood
- Image Credit: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hunger
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Name: ri Arkis - High Sith for the Hunger
- Designation: Semi-sentient
- Origins: Elrood
- Average Lifespan: 20 Galactic Standard Years
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: ri Arkis are emaciated appearing mutant humanoids, with distended jaws and spines with the coloration of obsidian, that have arisen from corrupted survivors of the breach of the Netherworld veil on Elrood. These hunters are constantly searching for organic prey to devour, their hunger never sated no matter how much they consume.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults: 1.6 meters
- Average Length of Adults: N/A
- Skin color: Before they have consumed prey, their skin color is an ashy gray. However, after they have fed upon prey, their skin takes on a reddish hue for a few moments.
- Hair color: No hair
- Distinctions: Having become embodiments of hunger, the most distinctive trait of the ri Arkis are their oversized and mutated jaws and the obsidian-colored spines that run along their backs and tail.
- Races: No other races
- Force Sensitivity: All
- The claws and fangs of the ri Arkis are enhanced through Sith alchemy to be extremely sharp and carry a necrotic effect that can weaken prey that are attempting to escape them or fight them off. The necrosis sets in quickly, accelerated by the dark side, and the smell and dark side corruption of the festering wounds can quickly draw other ri Arkis to the victim's location.
- Even if the original victim, before their corruption, was not sensitive to the Force, the corruption they experienced and the experiments by the Sith on them have granted ri Arkis a weakened version of the Force Drain technique immortalized by the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus. ri Arkis utilize this ability to reproduce by corrupting other individuals with a growing need to consume, and they also use it to strengthen themselves. ri Arkis that have drained a victim of life and Force energies are temporarily faster and stronger.
- The light side of the Force is anathema to ri Arkis, even if they are drawn to presences that radiate the Force. When subjected to a direct application of the light, such as Force Light, the creatures are quickly burned away and killed, their souls so intertwined with the dark side's hunger that they cannot survive otherwise.
- Their ability to Force Drain victims is not strong enough to corrupt Force users that are trained up to the equivalent of a Jedi or Sith Knight. The hunger they can pass on from their draining can also not corrupt individuals already corrupted by a different aspect of the dark side or that have the protection of the light side such as Force-imbued armors or assistance from a light-side Force user with techniques such as Battle Meditation or Force Valor.
- Diet: Carnivore, Life and Force Energies
- Communication: Among others of their kind and other Sinful Sithspawn, they can communicate through various groans, howls, and hisses. They can also mimic voices they have heard speak in Galactic Basic, luring potential victims away from larger groups.
- Technology level: No technology level
- Religion/Beliefs: No religion or belief system
- General behavior:
- The need to consume is the overriding prerogative of the ri Arkis, with everything they do in service to what they embody. They are generally individual hunters, preferring to stalk and pick off prey from larger groups of survivors and other creatures on the corrupted surface of Elrood, but they have been observed to swarm on individuals that have been wounded by another of their kind that escaped. However, their stalking tactics can be overridden by prolonged starvation, and they will attack anything they come across in a blind and bloody fury or claws and oversized fangs to get the meal they crave. Once their prey is dead, they greedily devour the body. Their satisfaction from feeding quickly fades as their hunger reasserts itself, and the creature once again begins its hunt for new prey.
- The reproduction of ri Arkis involves the use of a weaker version of the Nihilus Force Drain upon victims, strengthening the ri Arkis while leaving an empty hole within the victim that requires them to consume and feed. The victim slowly begins mutating into another ri Arkis if they continue to stay within the corrupted environment of Elrood, with the mutation accelerating the more the victim feeds upon meat and blood.
- Under the control of a dark side Force User such as a Sith, the hunger of the ri Arkis is directly solely at their Master's enemies. They are not strong-willed creatures and will follow any command from their Master, but if the command would deprive them of victims to feed upon when prey is near, they can potentially turn on the Sith to devour them. Some sorcerers and alchemists believe this betrayal actually a directive from the dark side of the Force itself, a punishment for that Sith for not embracing all its aspects.
As studies from the Sphere of Research and Science began on the corrupted world of Elrood, the alchemists and sorcerers under Darth Arcanix discovered that some of the surviving inhabitants of the world had come to embody the dark side's impulse to devour and consume. These humans and other once sentient beings had fallen into a never-ending search for prey on the twisted world, experiencing strange mutations due to the corruption and dark side energies that had suffused them.
Experimenting on these poor souls resulted in an acceleration of their mutations and cemented their need to consume. The victims rapidly became gray-skinned mutants with extended jaws and claws, with spikes erupting from their backs to run along thin tails that formed as their bodies mutated. Arcanix and her sorcerers decided to further enhance their hunger by empowering the creatures with a lesser version of Force Drain that can twist uncorrupted beings with their hunger to begin the process of changing that victim into another ri Arkis.
The discovery and enhancement of the corrupted victims, now known as ri Arkis or the Hunger in the Sith tongue, intrigued the Lady of Secrets and her followers. The corruption on Elrood seemed to have twisted and imprinted different aspects of the dark side upon many of the survivors, and it would give rise to the Sphere of Research and Science's Project Sinful.
