Vyrm

They have a tough shell along their back, with small holes in it that allow seeds to take roots and feed into the actual animal's body. The Skeleton of this animal will react to what plants are growing on them, and from there it will modify itself so that it can support the weight of the plants no matter how large they grow. The Muscular system would begin to grow muscles and fat meant to keep the plants alive and prepare to absorb nutrients from them once they are ready. Key parts of the body are already prepped for a plant one that was growing within their body, the plant's seed being part of them from the moment they are born. As they do not naturally have limbs parents would shack their bodies free of seeds so their kids can roll around in them picking up whatever seeds they can.    They have one large eye in the middle of their head, this head was not a natural evolution instead during the early years of the shifter vyrm shifters modifying their body to survive in an environment lacking life due to the constant conflict between the shifters. The eye was an idea to let them see the mana the shifter were using and avoid them. The shifter in a rush instead turn pairs of eyes into a single one but this also allowed them to add more to the eye, now it has the ability to see more colors, tempaturews and so much more meaning no condition can blind them. Even staring right into the sun as accounted for but due to these adaptations, they have been unable to reverse the mono eye leading to poor depth perception due to the vast array of things they can see they can get by using multiple things to create the depth.

There are nine classifications of Vrym subtypes, they are not different species, but sets of limbs Shifters of their kind have them become to maximize the power of the tribe.

Soldier: Commonly spotted with extra limbs ending in blades, stingers, or Bio rifles. They are the most common type of vyrm designed to be able to hunt, defend and still be able to do other tasks around the tribe's home. They are one of the rarest types of shifters variants, though.

Dragon: A pure predator of the group designed to hunt and kill flying prey and bombing run ground prey. The dragon is equipped with multiple "mouths" capability of spewing acid or fire from them, unleashing walls of their chosen element to herd and kill any prey they decide to attack. Due to being purely for hunting and killing, they are scarce to find unless a shifter happily takes this form, having the brains to back up this forms brawns.

Angel: An unknown variant as they are very short-lived; they become a Sephierim or die trying. Most of them will die trying. What is known is that the dragon breed can fly, but their wings have a way of boosting their speed, increasing it to at least Mach 2. This is the first reason most of them die as they do not have enough defense to survive the speeds they go and don't register the damage till it is too late, secondly is their weaponry using Bio rifles and Bladed ends mixed with magic somehow once again due to the increased danger the Vyrm is very likely to harm itself and lead to its end. To our knowledge, no Shifter has gone down this path due to the danger.

Sephierim: The upgraded form of the Angel and one of only 2 confirmed living members. Both break all conventions of this species, reaching Sizes more equivalent to living mountain ranges than animals. First off is the ability to be bi-pedial as they can have the ability to fold their considerable length and latches parts together, vastly shortening them but allowing them to stand on two legs making weapon uses more dangerous. Granted, at their size, they are, simply crashing into things would be equally effective, but their battle form has been shown to quickly deal with entire battalions of troops. Their speed is also horrifying. The Angel's method of moving as fast as its master allowed it to seemly teleport.

Tank: Another standard version, this one mostly will stay at the nest guarding it against outside forces. Most of their limbs result in large wall-like appendages coated in poisons and spikes, making them very dangerous to touch. The older version will usually add a few Bio rifles or cannons to add some ranged combat. Shifters who become this version are armed to the teeth with other defense items, including the ability to lay mines and other traps; this is one of the standard versions for them.

Berserker: One of the strangest types designed to hunt some of the most dangerous animals, such as Wolfier. They do such a task by making their armor thinner and instead using the lost mass to create organs covering their prey in acid. The less armor also means they move with a lot more speed to catch them up and dive them. The goal is to throw them off as the acid begins to kill them; most animals don't have a way to stop their death before the rest of the tribe arrives.

Ranger: The ranger has the most advanced version of the bio rifle, a weapon capable of reaching a range of about 3000 feet or about 914 meters. The weapon has been shown to destroy large trees or heavily armored vehicles quickly. What this weapon could be needed for hasn't been found, but this is one of the rarest for either or shifter variants, meaning whatever this prey is may be extinct or doesn't stay in its territory.

Hunter: A master of trap-making, these vyrm will track their prey and study their movements for moments letting the other do the hunting while they prepare to ensure the big prize doesn't get away. That prize being the entire prey herd, a good hunter will keep the prey alive for months, the vyrm feeding them and preparing them for the slaughter at some point. The smart of the prey will try to escape but find the area around their pen lethal to all but those who swim through the earth, a trait very few have. A shifter of this type is a monster of monsters, a creature that will hunt you down and begin to kill your family slowly, tells have been told of a man mistakenly hurting one tribe only to find their son the next day cut open but very much alive, it was only months later did all of them die by their own hands their body beyond recognition.

Spy: a version many believe not to exist mainly because this is a shifter-only breed, and they can blend in without problems. This kind will use their limbs to mask their presence in the city and become part of the scenery or the street lights, only moving when no one sees them. They come into our society. To learn and make use of prey, each time the shifter would leave and come back with a strike force easily able to take out most immediate defense only to be held back by more heavily armed troops thankful due to the vyrm having one homeland, the cities around it are the only target. They are trained to deal with them for now. Who knows what will happen if other kinds of shifters join the attack?

Regarding reproduction, Vyrm can do it in one of two ways, though one method is usually only done by accident. The standard method involves one or more Male vyrm with one female. The female will open a lower mouth that covers the entrance to their womb, and the males will each take a Petal ( Open shell part) and apply their seed to it. After a short time, they will close it back up, and the mouth will begin to consume the material; the saliva of this mouth is chemically different from their normal saliva allowing the seed to survive the trip to the womb and keeping it trapped in their increasing the likely hood of conception.   With this method, a female will be carrying a child for about seven months before they reach the second stage of the pregnancy, where they will lay the eggs into a nest deep within the ground and flooded with water. During this period, the female will stay with the eggs ensuring that the eggs are in good condition. The males are impregnated, and others will hunt for them and bring food and other needed things to ensure the egg's survival. The swarm overall acts to ensure the next generation is born. This stage lasts about three months, and the third and final parts last two months. The last part is the eggs will begin to grow with water, and the mother-to-be and swarm must ensure the water levels stay pure and enough of it.   The second method happens when a Vyrm of significant age is harmed in battle around its tail area, the creature may remove his tail with force and leave the part alone. If the part has enough Meat left, it will become a clone of the Vyrm that was ripped off.Due to not having a amount of seed growing on it to make new plants these new vrym must find a tribe if they seek to survive.

A vrym grows to its adult stage by the end of the first year. The first 4 months are kept in the same hole it was born in, being fed by their mother, who eats the food and converts it into a paste for them to eat. The mother also spends time cleaning the enclosure and making sure that the babies are growing their spines properly. Towards the end of this period, the mother will show them their essential limbs and have the children copy them. Once they leave the small pond their tribe will spread seeds before them and all of the children will roll around in them coating their backs with them allowing plants to grow.   The next stage is primarily about growing to a size needed to hunt prey of appropriate size. The speed of their growth does lead to problems as most of them will attempt to create limbs as quickly as possible, but without proper guidance, it may hinder the tribe. Due to this, part of the parent's job is to watch over them and ensure they do not waste their ability to create new limbs. Shifter born to this tribe or watching over the tribe would take this duty on themselves, making sure each member has a role to speed up the progress.   The last part is that Females would be forced out of the tribe first as they need to find a new location to use as a base for the next generation. The males depending don't the age and size of the tribe may leave in search of a female to mate with or stay with the tribe, tending to their mother for a bit longer as they grow a new generation.  

Vyrm are amphibious animals that prefer dry land to water due to the start of their life wholly submerged in water and the mineral and purity levels required in the water. They live in areas of the world south of the shifter capital, and the area has grown smaller due to humans polluting the water supplies around them. The other animals have been thriving as the water requirements of the marshlands for them are much lower. This does mean each Vyrm has plenty of hunting, but with each generation, the amount that survives is growing smaller. The shifters are trying to guide them to be more adapted, but due to the risks involved with changing birth genetics, the shifter is hesitant to do anything to them.   The Vyrm being the only Apex predator in the area has two effects: they keep other Apexes out of the area, and most animals on their level avoid areas filled with Vyrms as one unlikely fight. The predator will become prey for the rest of the time, and the Vyrm adapts and lures the new prey into their area. This does mean that the areas they live in are incredible diversity; the Vyrm almost herded the other animals, ensuring that even without shifters, they had a variety of prey to consume. Along with the fact some plants have evolved to use the vyrm alone as a way to produce the diversity of the flora is being kept track of knowing if the vyrm becomes too rare a vast majority of the area will collapse.

The Vyrm are pure Carnivores that can hunting any animal, but choose not to instead. using the fact they are covered in plants draw in animals to them, slowly turning the area around them into a all you can eat sight for animals. Once they are here any preadtors who tries to eat them are instead hunted, the children staying in trees and fall down onto predators before swarming around their body to bring them down. The older ones focus more on feeding the bait, keeping them docile with plenty of food and protection slowly pushing the older and fatter animals to the edge so that their prey can get some food, while they watch for any members of their chosen meal to fall behind or show weakness.  Once they have brought the food down it is taken to the nest where it ripped apart then slowly consumed by them, any remaining parts feed to the plants of the fallen.    Once a hunt is over the leader vyrm will announce it to all other tribes marking down what has died and what they have killed so that no one species is hunted to harshly and removed from the menu for an extended period of time.

During the Raining season of their Marshs, the Vyrm slow down on activity, acting as a winter for them as their primary way of hunting is stopped by the endless vibration of the rain. They enter the water more, hunting fish or eating the supplies they had gathered during the summer and spring. The winter is when the Vyrm is in mating season, using the slumbers of other animals to dig into caves, collect more prey, and use them as a new nest for the females who have left their tribe.

Vrym is very protective of other members of their Tribe and tribes, sometimes sharing information about what they use to hunt their prey in their area. They will also attempt to make networks of limited "trade," usually metals or such, used in their nesting waters. If shifters are involved, their Tribe usually consumes the other nearby ones growing in power and attempting once again to create a civilization for the vyrm; no attempt has been achieved so far. This is primarily because Vyrms refuse to grow limbs capable of using just tools instead of making the tool, leading to certain members being unable to hunt and struggle to survive.   Any creature that is not a vyrm is viewed as prey or a future prey. They will learn how to hunt all creatures and expand their power. Though they lack some very advanced civil ideas, they are on the edge of becoming one. The plants upon the back of the vyrm are even being bred and controlled to draw in more animals as while herbivores are not the primary target meat is meat to a vyrm.

Due to the extreme nermical difference between maies and females. As it is nearly 100 male to one female, females are higher on the socal ladder meaning they are given the majority of the food to grow larger then males. The only exception to this is when a male shifter is part of the tribe, as they are viewed as far more imporatant given a shifter can either bring far more food, strengthen their control of hte area, or become a female temporarily with magic. Presuming no shifter though the female will be the main hunter as they are the largest drawing in most of the bait to them while the males kill thing not a bait. The males then have their own structure the older males tending to the females plants making sure they are well tended to, younger males would work on the nest making sure it is up to her standards hoping to prove themselves either in hunting or nesting so that they may join the older males work. The youngest are either children not ready for the hunt or are trying to draw the attention of roaming females to become part of her tribe.    In Shifter tribes the order of command changes each shifter picks one of the females to be the head meant to control the tribes under their grasp while the shifter tends to other things such as terraforming land or fighting off other shifters. The head female then choose lesser females to do the job of older males as a show of power and control. Many females will try and uperp her but given the head females closeness to the shifter most fail as the head is usually given unquie plants that can act as weapons not as dangerous as their spines but enough to fight off foolish females. The males in these tribes are more careful knowing that with a shifter at the head they are not needed, shifter only keep them around as they can be used to hunt more prey or breed with the females if they do not wish to.

All of the Vyrm are located in one area known as the Dredge Swamp This is because it is the only place with the required minerals in the water to allow their young to be born. However, the shifter of their kind has been trying to expand the swamp and or find ways to purify other water sources so they can be used. A few members past their prime to have children have left the swamp and become effective hunters but due to being past breeding age theses are simple individual who are just causing spikes in their location.Sea of Dark Memoires is a new place they are being found out under the eyes of Adam Seraphim Star . A shifter who was able to turn the minerla rich water of the sea into a breeding area for them but given how it has taken so many generation to find a second suitable area the need to be able to turn other bodies of water into child friendly is still high.

Vyrm are one of the smartest animals around, growing crops so that animals come to them. Tracking populations of predators and prey making sure the ecology of their food chain isn't ruined, they have been tales of vyrm tribes tracking down animals killing without reason and ripping them to shreads leaving remains so others will stay in line. They have slowly mastered communication and some numbers but due to not having hands their markings are not viewed as enough to be called truly ascended but many know that the excuses are running dry as the vyrm are very much a single spine limb away from taking off and becoming the true species of the planet.

The primary way they can view the world is through mana sight. They can sense the small amount of mana every creature has and tell the size and distance with it to a limited degree. The more they spend time "staring" at the object, the more details they can see about them; without using this, they use a natural Tremorsense to track living organisms. Once a creature enters normal sight range which is quiet far the vyrm eye would begin to use it different sights to create a map of the area and all of the things between them, usually it is heat,  coloration, and mana but others sights such as the ability to see sound waves are used to make this map. It is not perfect and some animals have learned to exploit it but the difference is usually small enough that the vyrm can grasp the target and begin it true attack.

Vyrm Spine : Are a true symbiotic race with them. Having gone from a plant that drains its local area of all its food, then attacking an animal to spread its seed somewhere else to now just being a part of the vrym so connected their seeds grow within their children.
Other plants: Due to the fact they grow all kinds of plants from bushes to grass, to trees. Their connection to them means most plants have evolved to take advantage of them but to use any animal they can find.