The Arborite
Ylly has felt the touch of many a diety throughout it's history. Some are nobodies that are simply powerful enough to get away with almost anything. Others are gods of gods. The spectrum of power within Ylly deities is very broad in scope and scale, including the abilities to manifest and erase the self, as well as create and destroy on a level that defies the known rules of the realms.
However these powerful entities are almost inconsequential in power compared to the ancient beings that would actually dare to call themselves gods. A few of these primordial entities have taken up residence within Ylly, for various purposes.
One of these creatures, Yozivservong, was particularly obsessed with the mortal plane and it's ability to "grow" plants and animals. Yozivservong played with the concepts of "growing" structure and populace. Failures were many and usually resulted in a putrid slurry. Realizing the growth needed to be bridled somehow, the organics created were infused with a large amount of SoulForce. The substance and Sentience that arose from this resulted in stable organic constructs. The first sentient success provided Yozivservong with new followers. This race was built of branch and root, stone and soot. Plantoid creatures capable of moving through, and interacting with the mortal planes in a meaningful way. Out of a fondness for the origins of the species, this new race was called
ARBORITE
Resembling a relatively round rosebush, an arborite has dozens of roots, vines and branches within itself. These appendages are several feet long, and can act as limbs for walking or using tools. They can unravel and rearrange their branches to change their general shape, and normally present as bipedal creatures with carefully maintained facial features while in the mortal realms. Mortals can be ever so misunderstanding and resembling their shape lessens the pushback from exploring the mortal realms.
These creatures are designed to be extremely dexterous. The majority of their being is comprised of branches and vines, however there are root structures that are tiny and can wiggle their way into very tiny openings. They can rearrange their body into a long snake-like braid of branches, and slip through small holes and between bars. There are limitations. If any part of them loses physical contact with the main body, it will go intert and be irrecoverable.
The original idea was to create a race capable of withstanding the elements and weather events that come with a Terraforming project. It was successful in the sense that it created a plant race that is highly resistant to heat and cold. an interesting side effect of their resistance to heat was the manifestation of fire elemental type abilities. While not truly elemental, these fire abilities affected the coporeal realms in an almost identical manner. *1*
An Arborite transcends mortality in the sense that it's soul completely circumvents the mechanics of the underworld. Umix has been home to advanced plant life since it was originally terraformed by Yozivservong sometime close to end of the Second Iteration of the universe. When an Arborite has it's form destroyed, instead of being reclaimed by the underworld, it instead is slowly drawn back together within Umix, and can be granted a new body like a pilot getting a new mech. This automatic failsafe was developed alongside Pnumesthersept during her development of the Pillesque *2*, and has maintained the Arborite population to this day.
*1* ...
(( Red hot flaming thorn whips.
(( Glowing eyes or organs.
(( small examples of the many uses for fire abilities ))
... *1*
(( *2* Pillesque are small fae creatures that have a static population. They share a mechanic with the Arborite in the sense that Pillesque have a static population maintained by special flowers that birth a new Pillesque whenever one perishes. Both fae and Arborite souls are immortal and this mechanic was developed by Pnumesthersept and Yozivservong. The two populaces remain stable to this day
Basic Information
Anatomy
Resembling perfectly round thornbushes roughly 1 meter tall, these creatures are covered in beautiful roses of varying color. *1*
The Arborite is comprised of branches, sticks, and roots of various lengths and thicknesses. Several of these are very strong and intended to be unraveled when interaction with surroundings is required.
Every branch and stick within the Arborite has sharp and strong thorns that are almost like barbs *2* . While it is bundled up in a ball, the thorns are hidden by the gorgeous flowers and become harmless. However, it can lash out in an instant to reveal the many thorns like gnashing teeth.
These sentient entities often travel the mortal realms, and take a bipedal form. Their true appearance is confusing and off-putting, and when they visit an area populated by mortals they rearrange their branches and roots to resemble said mortal race. The semblance they create is complete with intricately constructed facial features from tiny twigs, and even properly colored thin roots where hair needs to be. They can change what mortal race they resemble rather quickly if the skill is practiced, and trend to choose whatever race they currently need to interact with. They become disturbingly relatable with proper voice, accent, and tone. Combined with practiced and complex facial expressions, they have received much less pushback from prejudice than most non-mortal species.
(( *1* Communication, or autonomic response to stimuli?
(( *1* Personal compatibility with certain insects like pollinators or symbiotic bugs that eat bad bugs?
(( *2* barbs are useful for attaching, clinging, climbing, dragging, capturing, providing grip, ECT
Behaviour
This race was designed with the instinct to restructure the concepts of chaos and death into something more like the life they were given. The original idea was to create a race capable of withstanding the immense destructive natural forces that come with large scale terraforming. When they sense an imbalance in an ecosphere they will make an active effort to rectify the deficiencies or oversaturations of the area. Occasionally this results in a mortal village needing to be evacuated and removed as the cause of instability, but the event is exceedingly rare. Always willing to find methodologies that limit interference with moral affairs, the Arborite are also instinctually driven to be peaceful creatures, even small scale conflict can impede their very important work.
Comments