Watch For Little People

Location: Selkies can be found in a multitude of ports in both the northern and southern hemispheres. They prefer cooler waters though some will travel to warmer areas to explore. They do their best to stay away from human ports and shipping channels, though it is getting harder and harder to do each passing year.

Selkies can be found on almost every continent.

Appearance: Selkies look generally like large seals or sea lions when in water and attractive humans on land. All Selkies have a dark coloring, unless born as an albino, and will have darker skin pigments based on their clan and selkie skins. They all have varying hair lengths, though it can grow incredibly long if they want it to. Many keep it shorter to make it easier to get in and out of their skins, though those who rarely leave their skins tend to have longer hair.

Most have sleek body types, though some can be somewhat curvy or broad. Due to their lifestyle it is rare to see an out of shape selkie. They also tend to have ropy muscle and somewhat sharper teeth than a human. They are not always sharp enough to notice when they are talking as humans, but enough that if they were to bite it could cause incredible damage and tear through skin, muscle, and bone.

Abilities: Selkies are extremely strong swimmers, fishers, and are incredibly intelligent. They can become Seals with their skins or shed them to become humanoid. They can also hold their breathe for long periods of time in both human and seal form.

Selkies tend to be able to seduce humans and other creatures easily due to their appearance and playful nature.

Culture: In most clans there are more females than males with a head female and male. Mating and relationships tend to be a free for all, though the head couple tends to stay together for reproduction, though not always for romantic relationships. Even if they were to have children with others in the colony it wouldn’t be a problem.

Selkies have a basic hierarchy system. The strongest and or smartest rule while the others follow with varying levels of strength and intelligence in between. They are very much like a village with a basic language and writing system.

They usually speak Selkie, which is similar to seal speak, and the the commonly used Fey languages. Some have learned other languages by living around docks and other sea ports.

A Selkie’s most prized possession is their skin. To destroy another selkies skin, or kill them outside of a challenge, means death. To harm another selkie outside a challenge, or going against a groups law, will lead to banishment. Some selkie clans actively harm humans while others attempt to stay away. As a rule of all clans, if a selkie loses their skin then they must leave the clan until it is reclaimed.

Life partners may be chosen in a romantic sense and gender plays very little into Selkie life. It is still expected that all selkies find a mate at one point and produce or sire a pup every few years due to their dropping numbers.

All Selkie clans have a unique ‘bark’ or ‘honk’ that they use to signal their whereabouts to their families. It is also used to identify themselves to other clans.

Offspring: Selkies mate like seals and usually have a few ‘pups’ in a lifetime, which is similar to a human lifespan. The children are raised within the group and do not usually leave unless they are exiled or find a mate in a different clan. Sometimes they will also leave to go explore and may join another clan if they do not wish to go back home.

Seeing as they are raised in the ocean, one in three children will usually perish somehow. With the encroachment of their habitat by man and other sea-dwelling creatures, some clans have higher mortality rates.

Most males will have 2-3 mates at time due to the difference in numbers. The whole group will then raise the pups, and if one is lost, they all mourn. A pup death is always hard to bear.

Selkies can mate with humans. It is a rare happening, though for female humans there is a 50/50 chance a baby will be a born with a Selkie skin. If a Selkie woman enters her skin after being impregnated by a human then the baby will definitely be a Selkie, though there will be a 50/50 chance of the child being human if they aren’t allowed back into their skins.

All human born Selkies, either born with or without a skin, carry the darker tones of their Selkie ancestry, are quite handsome, and tend to be strong swimmers and fishers. Sometimes Selkie father’s will visit their half human offspring; if they do they usually do so as a seal. They can’t bring the child back to the ocean if they were born without a skin or if they do not know where their skin is.

Relationships with other creatures: While Selkies used to have decent, though infrequent, interactions with other Selkie, they are now having to fight Sirens and Kelpies for territory. They will sometimes trade with Siren’s, but it is a rare happening now with how little space there is for them.

They do alright with Dryads and some other land creatures. It depends on how playful these creatures are willing to be or what they are doing along the coast.

They don’t tend to do well with Mermaids or Kelpies. Kelpies tend to drown them on purpose and mermaids tend to drown them by accident.

Relationships with Humans: At one time Selkies enjoyed spending time with humans, but as humans polluted the oceans Selkies became more and more hostile towards them; especially the females. At one time it was common for men to steal a female selkie’s skin and force her to be his wife. The wife was then trapped on land with however many children she had and the husband. Some men would burn the skins after she would have a child, or burn the child’s skin. By doing this they destroyed a part of the selkie’s being and they would die soon after from the loss.

Male Selkies used to come out of the waves and make love to women, and some instances men, who would weep into the ocean after losing a loved one, but this is now a rare occurrence. A Selkie will more likely drown a woman than mate with them.

Some selkies do interact with humans though there are very few. All clans differ on how to treat humans. Some believe they should be left alone, others attack them, and some try to mingle with them and become apart of the culture. The more violent clans have been known to banish members if they are found helping a human or even going into the towns to investigate.

Abilities: Vampyres have a multitude of abilities that vary by type due to the thousands of bloodlines that have been created since the original. Many boast coming from the base bloodline, though no one can be sure who is telling the truth or not. If the original Vampyre is still alive, they have not come forwards, though many have attempted to hold the title.

The corruption of the soul can lead to a multitude of different changes to the body and leads to different abilities. A few include, but are not limited to:

Detachable body parts

Shapeshifting

Clairvoyance

Telepathy

Seduction

Telekinesis

Physical Strength

Emotional Manipulation

Flight

Enticement*

*Enticement is not the same as seduction. A Vampyre with seduction can easily seduce a human, those with Enticement can sway someone to do their bidding. It also varies from Emotional Manipulation, which literally means they can manipulate emotions; causing rage, sorrow, or lust all at their whim depending on how susceptible the human is.

Weaknesses: While they have many abilities, each bloodline carries its own line of weaknesses. While most can not enter sunlight, some can stand to be in it if covered, or if they have recently fed. An even rarer few may enter it with only mild discomfort but are still sensitive. All Vampyres will die if they do not consume blood, though some can go much longer than others.

Other weaknesses that have been documented are:

Fire

Wild rose bushes*

Religious Items **

Beheading

A connection to their grave soil

Inability to cross running water

Impulsively having to counting small items (rice, seeds, and so on)

Different types of metals.

Heart removal/Destruction

* It is believed that wild roses, a pure flower, can catch upon the clothing of Vampyres, and ensnare them until sunup where they will perish.

** For a religious item to work the human must believe in the religion fully. It doesn't matter if the Vampyre believes in the religion; as long as the human does any religious icon can drive a Vampyre back. It is the purity of faith that drives them away not the god of the religion itself.

Feeding: Vampyres have many different feeding behaviors, abilities, and weaknesses. All feed on blood though some may have secondary abilities to feed.

Two more common secondary feeding abilities are being able to feed off of emotional energy or physical energy. With emotional energy a Vampyre could feed off of sorrow, happiness, lust, and so on. A Vampyre who could thrive off of sorrow may work at a morgue or graveyard. Those who feed off lust may own a brothel. Those who feed off happiness may take part in a travelling circus.

Vampyres who feed off of physical energy must be in contact with the human they are feeding from. This could include sex, rage from physical violence, or physical exertion such as dancing.

Appearance: Vampyres are as versatile in appearance as humans. They can be beautiful, ugly, or plain. Most will look as they did upon corruption, though some may become as twisted in appearance as their soul is corrupted. A lack of blood will also cause the appearance to falter and twist.

For a small bloodline it is possible for them to simply age without blood. It is a risky procedure, and small doses of blood are needed to keep them from losing themselves to bloodlust, but some Vampyres have been able to live full lives with human counterparts before faking their own death, feeding, and starting over in the guise of another.

Location: Vampyres, in some variation or another, can be found on every continent. It is believed that the first bloodlines are from Asia, coming from the Nukekubi and Penanggalan stories; creatures with detachable heads and body parts that would drink the blood of unexpecting victims. Due to these legends it is also thought that the first Vampyre may have been female.

Certain locations have a more dense population of bloodlines. Europe has more of those who can not be in the sun and can be affected by faith. America is more densely populated by those who can deal with some sun and feed off of different emotions. More third world, or less densely populated areas have Vampyres who are more grotesque, or would be hard to hide in a modern world.

Culture: A Vampyre’s culture depends heavily on the area they come from. The only time Vampyre’s come into contact with each other is if they are looking for companionship and don’t wish to change a human. They may also seek out others when training a fledgling Vampyre to help provide them with more of a rounded education about their culture, abilities, and also keep their own sanity when taking care of them.

Vampyre’s will have relationships together, though they do not tend to last for over a century or two. More corrupted Vampyre’s are more likely to create their own companions, though the relationships don’t tend to last longer than two to three centuries before the fledgling is able to gain enough control over their abilities to leave and survive on their own without detection. Those who don’t believe in changing or killing humans have adopted the new more modern day spelling of ‘Vampire’ though there are still those who prefer the older spelling. The spellings do not necessarily mean anything specific, though a lot of the more modern day fledglings prefer the more well known Vampire spelling.

There is a form of hierarchy to clans, though it is mostly regional. There are some unspoken rules that older generations use to keep the younger in check, though many of these rules are starting to become more lax or falling out of use as more modern day Vampires comes into being. Still the newer generations tend to listen to their elders since the older Vampyre’s have better control on their abilities. Some older Vampyres also have some control over all those that come either directly from their bloodline or are divergent of their bloodline.

The ideals of the Vampire and Vampyre tend to butt heads due to differences in opinion. Some bloodlines have split due to their inability to decide on the correct way to use or treat humans, creating somewhat different variations of each. There are too many factors between the two to consider one more ‘good’ over the other seeing as each takes on a name depending on their own views. There are Vampyre who will not change humans and there are Vampires who will. The same goes for killing during feeding.

Children: Vampyres can not have children of their own, though they can make other Vampyre. To do so they feed on a human’s blood, or through their secondary feeding ability, until the human is weak. The Vampyre will then corrupt them with their blood which contains traces of their corrupted soul.

If the human is weak enough, the corruption will spread and they will become a Vampyre. If they fight the corruption then they will die. This saves the soul and allows it to pass on without the demonic tainting.

Those who are not weakened and willingly drink Vampyre blood become Ghouls. These people are still technically human and will reap some benefits of Vampyre’s blood but will also have some disadvantages of a Vampyre. Example, they will be much more likely to receive sunburns, have much more sensitive eyes in the daylight, will feel withdrawal symptoms from not having more Vampyre blood. If a Ghoul has consumed enough blood before dying then they have a chance to become a full Vampyre. If not then they will pass on and their soul will be untouched.

Interaction with other Creatures: Vampyres tend to stay away from other creatures since they technically do not belong to either the world of the Fey or the world of the Human. Most creatures dislike their presence since they are a corrupted form of nature.

Some Vampyre’s will hunt other humanoid creatures instead of humans. A Vampyre can not change any other creature into a Vampyre, but can gain some control over them if they are fed blood in some cases.

The more modern day Vampires tend to get along better with most creatures, but as mentioned before, it really depends on the Vampire or Vampyre in how they react.

Interaction with Humans: All Vampyre and Vampire have different views on humans. Humans can be seen as a wide range of things to both groups including:

Vampyre (Generally): Cattle, Playthings, Accessories.

Both: Food, Pets, Servants, Lovers (Only in a sexual way).

Vampire (Generally): Innocents, Friends, Partners. 

Location: First having been created in Greece, Arachne have spread over most parts of the world, the younger of the species being able to hide easily aboard ships and things. They can be found throughout Asia; Europe; North and South America; and Africa. Those that have managed to get to Australia love it there. They are few in number even though they can be born with many sisters, and each continent usually holds no more than twenty at a time.

They prefer darker, dryer places. Caves, sandy holes, old ruins. They stay well away from humanity, though if a traveler was to come near their home, they may find themselves feeling a bit social. The human will not survive the encounter.

Appearance: Originally Arachne were very spindly, much like garden spiders, and suited for warmer climates. Slowly they became more and more adapted to colder climates. Some resemble tarantulas now with thicker, harrier bodies below the waist. All of them have hard exoskeletons instead of skin, though depending on the area it will have changed color tone to blend in better. More wooded areas get a more olive tone, sandier areas a tan or brown tone. Rarely do they have a white flesh color like their original mother did.

They start out very small, around the size of full grown cats, and are very good at hiding. They can get as tall as 6’ in some cases, but usually top out around 5’ 8”. Their upper bodies are very appealing to the human species, and they use this appeal to lure humans down into their homes. Their lower bodies depend mostly on the climate. Colder climates mean larger, hairier lower bodies while warmer mean more spindly, thinner bodies. The hair on the tops of their heads will be different for each female. They all also have eight eyes, though they are clumped close together to mimic human eyes. Sometimes multiple may be in one socket with only one in the other.

Reproduction: Arachne reproduce by finding male humans and using them as a sort of sperm bank since there are no male Arachne. They have a reproduction system that mimics both a female humans and spiders. They will first seduce a male while doing their best to keep him from seeing her lower half. Sometimes they simply forgo this and bite them instead, which they will do even after seduction, with one of two venoms.

The first venom is a potent aphrodisiac, making the male human hard as they wrap the rest of his body in silk, but leave his genitals erect and exposed. They will then squat above the male, lining them up with their own epigyne, or the female sex organs of the female spider. Mating may happen many times before a female is sated with the amount of sperm that they have acquired, and once they are done, they will inject the human male with their second venom, a potent acid, and then eat him much like a normal spider will. Devouring him will give them enough nutrients to bring their eggs to fruition, which they will then lay well away from their homes. If they are old they may lay them in their own homes and allow their children to devour them. Rarely do they ever have mothers that loving.

Children: As soon as they are born all they can think of is kill or be killed. They will attack their newly born sisters, eating them until there are only a few left. These few will split away when they think they are strong enough or don’t dare to attack the other sisters. They will then go as far as they deem fit before settling down in a general area.

Culture: They have very little culture. Like arachnids, most of their knowledge is passed down through genetics, though a good deal is done mentally as well. Each Arachne will learn more and more and pass it down to her daughters with a sort of psychic link while they are still in their eggs. This has allowed them to learn many languages, and sometimes many skills.

Interactions with other Creatures: They are not social creatures at all. If they see another of their kind they will kill them, or will be killed in the process. The same goes for many other creatures. Rarely will they make bonds with other fey, and if they do they are short lived. These relations are simply due to boredom and will not end well for someone in the end.

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Sollux only has a slight addiction to human food, just a slight one, and it is only to curry. Most other foods don't have nearly enough flavor to them, but curry? Curry is sent from the gods, and he would make it himself if he understood human cooking, but unfortunately that is not something he really grasps about human culture. Astronomy, mathematics, technology; all these are things he understands. Cooking? He is better off sitting beneath the waves of the river and snagging a fish as goes by than trying to cook. Problem with fish is that it really doesn’t taste so good anymore, doesn’t really sit with him right, and getting curry from a stand is so much easier than hunting. Only that hasn't been sitting with his stomach well either, nothing has really. Sollux tries not to think about it.

“Out with us Sollux come.” Jake is a nice guy, he has told him a lot about the world, but he can be horribly annoying and really doesn’t know what he is saying half the time. Even the stories he’s told Sollux make no sense half the time thanks to the language barrier of the native english speaker. Sollux really would prefer him to just speak english, he can understand that so much better than his broken hindi. Sollux instead shakes his head apologetically. His stomach is killing him, really killing him, and it is messing with his ability to stay human. Twice today his scales have peaked through as he stood shaking in the bathroom, stomach roiling.

“Thorry Jake,” he replies and shrugs with his hands though he quickly puts them down. There are scales all over the back of his hands, peeking out of his loose shirt. “Not feeling well.”

“But leaving soon,” Jake replies with a slight pout. Sollux does feel bad about that. Jake is leaving latter in the week to go off on more of these odd adventures he has been telling him and the rest of the students at the small university he had been visiting during his trip. Apparently he has lots of disposable income that allows him to travel. Some of the boys have asked Jake for items, and he has been more than happy to provide them. Sollux has never really cared about that though, he is more interested in Jake’s stories. Even speaking in a garbled tongue Sollux has learned much from Jake about the other countries, and has decided that someday he will have to try and find a way to get to the Americas. Mexico sounds interesting, and America and Canada would be odd cultures to explore.

“I’ll come thee you tomorrow,” Sollux replies as he shoves his hands deep within the pockets of his loose pants. Jake looks at him closely, studying him much like has before. Sometimes Sollux thinks Jake knows what he is, but that is absurd. No humans know that he and his people truly exist. Then again, Jake had once gotten drunk and mentioned an odd story that had ended as abruptly as it had started. It had been something about a ‘Faun’, a word Sollux did not know in english.

“She had been lovely,” Jake had told him in english, too drunk to speak Hindi. “Lovely Faun woman who had shown me all of the most amazing places. Caves, crags, any place I wanted to go she knew.”

“What’s a Faun?” Sollux had asked. The question had caused Jake to start and stare at him like he had been bitten.

“Nothing,” Jake had replied and turned away. “I’ve drank too much.” It turned out that Sollux knew of Fauns, had actually met a few in his lifetime. They were half goat, or sheep, and of a more curious temperament that Sollux didn’t quite get along with. When he had tried to ask Jake about the story later he had laughed and said he had been speaking nonsense. Then he had changed the topic to grecian star charts. Sollux had dropped it.

“Alright,” he replies. “Better feel.” Sollux nods and leaves him and the other students he has been spending the summer heats with. Disappearing into forest he heads for the river, stomach fighting him with each step, his skin becoming its natural scales. Carefully he removes his clothes and slips into the water. The transformation happens quickly, his skin turning back into scales, his hair becomes his hood, and as he sinks beneath the murky water of the river there is some relief to the pain in his belly, but it really isn’t enough.

“I need to eat thomething,” he thinks to himself. Swimming down the river he snatches one with the hand that doesn’t clutch at his clothes. He bites the head off, chews, swallows, and in a few seconds he is above water. The retching hurts so much as he pukes up the fish flesh and coughs.

“What the hell?” He pants as he looks at the fish. “What the hell…” Sollux’s stomach growls, it roils, and it is so very painful. Lifting the fish to his mouth he bites again, chews, swallows, and feels his stomach fight it not long after. He forces it to stay down, makes it, and when it no longer feels like he will vomit he continues on. Three more times he does this before finally making it home where he curls up in his mounds of nick nacks and information, a makeshift bed of furs, pillows, and metals under his scales. The fish isn’t sitting right with him at all, and it is worrisome. Fish has never bothered him before in his life, even when ill.

“I need to cut back on the curry,” he murmurs and rolls into a tight ball. The next day he goes to see Jake and eats a full box of spicy chicken curry. His stomach keeps it better than the fish, but his body feels slow, off, and sickly.

“Feel okay?” Jake asks him.

“Just feeling a bit thick,” Sollux replies.

Location: A Dryad can be born in just about any area of the world as long as the trees there are able to get enough magic from the soil. Less and less have been born thanks to pollution and deforestation, but they are still being born on rare occasions. They are mainly in deep forests such as rainforest and northern forests, though once born in an area it is very hard for them to try and enter a new living area. Most of those who attempt to travel too far out of their original habitat will die.

Physical Features: Dryads can be humanoid in shape, but their growth patterns mostly depend on themselves. Like trees, they can grow more in one way or another, though while trees do this so that they may get more sunlight or the like, Dryads will do this for personal reasons. This also allows them to grow more limbs than just two arms or legs, and they can prune themselves by stopping the growth in those parts of their bodies and breaking them off.

They usually only grow to be 8-9 feet tall at most. Usually most are only between 6-7 feet. Depending on the area they are from they will have different bark, leaves, and sometimes even flowers. Very few of them will produce fruit, but some of them can if there is a fruit tree that has absorbed enough magin.

While they do not have any organs like a human, they do have something similar to a brain, though when it runs out of protein a Dryad will take root and become nothing more than a tree, their magic leaving them. This brain can also be located in any part of the body, or in multiple spaces. Though if a memory section is lost it can not be grown back.

Their bark is very tough, and while they can feel, that does not make it very sensitive. The most sensitive parts of Dryad will be things such as knot holes or any limbs that they grow without bark. Some Dryad will create such limbs or holes simply so that they may have these sensation points. Striping their bark is quite painful.

These creatures are agender, so being considered ‘male’ or ‘female’ is not set in stone, and most don’t even go by those pronouns, if any pronoun at all.

Reproduction/Creation: Dryads are a form of Fay lifeform that are created through magical energy being stored in the trunks of trees. They do not have any reproductive organs. When a tree absorbs enough magical energy they will be faced with a choice. The tree can either become a sentient being, able to uplift their roots and roam, becoming a Ent, or they will create a seedling that will grow between their roots. This seedling will be a Dryad.

Dryad can take a long while to fully grow into a sapling that can uplift their roots. They feed off of the magical energy their parent tree has stored up, growing very quickly until they can take on real life. This time span can be anywhere from 1-5 years depending on how much magic is pumped into the seedling. Dryad will then live for as long as they see fit, continuing to provide themselves with protein. They are very hard to kill and can live for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

While they can not reproduce, and have no sexual organs, some may create knot holes and barkless limbs to replicate sexual experiences like animals, though very few are ever interested in this, and these limbs or holes are usually in random places. They may also fill in the knot holes or grow bark over the limbs if they later wish

Children: Young Dryad will be very curious, but after a time they are more interested in taking care of the forest. They learn by listening to the older trees, bushes, and plants in the forest, though their speech comes naturally. Lots of what their parents tree knew they pass onto the Dryad, different languages included. Many Dryad that were born of old trees will speak dead languages.

Culture: Dryad are extremely private, rarely going out and communicating with others. They may sometimes make friends with other creatures, but more often than not they will distance themselves except for a select few.

They do not really have a barter system, though they do believe in equal exchange. If they eat from a plant, they make sure to sow its seeds so that it may live on. If they exchange anything with others then they expect to get something of equal value. They do not wear clothing since they don’t have anything to hide. Basically, if someone is kind to a Dryad, they will be kind back, though this does not mean they will be their friend.

Interaction with other Creatures: They have very little reaction to other creatures, though they will sometimes fight with them due to them finding them to be unjust. To fight they can use other trees and plant life, along with quickly growing thick staves that they may use as well. This form of growth can be very tiring.