#demishade

Containing Demishade

Sheltage

Well, who else to start this psiclopedia than one of my own? After all, who couldn't appreciate the visual of a Sheltage chain, helping to observe the local populace? I mean, most people aren't like that Merrow who threw rocks at me the other day. I mean, who is to talk when I've seen them psilogging onto Bulbflash. You know that site is just empty posturing and politic-[RECORDING PAUSED]

Description:

This Demishade looks like a small bird cage whose “chain” is actually a tail ending in a stinger. They fly around using a round, ragged membrane that resembles fabric covering it at rest. 

Biology:

Only barely capable of movement when grounded, the Sheltage relies on flying with the membrane on its upper body, pulsing not unlike a jellyfish as it floats through the air. Its “cage” is made of a bonelike material, capable of surrounding and enclosing creatures smaller than it and harassing anything larger. If anything proves too resistant, the claw ending its tough and prehensile tail can inject a powerful sedative.

Behavior:

The Sheltage's main purpose seems to be the collection, analysis, and movement of retrofauna populations. They are often created in groups, working in tandem to ferry everything from roofrats to criwis to wherever the city needs them most. It isn't uncommon to see them before or after the scenes of a Wyworg's rampage, moving a portion of survivors to a place where they are less likely to cause damage. 

Due to their lack of combat prowess, Sheltages tend to be non-confrontational and polite, especially to anything larger than themselves. When among their own kind (or anything else they trust enough), however, they'll often be a lot more honest in their opinions. Due to this, the visual of multiple Sheltages hanging from their tails has sometimes been used as a symbol of gossipy and two-faced behavior.

Statblock:

Small Demishade, Brawn 3/Brain 5, Scan 18

Eyes: The Ground Below: [PERCEIVE 1d10 vision/brains] E1 

Crystoform: Demishade Directive: [CORRAL +2d10 retrofauna] E2

Wings: Flapping [MOVE flying] [DASH 1] E2

Tail: Tranquilizer: [INFLICT 1d10 pacified, inhibited/brawn] [COMBINE 1] E2

Cage: Catch and Trap: [ENGULF 2d10/brawn] [CLING] E4 

My newest warriors for PrideClan!

Meet DemiFlight and DemiShade!

“Like the mysterious Shades who toil in Mortasheen city's inner workings, the Demishades consist mostly of a crystalloid skeleton and organs suspended in an energy-absorbing fluid matrix, resembling beings of pitch darkness outside of their protective biofiber skins.“

Now that seems like my kind of monster! The first of the Demishades, and though my favorites among them are probably Pathocary and Emeyebee, Painchild stood out due to being the first. Also, by being a faithful starter of many trainers.

The reasons behind their name may not be apparent in their design, but they become apparent one you read more of their description.

One thing you can see right away in their design though it their bird-like feet and arms. And that’s because each demishade is connected to a different class of Mortasheen monsters, and Painchild is connected to Devil Birds. Neat!

I thought I’d probably want one if they weren’t so high maintenance!

But also...

It was around then, I think, that I read Bogleech talking about how there are also a lot of dark things in the pokedéx, even though the games are pretty light. And I was wondering how I would think of mortasheen creatures had I met them in a game. I’d probably see their designs differently, too, if I saw them with the limited color palette and less details, as I would have if it was a game boy game like Pokémon or Dragon Warrior Monsters...

So I decided to see how they would look! And that’s when I started drawing fanart of them in this style. (If you’d like to see what else I did since then, it’s all in my art blog: http://dagazzart.tumblr.com/tagged/mortasheen)

Soon that made me think of mortasheen monster through another angle, besides creativity of the concepts or biology: game mechanics. And that led to further appreciation of some of them!