#tortula

Tentative Tortula ID

11-AUG-2025

The name literally means 'wall -twisted'.

A cosmopolitan species, very common in urban areas where it happily grows on brick and concrete, as well as elsewhere. Quite a good source of information on air pollution in cities, as it absorbs everything in the environment.

One of the Tortula’s most interesting skills is its ability to control its prey like puppets. Using a captive with barely any life force left, the Tortula strings nearly invisible soul web around portions of the body and channels consumed Spectral Force through them. It then controls the captive with Psychic Force, emulating their personalities and mannerisms almost perfectly. The puppet is typically tasked with finding other creatures and coaxing them into the Tortula’s lair, where a well-laid trap awaits.

The method is not entirely seamless. The soul web does grow subtly in the dark, and it's more obvious if the strings are too thick. What's more, if the Tortula is not careful with its acting and control, the puppet could reciprocate the Tortula's thoughts or get tangled in the strings it's being controlled with. And of course, since the Tortula is putting full focus on controlling its puppet, it becomes unaware of its own surroundings, leaving itself vulnerable to whatever may try to attack it.

Tortula ruralis

Twisted Moss, Star Moss

Okay Tortula! From now on, you’re part of Theta, as a medical staff, for the team and Stormeye (specifically).

So without further ado, welcome to Team Theta! I hope we can achieve great things in the future!

Taking a Leap of faith posting these.

This is a series of images I made that I eventually entitled "Bugging Rudd." What was once an odd alternate version of the Beeby illustration ended up becoming a small story. I don't typically share these sorts of images, but in the one place I did they seemed to be received fairly well, and I was unsure if the same reception would be found elsewhere. So that's what led to this post.

The story goes something like this:

One day a Leppicorn named Rudd got on the bad side of another Esper Beast (one I've yet to introduce). The Beast retaliated by using its Psychic Force to summon Beebies and trap Rudd in a hive made of solid "BeebyWax." When the Beebies regained control of their minds, they found Rudd stuck in an awkward situation and were both confused and curious as to what happened.

As they investigated Rudd, they noticed he was reacting to an odd weakness as they were scratching around. Becoming even more curious, the Beebies started to look into this even more as Rudd desperately cried out for help between helpless laughter...

Eventually his cries would be heard by two Leppicorn friends, who managed to shoo the Beebies away. But they found Rudd's predicament to be so ridiculous that they eventually tormented him a bit further before finally breaking him free.

After that, they would continue to laugh at and tease him, even giving him the nickname of "Honey Bunny." Humiliated, Rudd was already deliberating on some form of retribution.

When he was finally able to be alone, Rudd happened upon a small Tortula named Maeve, attempting to set a web trap in the woods. Surprised that Rudd found her, she begged not to be smashed flat. But finding her gave him an idea, and he offered a proposition that would benefit both of them...

A few days later, the two other Leppicorn found Rudd looking around by a large tree. As they approached him to find out what was up, he signaled Maeve to spring her trap. In the blink of an eye, the two Leppicorn were suddenly snapped up in soul web, pinned against the tree and unable to escape. After Maeve further secured the two, she and Rudd would begin to torment the pair.

It was a good deal for the both of them. Rudd would get his revenge on the other two Leppicorn, and Maeve would have plenty of food thanks to the life force her soul web absorbed from their struggling.

The Tortula is a spider that typically dwells in deep caves and holes. Their main source of food is the spiritual life force of other living creatures; it obtains this with the help of its unique webbing that's been called "soul web."

The soul web is woven along the walls and ceilings of its cave; as it sets, it gains a very elastic property. When prey reaches the right spot, the Tortula will trigger the soul web to spring onto the unsuspecting creature, and it will quickly weave even more web until the prey cannot hope to escape. As the prey struggles to break free, the soul web absorbs their life force, causing it to glow an eerie green. Later on, the Tortula will cut away the glowing soul web and eat it for the life force it has collected. Amazingly, the prey itself is never consumed, though its eventual fate may vary (more on that later).

If the situation occurs where the prey stops moving, either from exhaustion or defiance, the Tortula will utilize some method to encourage their prey to keep moving. Sometimes it just uses intimidating gestures to make the prey struggle again, but sometimes it will use its sharp retractable claws to painfully prod and scratch at the helpless prey. Worst-case scenario, it will bite the prey with its fangs, where its venom will cause all their muscles to spasm involuntarily. It gets the job done, but the venom dilutes the life force a lot. Plus Tortula seem to enjoy tormenting their prey.

Tortula have been seen in a wide range of sizes -- from as small as an average tarantula to roughly human size. Both ends of this range have advantages and drawbacks. Smaller Tortula have to take a lot more time end energy to make effective traps, but they don't require as much to satisfy their hunger, meaning most large captives are able to survive those Tortula encounters. The same can't be said for the larger Tortula; even though they can make traps in less than a few minutes, they often have to drain everything from their victims to get anywhere close to a satisfying amount of sustenance.