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Verrucalt: brief species overview

Sometimes for smaller species/subspecies/groups that aren't very much focused on in my worldbuilding yet, I'll just do these sorts of posts where it's just a small outline of main points about the species, rather than an elaborate multi-part series of informational posts (like how I do with the Avirre'thel, or what I plan to do with certain major groups of Elves or Jhevona, etc.) , so here's a smaller condensed bit of info about them. And if I choose to work more on them in the future, I'll make new posts and elaborations, but for now it's just a brief bit lol (info under read more)

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✮Overview✮

The Verrucalt are a magic capable species purposefully engineered through a mix of selective breeding, magic, and tampering with genetics.

Unlike any other known species, they have an inherent inclination towards illusion magics and reality magics (and thus are also born with an unnaturally high base magical energy level to be able to do these magics, far higher than most jhevona (which is currently the species known to be the most inherently magic capable upon birth)) . While it's common for groups to have a natural inclination towards things like elemental magics or etc., illusion and reality magics are so intensive and require so much energy that like 90% of the population wouldn't even be capable of doing them if they tried, let alone possessing them as a natural skill.

This is widely controversial, due to the nature of these skills. Illusion magics (at least higher level illusion magics) are generally illegal due to what they entail (being able to induce hallucinations, trick people into seeing or feeling things that aren't there, basically hijack the sensory experiences of others, etc.). Reality magics are so incredibly rare for anyone to even be able to do (maybe like 100 or less people in the entire realm could currently pull off doing such high energy magics without just dying or something, out of billions) that there are less laws about it since it's not very well known, but most people who find out about any reality magic users generally try to kill or hunt them, as the magic user would be seen as too dangerous to exist in society. Even though really reality magics is just like, being able to create personal pockets of reality that exist alongside the main reality, which really isn't inherently harmful to anyone else, but most of the fears are over stuff like, a reality magic user being able to kidnap people and trap them in custom realms they've created or etc. Or over misconceptions of the magic itself (thinking that it means the user can LITERALLY change reality , like turn the sky purple out of nowhere or etc. Which they can't actually do lol (if anything illusion magics is more similar to what people THINK reality magic is, even if illusion magic can't literally actually change anything, it can make you PERCEIVE that it's changed (the sky is still blue but you see it as purple, etc)).

Anyway, because of all of the negative perceptions over use of this form of magic, when the public discovered information on the creation of the Verrucalt and their abilities, most people in the area panicked (assuming these super powerful reality controlling ultra-beings were soon going to rise up and cause chaos or something), and there are currently orders out in most areas for any member of the species to be eradicated immediately if spotted. They are mostly seen as a harmful creation that must be done away with. Being able to manipulate and in some cases entirely re-program the reality of others (through illusion magics) can of course in some ways be seen as a massive threat to most individuals, species , and governments of the supernatural realm alike. The scientists who originally created the species have already been executed, along with most Verrucalt, but there are still a few remaining members scattered around.

What is much lesser known (and would probably make them seem less threatening) is that the bodies of these species are much more open to intrusion than others (ironic, given their abilities) , thus they often fall prey to being taken over or possessed by malicious spirits, demons, and similar creatures. This greatly inhibits them as they often have to be constantly fighting for control of their own bodies.

Usually a person’s vulnerability to intrusion is thought to be linked to a number of factors, but mostly some quality of the lifeforce or soul of the individual (like for example if someone with a much "weaker" lifeforce were to try to push their soul into the body of someone with a much naturally stronger one, then it wouldn’t work, however if it was the other way around, likely the stronger would overpower the weak). This is thought to be linked to inherent magical ability, however species like the Verrucalt kind of upset this theory (they have massive innate abilities and are capable of things that a majority of others aren’t, yet are still 'weak' in this regard). Additionally, people can train against intrusion to make themselves less susceptible to this, so scholars are really unsure about what exactly the mysterious quality is that determines a person's susceptibility to intrusion, or how innate it is.

Anyway, the Verrucalt somehow maintain high magical ability yet have very “weak lifeforce/souls” and thus are constantly dealing with the problem of these intrusions. This is even possibly thought to be worsened due to their inclination towards reality magics, as it may provide them with some sort of natural connection to multiple layers of reality, outside realms, or pocket realms others have crafted in the past, So not only the forces of the current reality they are in but also beings from many others could be making a connection with them as well*. Luckily, the intruders themselves have no access to a Verrucalt’s abilities, even when inhabiting them, so there’s no worry of that falling into the wrong hands. But it’s still often difficult for a Verrucalt to even functionally practice their abilities when there’s always multiple spirits passing through them and trying to do things or get their attention or gain control.

(*Though this is debatable in terms of whether actual other realms exist, outside of tiny ones that have been created by people in the past using reality magics. Currently even the most powerful beings in Nanyevimi couldn't create an entirely SEPARATE realm. When a pocket reality is made using something like reality magics, it functions more as a private extension of the current realm, a tiny little branch off of Nanyevimi (the realm as a whole) yet still technically contained within it and connected to it (so like if Nanyevimi disappeared, so would all the pocket realms, they don't exist on their own). Some schools of thought (like many Jhevona cultures) believe that multiple entirely separate realms outside of Nanyevimi do exist, but we've merely forgotten how to access them,, while others believe that Nanyevimi (and the small amount of magically created extensions that branch off of it) is the only realm that exists. It would likely depend on one's background, whether they think the Verrucalt's problem is made worse because of a subconscious access to alternate realities, or whether they would believe the Verrucalt merely have contact with spirits and beings within Nanyevimi and nowhere else. )

Many spirits just want to use living beings as vehicles for things they want to do but don't have a physical form to be able to do, though nobody is sure exactly how they're made or where they come from**, they’re almost always constantly out there trying to find people who will host them. Kind of like someone just endlessly sending out radio signals into the distance repeatedly until someone else with a radio is able to hear them and take their message. (So Verrucalt would kind of be like, people who are constantly tuned into every radio signal that is passing anywhere all at once, while most species would either pick up none at all, or maybe only receive one or two of the VERY strongest signals.) Some spirits just want to use the body to relay a message to living relatives, or some want to just like go eat some cheese in a restaurant because they miss it, or of course some just want to be antagonistic assholes towards their host or get revenge on people, but usually it's quite mundane, like a spirit just wanting to physically visit a pond so they can swim but they have no physical formso need to use someone to do it or etc..

**[[Spirits aren't even really conclusively proven to exist in Nanyevimi, in the sense that what people perceive as spirits could possibly just be ruled out as the results of already known phenomena. Having magic in the world obviously complicates things.

Some people (who subscribe to the theory that there is a collective magic pool that the entire world shares, and once someone dies their magic is returned to the pool to be redistributed) believe that spirits are a result of magic that gets interrupted before being able to return to the collective pool and is just loose energy that ends up personifying itself so it can communicate with others to find it's way back to the main mass of magical energy.

Others think that spirits are the same thing as souls, even though souls naturally fade and are not able to exist outside of physical forms without dying, they think that maybe there are a few rare scenarios that can occur where soul magic goes wrong and a soul is trapped outside of a host but unable to die like they usually would, or for some reason the limit of evaporating if not in a physical host for too long no longer applies to them.

Others believe that though there is no collective magic pool for the world, magic capable species do release some amount of energy when they die, and that sometimes they accidentally cast out a spell or enchantment (as some magic users are known to do when under severe stress, doing magic without even meaning to, etc) which holds onto their last thoughts or intentions and begins to operate independently of them (since enchantments can be intention based, like a common home enchantment is stuff like 'nobody with the intention of harm can pass through this barrier' or etc. Thus if your final thought was 'i dont want anyone to ever be able to hurt my sister I hope she'll be okay' right before you die, and you accidentally turned that into an enchantment, maybe you'd get a leftover ''spirit'' who wanders aimlessly with the single goal of 'this person's sister must be protected' , etc. )

ANYWAY, so there are like, a ton of theories, these are not even all the main ones lol, nobody is really sure what spirits are (maybe they're even multiple things from varied causes that people just interpret as all being similar, etc.), but there IS, at the very least, some sort of tangible recognizable phenomena out there that mimics what many people believe a "spirit" would be, even if it's much more complicated than that. And these "spirits", or whatever they are, do have an actual effect on the Verrucalt ]]

Most species are not inherently susceptible to a majority of spirits, since spirits seem to have extremely weak life force (which makes sense given they're not even like.. real physical beings), and even species like humans (thought to have a generally pretty weak soul) are not prone to being influenced by these, as even their natural barrier is large compared to the relatively small power of like 98% of spirits. But with the Verrucalt, who seemingly have essentially no barrier, it’s like being barraged with all messages from all spirits no matter how small all at once, and with even stronger spirits a verrucalt can actually have their body taken control of and etc, to go like,, eat cheese or something lol, etc etc.

Partially due to this, it’s common for members of this species to come off as highly aloof, usually overwhelmed and distracted by this to the point of not being able to function or focus on much (Like if you always have so much going on at once, it;d be hard to tune out). Much more rarely, they may be inhabited by a entity mid conversation and entirely change what they’re doing or saying quite abruptly, which is another reason that when interacting with them they tend to be thought of as very distractable or unable to focus on the content of the conversation. There have been rumors of Verrucalt who have nearly eliminated this problem through magic and careful control of their inhabitors/ building up their natural barriers to that sort of thing (which would likely make them an extremely dangerous and powerful individual), but this has never been confirmed.

Though also it should be noted, that usually rogue traveling Verrucalt have the most trouble with this. There are two groups of Verrucalt who live kind of out in the middle of nowhere (obviously, they're in hiding so people don't kill them lol), and they tend to suffer from this SIGNIFICANTLY less, to the point that it's almost never even a problem for them. This is thought to be because usually the intentions of spirits involve like, doing certain things or seeing certain people, and an isolated area with nothing around but some rocks and a beach is going to be a pretty uncommon target for them to focus their searches in. Large cities or trade routes or places with a variety of people and resources and things available seem to be the worst areas in terms of spirit bombardment, since I guess if you're looking for physical forms to inhabit so you have have some experience or accomplish some task, it makes more sense to search for hosts you can inhabit in areas with a lot more people and foot travel.

Verrucalt initially leaving or escaping the barrier of the science facility where they were originally created had it pretty bad, since this all took place in a pretty large city (thus they were immediately tuned into the highest traffic of spirit requests possible, after having never experienced anything like this inside of the facility before). Though after settling in smaller areas (if they lived long enough to), the problem got much better, and the Verrucalt groups likely initially sought out their isolated living areas exclusively because of this ( "Finally! A place where I can kind of function!!" etc.). Verrucalt who travel are really the only ones still very inhibited by this.

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✮Physical Details✮

sorry for the extremely old pixely unreadable screencap, I do plan to redraw all these images and have updated clearer versions and etc, but for now all I have is this years old sketch to show their physical traits aaa -

✮History✮

The species was originally created about 1000 years ago, in a hidden science facility buried away behind many barriers within a large city. A group of scientists and mages were tasked with engineering an ultimate weaponized species to use in a war for their local government. They started with a few humanoid magic capable species and then bred, mixed, and edited around the genes, until finally getting something similar to what they desired after many generations of this. Usually speeding up the aging/breeding process with risky magic and dangerously untested technology.

The scientists provided food, shelter, clothing, schedules, and all needed necessities for the early Verrucalt, and began training this new species at a very young age. Though Verrucalt were frequently basically tortured, tested on , and killed by the scientists behind the scenes, most were kept in the dark about this and kept distracted by the intense schedules and training, and were still generally happy being provided for.

There as an expansive system in place with strict developmental training, skills programs, and weekly check-up examinations to search for any genetic issues or health problems in the population. Some members were allowed to temporarily leave the isolated center once reaching a certain level of training, so that they would have a chance to monitor the Verrucalt's behavior and training actually put to the test in the outside world, but most remained there to be studied and bred, and they quickly discontinued the idea of letting Verrucalt leave as a 'test' because they nearly never returned, even if they left accompanied by a guard or something they seemed to just freak out and run away.

The scientists had largely overlooked the species' vulnerability to being inhabited by spirits, since the facility that 99% of the species had been born, raised, and died in had been magically protected against outside forces (the scientists were all magic capable mages of course, and wanted to protect anyone from hearing about their creations or being able to interfere, since they kind of knew what they were doing was controversial and illegal, and if spies of outside governments had been able to spy on them with magic or etc. they would have been found out).

So when a verrucalt left, immediately after passing through the threshold of the magic barrier that would keep out all external magic and etc, they would instantly be barraged by a ton of spirits, and of course ended up never reporting back to the scientists to make them aware that there was even a problem (since they would become to distressed or disoriented or just too angry at their creation to ever return to the people that made them). Their magical abilities were actually kind of an unintentional side effect (the scientists were attempting to make a scary beast-like physically strong creature that was RESISTANT to magic, and while the verrucalt were harmed less when being attacked with elemental magics or etc, and had some small degree of a natural barrier, they were never intended to have magic THEMSELVES, which the scientists never actually even found out about since the Verrucalt were always kept within closed off areas with high magic preventative barriers, etc.), thus they were never actually taught how to use it, so unfortunately many would just end up dying upon leaving, accidentally killing themselves with abilities they didn't even know they had, especially since reality and illusion magics take such a high amount of energy (usually higher energy magic is most dangerous).

Many verrucalt who left or escaped would end up obliterating themselves with an accidental burst of energy, or accidentally using illusion magics on themselves without knowing it and accidentally walking off of a cliff or something because their environment was too constantly changing for them to perceive where they're walking correctly, or like creating a pocket reality and accidentally sucking themselves into it then the reality collapses obviously because it's unstable and they take themselves with it, etc.

The facility was eventually discovered by outsiders (through one of the scientists bragging about their experiments at a government dinner lol), and the files they had kept on the project were confiscated and made public, leading most everyone to become fearful of the Verrucalt. The site was raided and members of local governments captured and executed the group of scientists. All remaining Verrucalt on site were locked inside the facility as it was burned to the ground. Death sentences were issued out for all living members of the species who were able to escape or who had been allowed to leave previously.

Verrucalt are often found and kidnapped by corrupt people who will upsell them and trade them to local governments for massive amounts of reward money, or traded on the supernatural realm's version of a black market to be sold to scientists to be studied or blood connoisseurs that collect unique rare species' blood or etc.

There are a few areas that will protect this species and don't allow outside laws to be valid within their city/country/etc. boundaries, but they are still often hunted by assassins or those looking to make a quick bit of cash, even in these safe spaces. Since they're so inherently powerful (even if not trained in their abilities, people can still accidentally release bursts of magic and stuff when threatened or under extreme stress, so due to the sheer amount of magical energy they posses they'd still be considered very dangerous to hunt even if they have no idea how to control their skills), they're often stalked, and the hunter will wait until they're at their most vulnerable (when being taken over by a spirit, when sleeping, etc.) and then strike. Due to all of this it's estimated that there are only about 100 or so remaining members of this species (out of the original 1500). They're often on the run or hiding, if anyone can even find them at all.

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✮Random Info✮

✜ Most living members of the species have never even met each other, as they're usually all scattered around. It’s hard to gather data on or study any similarities in the population, since there’s hardly even enough people to tell. Though there are two distinguishable cultures of Verrucalt that exist (which I'll go over in the last section)

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✜ Their diet seems to be inclined towards meat and bones, particularly seafood. They seem to crave this by instinct for some reason, though some may choose to eat differently.

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✜ They are often (understandably) confused for beasts and demons, but genetically they are actually more similar to humans. They were engineered to have superior physical abilities and to look very frightening, because their original purpose was to be used as soldiers or weapons, but aside from these slight physical alterations, they are more just like normal humans who happen to have odd physical traits, extreme physical strength, and immense magic abilities (which was an accidental traits lol). But they are similar enough that they could probably be treated by human doctors if ever injured, since all the internal organs and workings are mostly the same.

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✜ Some people feel sorry for the Verrucalt, since it seems like they’re largely demonized for no reason, and have offered them places to stay or companionship amongst other species (“We’ll take you in as one of our own and protect you” sort of stuff), but obviously this has also been used as a trick before to capture them, so Verrucalt rarely trust the words of others, even those offering to help them.

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✜ They are able to reproduce, but it’s extremely unlikely since most are in hiding, and the the ones that aren’t are unlikely to ever come across another member of their species. Though it is potentially possible that they could mate with a different species that is not their own, this has never been reported or studied enough to know the effects.

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✜ Natural lifespan is unknown, since all up to this point have died by unnatural means. But presently some living Verrucalt have been alive since the very inception of their species in the science facility, which means about 1,000 years old, and don't really show many signs of aging, so the number is yet to be determined, but it’s estimated that they may be able to live extremely long.

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✜ A large amount of them have decided to live near oceans and beaches. Perhaps they are naturally drawn towards this environment for some reason.

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✜ The only publicly known Verrucalt is a magician who goes by the name of Truzell. He’s well known for annoying those who try to capture him, constantly evading anyone’s attempts to harm or attack him. He often publicly plays games with assassins, taunting them and tricking them in front of crowds in a comical way, using his natural illusion abilities to put on a ‘performance’. Most Verrucalt don’t seem as outgoing or antagonistic in nature however, so he wouldn’t be a good representation of the entire species. Some Verrucalt feel that Truzell only harms their already bad publicity, whilst others feel that he’s helping them by painting the Verrucalt in a more lighthearted and amusing way.

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GROUPS OF VERRUCALT

This is all copy & pasted from a more recent updated post on my old blog I made about groups of Verrucalt :

" Okay so I know the original story is like that they were engineered and etc. and there’s only like a few scattered members of the species left who are in hiding around the realm and such, which is still true, but I also feel that that’s narrow and not enough members and that they aren’t done full justice that way, also because of their abilities it would be more plausible that there are some of them living okay, even though they’re inhibited by how open their bodies are to intrusions by malicious spirits, it would still make sense for some of them to be able to utilize their magic in some sort of way, or find ridiculously isolated areas where nobody can hunt them, and with the combination of those two factors, probably have something resembling civilizations in at least a few scattered areas.

Anyway, so I think currently there’s like, three different branches, or like three different ways of life/groups/cultures for the species (which I may always make more but these are all I've thought of for now).

First is of course the ones originally covered in the current description, scattered members of the species living just about anywhere, always in hiding and trying to not be seen, going about their own lives, usually in isolation, doing whatever wherever in whatever place they can find for themselves. These are the rogue members of the species, who usually travel from place to place as they're often being hunted, pretty much always stay alone (since trusting others of any kind would be a risk), though they may occasionally have a permanent home in isolated woods or something.

Second would be a branch of the species where maybe a few members a while ago (like hundreds of years) happened to gather together and end up going to the same place, starting a life there and then reproducing, and populating their small area and developing a culture of their own and etc. Living in a very isolated kind of rocky island area with tall cliffs and mountainy things and caves by the sea. This is the beach group.

For the third, the same thing happened with a few members breaking away and then starting their own group, except they live hidden in an underground network of caves. This is the cave group. They're slightly less isolated as there are a few villages around them, but they also are more open to using their magic, so they disguise themselves better for survival.

(these are also the groups shown above in the main images of the post)

Info about beach group:

sometimes stay in caves near the shore but mostly live in stone hut villages in the cliffy area, the homes look kind of like these

Eat mostly seafood and a few special mountain herbs and spices and plants and vegetables that are native and unique to parts of the area. Sometimes kill larger animals and are big on not wasting so they use everything, bones, eyes, all intestines, etc. Usually hang meat up to age for months and have lots of various cured meats, then eat it throughout the year. They also have a lot of dried and fermented and pickled foods, anything that will preserve it for some amount of time because they prefer to have their days free to do things, and don’t put much emphasis on elaborate meals. They kind of more follow the pattern of getting a lot of food together at once and preserving it, then eating off of it for a while until they run out and have to make more, rather than having fresh food prepared daily or something. Though they do have some more fresh and complicated dishes, those are usually for special occasions (like birth or death ceremonies). Additionally, cannibalism is not seen as odd at all and is seen more like honoring the person in their passing, so if someone dies in an accident or something, it’s not uncommon to harvest their meat and organs and bones as well, either eating them all or putting them to good use, which they see kind of as a cycle (like you die and have your body put to good use and consumed and etc. then the people who put you to use die and they are put to use, etc, everyone is connected and useful to each other)

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the main area they live in and stuff is kind of like this

(especially this one above, that’s almost spot on how I picture it except with bigger rocks and taller cliffs)

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They often string shells and rocks into necklaces or decorations, commonly to decorate doorways and windows, also themselves and their horns. They wear pretty plain clothes usually made of animal hide or a fabric kind of similar to burlap, they also have rope but don’t use it in clothing very often, other than to hold larger things together sometimes (like heavy cloaks or pants). They often make buttons or clasps out of sea shells. It’s also common to wrap hands and feet and parts of the body with a kind of breathable but thick fabric strip that resembles bandage wrap rather than wearing full shoes or gloves or actually covering them, so that they can be protected when walking across or climbing stones and rocks, but also don't have to figure out the technology to make full shoes or etc.. They don’t really even have mirrors so hardly focus on appearance, the only beauty standards are really that everyone wears braids pretty much, and hair is kept in it’s natural state where it’s big and flowy and wispy. Sometimes they may use berries to draw or make minimalist patterns on clothes, but overall they are more practical and experience based and don’t place as much value on aesthetics (like they’d rather be out experiencing and feeling nice and having good food and swimming and etc. as opposed to making sure that everything is neat or aesthetically pleasing and taking the time to have rituals and look nice)

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Have no religion with gods or anything, but do have steady cultural values about honoring the land and each other, strong code of ethics and they watch out for and take care of each other and consider it essentially important that certain things happen, such as every member of the group having a safe place to stay and enough food, nothing ever going to waste, everything eventually returning to it’s natural form (like if they ever decided to relocate or leave the area they would destroy their huts and return the rocks back near the shore and etc.). However they do believe in negative forces of the universe, as they are somewhat aware of spirits passing through them at times. They have certain caves where when a member of the group acts odd or extremely disoriented or possessed, they trap them in the cave until the spirit/etc. clearly decides it isn't getting what it wants and passes on somewhere else. Though instead of being spirits and soul magic and etc. (they weren't taught about magic in the science facility, and don't know much about the outside world, so they conceptualize things a bit differently), they think of it as the essence of the land and the sea interacting with them. Usually it's positive and provides them with food and shelter, but sometimes they must have angered them and will be possessed by the spite of the land temporarily, during which the only option is to have the possessed person locked away until the land's positive favor returns. Also , due to how far away they are from any civilization, it’s actually far less common for them to be over taken since they’re in a less traversed area, and malicious spirits don’t see much point in trying to utilize them when there’s usually better targets. Though they do on occasion get a particularly harmful entity that will pester them for weeks (jumping from group member to group member usually), they mostly go without too much disturbance.

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They don’t know about their magic abilities really, and don’t utilize them. It’s not a big part of their culture. Though the capabilities are still there and are sometimes accidentally discovered (like a child playing pretend and then accidentally creating a new pocket of an alternate reality), it’s not widely discussed or a big thing for them, since it’s usually actually discouraged, when someone does find a new ability or realize they have powers, they’re usually told to not investigate any further and to focus on better things, like learning how to craft and preserve food and sing and dance and etc. Though typically those who don't master their magic tend to accidentally kill themselves (if magic is present it MUST be trained and controlled, it cannot just be left on it's own), their culture sees their magic abilities as more of a manifestation of harmful energy, and coincidentally the methods they use to "suppress" or "eradicate" these energies, just happen to present a whole lot like typical training for controlling magical abilities. So despite not actually understanding what 'magic' is, and never utilizing their abilities, they do have rituals and stuff which actively control it in the sense of mastering it to the point that the 'harmful energy leaves them' (aka, they have a better control of their magic thus it no longer manifests in random outbursts of abilities).

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They have a few instruments made of bones and such, but primarily just use their voices for music. Singing and dancing are important, as it helps with togetherness. They frequently will just pass days drinking and eating and cooking fish, dancing and making music and crafting and swimming or wading in the water, and just generally being in good company.

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The current population of this group is about 30 - 40 verrucalt

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Sometimes people from this group refuse to let go of trying to practice their abilities, and end up running off on their own to further investigate the nature of their 'harmful energies' or etc. . These individuals usually don’t realize however that people are out to hunt their species. This is not actually known amongst this group of verrucalt, because the original group who first left and settled in the beach lands did so before the science facility was ever shut down, and since they’re so far away and isolated from the rest of society, it’s likely none of them are even aware. The beach group haven’t heard the news that their species is now being hunted down with huge bounties on their heads, and it’s likely they won’t ever find out as long as they keep to themselves in their extremely isolated area. This can lead to anyone who actually leaves the group meeting a harmful end, being killed by hunters or etc. and never being able to even return to the group to tell about it.

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Info about cave group :

They live in a sort of underground cave system, the entrance of which they use magic to distort, so it looks and seems like you’re walking into it and then there’s just dull rocks and only one room and nothing eventful, when in reality that’s just a manufactured illusion and you’re really not entering or going far into the cave at all. So if anyone does come across it , it will just seem like to them and everyone else in their party that there’s a small rather uninteresting hole in a rock wall, when really its the opening to an intricate network of rooms where this group of verrucalt reside

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Unlike the beach group, the cave people have learned through trial and error how to master their magic (or likely, the 4 or 5 verrucalt who first settled the area learned this, and then passed it down to others). There’s a ton of emphasis on using and perfecting their skills, to the point that some of them have even been able to perfect better defenses against the common threat of invasion from malicious demons/spirits. Or some have also worked around it by making deals with these spirits or befriending them, in return for a favor or companionship. There are a few verrucalt in this group that have non-malicious or previously-malicious-but-now-not spirits and etc. just chilling with them, allowed to use their bodies or contact people in the living realm or whatever they came there in the first place to do, to a limited extent (in accordance to whatever deal was made), sometimes sticking around just out of friendship. They hardly ever have to use magic in combat , since most of them can just distort the person’s perceptions of reality long enough to get away, they’re almost never in hand to hand or physical combat. This group of verrucalt would be the overall least likely to ever have harm done to them, despite them living in a somewhat less isolated and still being vaguely known about by the locals (though not by name, the locals know 'there are Mysterious Creatures around here' but not that there are specifically Verrucalt around them), because they all have advanced training and always travel in pairs, etc. Whereas the other two groups may lack a fundamental grasp of important aspects of their abilities or have moments where they’re vulnerable and not in control, these verrucalt are fairly secure in their use of perceptual manipulation and would rarely be in a situation where there’s not another verrucalt nearby to aid them during a time of vulnerability. Thus their primary use of magic it to utilize it as a means for fun rather than for survival. They can (only with the person’s explicit consent, and there’s a huge emphasis on none of them ever abusing this, those who do are severely punished) manipulate each other’s perceptions as well, or create and enter false realities with another verrucalt, playing around with tricks and illusions and alternate worlds (almost like inducing a state of lucid dreaming or something). Though they do train defensively (especially against malicious spirits, who are really their only threat), they also love and accept and enjoy using their magic for anything they can, so have fun with it recreationally as well. The ability to craft your own custom realms that you can enter, and alter your own perception and etc, opens up a lot of interesting methods for like story-telling or creative and imaginative play, similar to constructing your own dream realms or making virtual reality adventures with your friends. They tend to be a very magif focused and creative group. (Because of this creative focus, they're also more connected with the outside world, as like, Custom Reality Crafting is kind of a cultural hobby for them, they love to look at outside material as well. Some of them will disguise themselves and travel (in pairs) like 50 or more miles away to larger cities so they can buy books and other media from local stores, or sit down and chat and hear about myths from the locals or etc., happily bringing all of this new information back to their group and using local books and stories as inspiration for their own curated experiences (like "Oh I read this elven book that featured something called "castles", I saw some pictures of these places and I really like the idea! I'm going to alter my pocket realm to contain a castle in it now so I can visit it and walk through one any time I want!", etc.)

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Like the beach group, these Verrucalt also have no real religion or distinct gods. But they have formed a strange attachment and reverence for the stars and the sky and moon and etc. so they often incorporate celestial imagery into their clothing or decorations and things that they create. A lot of their home decorations are this way also, like star patterned floor mats and shiny things hung about inside the caves to reflect light and look like a night sky. Additionally they sometimes practice wall murals and elaborate sky scenes all along the cave walls.

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Also due to their location, they are able to mine and do metalworking (usually using magic to help them), so they occasionally adorn themselves with chains or charms , sometimes jewels, but it’s customarily a personal thing (something that a person makes for themselves and really only wears themselves, they dont make them for each other and rarely give jewelry as gifts, unless someone dies, and even then their family or loved ones don’t wear it, they usually hang it on the wall or something) so it’s entirely dependent on whether the person feels like going through with all the labor to make themselves some metal decorations or not. They are more aesthetically focused than the beach group, though not extremely, but enough to have more solid beauty practices and ideals. They usually wear long flowing robes with not much shape to them, and usually high collars or turtlenecks, which mostly close down the front. The fabrics are usually dark, sometimes color is added and usually it fades from light color to dark color or something and is more flowy, they wouldn’t ever have unblended color blocking like stripes or something, it’s always colors that gradually bleed into other ones. Again they have celestial imagery sometimes added, like stars and suns, and sometimes metals and jewels will be added. Clothing is not gendered and anyone wears anything. Sometimes they will have creative cut outs in the clothing (like star shaped openings on the sleeves or a cut out that shows the back or stomach or chest or arms, etc. ,) but their pieces are still usually one single piece of fabric, maybe just made to look layered with tailoring and different shape cut outs and etc. The jewelry that they wear is usually worn on the head, on the horns, on the hands, on the feet, at the waist and on the tail, but not commonly on their necks or wrists or ankles or anything. Some of them do pierce their ears. On occasion they use ash and types of dust to draw stripes or other patterns on their horns, to match the natural stripes of their body. They do sometimes make things that resemble eyeshadows and apply them all over their face and exposed skin to give the illusion that they sparkle (like a night sky). Hair is sometimes straightened, but usually left as is, and grown as long as possible, and just left down. Sometimes they will pull parts of it back into ponytails or something to keep it away whilst working on a craft or something, but they don’t usually ever do braids or anything intricate.

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They live fairly close to an ocean as well, but the area they are would be more similar to a rocky mountain valley. There are a few local civilizations nearby , which know of their existence, but don’t know exactly where they stay or where they come from or who they actually are. Many consider them either to be great gods, or frightening demons, since they’re usually only spotted at night or in the late afternoon/very early morning when it’s darker outside, so people usually just see the looming tall figures with massive horns and they run away. Offerings have been left for them in various places multiple times, and sometimes the people from cities nearby will come searching for them. It’s not hard for these verrucalt to disguise themselves with the illusion magic (just distort reality and make the person perceive that nothing is actually there), but they still allow themselves to be seen sometimes or even more rarely, actually make contact with the locals, just because they find it interesting. When they are left offerings, they usually return them to the village, or provide them with something new in return, just because they’re nice I guess and don’t want to take advantage of them. Also this group of verrucalt is very aware of their status as a hunted species and some of them think that if they can get a good reputation for being kind and non-threatening to the groups of people around them, that they will have more people on their side and will maybe stop being seen as such a danger and a threat. Even though the locals don't exactly recognize them as Verrucalt, they feel people viewing them as benevolent and helpful would definitely help soften the blow if the locals ever found out (so instead of just being like "Those things that live in the caves a few miles away from the village are VERRUCALT?? lets gang up and kill them!!", they'd be more inclined to be like "Those things are Verrucalt?? But I thought they were supposed to be scary?? The creatures have been... actually nice to us? They return gifts to us... should we really try to kill them?" etc.)

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This group eats a lot of stews and soups and sometimes will bake deserts or savory pies. Common ingredients are local animals (things that resemble lambs and stuff, maybe some small things like squirrel and rabbit and bird etc), basic vegetables (potatoes, onions, some things that are unique to the area), and native herbs and spices, they also use a lot of wild flowers and regular leaves and grass, sometimes dirt and mushrooms, mosses and molds and such. They do have a few dishes that include insects, but it’s harder for them to find a good time to go run around and catch insects, so it’s seen as a more labor intensive thing and thus only for special occasion.

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current population is about 50 or 60 verrucalt. The beach group is more of a collective pack with no distinctions made between family members (like someone wouldn’t be your ‘mom’ and you wouldn’t have any special relationship with them just because they birthed you, you would just be raised by the collective group and end up gravitating towards whatever person you happen to gravitate towards in terms of forming close relationships), but this cave group does usually have small families or groupings of 2-3 people who are closer to each other than the rest of the group, who usually live together in their section of the cave.

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days are spent doing whatever, usually working on magic or tailoring clothes and making fabrics or reading books and discussing world events (they’re still not extremely connected since they don’t have much contact with the outside world. But they hear things from the small groups of villiagers nearby and know about a good bit just from what they over-hear, especially on rare occasion when they go out to the markets in disguise to find new books and stuff. )

Anyway idk i could go on for hours planning out every minute thing, these are definitely not complete descriptions (like I didn't much go over specific death and birth rituals or etc. didn't go over main views of the world or ethics and attitudes towards other species, nothing about languages, etc. ) so I could stand to do more, but this is just a rough outline for right now since I wanted to make this into an actual thing lol. At least i have the concept vaguely there to build off of more later.

OH and here's a bit about the concepts of sex and gender and etc. in Verrucalt cultures, copy and pasted from a different post about a traveling verrucalt named Yymy:

" The differences between sexes in Verrucalt anatomy are very very minor and they really do not conceptualize their sex or gender in a similar way as we would, but there are 3 main biological variations in anatomy that could count as different sexes, two of them being mostly split 50/50 among the population and one being incredibly rare, which is also the only one capable of bearing children with the other two. Thus like some scholars could consider it “female” (due to the connotation of “female” being the one that gives birth).. But they’re all so physically alike (all three variations have essentially the same genitalia, there are just a few functional differences where it can be used in 3 different ways) that the "female" really could easily be considered just a variation of “male” that happens to be able to carry children. Or even better, would be considered something different entirely, as for the most part, how sexes are conceptualized is dependent on the culture of Verrucalt* and it would be up to them to define it, rather than up to the gross scientists who like, inhumanely tested on them and partially genetically engineered them for years.

Though depending on where you are in the supernatural realm, there will be completely different assumptions or cultural implications of gender/sex everywhere you go, still a good 80% of cultures make the distinction of male and female in terms of biological sex, and 55% do in terms of gender (to varying degrees (like many include other genders besides just those two, etc) with wildly varying meanings depending on culture and area). Thus it is around in at least some form and, depending on the language of the area, is still culturally common as a way to refer to ones self and others (‘she’ or 'he’, etc.)).

So as a lone Verrucalt that is traveling, Yymy typically refers to herself as female within groups outside the Verrucalt, and recognizes that many scholars would typically refer to her rare space within verrucalt biology as 'female’ as well. Despite her culture's differing concepts of gender, she still mostly identifies that way which is why I refer to her as female even if there’s a bit more context than that and it’s not biologically or culturally the same as most human female conceptualization would be.

* Lone traveling verrucalt: Usually conform or adapt to refer to themselves as whatever is the closest match to the culture around them whilst they travel (as is the case for Yymy). This is something seen in many smaller or rare species who have differing concepts of gender than much of the world. Like for example, traveling Ythrili similarly will also usually go by whatever gendered terms people refer to them as when outside in the broader world, despite their own culture not really possessing the same biological or cultural ideas, just because it's usually easier for them to adapt to whatever outside culture they're in at the time, rather than have to explain themselves to everyone along travel routes and various cities (meaning in one city they may go by 'she' , in another city with varying norms they may be considered a 'he' , and in another city they'd be referred to as 'they' or something else entirely that's custom to the area). So anyway, adapting gender terms depending on location is common for travelers due to how widely varied the realm can be.

Beach dwelling verrucalt : Do not make a distinction in terms of physical sex at all and simply consider basically every verrucalt to be completely the same, it’s just that some of them have been ‘gifted an extra ability’ from the ‘good energies of the universe’ to help the species by bearing children.

They do have a few sex related terms, but they're fairly literal and don't have much other implications. Like, they’re not attached to personal identity or any particular social or cultural connotations or outward appearance or etc. It's really just a way to refer to people who can have children, when in conversations about having children. Also because 'gifted with the positive energy of the pleased nature spirits to be able to bear children' is the only standard they separate people with, this group doesn't even acknowledge the other biological variation they have, even though they could technically classify three, they only really see two since it's just 'same gender but with special powers' or 'no special powers' .

Though they do actually seem to use some gendered speech, it's not meaningful in reference to anything and is thought to be more of a result of the language of ‘whatever species the Verrucalt originally were prior to modification and experimentation’ (which is currently unknown, and may never be known since all documents were burned and they are no longer very genetically similar to any known species), and then maybe a little of them adapting their speaking labels and taking some things from the scientists’ language in an effort to better communicate with them while being held at the facility. Analyzing how they use it in daily speech, it just seems like more of a leftover linguistic thing from the original Verrucalt who settled in the beach area, rather than something they actually developed or placed value on themselves. So it’s kind of more like, they have gendered language but not necessarily any meaningful concept of gender itself, especially not one rooted in ideas of biological sex, as they culturally consider everyone to be exactly the same in that regard.

It's kind of like if the words 'he' and 'she' became arbitrary in English and were used depending on the tone and mood of the sentence rather than the assumed gender/sex of the person you're speaking about. So the words are technically still There, as a leftover function, but don't have the same meaning. Like 'He went to the store' and 'she went to the store' would have exactly the same implication except maybe the first sentence marks a more relaxed tone and the second sentence implies more urgency or something.

Cave dwelling group of the verrucalt: do have a distinction between all three biological variations, but find it only medically significant, as it has no bearing on one’s ability to do magic, and most personal identity in the cave group is heavily reliant on who you are as a magic user rather than physical traits. Though they are much more appearance oriented than the beach group and have makeup and ornaments and fancy clothes and etc., those are not seen as tied to or exclusive to biological traits and have more to do with your skin/hair color or stripe pattern (like in terms of what colors would suit you or what jewels would frame your facial features the best, etc.) (not that the different sexes really have hardly any physical variation anyway so even if their beauty standards varied across sex traits they would still be… like… basically the same lol)).

So unlike the beach group, they do recognize three separate sexes, but as for gender, still have no real cultural concept of it as relating to or even vaguely based in concepts of sex, so they pretty much lack that as well. The most similar thing they have to how we use gender would probably be categorization of individual by their magical preferences, as in their particular variation of their language people in the group are referred to differently depending on what type of magic they do (similar to gendered pronouns but based in a few common ‘types’ of magic users) but this isn’t really tied to sex and they don’t have really any personal identifiers related to sex other than like, having words to describe the physical variations when necessary.

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Some of this may have to do with them being artificially engineered and entirely removed from whatever their native culture (or cultures, since the scientists were thought to have mixed some other species genes in also) was, as they were kind of stripped of their background in the facility and after multiple evolutions and generations being killed off and created and etc, they basically were in a state where they were kind of a blank slate. Those that were able to get out of the facility really had no background of foundations to go off of, and as they all look almost identical and were treated identically in the facility (like just as a herd of animals or something, of course with nice activities to do and good clothes and food, but still in a pretty 'all of these test subjects are the same to us, interchangeable beings' type of way), it's understandable for them to have started their new societies with the base notion of "we're all the same, basically, fairly interchangeable", as there wasn't much in their past experiences to imply otherwise. "

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OKAY and that's everything about the Verrucalt for now, I'll make new posts or edit this if I have other details to add.

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