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Matter Forms are the term best used to describe the creatures that inhabit the land of the Bralona, the island of Justinia, located in the Farsouth of Aloria. Rather than traditional animals of flesh and bone, which were known to the Bralona since early times as they can be found in the waters and air around their homeland, Matter Forms are creatures of metal and slime adopting a range of appearances. While divergent in material, and those “domesticated” are only loyal to their respective same-material master, Matter Forms often mimic existing animals in Aloria. As a result, they can be understood and adopt familiar forms, though still have exotic appearances, while being as immortal as the Bralona Race. Additionally, each Bralona subrace, the Bronn and Bralla, often extend the Form’s name by an appropriate double N or double L though this is dying away given the new, non-subrace division of their society.
| Matter Form | |
|---|---|
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| Fauna | |
| Official Name | Matter Forms |
| Common Nicknames | Jelly-n-Scrap Beasts, Kaholna |
| Classification | Magus |
| Habitat | Justinia |
| Domesticated | Yes |
| Current Status | Common to Rare |
Ooblon
Ooblons are small, blob-like Matter Forms which are capable of floating through the air and mimicking objects, animals, and faces, though with obvious traits and features of their natural blobbish form. This mimicry is often done for comedic effect, mocking or playing games of hide and seek with those around them. As a result of these traits, they are best known as bemusing pets for the Bralona, and a source of levity before a combat mission. They are, however, rare, and are known to drift from “owner” to “owner” throughout the Bralona’s infinite lifetimes. It is thought by some that the Ooblon were once the toys of children Bralona in an age now lost, when the Race was still maturing and needed companions. But this is unclear, and while the Ooblons can “speak,” it is a babbling jumble of draconic words which make little sense.
Fanlyra
The Fanlyra is the smallest of several avian Matter Form (curiously many Matter Forms lean toward avian traits), being the size of a mundane chicken but far more sophisticated. Capable of flight, these creatures soar across the land of Justinia in small flocks of six to nine. When they land however, their body shifts in appearance, their wings shrinking while their tail “feathers” grow, forming the basis of a sort of musical instrument akin to a lyre. As they chirp and make songs as normal birds might, these tails are self-played, producing unique melodies. These Matter Forms are only semi-domesticated, the Bralona learning a tune to summon them down to land and begin a performance, something often done at celebrations.
Pyralna
One of the few aquatic Matter Forms of Justinia, Pyralna are shaped like vertical discs the size of a buffet platter, with a small spur of fins along the top and bottom of the flat form. Another pair of fins help to steer them, alongside a “propeller” of several short tendrils winding, unwinding, twirling, untwirling, and generally providing short bursts of locomotion at the back point of the creature. They exist in an endless pattern of cyclical consumption with one another, the gelatinous Pyralna eating the metallic Pyralna, crushing them into very small pellets they store within themselves for months at a time before, at the three month mark, expelling them out into the water and swimming away, before the metallic Pyralna gradually grow, reform, and then seek to eat the gelatinous members of their species. These patterns run in a full cycle twice a year, with three month spurts flipping the responsibilities of prey and predator having never been disrupted in millennia. Aside from eating one another, both species consume the sea plants in the waters around Justinia, and in the region’s rivers and lakes, minimal as they are. They produce glittering trails of “sand” from these consumed plants, which they deposit as they swim.
Lupawn
Lupawns are perhaps the most populous Matter Form of Justinia. With a canine appearance in the shape of a greyhound or doberman, Lupawns often serve as guard animals around Bralona settlements, to help them keep an eye out for attackers, while also serving as companions and trackers. Lupawns are best known for being the sole Matter Forms with an appearance which can mimic the powers of the Bralona, as much like the Bralona’s summoning of clothing, Lupawns can summon and wear a short scarf or cravat-like vestment around their neck. These almost always match the clothing pattern and coloration of their owner’s clothing, and can make the animals look quite dashing, as well as aristocratic. They also commonly have long ears, be that sharp and upward pointing, or flopped down at the sides of their head. They are extremely obedient, and while capable of simply playing, they do this rarely, instead having a serious demeanor.
Tawalna
The Tawalna, or Tower Beasts as they are known among some Bralona since contact with wider Aloria, are huge and slow four-legged behemoths of Justinia. Their forms differ more than any other Matter Form, with those of metal having long narrow necks and limbs, yet bulky bodies and wide, disc-like heads with stiff crests and more, while those of slime have thick legs, and a tapering body with a very narrow head, thin wafting streaks of their bodies waving freely in the air behind them. They are impassable creatures, greatly disinterested in the conflict which rages around them, instead carrying out an endless, cyclical march around the island at a slow, plodding pace. Their paths are known to cross, but they barely turn their heads to acknowledge one another. Their pattern across the island is believed to have a great purpose, as from narrow slits in their necks and backs pours forth a gentle stream of pale blue particles, which are believed to serve as a super-fertilizer, allowing areas ravaged by the constant civil war of the Bralona subraces, and now cultural division, to regenerate their vegetation in a matter of weeks. No Bralona has ever attacked a Tawalna in living memory, and they have taken on a near-spiritual bend among the Bralona. In times past, Bralona of each subrace would follow a Tower Beast of their respectful substance, and when encountering a group from the opposite side doing the same, engage in warfare and “defending” their Tawalna of choice. There are only ten of these animals in total, five of each type, and all bear names.
Heraln
There are two creatures of Justinia capable of being ridden by the Bralona, and the Heraln is the more common of the two. It is a low-lying, flightless, wading avian-like Matter Form, its narrow legs allowing its body to sit above the waves of both the coastline and the inland waters with ease. The bird is also known for its beak, as the Bralona long ago learned how to command the creature’s natural ability to narrow and sharpen the protrusion into a stabbing implement as a mechanism of combat rather than the simple mimicry of other avian life it likely began as. Heraln are known for eating plants, one of the rare Matter Forms to engage in the activity, but they are also known to stab at Pyralna of the opposite composition should the fish-like creatures swim too close. The animal has been used by both subspecies of Bralona as a form of transportation across the island, as well as a sort of shock cavalry unit.
Somdolna
The other ridden Matter Form of Justinia, the Somdolna are elite creatures of great intellect and exotic nature. They possess an avian appearance, but are larger than the Heraln, and are capable of flight, but their method is unique. While on the ground, their wings transform into two large, three to five-fingered “hands" which serve as front feet to the animal as it moves about, also supported by two smaller, normal legs. When it flies however, it launches itself vertically and then pushes forward, its “arms” becoming wings of a considerable size, its thick ground form significantly sleekening in the air as mass is shifted to the flapping appendages. Somdolna are also known for their hypersonic shrieks, a tool commonly used to blow weakened or unaware Bralona apart in one sound, while with other Races, it can easily blow them back several feet, likely also sending them crashing to the ground. The Somdolna, as mentioned earlier, are highly intelligent, with a predatory instinct making them feared combatants. They are very rare, at only about a hundred in number, and largely in the possession of the High Command in the modern day. As such, they exist as elite shock cavalry, brought in to finish the job in most instances.
Trivia
- Some believe that the Bralona created the Matter Forms themselves from leftover material of their own creation, but others claim just like the Bralona, the Matter Forms owe their existence to the Rose Pink Dragons.
- Matter Forms share curious traits, if one were to blend both types together, with the Qarresh of the Slizzar, a metallic cube capable of using a foam or slime to shape, and then mimic the appearance of other creatures.
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