Thulians

[TLDunn213]

Thulians are one of the three Elder Races of the Shard Scape. the other two being the Saurians and the Morlocks.

But more about them later.

The term Thulian can denote either the final stage of their life-cycle or the species as a whole. The other stages being: Cephlarack, spore, egg, tadpole, and Illith. Thulians are xenomorphic species, which is to say they need to invade another species as part of their life-cycle.

 

Let's start at the tadpole stage as this is the point where the life-cycle can diverge. If the tadpole is inserted into a host; also called a form donor. Form donors can come from several races including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and even Orks and Trolls; to name some of the more common ones. Other races/species are quite possible. It is worth noting that Trolls are highly prized but seldom used due to a Troll's regeneration abilities. Which makes for a very high failure rate of the Morphosis process but yields a very powerful combat type Illith when successful. And there is the production of Protium as a side effect of failed attempts.

 

Most other races have about a 1 in 4 success rate the other three outcomes being divided about evenly between Death,

Kulls, and Shulls. With Kulls being killed when detected.

 

The term Shull also refers to a sub-type of Elf called Neidraheil or False-Elf by most other Elves. This sub-race was created by the Thulians to serve as spies during the Saurian/Thulian war. A forerunner to the Varna which were created later for the same purpose. I will cover these subraces in more detail later.

 

The Shulls that result from a failed morphosis look mostly like the person they were before except they tend to have the skin of an Illith. Which is pale white while at rest but can take on almost any color as an act of will, or sometimes reflex. The mind of a Shull is that of an Illith with access to the memories of the formdonor.

 

A Kull by contrast is basically the reverse of this. That is to say they look like an Illith but have the mind of the formdonor with some access to the genetic memories of the tadpole. Which should explain why they are killed as soon as they are recognised for what they are.

 

Death is largely self explanatory but includes three possible outcomes. 1 the formdonor dies but the tadpole survives, assuming it can get back to the spawning pool. 2 the tadpole dies but the formdonor survives, assuming that they can escape from the Thulians. 3 both die.

 

A successful morphosis yields an Illith. Illith are more or less human shaped with tentacles hanging down its face from about where a human nose would be to about two or three inches below the chin. As noted for Shulls, Illith have pale white skin that can color shift much like an octopus or cuttlefish can do; including the ability to stun a foe by flashing a rapid series of colors.

 

 

After an Illith reaches a certain age it may undergo a second morphosis, transforming it into a fully adult Thulian.

 

Thulians in this stage have a main body somewhat like an octopus but with the Illith face on one side of it, face tentacles and all. When first transformed the main body is about three feet across with three foot tentacles hanging below it.

Like Beholders, Thulians float in the air a few feet off the ground. It is unknown just how big a Thulian can grow, eight feet across being the largest size confirmed to date with unconfirmed reports of up to twelve feet or more.

 

 

It is the adult Thulians which lay the eggs which hatch into tadpoles, asexualy as far as anyone can tell.

and so the life cycle is complete.

unless of course the tadpole isn't implanted into a formdonor in which case it will, in time, turn into a Cephlarack.

 

Cephlarack are best described as a cross between an octopus and a spider.

Living in deep caves near large pools of water Cephlarack wait for prey to come to them. While they can and will kill and eat just about anything, they prefer sentient races in which to implant their spores. Once implanted the spores travel to the brain and will take control of the victim during sleep. once under the control of the spores the victim will proceed to the nearest body of water in which they can fully immerse themselves. once the victim has drowned the spores mutate into eggs and then hatch into tadpoles. Thus completing the other ark of the life cycle.

 

 

More on the Saurian/Thulian war to follow in later post.

 

 

 

 

 

[TLDunn213]

As noted above Thulians are generally counted as the Second oldest of the Elder Races of the Shard Scape.

In Spite of the fact that the Morlocks showed up well before the Saurians had even started the experiments

that spawned the Thulians. This is due largely to the Morlocks coming from the Far End of Time; and thus by

definition being a later addition.

 

In any event the first Illith were created from Gith slaves eventho the experiments were intended to improve

Saurian psionic abilities. As if their powers needed any improving.

 

The Gith are of course not counted as an Elder Race due to their being slaves.

And to be fair they didn't really become a People and a Power until after the Gith rebellion, which only succeeded

due to their Saurian and Thulian masters having weakened each other in the Saurian/Thulian war.

Not that Gith didn't escape from time to time giving rise to not only groups of free Gith; but due to mating with varous

types of Fey also giving rise to several types of Elves, Orcs, and Goblins. Not that you'll find many Elves willing to admit

to the shared ancestry.

 

 

Yes, in spite of, or in this case, because of, being made from Gith The Thulians kept Gith as slaves.

owing to the higher success rate of the morphosis process. Of course the Thulians, and Saurians both kept

Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs/Goblins, and even Trolls as slaves and test subjects.

Humans being the next most preferred form donors due to their balance of high breeding rate and intelligence.

Elves, and Half Elves, had good intelligence but a dreadfully low birth rate and a slightly worse success rate for morphosis.

Dwarves had both a low birth rate and a high failure rate, and were generally phased out by the Thulians as slaves.

Altho the Saurians kept them on as craftsmen and skilled labor, they also largely abandoned them as test subjects.

Orcs and goblins had high birth rates but low intelligence and a high fail rate. But while abandoned by the Saurians early on

the Thulians kept them on as unskilled labor and cannon fodder during the War.

 

Both the Saurians and Thulians traded knowledge of Biomancy for technical information with the Morlocks

Who had after all come to the far past to gain Biomancy skills so as to help the ZaRak assimilate the ZeRek rather than the

other way around.

Not that the ZaRak or ZeRek became powers to recon with until well after the Gith Revolt.

The Morlocks also learned more advanced skills in psionics from both the Saurians and the Thulians as they only had basic skills

in these when they first arrived.

 

The Shroudlings and Mycinoids as well as the Varna; and several other races; who all arose from the Saurian/Thulian War

and/or The Gith rebellion; are best covered in their own entries. and are noted here only as a way of inserting reference points.

 

 

 

 

more on the Saurian/Thulian War and the Races that arose from them in later post.

[Peredhil]

I do like the variety and complexity of your world-building. It's nice to see the rules of logic applied to a fantasy universe. That concept is the core of my FARS system.

[TLDunn213]

Thank you.

Glad you like it.

Of course I think I've told you quite a bit of this before.

 

And sorry about mangeling your name in the cbox just now.

[TLDunn213]

Aara-Illith 

A rare sub type of Illith that arise from using a Dracon as a form doner.

The failure rate for this is naturally quite high and there is the risk of pissing off a Dragon if the Dracon isn't a Ronan.

The few recorded cases of Aara-Illith mention two noteable details that set them apart from other Illith. The first and most easily noticed is the wings. 

All Aara-Illith develop them regardless of whether or not the Dracon had them before the morphoses and unlike other draconic traits they may have or develop; the wings are permanent.

No one has any ideas as to why the other draconic traits can be called and dismissed as with normal Dracons and the wings cannot. 

There are those that say this isn't the case and that all traits become locked once the morphoses is complete.

This is possible given that the other notable feature of Aara-Illith is the hybrid mind. 

While Shuls and Kuls  have remnants of the other mind it is only in the Aara-Illith that a true fusion occurres.

It is also worth noting that the morphoses process is slower and less painful for those Dracons who chose to embrace the change. 

While all Draconswho resisted the process either succeeded totally or died trying. 

 

[TLDunn213]

Wow.

I can't believe it's been this long since I was last here.

 

Anyway new bit of lore on the Thuliens.

Relating to the Intelect Devower; or Seku. 

This phase of the Thulien life cycle happens when the person infested with cephalarack eggs doesn't end up immersed in water at the time the eggs are ready to hatch.

This is fairly rare as the spores implanted with the eggs makes the impulse to seek out a deep enough body of water quite strong. (More on those spores in a bit.)

However it is something that can happen and when it does the eggs dissolve releasing compounds that cause the brain to undergo a morphosis similar to what happens in the Varna. The notable differences being that this is happening at the egg stage and is producing a seku.

Seku have legs and a scorpion like stinger which is used both for injecting a paralytic venom and the laying of eggs. 

The eggs, (typically placed near the base of the skull ) will behave the same as the eggs of a cephelarack hatching into tadpoles if the infested person is submerged in water or else dissolving and producing a seku if not.

 

Once a seku has hatched it feeds by way of essence drain leaving a desiccated carcass behind if feeding in its natural state.

A Seku will aquire a husk similar to how a Varna does. However the Varna is using the remains of the person it formed from. A Suku will make a new husk for itself by consuming the brain and memories of its victim and then using its body compression ability to fit itself into the now empty skull. 

Once it has installed itself and repaired the damage involved with this process it will feed on those around it through a slow and subtle form of essence drain that slowly erodes the mind (which is where the Intelict Devowerer name comes from. )

Seku are used as spies just as Varna are. The main advantage to the Seku is that they do not undergo the growth process that limits the time a Varna can act in this role. The major drawback to using Seku is that the essence drain process is less reliable at gaining the memories 

 

There is an ongoing debate among scholars as to why Varna seem to be preferred over Seku as spies. I hold to the belief that this is not the case at all and that the reason Varna seem to be preferred is due to the Varna simply being discovered more often. After all if a Seku is careful about its feeding habits its presence could go undetected for a very long time.

[TLDunn213]

Related note on Cephalarack spores.

These spores do not actually come from the Cephalarack itself but are derived from the Chaos Fungus upon which it feeds. Which accounts for why the various types of Chaos Fungus are so often found around Thulien spawning pools. 

More on Chaos Fungus in a later post.