Chlaenas

Chlaenas are a giant, chimeric race that resembles a tauric cross between a human and an octopus. Above the waist, like so many of Felarya’s giant predators, they resemble scaled-up humans. Below the waist, their lower body resembles the entire body of a cephalopod, minus the eyes and the beak. They can be found in many seas of Felarya, especially the Abyssal depths of the Topazial sea and their underwater city Ryzelm’oire. However, roaming Chlaenas have been known to go closer to the surface and even onto land.

A Chlaena’s body is made up entirely of muscle and soft tissue; they have nearly no bones or other rigid internal structure, which means that they have unparalleled flexibility and contortion abilities. They are capable of greatly compressing themselves into tight spaces, or expanding their body to swallow a creature nearly their own size. While this helps a lot when it comes to large prey, a Chlaena’s compressibility can also work against them, and relatively smaller predators might be able to stuff a Chlaena down their throat and swallow them !

While Chlaena must stay wet to survive, as long as they have ready access to water, they are able to traverse land much more ably than one might expect. AMermaid who climb up onto shore for safety from aquatic predators is often rudely surprised when a Chlaena merely follows her, dragging themselves onto land with their tentacles.

Terrestrial beings often find Chlaenas disturbing, for reasons they just can’t put their finger on. Maybe it’s the eight tentacles extending from their octopus-like lower body, or their large, staring eyes. Or maybe it’s the fact that they seem to be unnaturally cheerful, all the time… of course, the fact that their skin changes color to blend in with their background and reflect their mood might make them seem a bit eerie, too. And the boneless, ‘unnatural’ way that they move (particularly on land) tends to make intelligent vertebrates shudder. A Chlaena is capable of turning their head nearly 360 degrees around, so if they wants to look at you, they typically will not turn fully around to do so… which can be somewhat unnerving.

Chlaena, like the other Cephaloid races, have odd mindsets; they simply do not think the way the “normal” races do. Their logic is pretty much the only kind they are really capable of following, and their behavior can often be frustrating or frightening to those incapable of understanding their motivations. However, one thing you can rely on is for a Chlaena to be cheerful and honest, even when obviously inappropriate; of course, their honesty is by their standards- just because a Chlaena tells you that she is not going to eat you does not mean she is never going to eat you. “Of course I’m not going to eat you!” in a Chlaena’s mind means, “No, I’m not going to eat you right now. Maybe later !"

Powers and abilities

Chlaenas have strength roughly on par with that of an equivalently-sized Naga; while the Naga’s musculature and spine provide it with a great deal more constricting power, the Chlaena’s ten arms (two human arms and eight octopus arms) typically even things out. A Chlaena is also capable of squeezing into very tight spaces, by compressing their flexible body and shifting their organs around inside their body. This allows a Chlaena to pass through an opening only 10-15% the size of their entire body.

Most Chlaenas possess a mild paralytic venom, which can help take some of the fight out of large prey; however, in all but a few subspecies, this venom is never lethal- it affects only the voluntary muscles.

Due to millions of specialized cells in their skin called chromatophores, Chlaenas are able to rapidly change the color of their entire body, or select parts of it. They use it either to match their surroundings, or for communication and to display their mood. Nearly all Chlaenas have ink glands located somewhere in their bodies, which they can use to squirt a pressurized spray of ink into the water, quickly creating an underwater ‘smokescreen’ to cover their escape or give them the advantage in an attack. Some Chlaenas can even mix their venom into the ink, creating a cloud that dulls the senses of predator or prey.

Just about all Chlaenas lack the “Predator Sense” so common among the other Giant Predator races of Felarya (some subspecies are an exception, but they are very rare), and must rely on normal senses only. However, most Chlaenas are capable of seeing in conditions with low levels of ambient light, and some are even capable of seeing into the infrared spectrum. The average Chlaena also possesses a very keen sense of touch, making some able to sense small vibrations and water currents.

Chlaenas also tend to have a fair degree of magical potential, and most of them eventually learn the pressure-based Deep Magic common among the Abyssal dwellers of the Topazial Sea; this allows them to ascend and descend quickly without severe injury or death, by carefully regulating the pressure in and around their bodies.

Cecaelias

Cecaelias are another chimerical Cephaloid race, with a tauric cross between a human and a squid. They typically measures 80’-90’ from head to base ( the length of their tentacles is excluded from this measurement and some species of Cecaelia have tentacles twice as long as their body ! ). They are mostly found in the the oceans of Felarya, particularly Topazial Sea, however Cecaelias are drifters and wanders, and have been known to roam far and wide- one might pop up in the places you’d least expect to see one.

Unlike their Chlaenas cousins, Cecaelias have a semi-rigid internal shell and more bone-like structures (although not nearly as widespread as in vertebrates); this makes them significantly less flexible than their cousins, but also much sturdier. Cecaelia are still capable of fitting into tight spaces like Chlaenas are, but not nearly to the same degree; typically, a Cecaelia is capable of compressing themselves up to 40%-50% the size of their entire body.

Cecaelias also have ten tentacles instead of eight; their primary pair are much longer and stronger than the others, which are roughly equivalent in strength to those of a Chlaena, perhaps slightly weaker. A blow from one of a Cecaelia’s main tentacles can strike with devastating force; they are capable of cracking it like a whip and dealing a strike as powerful as a Giant Naga’s tail ! Unlike a Chlaena’s tentacles, the tentacles of a Cecaelia usually only have suckers at their tips, but with barbs and hooks made of the same horn-like material as their teeth and fingernails, protruding on their lenght.

Although very similar in behavior to their cousins in some ways, Cecaelias are much more active and aggressive, cruising the oceans to wander and hunt prey in a shark-like manner. Practically anything that catches a Cecaelia’s interest winds up in their mouth at some point. This, along with their wide roaming, often causes problems with other aquatic species when the Cecaelia wanders into ‘their’ territory. Being more or less non-territorial, Cecaelia have difficulty understanding such concepts, and often inadvertently start conflicts when all they wanted to do was investigate something interesting.

Cecaelias are excellent and speedy swimmers, able to cut through the water with seeming ease due to their jet propulsion ability and streamlined bodies; in the open water, they are much faster than Chlaenas, and many of the smaller species are capable of keeping up with or even outrunning Mermaids (who are among their favorite prey). All Cecaelias are also capable of changing their color to reflect their mood, although the ability to fully blend into their backgrounds is not nearly as common among them as it is among their smaller cousins. Venom is not nearly as common among Cecaelias as it is amongst Chlaenas, either; and those species that do have a paralytic venom typically have a very mild, non-lethal one.

Cecaelias have excellent senses and are able to hunt efficiently in conditions where all but the faintest glimmers of light are scarce; their tentacles help them sense nearby vibrations and water currents, and their eyes are capable of perceiving even the tiniest amounts of light against the pitch-black background of the Abyssal Zone. Like Chlaenas, most Cecaelias lack the Felaryan “Predator Sense” entirely; those few species that do have it tend to have extremely rudimentary forms of it.

And Cecaelias do behave oddly; not even Chlaenas understand them completely. They often act in a manner similar enough to how a Chlaena would behave for Chlaenas to be comfortable dealing with them, but there are times when a Cecaelia just does or says something that leaves the Chlaenas around her completely baffled. Needless to say, this means that it can be rather difficult for a human to comprehend their motives and thinking patterns as well; but those who manage to do so actually seem to enjoy the company of Cecaelias greatly… although as with Chlaenas, being a Cecaelia’s “Friend” doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re completely safe from him or her!

Powers and abilities

They are roughly the same than Chlaenas. However, Cecaelias are capable of shattering stone with one of their primary tentacles, with the same amount of effort one would use to lightly smack a friend upside the head. The muscular strength of these two tentacles is immense, and a matter of great pride among Cecaelias; seriously damaging or severing one of these two tentacles will always anger a Cecaelia, and make you a dangerous enemy.

On the other hand, their venom is much more weaker, and it takes quite a bit of time or several bites to have a discernable effect. They usually use it to slow their prey or a predator down, rather than paralyzing them outright.

• Credits goes to TheQuantumMechanic, Zoekin, Shaman, Xeno the hedgehog, and Fish for the design of Cecaelias