Gargoyles
By Heron
Singular: Gargoyle
Plural: Gargoyles Group: Phalanx of Gargoyles Communication – Imagery; can use Mindspeech but typically silent Size Ranges – Aegis: 10ft Sentinel: 9ft Watcher: 6ft Guardian: 2-4ft Shield: 5ft Protector: ???ft long (serpentine) Bulwark: 8.5ft Colorations – Some kind of Natural Stone Naming Convention – Any Language, but should translate as some variant on 'protector.' |
General Information
The first Gargoyles were carved from stone and enchanted to give them souls and life, making them potent warders to keep evil things out of places like castles and cathedrals. Usually the creatures would remain dormant, stone statues for all intents and purposes, until something that they would not allow entry attempted to gain entry where the Gargoyles were stationed, and this provocation would rouse them into dropping their stone facade and descending on the intruder. Time, breeding, and evolution have changed their form and function, however, and they no longer ward specifically against evil. Instead, a Phalanx will choose a place of some importance to them personally and perch there in stone form until something rouses their ire. Gargoyles are patient creatures and prone to consideration before aggression. They are functionally immortal and spend much of their time as stone statues, guarding whatever building or other place that appeals to the Phalanx as a whole, whether for having aesthetic attraction or historical value or spiritual significance. What wakes them from their watchful slumber varies by individual these days. Some still guard against things they perceive to be evil. Others dislike thieves, or chaos, or a certain gender… What all Gargoyles have in common is an uncanny ability to read people on first impression; say, for example, that a certain Gargoyle dislikes people guilty of murder. Any Gargoyle would be able to perceive that someone is guilty of murder, and one who disliked murder specifically would then awaken and move to bar the murderer’s path and, if further provoked, attack that murderer to prevent passage. All Gargoyles take on what they call a ward, which is the person, place, or thing that they spend the rest of their long, long lives protecting. Gargoyles are hulking monsters varying from two feet tall at the smallest to nearly ten feet tall at the largest, some bearing almost humanoid shape and others being more bestial. Most have wings and can, therefore, fly, though they are much slower and clumsier in the air than they are on the ground. Colors are not determined by rank, and all Gargoyles are in shades of some kind of natural stone. Large or not, with wings or not, every Gargoyle is equipped with uncanny intuition and lethally sharp talons, and every single one of them exists to be an immovable object to every unstoppable force. They are fiercely intelligent and are capable of mindspeech with perfect clarity, though they largely prefer silence and communicate with pictures and emotional impressions instead of words more often than not. Mating Information A Gargoyle who is restless, or ready to mate, will emit a sort of resonance perceptible only to their species. This resonance carries over a great distance and allows every other Gargoyle in a thirty mile radius that there is one of their own on the prowl. Restlessness is not determined by gender, nor is the response. The initiating Gargoyle will find somewhere private, a remote mausoleum or a deep forest glade or something to that effect and wait for its suitors to arrive. The ensuing dance of posturing, riddles, combat, wordplay, and silent communication makes little, if any, sense to anyone outside of the Gargoyle species, but it helps determine which suitor or suitors will be the best match for the initiator. Occasionally, a restless Gargoyle may be known to take more than one mate at a time, disappearing into the shadows with its chosen mate or mates and not reappearing until deep into the next morning. Restlessness is a vulnerable time for Gargoyles, as it is a time when they are unable to sit still and, as a result, are unable to take on their nearly invincible stone form. Bonding Information Young or previously-wild Gargoyles are picky about their potential bonds. No amount of cajoling or bribery will sway their opinions. They will know every soul they meet by everything that soul has ever done, and they choose the soul that best suits them or they choose no soul at all. Every Gargoyle has a particular peeve, and any hopeful guilty of that peeve stands no chance of bonding that particular Gargoyle, though these peeves vary by individual and just because one Gargoyle deems a candidate unsuitable does not mean a sibling or other Gargoyle will feel the same. Gargoyles prefer names that suit their purposes as guardians and protectors, language notwithstanding. They accept names that translate into some variation of “protector”. Ranks Aegis 5* The queens of Gargoyle-kind, Aegis are simultaneously monstrous and beautiful. They loom over the rest of their kind at ten feet and change in height, also sporting a wingspan longer than they are tall. The horns on their heads arch back, long and graceful, and every joint sports a spur that makes them living weapons. Aegis tend to be regal in mannerism, as befits the queens of the species, and some of them are almost vocal about their opinions, breaking their species’ preferred silence. They clutch up to twenty eggs after mating. Sentinel 3* The first and larger lords of the Gargoyles, Sentinels stand, when uncurled from their hunched posture, at around nine feet tall. Their horns curl down and around like the horns of mountain rams and they have ridges of sharp protrusions down their spines. Their wings are short and blunt, incapable of sustained flight, and they have raptor-like toe claws that can shred about anything with a good kick. Somber and taciturn, Sentinels take their guardianships very seriously and speak even more rarely than the rest of their traditionally quiet species Watcher 3* The smaller of the Gargoyle lords, Watchers are the most erect, standing near to six feet tall. Their faces are almost humanoid, as are their torsos, and their horns are forward-pointing and very sharp. Their wings and their arms are the same limbs, making Watchers excellent gliders, and their tails have flattened ridges to help them steer during flight. Watchers are blessed, or perhaps cursed, with powerfully eidetic memories, meaning they forget nothing they see. Frustratingly oblique, they see all but tend to speak in vagueries and riddles as if allergic to giving straight answers. Guardian 1* The smallest of Gargoyle kind, Guardians stand between two and four feet tall. Their horns are short little stubs on their foreheads, they have leaf-shaped bat noses, and not a single one of them has wings. Their lack of size is deceptive, for Guardians are the fiercest and most combative of the Gargoyles, with the strongest protective instincts. Fully aware of their diminutive status, they tend to keep watch in groups of between five and fifteen like-minded individuals, making up for their smallness in sheer numbers. Guardians can be either male or female, and the females can clutch up to five eggs after mating. Shield 1* The most beast-like in appearance, these common females are quadrupedal and lumber around on the ground, too heavy to fly despite the size of their wings. They stand about five feet tall at the shoulder, give or take, and tend to be barrel-chested and narrow of hip, built to be juggernauts capable of bowling through nearly any challenge. Shields are, perhaps, the most compassionate of their species, prone to acts of self-sacrifice in defense of what or whomever they have taken on as their ward. Shields can clutch up to five eggs after mating. Protector 1* Common males, Protectors almost resemble dragons of the long, serpentine variety. Some have wings, others don’t, but all have long, flexible spines that allow their bodies to bend into impossible shapes, including the accordion-fold they typically rest in. Their horns curve out to the sides before arching back in again, they have fluted ridges down their backs, and their limbs are long and gangly. Protectors are more likely than other Gargoyles to take on people instead of places as wards, being the most sociable of their kind. Bulwark 1* Standing at roughly eight and a half feet tall, Bulwarks are massive, broad-shouldered walls of bulging muscle and thick hide. These common females are, despite being shorter than Aegis and Sentinels, the largest of the Gargoyle species, easily outstripping the rest of their kin in sheer weight and width; no other Gargoyle rank has shoulders more than five feet wide. They also have thick, whip-like tails and the fortified horns of a ram, neither of which they hesitate to use as weapons. Bulwarks were designed for incredible stopping power, and they don’t shy away from using their size as the advantage it is. They are generally peace-loving, but they are also some of the most combative of the Gargoyles when provoked to violence. Bulwarks can lay up to three eggs after mating. |