Mistwatchers
By Heron.
Singular: Mistwatcher
Plural: Mistwatchers Group: Pack of Mistwatchers Communication - Mindspeech with poor syntax and grammar Size Ranges – Medium dog to Wolf sizes Colorations – By Rank Naming Convention -- None |
General Information
Originally, one might mistake Mistwatchers for dogs. Some are occasionally more fox-like and still others resemble wolves in all the wrong colors, but they are distinctly and undeniably canine regardless of shape or size. Canine, that is, until they disperse into billowing clouds of some other material, be it vapor or grit. They retain all of their senses even in these billow-forms, and control how their billows move. How much control they have is based upon rank. Rank has, however, nothing to do with gender. All ranks can be either male or female, the true differences being in what other forms of matter the Mistwatchers become and how much control they have in their alternate forms. While their coat colors vary by rank, their personalities are purely individual. Mistwatchers, many Teragaian settlers have discovered rather inadvertently, cannot be harmed physically. Oh, they’ll succumb to poison, same as any other, but Mistwatchers who have been physically harmed by a stray arrow or a falling boulder tend to disperse into their billow-forms on impact, even if the Mistwatcher in question was unaware of the approaching danger. This makes them nearly impossible to injure, as they disperse and then re-form once the danger has passed them by. All Mistwatchers can manage at least rudimentary mindspeech, although they tend towards terrible grammar and misplaced syntax. Rarely, some of the more intelligent Mists can pick up better language skills if extensively trained by a very persistent and very patient tutor. Mating Information Any Mistwatcher who seeks to mate finds a suitable wilderness area and lets loose a long, haunting howl. Any suitors who wish to join the chase need only follow that howl at first. Once enough suitors have gathered, the initiator vanishes into billow-form and leads the suitors off on a grueling challenge to test their stamina, their strength, and their shapeshifting ingenuity. There will be puzzles and tests along the way, which the suitors will have to think around and solve if they want the prize at the end of the chase. Once the initiator has been suitably impressed, both s/he and the suitor disappear together and do not make themselves known again until much later the next day. Barring Sands, who are sterile regardless of sex, all male Mistwatchers may sire litters and all females may give birth. Female Mists tend to have the largest litters, and Clouds the smallest, but that is not to say that there haven’t been extraordinarily fertile Clouds with large litters and Mists with small ones. The general spectrum ranges from four to twelve pups. Bonding Information Most Mistwatchers like attention, and they almost all like meat. Bring both to a bonding where Mistwatchers will be present and one will likely go home with at least one of them, if not more. They’re sociable enough creatures, Mistwatchers, even if they give off an appearance of loner-ness or standoffishness. Mists in particular pretend at aloofness, but they really do enjoy having a pack, and possibly a bondmate, to return to at the end of the day. Ranks Mist 5* Extraordinarily rare, Mists are the undisputed royalty of Mistwatchers. They appear to be long-haired wolfdogs in ephemeral shades of blacks, dark greys, and purples, and they have vivid and expressive amethyst eyes as well as a deep midnight gem that sits upon their foreheads like a third eye, itself. Their alternate form is a foggy mist, and their control in mist form is unparalleled. No other Mistwatcher has the finely-tuned awareness and mobility it would take to, for example, filter through a keyhole to enter a locked room without opening the door. Smoke 4* Less rare than Mists but still incredibly few and far between, Smokes are wolfdogs and sometimes tall fox-shapes that range in the entire greyscale in color, with slate eyes and a silver gem between them. They run fast in solid form, but they truly shine when they disperse into clouds of smoke. They have almost as much control as the Mists do, but with less finesse, and have a habit of disappearing without a sound when they seek to mystify or evade. Dust 3* Highly uncommon, but not rare, Dust Mistwatchers are held in a special kind of regard by their packs for their ability to seemingly teleport. It’s an illusion, of course, they can’t actually teleport, but the way their billowing dust-forms move gives the visual appearance of translocation. They tend to be shaggy and in the brown ranges of color, with amber eyes and a matching amber gem on their foreheads. Cloud 2* Perhaps the most beautiful of the Mistwatchers, Clouds tend to be stark swan-white with silver edges around ruffs and tails, making them glint like snow in the right lighting. Their eyes are pale ice white and their forehead gem appears to be made of diamond. Clumsy in their alternate forms, Clouds resemble the thick, vaporous rolls of cumulous clouds when they transform. Sand 1* The most common Mistwatchers by far, Sands come in a variety of colors and patterns with no special trend or common theme. They can, however, be told apart from the other ranks both by their teal-colored eyes and forehead gem and their alternate forms, which are whirling clouds of sand. They are by far the clumsiest in their alternate forms, unable to manage fine detail maneuvering, and while they might have the control to slip under a closed door, simple weatherstripping would be enough to keep them out. All Sands are sterile, and while they all mate, none of them breed. |