Species File: Gargoyles

Gargoyles:

While none know truly how old the gargoyle species is, history has enough record to know where it came from: The Endless Labyrinth of Mazek's Undermaze. There in the darkness some primitive gargoyles still live, but many had many millennia ago been captured for study by the early draconis dragon-kin empires. At first, thinking them mere beasts they made them into protectors of distant settlements, but eventually their witnessing the new civilization growing caused them to become more intelligent and able to communicate with their masters, making them realize they had unintentionally done to the gargoyles what had been done to them. At first there was resistance to the notion that the gargoyles were sentient in the center of the empires, but as a few brave and wise draconis dragon-kin and their former gargoyle slaves came to the capital of the largest during a treaty with the other empires, they proved the gargoyles worthy not only of their freedom, but a place in the empire as equals. Gargoyles at birth very crude morphable form, but as they develop they attempt to mimic other species with difficulty due to the limitations of this ability. In fact, the ability itself fades away entirely when they reach puberty, and as such most gargoyle parents encourage their hatchlings to take on the appearance of something more immobile and easier to practice upon: a statue. As the crude attempts to mimic other species were oft mocked by the other species before gargoyle sentience was proven, artists on occasion made horrifying statues accentuating these attempts, which the gargoyles actually found curiously interesting enough to mimic. This in turn lead to artists making more and more statues, though the horrifying quality decreased over the centuries into the more common form most gargoyles take on now. As a gargoyle absorbs the power of sunlight and heat, they become sluggish, their skin hardening to a stoney texture and durability, though they are technically still mobile if they do not choose to rest during that time, just moving at a far slower speed. As such, most are far more active during the night, using their strong claws to climb walls and mountains with great ease to reach their homes, and being able to glide with their wings but being unable to fly, relying on inertia and occasional updrafts for the rare occasions they can at least enjoy the sensation of flying rather than a slow descent. While gargoyles truly do not need air, food or water to survive, without energy they will enter hibernation until enough is bestowed upon them, typically through exposure to sunlight over a prolonged period of time. As the heat of the day and heat in general make them sluggish, one might think it weakens them, but in truth they are absorbing it and tend to feel satiated, even gorged on the energy. A gargoyle may enjoy food and beverage for the sake of enjoying the tastes or politeness to their hosts, but they do not truly need it, unless they have been kept in darkness long enough to need it as fuel. Primitive gargoyles in the Undermaze for this reason are seen capturing prey and consuming them, but they also spend a great deal of time perched over the edges of holes between the two sides absorbing the light and warmth when possible.

Gargoyle young are born in rookeries and hatch from eggs into a form similar to a merger of their parents at first, but this alters back and forth as it mimics traits from both until the young finds another form to mimic, eventually either mimicking an existing statue or immobile character, or in the case of the more wealthy gargoyle families, commissioning a statue to their specifications that they may then mimic and take as their permanent form. Full-blood gargoyles are almost always genderless when born, developing an internal gender about five years later that starts to show itself over the next few years after, maturing fully at fifteen years of age, but considered an adult only when they form a hard shell around their body when they rest, which sloughs off when they awaken, the fragments seeming to crack like stone before falling off. When full-blood gargoyles are raised, the clutch they came from is raised with the others in the rookery of the same age until they mature, the parents of all helping to raise them. As a result, gargoyle orphans are almost never heard of unless they are hybrids. It is highly rare for a gargoyle hybrid to be born, though those that do may appear to be of whatever species their other parent is until they reach puberty, when they start to harden during one long sleep, that form shedding off to show their true hybrid nature and physical gargoyle traits revealed at last. Most hybrids also are more sluggish during the day as well, even before they hit puberty. Gargoyles usually take on a name from part of the title of whatever statue they mimicked, or the name of a great warrior in the history of the region who was not so overly well-known that many other species would think to name their children after them. Usually they have just that name chosen for them by their parents and their clan name, though some gain a middle name during their rite of passage. Typically a gargoyle lives for four hundred years without rejuvenation, though in the last century they will find it harder and harder to move, entering hibernation while absorbing energy for several years at a time, until finally they do not come out of it. Some theorize that they can be brought out of it and live indefinitely, but no one in recorded history has been able to prove that theory valid.

Gargoyles are strongly associated with Fire, Stone, Bone and Toxin. Gargoyles tend to be able to absorb a fair amount of heat to provide themselves with more energy, have thick hides which become stone-like when resting, and are highly resistant to most forms of toxin. Their weaknesses are Water, Ice, Slime and Ghost. This is due to their density causing them to have difficulty moving through water, colder temperatures making them enter hibernation much more easily, their difficulty with breaking their hardened shells when slime makes it bind together more tightly, and with their difficulty with ghosted materials and specters being mostly intangible and the difficulty some gargoyles have with understanding this concept.

Gargoyles are the strongest of the starter species, able to lift forty kilograms unencumbered, and another fifteen kilograms while only losing 1 speed, even with 0 STR. However, while gliding if their speed is not 5 or higher, they will fall faster vertically than they travel horizontally, prohibiting most gargoyles from carrying excessive amounts of weight for long journeys, as they can use far less energy gliding than walking typically. Gargoyles may not be as hideous as they used to be, but most are still not considered very beautiful or fast, and have less finesse, wisdom and are less reactive. They, however, willful and have great endurance to carry them through most hardships. While all gargoyles are technically one species and race, the coloration of their skin, shape of their face and crest of horns has variation, with those of similar appearance being known to outsiders as certain 'stratum' named after the ancient gargoyle clans that were formed after they gained their freedom. Some find this amusing as it applies both to supposed social classes and layering of rocks, and most gargoyles are content to let outsiders continue in this ignorance, having no true distinction amongst their own kind aside from those of one clan and a larger one protectorate, and those of others. There are four common groupings, each of which has over the many centuries taken on certain stylizing of their crest of horns, shape of their face, and natural color of their hair. Asjen gargoyles are white, light gray and sandy colored with tan mottling, having short stubby horns on crests consisting of five horns, with high cheekbones and short snouts, with mouths whose lip-less jaws have rounded teeth but they are still strong enough to rend iron. Their eyes are usually dark grays, browns and black, with their heads being typically bald in males with short brown or black hair in the females. Serpis gargoyles usually have green and brown skin with gray or black speckling and stripes, having two sweeping horns that curve only slightly on the edge of their temples and four between them as part of their crest. Their faces tend to be more smooth and even, though their jaw has four short bony protrusions, and their teeth are all sharp. Their eyes tend to be browns, greens and black, though some have a more golden hue, and their hair is usually black or gray and medium length, though some have been known to have dull yellow hair. Ulgip gargoyles are blue, pink and purple with striping and star-burst patterns on their skin, with almost flat faces save their mouths and slightly angular noses, with teeth that are almost flat aside from their canines. Their crests consist of four short horns curving lightly back, and their ears are more pointed than other gargoyles. Their eyes are usually white, red and black, and their hair is usually red, brown or black. Yarden gargoyles are red, orange and black with smooth or irregularly spotted red, black or gray skin. Their face extends into a long beak with a sharp point and four bumpy protrusions on the sides of it to aid in clamping down on whatever they bite. Their crests typically have two to six horns, each going out at about thirty degrees from the temples and higher, ending in rounded tips. Their eyes are usually red, silver and white, though some are on rare occasion blue, and their hair is usually white, black or gray.

The bonuses and reductions for selecting any Gargoyle race as your species are as follows: +4 STR, +3 EP, +3 WIL, -2 FIN, -2 REA, -1 WIS, -2 Beauty, -2 Speed, Gliding, +1 Resistance and Fire, Stone, Bone and Toxin elemental domains, -1 Resistance and Penalty to Water, Ice, Slime and Ghost elemental domains, and generally a knowledge of the more common local language and their culture's language, as well as a knowledge of their local and cultural knowledge. There are no appreciable differences in the classifications of gargoyles. Gargoyles do not require food or drink for sustenance if they receive enough heat and sunlight, but if isolated for maximum sustenance require 5 Orange (Protein), 5 Green (Carbs), and 5 Light Blue. For maximum intake before negative consequences, they may consume 20 White, 5 Black, 20 Purple, 2 Yellow, 20 Orange, 20 Red, 20 Green, 6 Blue, 1 Brown, 20 Light Brown, 20 Dark Gray, 4 Light Gray, 5 Light Yellow, 7 Pink, 20 Light Orange, 20 Light Purple, 20 Light Green, 20 Light Blue, 20 Cyan, and 20 Magenta, with a maximum of 30 total per day before weight gain (if at the standard weight and metabolism), and 40 total per day before sickness due to overeating.