Vikara : Version #227

Plural: Wardens
One warden, two wardens

Wardens are fungal creatures, deeply connected to a unique fungus known as sculk found deep underground.  Where there is the strange dark eldritch fungus, there will also be a warden and where there is a warden, there will be the dark sculk. Their colors are similar to the fungi, nearly black with bioluminescent specks that glow blue. They have boney growths down their backs, wrapping around their sides, and on their upper arms. The length of these growths a good way to tell the age and strength of an individual. They stand between 10-12 feet tall on average, though grow larger as they age. They are fierce and powerful, dangerous and highly aggressive. Highly territorial.

Wardens have a symbiotic relationship with sculk, which to be a part of them and they a part of it, as they are always found together.

Wardens are sapient, capable of thought, reason and speech. Their language, however, is vastly different from the language of humans and they have trouble forumalating words. They can generally understand the speech of others alright, but have trouble actually speaking back. A warden's voice can be compared to the groan/moan/meow of a tiger combined with an infrasonic rumble and their unique clicking/chittering.

Physical Description

Wardens entirely lack eyes. They see using echolocation, vibrations, and sound and have an extremely advanced sense of smell. They can navigate incredibly well in complete darkness, as they do not need light to see at all. While they lack eyes, they do still have eyebrows.

Wardens are usually in shades of dark blue, almost black, green, or teal.  They usually have light blue or aqua speck markings on their bodies that glow with their natural bioluminescence. Their mane resembles that of a lion, often wrapping around their neck fully, though it can cover less. The texture is shiny and silken.  The mane very often falls over where the eyes would be. Their fur is shaggy and thick, but surprisingly sleek. It feels damp to the touch, despite being dry. If one were to touch a warden, they would be cool to the touch, but produce an inner heat from their metabolism. Despite feeling cool and damp, their breath is hot.

They have bony growths on their upper arms, around their sides resembling a ribcage, over their shoulders, and a line of bony spines down their back. This is usually pale in color, but can have hints of yellow or green to it. It is always noticeably lighter than the body. 

They have long ears with a pronounced curl around the end, which are actually the tendrils they use to echolocate. Some have mistaken these strange ears as horns, though they are flexible. Wardens use them to emote, the position being a good way to tell the warden's mood. The tendrils twitch and glow when picking up vibrations. While wardens do not see with light, their echolocation is shockingly precise, allowing them to read body language, gestures, and posture. They have trouble tracking quick movements, so Warden gestures are usually slow and deliberate and body language and posture are somewhat exaggerated to make picking up on their mood easier for other wardens.

Their face superficially resembles a feline face, with a flatter muzzle a bit closer to humanoid shape. Their nose, in shape, somewhat resembles a big cat, but this resemblance is superficial. They have fluff on their cheeks that can be compared to the fluff on a Lynx.

They appear anthropomorphic in their build with digitigrade legs and large paws armed with sharp, tough claws. Their pads are thick and tough, able to grip the ground and cushion their steps. They are surprisingly light on their feet, despite being large, bulky creatures, standing between 10-12 feet tall on average with a thick, muscular build. A warden can move comfortably on all fours, and will often drop to all fours when charging. They move shockingly fast for such a large creature. It can be described as charging at you like a werewolf that ate a brick of cocaine, but deadlier and more terrifying because of their ability to cast an effect known as Darkness. Darkness obscures your vision so thoroughly that you can hardly even see a torch held in your hand. A warden can control this ability.

While they do not have eyes, Wardens can see you quite well. You get the distinct feeling of being watched when they turn to face you despite their lack of eyes.

They have a long slender tail with nubs on the sides and along the top, the movement of which can be a good gauge for a warden's mood. Surprisingly, their tendrils are actually able to detect light, though this is not used towards sight. It seems to be connected to detecting the bioluminescence of other wardens or knowing if it is daytime on the rare occasions that they end up on the surface.

Their tongue is wide and forked with nubs along the sides, feeling almost velvety and slightly rough like a dog's tongue. They have tusks that jut up from their lower jaw. Their jaws are muscled with a powerful bite force, with the back teeth designed for crushing and the front teeth designed for gripping. The front teeth are often used to carry their cubs by the scruff.

Wardens are generally solitary and highly territorial, and tend to chase off things they do not want in their territories. Despite this, they do have some social instincts. Sometimes, they can be seen in small family groups called prides due to how some people describe them as reminding them of cave lions. Prides consist of an elder who is a large and powerful dominant individual who is the pride leader, and up to three smaller, less dominant individuals and any young they may have. Young wardens still instinctively leave their dam’s territory when they reach maturity, so these small groups are generally unrelated individuals. The instinct for young to leave the territory and settle far away helps with genetic diversity, and keeps warden populations diverse and healthy. They breed so rarely that genetic issues from inbreeding could be detrimental to their population. Additionally,  they can recognize the scent of one who is related too closely to produce healthy offspring, which further helps avoid accidentally inbreeding.

These family groups will usually only have one cub among them at a time, though sometimes two if their territory is established enough. The cub is usually sired by the pride leader.  While most wardens contentedly live a solitary life outside of mating and cub rearing, these family groups aren’t unheard of in larger sculk patches in the Depths. They are generally referred to as a pride, due to how wardens somewhat resemble large fungal cave lions. The best way to know if there’s more than one is the size of the sculk patch. Smaller sculk patches are most likely a single warden, and probably fairly young. Much larger sculk patches can sustain more wardens, and thus are more likely to host one of these small prides, though are more likely to host a single well established adult. Large sculk patches usually only have a single older individual, but only large sculk patches can host a warden pride.

The dominant elder, who is the leader of the pride, has a scent that can actually be calming to the territorial instincts in younger wardens. Warden prides always have one larger more dominant individual among them, because without them the younger wardens are far more likely to fight eachother over territory. The bigger warden has a calming influence on the younger smaller ones.

Sometimes, a warden will pair bond with another. When this happens, this pair bond will last for life. Occasionally, for very well established pairs, their young will stay with them even after maturity for a time. They will always eventually go off to found their own territory, but if the territory is established enough they may help care for any cubs born to their parents for a time. Wardens are long lived and powerful creatures, and don’t breed often. Because of this, they pour all their resources into insuring their cub reaches adulthood safely. The case of pair bonding is the only time a warden pride will have two large older wardens, as they are too territorial otherwise.

Being eldritch fungi, wardens do not follow the same genders/gender identities as humans and other flesh and blood creatures. They are all capable of siring and bearing young. More submissive, smaller individuals are more likely to be the one to carry a cub and can be seen as more “feminine” while the larger more dominant individuals can be seen as more “masculine”.  However, this is more about their size and strength than their gender. They generally don’t understand gender, and don’t really care. Their Deep Eldritch language does not have gendered pronouns. They may see themselves as more feminine or more masculine, but otherwise don’t really care. Those that are exposed to humans or other creatures with genders/pronouns when young, or taught about humans and other sapient beings are more likely to adopt a pronoun. Otherwise, they are simply referred to as it/its or they/them.

Wardens are very territorial, but if you stay out of their territory and don’t bother them, they’ll usually leave you alone. Younger, more aggressive wardens are far more likely to attack. The best way to avoid getting killed is to sneak past, stay out of their territory, and don’t provoke them. Sometimes the best way to avoid provoking one is to just not be detected by it. Once they decide to give chase, you are very unlikely to escape. They are fast, and have a deadly ranged attack as well that can send you flying even from a distance.

In temperament, wardens can actually be compared to huge and dangerous cats, or tigers. They prefer to be left alone, only want interaction on their own terms, and tend to bond very closely with one or two people if they bond with anybody at all. Unlike a tiger, however, wardens are sapient, so one does not have to worry about a random attack if they do manage to befriend one. They are intelligent enough to hold back their wild instincts if needed. Wardens are also not hunters or predators, so they have no prey drive or desire to hunt or chase. Their aggression is purely territorial and defensive in nature.

Despite being massiveb, powerful, and dangerous eldritch monsters, they are sensitive creatures, easily overwhelmed and overstimulated, which leads to aggression. While many wardens are highly territorial and attack anything deem as a threat or invader, others will simply observe and only attack if provoked.

When not aggressive, wardens can actually be fairly curious. They are safer to interact with outside of their territory, as their territorial instincts are less apparent. While they don't like physical contact unless they trust you, a warden can become incredibly affectionate when they do bond with somebody. They will do a feline head bump, purr, or simply follow you around and settle nearby. A very closely bonded warden may lay curled around the person they've bonded with.

They become very protective of their chosen Favorite Person, and can be incredibly possessive and territorial.

Wardens have a form of ancestral memory, through special spores passed from parent to cub. These spores carry with them knowledge and some nebulous memories. The memories are more like  feelings that come up when encountering something and can serve to warn if dangerous or feel comforted if familiar and safe. The reason some wardens are able to understand the languages of other races is because of wardens in their lineage that knew this and passed this through these special spores to their offspring. The spores are given to the curb when it's quite young. They are inhaled by the cub. They are passed through what appears like a gentle nuzzle between mother and cub. They are carried in the mother's breath. Passing the spores to the cub is instinctive. They must do it on purpose, the spores are not present unless the warden intends them to be.

These spores can be shared with humans and other races as well. While not as effective, it can pass enough knowledge for the human to communicate with the warden. The warden must use very simple words and concepts, due to humans not being able to hear infrasound, but it can allow conversing, where the warden understands you, responds, and you are able to understand it.The warden must keep the words simple, but it's much better than no communication at all.

The spores do have side effects, however. They make you feel lethargic, feverish, itchy, give you a runny nose and make you sneeze. They also produce a euphoric feeling, producing something like a mild high. This lasts until the immune system fights off the spores, which varies depending on the strength of the immune system. The spores are not dangerous, but the body reacts to them as if they are so it's technically a sort of allergy.

Wardens are fungal creatures, but they have a lot of similarities to flesh and blood creatures in how their bodies function, though also numerous differences. The bone growths down their backs, on their upper arms, and around their sides are actually a form of chitin strengthened by the minerals they extract from the stone with their sculk growth, as isvtheir internal skeletal structure. This makes their bones incredibly tough and surprisingly flexible.  

They are covered in thick, shaggy fur. This fur can be compared to touching the cap of a mushroom, but the mushroom cap is made of fur. It feels cool and almost damp, but is actually dry. They have thick manes that can go all the way down their backs. Warden claws are so hard and sharp they can dig through solid stone with surprising efficiency and speed. This also makes their attacks deadly, able to slash through even strong armor in a hit or two.

Like any fungi, wardens function in the nutrient cycling in whatever ecosystem they end up in. They will often venture to the surface to gather deadwood and leaf litter, but also anything that has died and begun to decay. They seem to prefer old growth forest, and will also eat driftwood, or water plants that have washed ashore and started to decay. They also extract nutrients from the stone with their sculk growth. Their sculk growth produces special buds, which the warden will eat. They are rich in vitamins and minerals, and even simple proteins. They are actually safe for other creatures to eat, and have an earthy taste with a subtle sweetness which isn't unpleasant. Wardens tend to do best in areas with geothermal heat. Their sculk growth thrives on geothermal heat, which helps it break down and metabolize nutrients from the stone it or other material it has broken down. It also draws in life energy, or soul energy, or just simply magical energy found around, which they use to power their abilities.

Wardens do not have eyes. Their skulls don't even have eye sockets. There is a slight indentation where eyes would be. Surprisingly, their brain has a structure that works incredibly similarly to the part of the brains of creatures that process visual input. This is connected to their tendrils, which are attached to their ears. Their tendrils are usually just referred to as ears, though their function is different. They pick up vibrations while the ears pick up sounds. They have incredibly keen hearing. Their echolocation creates a constant driving thrumming which can be compared to the sound of a large, slow and deep heartbeat in its rythm. It picks up pace when the warden becomes angry, frightened, or excited, bringing in extra input and making its view of the scene much clearer. The echolocation thrumming carries with it layers of infrasound which is felt in the very bones more than heard/ the heartbeat sound is only a very small part of the actual sound emitted by the warden. It makes being in the presence of one of these creatures unsettling and scary. The layers of infrasound combined with this thrumming bounce back to the wardens's tendrils forming an incredibly clear picture of the world around them with a lot of detail. Things moving very quickly or very small aren't picked up as well, but they can navigate through even twisted and cramped caverns with ease. Surprisingly, they are able to detect light through their tendrils. While they don't see with it, it can slightly enhance the images formed by the vibrations, though bright light is painful and makes it harder for them to detect what is around them. For this reason, wardens do not like sunlight or bright light and generally prefer to remain underground unless it is dark outside. A warden's unique vision could be compared to a 3D rendered environment, made of a static noise effect without color. Closer would be brighter, further would be darker, making it seem as if the surroundings are shaded and the warden is the "light source". Things that move and produce vibrations show up much brighter compared to the surroundings, effectively highlighting things that are moving, causing them to stick out from the background. This is why you can escape detection if you are very quiet, but the warden will home in on you in an instant if you produce vibrations it can pick up or move too quickly.

wardens are incredibly good swimmers, able to spend a lot of time underwater before needing to come up for air. They are also resistant to high heat. Their fur holds their natural moisture against their skin and can prevent them from drying out for a surprising amount of time.

Their internal biological systems work differently than any normal creature. They are eldritch fungal beasts, and they are deeply connected to the strange fungi that grow around their range.

Wardens are cool to the touch, though their metabolism does produce heat within their bodies. Meaning that they are warm inside. Their breath is warm, though their tongue and lips would be cool. Wardens breath, despite them being a creature that generally consumes decaying organic matter, is surprisingly fresh smelling. It smells similar to petrichor, the smell right as it begins to rain, with a fungal undertone.

Wardens can stand on two feet, or move on all fours equally as comfortably. Most individuals prefer to stand on two feet, though they tend to drop down to all fours when charging or running, as it is fast and efficient. Wardens are shockingly fast for their large size, and can get into surprisingly tight spaces. If you manage to escape their claws, they can hit you with a sonic shriek, a powerful ranged attack that does a lot of damage. A terrible shriek that can pass through even solid objects and do damage up to 60 feet away.  It causes pain, disorientation, and can even break bones at close range.

Due to the infrasound wardens produce, being near them can be incredibly unsettling, causing dizziness and even nausea. Some people report mild hallucinations. It can feel like a pressure strange buzzing thrum in the back of your head, and can be compared in some ways to the Taos Hum some people can detect.

Wardens are omnivorous with an herbivorous tendency. They are able to eat meat, but it must be starting to decay or be cooked. They also eat bone, though digest this much more slowly.  A fun side effect of this is that a wardens could swallow a small creature that passed away, digest the meat, and cough up the clean bones before they pass from its small stomach unto their main stomach. It would be like an owl pellet or hairball, though it would smell pretty bad until the bones were washed.  They wouldn't have any reason to do this, but it is possible. The bone from whatever they eat gets integrated with the growths on their arms and down their backs, as well as their claws and teeth along with minerals from the stone their fungi grow on.

Being fungal creatures, wardens need a lot of water. They drink a lot.  It helps them digest, and helps keep them healthy and comfortable.  wardens wouldn't do well in dry heat, and would need to be around fresh water. Salt water would not work for them, too much salt would make them very sick, or even possibly kill them.

Warden digestion is unique, and rather slow. They have two stomachs, to a point. One stomach smaller, where the easier to access nutrients are extracted from their food before passed to their much larger second stomach, and a second stomach, where the rest of their meal will be broken down by enzymes very similar to the enzymes put out by various molds and other fungi. This process is a lot slower, so wardens will eat the fungal buds from their sculk colonies and easier to digest stuff for quick energy boosts, while eating harder stuff, such as deadwood, bone, and other similar difficult to break down stuff goes to this second stomach to be thoroughly broken down.The food is broken down by enzymes and water and absorbed by the body, which is why wardens need to drink so much. The solids that remain are then passed into the warden's colon. Extra water is extracted. Once enough builds up in a structure similar to a colon, it is passed just as one would expect. Their body is quite efficient so their scat is actually mostly odorless. It might have an odd fungal or slightly musty or moldy smell, but wouldn't smell like the poop of a normal creature. Comparable, at least somewhat, to a damp old attic overgrown with mildew. This remains true even if they eat rotting meat. It makes very good fertilizer

Wardens generally  love bread if they can get ahold of it, though they will often seek out rotting wood and leaf litter. They can not digest fresh wood, it must be dead and rotting. Warden saliva actually has a powerful antibiotic property to it. It kills dangerous germs on whatever the wardens decides to eat. The side effect of this is that their saliva can actually completely get rid of infection, so if you know a warden and it doesn't hate you and you get hurt, it can lick your wounds and keep them from getting infected.

While there is little to no odor when they relieve themselves, getting sick is another story entirely. It's rare for a warden to vomit, but when they do, they empty both of their stomachs, and the smell is absolutely foul. It can be compared to something that has been spoiling in the back of the fridge combined with stagnant bog water, sour and downright rotten. It looks as horrible as it smells, and there's more than would be expected from a creature their size due to the size of this secondary stomach.

Wardens do not have stomach acid like other creatures. Instead, their stomachs contain a blend of potent fungal enzymes that break food down. The enzymes found in the smaller stomach are different in composition than the enzymes in their main large stomach, which slowly breaks down harder to digest materials into their components to extract their nutrients.

Wardens require a lot of water for their size and drink a lot because of its important function to their digestion. Due to drinking so much water, wardens pee frequently. It’s clear blue in color, and actually has a glow to it, though this fades within a few hours. It is used in territorial marking and some level of pheromone communication. Iy has a strong and distinct smell but is very different from an animals urine. The smell is unique and hard to describe, not particularly pleasant but also not particularly unpleasant. It’d be something that you’d easily recognize once you’ve smelled it once. A unique thing about it is there’d be no breaking down into ammonia and other toxic materials. It just breaks down into water and inert minerals which is actually good for soil and plants. Having a warden around is actually beneficial if you could get it to not want to sonic shriek you into the stratosphere, because it can eat stuff that would be unsafe, break it down, and basically pass plant fertilizer out the other end. A living composter, in a sense.

Wardens use their urine to mark their territory and, to a point, communicate. The intention behind marking effects the scent and pheromone profile of the urine. A mark to establish territory, for example, is potent and lingers for weeks. While not particularly unpleasant,  a warden's territory mark is very distinctive. It can be compared to a strong musk with a fungal undertone. 

Wardens also mark to display their genetic fitness and strength to potential mates. In this case, the scent mark is much milder, and breaks down within a few hours. The smell is surprisingly pleasant if one doesn't know the origin of it.

Wardens will sometimes mark as a form of spite, when angry about something. When they mark out of spite, the scent is heavy and potent, and rather unpleasant. It lingers as long as their territorial mark.

When they go just to relieve themselves, there is no musk or pheromones in it. The scent is subtle, but distinctive.

Wardens breed infrequently, and have, in general, low fertility. They become fertile when their sculk colony is established enough to support a warden and their cub, at which point they become receptive and are able to be fertilized and carry an egg. This does not function like a heat or ovulation cycle. There is no noticeable change in the warden's behavior aside from a slight reduction in their territorial behavior towards others of their kind. It is effected by their hormones, but they don't become a hormonal mess like some creatures.

Wardens, unlike other fungi, reproduce sexually. They all have both male and female organs, and do not really have a concept of gender. As they are both, and neither, at the same time. Wardens rarely meet and have low fertility, so they have a very high sex drive.This can even be turned towards other races depending on the individual warden, meaning sexual encounters are possible.

When catching the scent of another fertile warden, they will approach their territory, often carrying a peace offering of rotting wood or something else a warden would enjoy eating. These encounters can be very dangerous with how territorial wardens are. Mating usually takes place on the edge or juat outside of their established territory. The sire returns to their own territory afterwards and takes no part in caring for the cubs unless the mating happens within a pride or between a bonded pair. Wardens rarely meet their sires.

Wardens that live near each other will often meet to mate whenever they become receptive, so there are some wardens that have full siblings out there somewhere. Those who mate more than once will often get used to each other, making subsequent matings a lot more safe and peaceful.

Wardens carry their egg for about 6 months. During this time, wardens will eat more than they usually do, drink more water, sleep more, become even more protective of their territory and will begin to increase and add to their nest. The fungal buds their sculk produces increases as the warden will eat a lot more while growing the egg and the cub within.

The egg is actually fungal in nature, resembling a puffball mushroom matching their fungal growth in color with little glowing blue specks on it. It will connect to the fungal growth and grow for another six to eight months, depending on how well established the wardens is.

The cub will chew its way out of the egg when it is ready to hatch. The shell of the egg will become the cub's first meal.

They are very small when they first emerge, and generally remain quiet unless in danger, and prefer to stay near the nest. They can be territorial and aggressive even at a very young age, and will bite and growl if provoked. Warden cubs are very sensitive to sound, especially in the weeks after hatching, and this can cause them to become distressed if there's a lot of sound around them until they get used to it. This can make them snappy and aggressive, even towards their parent. This can be stressful for a new parent, but more experienced wardens know how to calm their cub down and calm them calm so they are less aggressive. They will generally calm down after a bit, once they get used to things.

Warden cubs are very attached to their parent, though they are capable of being comfortable and happy alone in their nest for hours at a time. They do become curious sometimes, and will often wander around their parent's territory. Due to the fierce territorial nature of wardens, their cubs are very safe if they stay within the territory. Staying within their dam’s sculk patch is instinctive, though they will occasionally wander too far. The parent can find them easily enough, due to their incredibly sensitive noses.

Wardens mature at roughly the same rate as humans, though they are much longer lived. They tend to instinctively leave their parent's territory around 20 years of age to find their own territory.

Wardens have a form of ancestral memory, from special spores a warden dam passes on to their cubs. These spores carry with them knowledge the warden can use later on as well as some memories, though the memories are more nebulous. An example of the function of these spores is how all of the descendants of a warden known as the Phantom are able to understand several human languages and are generally calmer around humans. Her descendents can even speak a few limited words because of the spores passed down through the generations.  Wardens are rare, and breed extremely slowly so this passage of knowledge from parent to offspring provides a clear advantage in their survival. This means that warden grudges will often pass down through the generations. A warden that has had a bad experience with humans, will pass on this aggression towards humans to their cubs, and along down the line making wardens from that lineage more aggressive and dangerous, while those who have had better experiences will pass that down, creating less dangerous and aggressive wardens.

It is thought to be impossible for wardens to produce hybrids with other races. It is possible due to their unique eldritch nature, but extremely unlikely. Wardens rarely interact with other races, though they have a very high sex drive so situations that could lead to a hybrid aren't impossible. Despite this, warden fertility is incredibly low. The chance of conception is low even between their own kind and usually requires repeated couplings to succeed. Their biology is very different from humans and other races. While conception could happen, the chances are incredibly low.  Hybrids are only possible because of the warden's unique eldritch nature. It is so unheard of that even ancient wardens, including one known as the Phantom who is one of the oldest wardens alive with a fondness for humans and has had numerous sexual encounters with them in herlife, have never seen a hybrid and don't know it's possible.