Zephonim
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The Zephonim are Descendents who've been transformed into a creature with the bottom half of a spider, due to addiction to the blood of another Zephonim.
Contents
Creation
It should be noted that a Zephonim only holds enough blood to safely transform two people at once. Symptoms of mutagen withdrawal include sweating, dizziness, hallucination, vomiting, weight loss and nausea.
Phase 1
The transformation process starts with an addiction to the toxic mutagen found in the blood of a Zephonim. The victim may not realize by this point what exactly it is they crave, but it all depends on the circumstances. Over the course of anywhere between one to two years the victim’s legs would begin to wither away in an attempt to prevent escape. It’s possible to recover from this phase with minimum damage.
Phase 2
The victim’s legs, now practically skin and bones, begin to harden, turning a dark shade of blue over the course of a year. Their gums may recede from their teeth by a centimeter or two, giving them a vaguely primal appearance should they bare their teeth. By this phase the victim’s craving of the mutagen would kick into overdrive. Unless extra care were put into making sure the victim were well fed or healthy they might begin to waste away. By now, permanent damage has been done, and the victim’s legs would more than likely have to be amputated to stand any chance at recovery.
Phase 3
The victim goes into a catatonic state as they begin to develop their new form. This can take up to a year. Closing the victim’s body in a tight space that is both dark and warm (Such as a silk cocoon) facilitates faster and more efficient growth.
Characteristics
Though there are two types of Zephonim, they both share the identifying traits; The upper body retaining their appearance prior to transformation, the lower body of an arachnid, and sharp teeth. Facial growths resembling small horns or vestigial mandibles can appear on both varieties, but are a more common occurrence with Bulwarks.
Both variants have the ability to produce fairly durable, but flammable, webs. While this can be used for various utility purposes (Binding a person, producing a suitable living area, etc), it is of little use in combat situations. Zephonim must molt to heal any damage to their exoskeletons and armor, but can only do so once per elven day. This is a long process and is impossible to do in combat. This allows the player to change the color of their creature’s exoskeleton, or make minor changes to their design.
A Zephonim carries two hearts. One in the arachnid portion, at the center of their thorax, and another in the Descendant portion. As their bodies are fairly large it’s more efficient for them to circulate their blue blood from two points than just the one. If one were put out of commission, the farther portion of their body would be much more sluggish or inaccurate. A Zephonim also only carries one brain. Predictably enough it’s in their skull.
As far as dietary needs go, Zephonim are predatory carnivores. While one member of the species may prefer setting up traps for their prey, another may actively go hunting, be it alone or in a pack. A Zephonim generally targets beings smaller than it. This includes, but is not limited to halflings, dogs, cats, pigs, sheep and goats. It’s important to note that as a sentient creature, Zephonim do have morals and self-control. It’s not unlikely to see a Zephonim that only feeds on livestock or wild animals. That being said, a normal Zephonim would not be above eating the corpse of another member of its species.
Behavior
Zephonim, despite retaining their personality—albeit a somewhat modified version of it--, do not have traditional romantic desires. This is due to their complete lack of reproductive organs. Like their progenitors, Zephonim reproduce by slowly converting their “mate” into another member of their species. They may form emotional attachments to this individual, but they more than likely will be familial in nature. Zephonim instinctively defend Descendants slated for conversion, and will not attack them. This isn’t to say they won’t defend themselves if said Descendant attacks them.
The meat of a Zephonim’s story and character is seeing how they deal with the numerous downsides of becoming an abomination. Some may have the resolve to attempt to reintegrate with society. Others may succumb to the trauma and sudden drastic change in how the public views them, becoming reclusive and bitter. A few might embrace their new form with a twisted display of pride. The point of the creature is to be flexible, and allow relative freedom in how the player roleplays their character. As such, it would be advised to have a somewhat developed character transformed into a Zephonim to maximize playability.
Types
Tremere
The smaller of the two varieties. A Tremere’s arachnid body is generally sleek, similar to a black widow or a brown recluse. The Tremere’s exoskeleton can be shiny, matte, colorful, drab or anything inbetween. The arachnid body can add up to one foot to their height, four feet in length, and anywhere from 100 to 200 pounds to their weight.
Tremere are set apart from Bulwarks by the fact that they retain the ability to use and learn certain magic. Though both Bulwarks and Tremere have intact souls, only those attuned to the Arcane and the like are able to continue down this path. However, their body are more susceptible to physical withering, essentially doubling the normal withering effect. This means that most Tremere are sickly, their humanoid upper body generally sporting pallid skin and gaunt features.
This isn’t to say that Tremere are incredibly fragile. Their exoskeleton, while significantly less durable than that of the bulwark, still offer some protection to their lower half.
A Tremere may learn and cast the following magics: All Arcane/Voidal, Necromancy, Blood Magic, Soul Puppetry, Mysticism, and Druidism. Despite how many magics a Tremere learns, they will always have the relative strength of a sedentary human.
Bulwark
The decidedly larger of the two, Bulwarks sport a very bulky arachnid body, similar in appearance to the common tarantula. Their exoskeleton consists of chitinous plates of various drab colors. The arachnid body gives them up to two feet in height, six feet in length, and anywhere from 200 to 300 pounds to their weight.
Bulwarks are blessed with a thick natural armor covering the majority of their lower half. This chitin is roughly as durable as plate armor, but chips and splinters instead of denting. The Bulwark’s armor has its weaknesses though. Its legs, particularly in jointed areas, are not as well protected as to not make them less mobile. Their underside is also very soft compared to the rest of their exoskeleton.
The Bulwark is capable of growing exoskeletal armor on its humanoid half over the course of several days, about as durable as the chitinous plating on its arachnid abdomen. They are then able to remove it through an hour-long molting process. The design of the armor is up to the player, but it typically matches the natural color of their lower half.
Bulwark webbing is much less fine than that of the Tremere, functioning more like a thin but durable cable than a wire. It still retains its usual weakness to fire, and it is only about an inch thick at most.
A Bulwark’s upper body is roughly as strong as it was prior to transformation, while its lower body is heavy and strong.
A set of small arms sprout from the Bulwark’s descendant abdomen, allowing for manipulation of small objects. As they have the strength of an average seven year old, they’re mostly useless for combat.
Bulwarks are unable to cast magic, due to having never had their body conditioned for magic before their transformation. As the form of a Zephonim is already ill-suited for magic (Evident by the stunted Tremere), Bulwarks become violently ill if they attempt to connect to a source of power or cast a magic, resulting in crippling injury or death.
Broodmother
The Broodmother is the first in a bloodline of Zephonim, and as such receives the brunt of the mutagenic properties from their ancestral blood. Rarely are its effects known to the would-be Broodmother early on, the residual mutagen typically takes years to incubate before becoming potent enough to affect them.
Their form is twisted into one that is both grotesque and grand, one fit for subjugating their progeny properly. Though the exact manner of outward mutation on the humanoid half of the Broodmother is up to the player, they have several defining features:
The Broodmother retains the primary features of their previous classification (Example: A Tremere would retain their ability to learn and practice magic and their general weakness. A Bulwark would retain their superior strength and inability to learn magic).
The Broodmother rivals a Bulwark in size.
They grow a set of small utility arms, much like the Bulwark.
Their arachnid abdomen becomes swollen with excess blood, allowing them to feed up to 4 potential Zephonim at a time. This weighs them down and prevents them from moving particularly fast, unlike the Bulwark.
The Broodmother is able to produce a thin needle from their wrist that injects a parasite into a target's bloodstream. The parasite makes its colony in the gland that produces this mutagen, preventing it from spreading the poison at all. The waste produced by this parasite corrodes the Zephonim's arachnid half slowly and painfully.Once this painful process is complete, the former Zephonim is left without a lower half and minor evidence of their former nature. In short, it leaves them legless. It is possible to "regrow" a humanoid lower half, through a potion of regeneration, but the alterations made to their mind and appearance will remain.
Weaknesses
| Please note: The following information is scarcely known. Do not metagame to know this information unless directly informed in-character. |
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While most might classify the Zephonim as abominations, they didn’t come about from an evil ritual or alchemy. As such, the usual abomination-killing methods (Aurum, holy magic, etc) are ineffective. Though the weaknesses unique to Tremere and Bulwarks respectively are listed above, these weaknesses encompass both variants.
- A Zephonim’s arachnid exoskeleton is weak to blunt and piercing damage.
- Zephonim share the traditional weaknesses of most living beings. They can die from blood loss, starvation, suffocation, burning, electrocution, etc.
- Zephonim cannot learn Fi, Cleric Magic, or Paladin Magic.
Redlines
- Once you’ve transformed, you cannot switch between Bulwark and Tremere on a whim. They should be treated as separate creatures on a CA.
- Zephonim cannot climb walls or ceilings, they weigh far too much.
- Zephonim cannot websling around cities like a certain spider-themed superhero.
- Transforming a character into a Zephonim requires OOC consent from their player.
- Addiction does not normally occur after one taste of the poison, especially not a small one. If John the Savoyard accidentally ingested Zephonim blood when slaying one, he would not be instantly addicted.
- In addition, transformation only occurs if the mutagen is regularly ingested.
- A Zephonim must be created from a pre-existing character. You cannot start a character as one.
- The mutations on the Broodmother’s humanoid half are entirely aesthetic, and may not give them any advantage.
- Due to the nature of the Reversion poison, attempts to restore a former Zephonim's arachnid half will only cause the process to repeat.
- The Broodmother's parasite very quickly dies without a source of food, and its small size makes it impossible to properly detect. Anyone other than the Broodmother would be unable to utilize the tiny beasty.
- The Broodmother must still respect and abide by the limits and weaknesses of every other Zephonim, in addition to their own.
- Bulwarks are unable to cast magic due to having never had their body conditioned for magic before their transformation. As the form of a Zephonim is already ill-suited for magic (Evident by the stunted Tremere), Bulwarks become violently ill if they attempt to connect to a source of power or cast a magic, resulting in crippling injury or death.
- Regardless of how many magics they know, Tremere have the strength of a mostly sedentary person.
