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Wyrmkin

Wyrmkin
  Multistage Lifeforms that are distantly related to dragons and are therefore considered dragon blooded. They begin as small worms that are small enough to burrow inside the body and be carried around by the host for a few days until they feed enough to kill the host and emerge as they grow to a humanoid shape a little smaller than a gnome. They are sentient in this stage, and maintain that sentience as they grow to nearly 6 feet tall before they grow wings as they enter their next stage still sentient, but now having a taste for other sentient beings that drives them mad with hunger. As they reach more than 12 feet in height their wings stop supporting their flight and begin curling in as they enter their next stage as snake-like worms with mouths ringed in sharp teeth and the inside of their mouth and throat filled with smaller worms with sharp teeth. They have sharp metallic hairs protruding all over their bodies in this stage making it dangerous to grapple or try to hold one. This is their final stage and they only continue growing in size, when they reach 30 feet long they are considered mature and will begin their autoreproduction cycle by periodically releasing tiny worms in populated areas. Once they have matured their blood is filled with concentrated psionic energy that is often hunted for what can be done with it. Different color ones favor different environments and food types as well as have other parts that can be used for different potions or spells. Wyrmkin are territorial against others of their kind in the large worm stage of life and will kill and eat any that challenge their territory or threaten their descendents who haven’t achieved maturity. Mature adults in the large worm stage are too teritorial even as family to stay in the same region and will split ways or fight to the death.
  Parasitic Worm Stage Tiny microscopic worms that will die in 48 hours without finding a host. They are sprayed out of the worm at surface level so very few wind up on the ground where sprayed but rather downwind of the spray location covering an area 10d10 x 100 feet. These little worms are light enough that they are able to float on the air as they wiggle seeking the warmth of living cells to invade. Once inside a host they will influence the host to try to find a group of people to be around and eat as much as they can. Within 2 days plus the host’s Con Bonus in days they will have grown large enough the host body dies and they come crawling out from inside born into the world sentient and hungry.
  Sentient Humanoid Stage You prefer food that doesn’t smell like you but will eat your own kind if that’s all there is and you don’t fear dying from fighting them. You are hungry but smarter now and can recognize danger and learn from experiences. You hear thoughts from others and can use that to track them to eat them. Starts out around 5-6 inches tall and continues growing in this stage until they reach nearly 6 feet in height. It takes daily feeding to grow an inch a week in this stage.
  Hunger-Raging Flyer Stage Will avoid others of your kind in this stage but will feed on the others younger than you with impunity. Often telepathically possessed by Mature Large worms to speak to younger ones or otherwise manipulate humanoids on their level rather than expose itself to harm. Start out at 6 feet tall with a 12 foot wingspan. Max size at this stage is around 12 feet tall with a 20 foot wingspan. Grows one inch with every medium sized humanoid eaten to a max of Con Bonus number of inches per day.
  Large Worm Stage This stage the wings have curled in forming your outer carapace and your insides have reorganized to make your nervous system decentralized and less vulnerable to attack. You Begin at 20 feet long and about 3 feet wide. As you feed on at least 1 medium sized person per foot of length per week, you will grow at a rate of 2d6 inches a year. Every year you will shed your old carapace to allow you to grow to your new length. The carapace has a natural resistance to magic and psionic attack. Any failed magic or psionic attacks due to this resistance are turned into mass fear and confusion effects centered on the worm. Large worms are telepathically enslaved by the Mature Large worm in their territory until they mature themselves breaking it’s hold and forcing a challenge or fleeing the territory. All Large worms develop telekinesis to help them move underground easier, but they can also use it to grab people or grab things and attack with them, even flying in a sense are possible though not for long.
  Mature Large Worm Stage In this stage they have reached 30 feet long and around 8 feet wide. At this stage they no longer need the carapace for protection and it becomes largely vestigial and thin though still quite tough.Their psionic power is so immense that their minds no longer function completely on this plane of existence. They cannot stand the telepathic noise of another Mature Large worm and will either kill one for crossing near or run away. Short rests for beings like this are a year, long rests are a decade long. Their growth slows considerably at this stage to a rate of one foot in length per decade and one foot in width per century.They spend long periods asleep only waking to feed a few weeks a year. Their time asleep is the time they spend projecting their minds through the astral and possessing younger Wyrmkin, and by doing so they are able to ensure they know where there is food when they wake up to feed. Physical food is only one part of their nourishment though, they also feed in the astral on the collective fears of sentient beings as well as any astral entities unlucky enough to not be faster or stronger than them. Mature Large Worms only live underground for safety of their physical bodies, they can easily handle flying for extended periods and handling multiple objects or people telekinetically and telepathically. These are not the only psionic powers the Mature Large worm has, only the first to develop, as it ages it learns more and more of them with the next being teleportation and temporal manipulation.

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Cover image: A strange planet this way floats. by magejosh with DALLE3

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