Doughck

The doughck is a species native to the heart of Etharai, with the ability to harness the magic around them to transport themselves instantly between two locations. These doughcks have eidetic memory, and are able to recite anything they have heard within their lifetimes. While the majority of the time, this is just the sounds of rocks shifting or magic pulsing, those that have been around travellers or Keepers will recite the words they have heard verbatim. The malleability of the species allows it to do this with unnerving accuracy, mimicking not just the voice, but their tone and emotion when speaking as well. It is so realistic that even those who know about the doughcks will still commonly be fooled.

Anatomy

The doughck has an appearance similar to that of raw dough; their flesh is sticky and tannish in colour, with small white feathers resembling the flour used when rolling and forming dough. Their eyes are small, black beads in their heads, and their beaks are the only solid part about them. As the doughck matures, it hardens and its skin becomes less transmutable, darkening to a brownish colour and stiffening. When a doughck dies of old age, they become completely solid, like a loaf of bread. In this form, they are edible, and they taste incredibly similar to real bread.

Behaviour & Psychology

The doughck is capable of teleporting itself across long distances, by harnessing the magic of the Heart and piggybacking off of the many strong Auras it generates. It must see a location to be able to teleport itself to it. This teleportation does take a toll on the doughck, however, as it ages slightly faster while in the process of teleporting. The doughck thus only uses this ability when frightened and fleeing from something, since the doughcks are not actually capable of flight, unlike most other birds. The doughck seems to enjoy spouting random sounds that it has heard in the past for fun, and so if one hears random sounds disconnected from any context while travelling through the Heart, it is likely to be a doughck.

Doughck by Alishahr

Geographic Distribution

• The Heart of Etharai