Umbrats

Umbrats are shadowy, impish, vaguely humanoid creatures that resemble an amalgamation of an insect, a gecko, and a rabbit. They lurk in dark places and can run the gamut from playfully mischievous to downright malicious. Umbrats come in two main forms: the standard "lesser" form and the much rarer "greater" form.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Umbrats have small frames and spindly limbs, with five clawed fingers on each hand and two clawed toes on each foot. They also have prehensile tails that essentially function as an extra hand. They typically move around on all fours in a "hopping" motion, but can stand on their hind legs for periods of time. Umbrats are able to climb on any surface, even sheer surfaces like glass, similar to geckos. Greater umbrats have a more humanoid body structure than their lesser brethren and have larger hands and feet with much longer claws. They also spend more time moving on their hind legs than on all fours.

Biological Traits

Most adult lesser umbrats have an average height of 2'5'' and an average weight of 19 lbs. They're not very strong due to their small stature, but are very quick and agile. Greater umbrats have an average height 6' and an average weight of 130 lbs. They trade off some of their agility for more strength. Umbrats are also surprisingly durable, able to withstand falls from several stories and hits from moving cars easily. They communicate by way of growling, hissing, and insect-like clicking and chittering sounds; some have even been observed mimicking human speech. They can melt into the ground as literal shadows to avoid predators and obstacles and pop up elsewhere, attacking with their sharp teeth and claws. When an umbrat dies, its entire body dissolves into wisps of shadow. Because of this, it's currently unknown what kind of internal organs they have, if they have any at all. It also makes it difficult to gauge how old they can live to be, because to date, no known umbrats have been found to die of purely natural causes.

Genetics and Reproduction

Umbrats reproduce asexually through a "budding" process not unlike sponges. The offspring slowly buds off the parent's chest over the course of four or five hours, growing as it emerges. Umbrats only have one baby at a time, but they can produce multiple babies throughout their lifetime. Umbrats don't have any known set conditions for reproducing and it seems to simply occur at random.

Growth Rate & Stages

Newborn umbrats grow and mature at an unusually rapid rate. They're born able to eat solid food, and they open their eyes for the first time after only a few days. They become fully independent of their parent after about two weeks and mature to full adulthood within a month. The only way to tell if an umbrat is a greater form is if it continues growing in size past 1.5 months, at which point it will continue to grow until reaching full height within three months.

Ecology and Habitats

Umbrats prefer to live in darkened areas that don't receive a lot of sunlight. They're found mainly in urban environments, especially abandoned buildings and underground tunnels, but have occasionally shown up in dense wooded areas.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Umbrats are omnivorous scavengers with very high metabolism rates, though lesser forms tend to eat more often than greater forms. They can eat anything from insects to small birds and mammals to inedible garbage to human foods and human flesh.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Umbrats are a highly social species. They raise their offspring communally, and said offspring often stay close to their family group even after becoming independent. That said, they are not immune to in-fighting or pranking each other and often squabble with each other over resources and anything else they find of interest. They tend to travel and hunt in packs, and will work together to take down larger prey like adult humans. Greater umbrats, however, are more solitary than their lesser counterparts, preferring to live and hunt alone.

Facial characteristics

Umbrats have round heads with solid white eyes and sharp white teeth that glow in low- to no-light conditions. They have long black tongues and lack visible noses and ears. A large pair of antennae sprout from their heads that gradually grow longer as they age.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Umbrats seem to be solely distributed within the area of a single large city in central Texas (identified as Cascada).

Average Intelligence

Umbrats show incredible examples of intelligence, to the point that they may show signs of sentience and sapience. They've been noted to use objects as tools, remember individual faces, and can even recognize their own reflection (noted in one instance where an Umbrat was seen making faces in a mirror and laughing). However, any concepts of morality or empathy they might have are vastly different from what humans have. This is most notable in what they consider "humorous" behavior, which most humans would probably describe as "sadistic." They know exactly what pain is and they think it's hilarious. Umbrats derive great joy from playing pranks, mainly ones that cause some amount of torment and/or bodily harm to the target. On top of this, they are known to hold grudges against those they feel wronged them. Interestingly, they tend to avoid pranking infants and children.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Being a largely nocturnal species, umbrats have excellent night vision. However, they're eyes are also extremely sensitive to bright lights, so they tend to stick to darkened areas and avoid sunlight. Their antennae are also sensitive enough to detect changes in air currents and even ambient magic levels, making it difficult to sneak up on them undetected.

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Height

2'3''-2'7'' (lesser), 5'10''-6'2'' (greater)

Average Weight

17-21 lbs. (lesser), 128-132 lbs. (greater)

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Umbrats have perfectly black skin that doesn't reflect any light. Greater umbrats specifically have faintly glowing blue veins lining their bodies.