Ksrizka (ksrɪɪtskɑ)

CW: body horror, mentions of gore

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With unexpected speed the face of the body split in half, a thin line appearing in its center, which traveled down the orcs neck and under her clothing. The two halves of the body peeled back, starting from the top, revealing pulsing flesh beneath. Inside Grummshkarrn saw movement and he spotted an eye looking back at him from the inside. With a sickening tearing sound, the body split open further, and something burst forth from inside. Covered in blood, Grummshkarrn could only make out rough features of the creature, but what he saw terrified him.

Whispers of Things Beyond - a Short History

In the time before the Hearth, there was only the void between worlds, manifested in the form of an ancient being simply known as the Mother. Then Tai'San rose to power and eventually with his might tore the fabric of the void from her and made the world. Since that time, the Mother seeks to reclaim what is hers and the Ksrizka are just one of her many creations.

The Ksrizka Incursion

The first incursion is what scholars of the old world call the first incident in which Ksrizka cultists emerged from hiding and seized the capital of Osylana. However, this act is only the culmination of the actual incursion. At the time, the Ksrizka had already established control from the shadows and were the rulers of the major Osylanian cities. They had already sabotaged trade and the military. They had incited riots. The one position they had not yet undermined was the King himself, though they had led him astray with false counsel for years. After the coup, the Ksrizka started their cleansing, preparing the world for the doomsday.

Rombalions Revenge

With Osylanas fall, the surrounding nations realised their own danger. Fortunately, while the Mothers children were working toward the unmaking of the world, Tai'San was at work preserving it too. He sent visions to the elf Rombalion from Vasylana about the impending doom and showed him the enemy. Rombalion assembled a host of orcs and took back Osylanas capital.

The King leaves the Capital by Ninodonlord (via Midjourney)

Despite the nature of the Ksrizka, Rombalion persevered and found ways of fighting his enemy. With aid from nearby Dorralia in the form of magic contraptions, they could uncover the majority of the plot and stopped their machinations. The fight however came at a price. Rombalions years of fighting an invisible enemy changed him into a paranoid shell of a person, unable to even trust his host around him. He became a hermit on the storm coast and was eventually found by remnant forces of the Ksrizka cult. His companions later recovered his body, which they found surrounded by Ksrizka corpses he had taken with him in his last stand.

Aftermath

Rombalions death was not in vain. His group crippled the Ksrizka conspiracy so severely that Osylana remained its only casualty. The cult was dismantled and doomsday was postponed. Now, Ksrizka are a rare breed. They hide within the populace, entirely focused on their species survival. Some Ksrizka still seek to complete the mission they were bred for, but most are disillusioned by their defeat. Maybe someday they could return to become a threat.

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Ksrizka Biology

To truly describe what a Ksrizka looks like is functionally impossible, because of their nature. A Ksrizka can appear to be any bipedal humanoid species and their mimicry is indistinguishable from the real deal: Ksrizka bleed like them, they have the same smell, the same anatomy. If you dig deeper though, literally that is, their true nature is revealed. Ksrizka are layered. These are about three centimeters thick for normal humanoids but grow thinner the deeper you dig. An average sized Ksrizka has between three and five layers to the core, their true body, which is about the size of a human newborn.

Life cycle

Ksrizka are born from a ritual undertaken by three Ksrizka. Ksrizka do not have biologically distinct sexes and any of their later forms is infertile. Their true form, which the Ksrizka can not change, is modeled after the parents memories and resembles an infant from one of the dominant sapient species in the area. Ksrizka are "mature" a fortnight after the ritual is complete. From that point they can grow new layers at will, but only if the conditions are right, and undertake birthing rituals themselves. To grow new layers, Ksrizka require a lot of food and safe shelter. They accumulate energy, before beginning the growth.
First a new layer of Skin forms, which resembles their new form. The Ksrizka then seeks a quiet and protected place, where it enters a trance-like sleep for a week. During this time, the new layer grows beneath the skin. The new form of the Ksrizka looks exactly like the Ksrizka intends it. They can perfectly imitate any humanoid they have seen or can imagine, but once the form has grown, they can no longer change it. To change their look, a Ksrizka needs to grow a new layer over the old one or discard it. A Ksrizka is vulnerable to attacks while growing and can not take in new nourishment. If

The Ritual

The three Ksrizka fill a cauldron with a third of their true forms blood, which weakens them severely. To the blood they add ground dust from apatite or whitlockite (or any other mineral containing both calcium and phosphate). If need be the dust can also come from bone ash. Then essence of the void, a rare ingredient, and any innately magical ingredient (like dragons blood or unicorn hair) are added. Each of the three Ksrizka parents stirs the cauldron for three days straight, during which they pour their own memories into the ritual. After the nine days of stirring, the new Ksrizka is formed. They can be taken from the brew, which is now rendered useless and is discarded.
The Ksrizka continues to develop and learn its bodies abilities for a fortnight, during which it is helpless.

they did not have enough food stored before they begin, they will starve to death during the process. Growing a new shell needs immense amounts of calories, proportionate to the new size of the Ksrizka.
Ksrizka are biologically immortal. Their shells do not age, but they can die from wounds or illnesses or starve.

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Strengths

Game of Imitation

Ksrizka are the perfect infiltrators. They are deceptively good liars and actors from birth and mimicry is like breathing to them. Their abilities only hone over time, making old Ksrizka nigh impossible to identify by their actions. A Ksrizka also possesses subconscious psychic abilities, which make them more charismatic and persuasive to weak willed people. Additionally, Ksrizka have an eidetic memory, enabling them to remember even complex cover stories to a degree none can match.
Apart from this, a Ksrizka can do what other normal humanoids of the species they are imitating could. If you can learn something, so can a Ksrizka.
Finally there is no theoretical limit to which a Ksrizka can grow. In history there have rarely been Ksrizka imitating even Giants.
In addition to their physical ability to imitate, Ksrizka are experts at reading others and inferring information even from minute details. Ksrizka can not read minds, but it sometimes seems like they can because of their born attention to detail.

Psychic Wail

Ksrizka can also discard as many layers as they want at will. During this time, a Ksrizka emits a wail which carries a strong psychic attack. Anyone able to hear it is temporarily paralyzed and can only watch in horror as the layers peel back and the inner form of the Ksrizka emerges from the dying flesh.

Weaknesses

Ravenous Hunger

A Ksrizkas main enemy is its enormous need for nourishment. Ksrizka need more food than a normal humanoid their current size to sustain themselves and that need grows exponentially with body size. And the more food you need, the harder it is to avoid detection. Ksrizka often need to integrate into the local culture and try to fly under the radar to survive.

Information Deficit

Secondly, Ksrizka are not mind-readers. They need to spend time in a new environment to learn the written and unwritten rules. While they are exceptionally good at doing so, if they are new in town and none of their parents had knowledge of the local culture, a Ksrizkas behaviour can draw suspicion on themselves.
Similarly, infiltrating tight-knit groups is difficult without explicit knowledge of the inner workings. A Ksrizka undercover plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse, during which both sides are the cat in different ways.

Moulting

Finally, Ksrizka are not only vulnerable when slowly growing a new shell. Their bodies bleed like anyone would and only heal as quickly. Enough damage can make one or multiple shells unsustainable and force the Ksrizka to discard it/them. And moulting away layers makes the Ksrizka vulnerable. If someone can withstand the wail of the Ksrizka, they can attack and even kill them while they try to claw out of the shell.

The discovery of Rombalions tomb (via Midjourney)

Rombalions Artifacts

Several of the artifacts Rombalions host used to fight the Ksrizka survived their owners. Until their own articles are written, here is a short list:

• Rombalions Eyepatch: This steel eye patch is obviously of Dorralian making. Its outside is adorned by gold leaf and crystal ornamentation depicting a butterfly. On the inside are fine runes that shine a dim white, which can be seen when wearing the eye patch. If the user of the eye patch looks at a Ksrizka or its remains, the runes where the Ksrizka would be in the field of view of the eye glow red instead of white. Ksrizka remains lose this glow shortly after moulting, but keep it after death. The eye patch does not show Ksrizka hidden by magic or anything worn by the Ksrizka. Even thin layers of clothing also disguise a Ksrizkas aura.
• Shelldaggers: Shelldaggers are finely crafted daggers, which never seem to lose their edge. The blade is not magical, but the hilt is. When wielded against a Ksrizka, the dagger cuts with malicious intent, leaving grievous wounds which do not heal. Ksrizka instinctively fear shelldaggers, because they feel the magic intent of the weapons. Inexperienced Ksrizka may fail to mask their hatred or fear for the wielder of a shelldagger.
• Bonejaw: Bonejaw are orcish amulets crafted from Ksrizka bones, forming a spiral resembling a dream catcher. They protect their wearer from the psychic abilities of a Ksrizka making resisting a wail easier.
• Shards of Grivins Doom: The shards are the twelve splinters of the emerald gemstone, which once adorned the crown of Grivin II of Osylana, the last king. When Ksrizka are near, the gemstones show the hatred Grivins ghost had for the infiltrators. The gemstones heat to a level that is painful to touch with bare skin.
• Ksrizka Tongue: The tongue of a Ksrizkas true form can be harvested in a ritual and embalmed. Putting it into ones mouth, any humanoid can emit a Ksrizkas wail. Doing so consumes the tongue.

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An orcish tale

With a cry Orag'Tai Grummshkarrn of the orc tribes buried his axe into the skull of the intruder. How the female orc had been able to get the drop on him, despite his sharp ears, he didn't know. The knife in her hand, which had pierced his torso, however made her intentions clear quite quickly. While Grummshkarrn began listing the chieftains he thought would be cowardly enough to send an assassin, the body of his assailant twitched.
Grummshkarrns hand shot to the dagger at his hip, while taking a step back out of caution. He was sure that his axe had split the skull, he had felt the bone splinter.
With unexpected speed the face of the body split in half, a thin line appearing in its center, which traveled down the orcs neck and under her clothing. The two halves of the body peeled back, starting from the top, revealing pulsing flesh beneath. Inside Grummshkarrn saw movement and he spotted an eye looking back at him from the inside. With a sickening tearing sound, the body split open further, and something burst forth from inside. Covered in blood, Grummshkarrn could only make out rough features of the creature, but what he saw terrified him.
The creature was roughly humanoid in shape, but the proportions seemed off in a way he could not quite pin down. With quick feet the shape ran towards the exit of the tent. Grummshkarrn shuddered as though his paralysis from the horrific wrongness of the creature had just relinquished control of his extremities. He picked up his axe and yelled for his guards to take care of the shell the creature had left behind. He needed to talk to the shamans and then he needed a drink to forget.