Weresnails
Weresnails are a creature that can be found in the forests of the Spirit World, particularly in areas with higher chances of precipitation. The Spiritual Travelers first encountered Weresnails in Tympi's Forest on Nurend 19, 308 while helping Tympi get back home.
They are rather tall creatures with the smallest of the group encountered being about 6 feet tall and the largest towering over Kaswink at 9 feet.
Even in their hybrid form Weresnails, though uncommon, can be seen in some civilizations performing the usual tasks of the more "normal" inhabitants. While they normally live in the forests away from cities, they tend to visit to purchase necessities or even to just hangout at taverns or whatever entertainment might be available. While in their humanoid form, these weresnails can still be seen around The Gates, though one may not even know it was them. Certain Weresnails have gone against the laws of civilization altogether and have taken on a more villainous role by hanging out in the forests to rob, murder, eat or just torment any that might pass by. Some of these weresnails are those that resisted their transformation and were driven mad as a result. Though, even when this does occur, most weresnails are neutral creatures that still prefer a quiet life in the forest as opposed to a life of highway robbery.
Even in their hybrid form Weresnails, though uncommon, can be seen in some civilizations performing the usual tasks of the more "normal" inhabitants. While they normally live in the forests away from cities, they tend to visit to purchase necessities or even to just hangout at taverns or whatever entertainment might be available. While in their humanoid form, these weresnails can still be seen around The Gates, though one may not even know it was them. Certain Weresnails have gone against the laws of civilization altogether and have taken on a more villainous role by hanging out in the forests to rob, murder, eat or just torment any that might pass by. Some of these weresnails are those that resisted their transformation and were driven mad as a result. Though, even when this does occur, most weresnails are neutral creatures that still prefer a quiet life in the forest as opposed to a life of highway robbery.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Weresnails have the appearance of a mix between a humanoid being and a snail. They have vaguely humanoid legs and arms that seem to be formed from the same mass as the snail body which makes up their torso and head. They have eyestocks, large mouths, and shells which provide some defense. Certain weresnails, Glass Shell Weresnails, have incredibly beautiful shells made of glass.
They are rather tall creatures with the smallest of the group encountered being about 6 feet tall and the largest towering over Kaswink at 9 feet. Due to their snail nature, these creatures are quiet slow as well.
Genetics and Reproduction
Weresnails are capable of reproduction and the weresnail illness is passed on to their offspring. Future generations tend to have some qualities of their parent's original races. Depending on their state at the time of conception (humanoid, weresnail, full snail), this offspring may be entirely unable to transform back into a humanoid at all, or might retain certain snail-like features when they do so such as eyestocks, their height, weight, speed or even a shell.
Aside from reproducing in the usual way, weresnails can also propogate future generations through the spread of Salinkanthropy.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Weresnails tend to eat whatever they can get their hands on. While some maintain the diet they may have had in a previous life, others will become somewhat cannibalistic or, conversely, vegetarian. This diet is related to several factors including the original personality of those transformed, the strain of Salinkanthropy that was transmitted, what tutelage they receive when initiated into this new life, and how much control or willpower they have to master the transformation.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Certain weresnails can be hired to help make glass for certain projects. The trail of a glass shell weresnail becomes glass, and some wayward snails are given lodging in exchange for their particular brand of digestion.
Average Intelligence
Weresnails retain the intelligence of their original forms depending on how transformed they are.
In their humanoid form they tend to be as intelligent as they were before being afflicted with Salinkanthropy. As they transform further into a full Weresnail this intelligence tends to diminish, typically by a factor of, say, 2 to 4 out of 20. If they transform even further into a full snail then their intelligence will diminish even further to match the intelligence of a snail.
Those that are more experienced weresnails have found ways to fully maintain their personality and intelligence while transformed regardless of how transformed they are. Extensive study of nature, cycles of the moon, and having a strong connection between their self and the environment helps greatly. However, nothing beats experience and practice, and the resolve required to push beyond the walls put up by one's new snail mind requires immense amounts of both.
Civilization and Culture
History
It is said, amongst Weresnails, that the first of their kind was a man cursed with Salinkanthropy by the Cozy Spirit of Cottage Living after he pestered her a bit too much. The disonnance between how he viewed himself and his new form was so great that he was driven to madness and began attacking everything he saw.
His rage grew and grew and he frequently took this rage out on the fae and spirits around him, but one day he began to recognize the rage for what it was and retreated into the life of a hermit. He swore never to harm another living creature, and he began to record his thoughts.
He used these texts to help guide some of the weresnails he had created over the years and to help them see a better path. Some of them listened and those that they created through procreation or the spread of their curse were capable of blending into society, controlling their curse, and easily walking amongst civilizations even in their weresnail hybrid form. Those that refused his doctrine walked a path of violence, chaos and rage. Their descendents were mostly feral, with some special cases capable of existing in society while outside thier hybrid form, and any that were infected with their curse becoming just as enraged as they were.
Over the many, many centuries since the first weresnail was created, many generations have come into and out of this world. The first of their kind, however, has yet to experience death. That is, at least, according to legend. It is said that he still lives the life of a hermit, sometimes wandering the forests, sometimes spending full decades staying motionless in a self-inflicted solitude. He came to be known as Spalsis, The Spiral Hermit, and those weresnails that claim to have seen him say that he is over 11 feet tall, and that the shell on his back coils into and out of itself in 10 different directions. Some that have lived long enough to see him twice say that the number of directions increases each time he comes up with a new doctrine, others say that it is just a part of aging, but it is unclear what that's all about really or if he even is alive at all.
Over the many, many centuries since the first weresnail was created, many generations have come into and out of this world. The first of their kind, however, has yet to experience death. That is, at least, according to legend. It is said that he still lives the life of a hermit, sometimes wandering the forests, sometimes spending full decades staying motionless in a self-inflicted solitude. He came to be known as Spalsis, The Spiral Hermit, and those weresnails that claim to have seen him say that he is over 11 feet tall, and that the shell on his back coils into and out of itself in 10 different directions. Some that have lived long enough to see him twice say that the number of directions increases each time he comes up with a new doctrine, others say that it is just a part of aging, but it is unclear what that's all about really or if he even is alive at all.
Common Myths and Legends
While weresnails owe the existence of their curse, whether they see it as a blessing or, indeed, a curse to the Cozy Spirit of Cottage Living, they do have other shared deities that they actually worship.
Of these "deities" one is the Spiral Hermit, the first weresnail, Spalsis. Though not necessarily a god or even a deity in the loosest sense, Spalsis still provided most of the doctrines that the more civil or Weresnails follow. Seclusion, vegetarianism, and other such hermit things. His teachings were invaluable to those that felt lost, like there was no way out, and an answer to the madness that would've otherwise consumed them.
The other is a more mythical, godly being. A goddess of nature and isolation. One fit for hermits and almost a direct opposition to deities of The Hunt that might be worshipped by other "Were-creatures". Mutsonomes was mostly unknown in this realm until enough travelers and those fae or spirits that could walk between brought knowledge in about her. On Taranel, she is a deity that is well known amongst those that study religion, and within the Spirit World she is known as a peaceful deity worshipped by those Weresnails that would be kind to a wandering fae or even a city. Those that carry the iconography of Mutsonomes are recognized as such and welcomed wherever they may wander.
Average Height
6ft-9ft
Geographic Distribution
Related Myths
Discovered by
Salinkanthropy
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