Protean
Proteans are enigmatic outsiders hailing from Limbo, and in fact, are considered to be part of the primordial chaos.
These serpentine beings possess arms and an armored, snake-like torso, but their true form is ever-shifting. They possess the ability to fly and defy conventional means of capture.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Scholars grapple with the apparent contradiction of a chaotic species sharing so many common physical traits. Some theorize it reflects an underlying order inherent within even the purest chaos. Others suggest the serpentine form represents the most primal shape that existed before creation itself.
Proteans embody chaos and change in its purest form, unburdened by concepts like good or evil. They serve as extensions of the Limbo, its senses, limbs, and defense against the encroaching order. Their ultimate goal is considered to be: The dissolution of static reality. They frequently launch assaults on other planes in pursuit of this objective.
Genetics and Reproduction
Proteans lack a natural gender, freely assuming any sex they desire, or none at all. Reproduction among them can occur between multiple proteans, or some may be birthed directly from Limbo's raw chaos. Mortals who have become Petitinoers can also transform into proteans, though this is far less common than on other planes and requires a specific request to a protean chorus.
Most Interesting things about Proteans, is that Proteans are sometimes known to attack their own, consuming the essence and gaining the ability to transform themselves a hundred-fold. Becoming a different creature. On the rare occasions, such acts transform them to other races or species - most commonly, Dragons.
Behaviour
Proteans view other planes as imperfections, oddities, or even cancerous growths marring world. They relish spreading chaos across the planes. Since many outsiders actively oppose them, proteans often employ mortals as pawns in their schemes, unleashing waves of chaos through proxies..
On the Material Plane, proteans are notorious for their erratic behavior. Their schemes can span millennia or involve something as trivial as devouring a random roadblock. They hold a strange fascination with mortals' capacity for genuine free will.
The concept of religious dogma is either laughable or blasphemous to most proteans, despite their organization into choruses. These groups are unified by a shared interpretation of Limbo and how to fulfill it across the planes.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Proteans organize themselves into enigmatic groups called choruses. Each chorus is led by a curious duality: the keketar, powerful warriors, and the izfiitar, priest-kings who guide the interpretation of Limbo's will. These interpretations can vary wildly, but all choruses share a core belief: change is inevitable, and every protean is an instrument of that change.
The goals of a protean chorus can be baffling, whimsical, and ever-shifting. They embrace both creation and destruction with gleeful abandon, making them a danger to most creatures, regardless of any seemingly helpful intentions. Their constant state of flux makes them a challenge for mortals to study.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Proteans make Limbo their home, reveling in and perpetuating the endless cycle of creation and destruction that defines the churning planar matter. They view this cycle, however futile it may seem, as essential to comprehending the nature of Limbo itself. They are known to attack Gith there who make strongholds there.
Proteans rarely venture outside Limbo, finding such travel uncomfortable or even painful. The exceptions are travels to divine realms and the Material Plane, seeking to sow discord and undermine established order through acts of creation or destruction. However, they generally avoid direct manipulation of mortals, finding it eerily similar to the methods employed by Archons and Devils.
Civilization and Culture
Major Language Groups and Dialects
The spoken language of proteans is as changeable as they are, transforming rapidly and sometimes dramatically, to the perpetual frustration of planar linguists.
History
Proteans were the first inhabitants of Limbo, predating the formation of other planes. As additional planes like Mechanus materialized, the Axiomites, the native inhabitants, found themselves locked in a bitter, ongoing struggle with the proteans. It is told that the gods themselves arrived from an unknown source only after the planes had coalesced. Proteans approach the gods with a cautious skepticism, dealing with them on a case-by-case basis.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Proteans find kinship with valkyries, einherjar, empusas, and "unshackled" Inevitables – those corrupted by chaos. Their ultimate adversaries are Demons. Proteans hold a begrudging respect for Azatas. As for gods, they are seen as powerful but ignorant children who can still disrupt their plans.
Geographic Distribution
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