Flickerfish
Flickerfish are the most common arcane creature seen in the densest portions of leylines across Ysireth. They appear to be native to the the spirit demesne, somehow manifesting in half-tangible forms in Ysireth's physical reality. Flickerfish are not truly shaped like fish; they more resemble artistic renditions of jellyfish and octopi, comprised mostly of long flowing tendrils or tentacles. They are almost never symmetrical as natural animals are, nor even radially symmetrical as a starfish is. They "swim" through the sky, following the currents of the leylines, and usually wink in and out of view as they move, giving them their name.
Flickerfish are the only spirits that are regularly encountered in their specific habitats across Ysireth, making them also the only spirits that have been thoroughly studied and documented. Different cultures have made different studies, but Aeldvari have overwhelmingly amassed the most knowledge of these strange entities. Like all spirits, flickerfish do not age and so do not expire after a given lifespan.
As entities from (and still within) the spirit demesne, flickerfish do not have physical form; their bodies are comprised of pure arcana. Like living creatures across Ysireth, they do possess anima souls; that anima networks throughout their bodies as a skeleton might. Being undiluted sources of arcana would make them tempting entities to try to farm or harvest, but the moment their manifested arcane forms begin to lose arcana in any way, they vanish from the sky and, presumably, return to being solely in the spirit demesne.
Behavior
Most flickerfish of them do not react to living creatures beyond avoiding outright collision with them; kinvari are treated as objects as much as trees and rocks are. They do react to each other, however, moving in semi-coordinated flocks and rarely coming into contact with another flickerfish. They display no evidence of advanced social dynamics or forms of communication beyond a shared direction, based on the leyline's own currents. Many kinvari have successfully forced interactions with flickerfish, but the vast majority of those have resulted in the flickerfish reacting as though the background environment unexpectedly moved and simply adjusting their course to avoid further contact. Only rarely do flickerfish pause in their path to briefly inspect the cause of their collision, tendrils exploring a kinvar's face and frame to establish its dimensions before moving on. (Kinvari so graced with a flickerfish's attention report the sensation as being brushed by a particularly dense stream of mist.) Flickerfish behavior seems largely mindless and instinctual. Despite such a steady stream of examples to study over thousands of years, no courtship rituals or reproductive acts have been observed, and flickerfish do not exhibit feeding behaviors that kinvari can detect. Scholarly kinvari have described them as little more than mobile plants in the spirit demesne's ecosystem, passively intaking whatever resource they need to survive--presumably arcana, if nothing else. Even very simple fish (of the living, physical variety) show more initiative and interaction with the world than flickerfish. Images made with Hotpot AI.Appearance
Flickerfish are translucent even at their most visible. Their colorations and patterns seem to have no limit, frequently intricate and vibrant, and almost always giving off a faint light of their own. Most flickerfish seem to propel themselves and interact with the world through the use of tentacles or tendrils, which appear individually prehensile and sensate. These tendrils are rarely matched in length or bulk, and individual flickerfish do not share tentacle arrangements any more than they share an average size or colored markings. Some flickerfish appear to have eyes, or eye-like organs or markings, but their visual acuity has not been confirmed--at least in regards to Ysireth's physical reality. Where living jellyfish and octopi have a central body mass, many flickerfish lack anything similar; their tentacles converge in a single point that bears no visual distinction. Other flickerfish have pod-shaped "heads" that point in the direction of their movement, and still others have a mushroom-like umbrella from which their tendrils stem. The material that comprises their bodies appears homogeneous, rather than layered like a living animal's bones, flesh, and hide. It possesses the flexibility and apparent strength of musculature, but as spirits cannot be dissected in the physical reality, the nature of spirit "flesh" remains inconclusive.
Lifespan
ageless
Average Weight
weightless
Average Length
can range from 3" to 30'
Geographic Distribution
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