Critter Sightings: Letiche and Snoligoster
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 11:20:21 PM

It's time for another late night Manifest Monday update with two extremely fearsome critters! Manifest is home to all sorts of fascinating wildlife. Ranging from the curious to the outright terrifying, the native fauna is just one of the reasons the life of a drifter requires immense skill and luck. Only truly talented individuals can survive the wilds between settlements.

Letiche

Known to lurk in swamps and bogs, the Letitche is one of the most fearsome creatures of the Wastes. 

A spine chilling figure, almost humanoid in appearance, this sinister amphibian has been known to grow to be taller than the average human when standing on its hind legs. While a Letiche may typically travel on all fours, they have been seen moving in hunched bipedal postures from time to time. They are, however, most commonly encountered laying low in the shallows, creeping along the shoreline as they wait for an unwitting meal to travel too close. Many disappearances in the Wastes are attributed to these opportunistic and tenacious hunters.

Letiche are predominantly nocturnal hunters aided by their acute senses. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils are located on a flat pate on their head, allowing them to lie low in the water, almost totally submerged and obscured from prey. Their eyes have nictitating membranes that allow them to see underwater with perfect clarity. Using these natural advantages, they can capture unsuspecting prey in the water as well as along the shoreline.

The Letiche’s heightened sense of smell aids them in detecting prey and animal carcasses on either land or in water at a great distance. Some in the Wastes claim the Letiche has an innate 'blood sense.' While not entirely accurate, this sentiment is intrinsically true: the Letiche's olfactory sense can detect one drop of blood from up to a mile away. 

However in close proximity to almost any amount of freshly spilled blood, the Letiche can be sent into a 'blood craze.' In this craze, they seem to devolve into a purely instinctual predatory state. Their attacks are less precise; enacting a violent, enraged outburst where destruction is the primary goal. A blood-crazed Letiche kills not just what it needs to eat to survive, but every living thing it can find before gorging itself on its victims until it falls into an exhausted sleep. 

Wastes lore says that there are whole settlements that have been lost, massacred completely by a single blood-crazed Letiche, their ruins reclaimed by the bayou.

Letiche possess some higher cognitive abilities as well. They have been observed using the environment for crude camouflage as well as utilizing prey patterns to their advantage. This behavior was mistaken for signs of intelligence by some of the first settlers of the Wastes, leading them to believe the Letiche a sentient alien being. The results of these “first encounters” with Letiche clusters were disastrous. The notion that the Letiche are sentient has subsequently been proven patently false. 

The Letiche social structure is complex, despite them being typically solitary creatures. When they are brought together, they have a dominance hierarchy. This hierarchy is determined by size, sex, and squatter's rights. Females dominate males, larger letiche dominate smaller ones, and 'residents' dominate 'newcomers.' 

Letiche have been observed congregating in stable groups of two to five individuals. Whether these groups of Letiche are related is unknown. Strangely, there has never been a sighting of a juvenile or baby letiche and adult Letiche have never been kept alive in captivity long enough to issue offspring.

When meeting on a hunt or mating (which is assumed, as it has never been observed), any Letiche that come into conflict with each other will split off from any other of their kind, resolving the disputes with ritualistic displays. The sounds of these disputes have been described by settlers as haunting. Letiche will rarely, if ever, resort to combat when resolving hierarchy conflicts. This is assumed to be a result of their blood-crazed nature as the entire grouping might destroy itself once blood is spilled. 

Snoligoster

The Snoligoster is a long, limbless, reptilian creature that dwells in the waterways of the Wastes. Primarily a carnivore, locals would say that this voracious predator prefers the taste of human flesh. 

One of Manifest’s illuminated beasts, the Snoligoster develops strong telekinetic abilities after it reaches adulthood. Snoligosters looking for an easy meal have been known to swim along waterways until they happen upon docks or a town on stilts, and then use their telekinetic powers to pull people and pets into the water. The beast will then flee with the unlucky victim to a hole it has dug into the lakebottom or riverbed where it will eat it or store it for later consumption.

Snoligosters are known for their unusual look and unique adaptations as fish-like creatures that can survive both in and out of the water at different periods of their lives. As juveniles, they spend nearly 75% of their time on the damp, muddy banks of the lakes, rivers, swamps, and bogs of the Wastes. Using their unusually strong pectoral fins, which disappear when they become adults, in conjunction with their tough abdominal muscles to propel themselves along the muddy ground. Many newborn Snoligosters struggle to coordinate this movement and spin around violently through the shallows in their first days. Earning them the apt but strange name of 'mud propellers' by the trappers of the Wastes.

When they grow to be about a foot long, they turn from the muddy brown-grey color of their youth into the turquoise and sapphire colors of adulthood overnight. After the color change, they spend one more day on land shedding their pectoral fins before heading into the water, where they spend most of their remaining lives. 

The average adult Snoligoster is 5-8 feet in length. However, enter any saloon in the Wastes and you’re bound to find an old sailor with tales of much older, larger, and meaner Snoligosters lurking in the depths of Lake Jacobson. 

Perhaps the most notable feature of a Snoligoster is the bladelike sail that runs the length of its back. The sail is normally kept folded down when swimming and raised only when the Snoligoster attacks their prey or in moments of defense or distress. The raised sail reduces the sideways oscillations of their head, making their biting attacks significantly more accurate. The sail is also a razor sharp attack weapon, with it they can shred the bottoms of boats and slice through larger prey in long rending gouges.

Large Snoligosters are solitary, territorial animals, defending their prime prey territory violently. While smaller Snoligosters can often be found coexisting in the same territory in large numbers, having a higher tolerance for others within a similar size class.

Snoligoster, while extremely difficult to catch, is some of the most sought after protein in the Wastes. An experienced trapper with a Snoligoster carcass in tow can sell it for more than just a shiny spur. And if they're lucky, the trapper will even be offered some of their catch, cooked in just the right conditions. It takes an experienced and careful chef to excise the lethal glands that filter the poisons of Lake Jacobson out of the Snoligoster's system. If anyone eats Snoligoster meat that is not prepared correctly, they will die almost as horrifically as they would have had they encountered the Snoligoster while it was still alive.

Drifter's Choice: The Path of the Outlaw
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 12:06:08 AM

It's Folklore Friday! Here's another update and a look at another path you can pick at character creation.

A drifter's path defines how they've chosen to interact with the harsh realities of life on Manifest. A path could present itself as a chosen profession or a way for the drifter to make a living. Other times a path is more like a set of values the drifter follows. As a drifter's story grows and adapts, they may even find a new path to follow as their outlook on life changes!

Path of the Outlaw

Life on Manifest is hard, and having a conscience is an excellent way to get killed. At least that's what those who follow the path of the Outlaw would say. They understand that in order to survive, they have to take whatever they can, whenever they can, and never look back. 

What Law and Order exist on Manifest is subject to the whims of the powerful and privileged to keep everyone else in their place. They punish those who are just trying to get their slice of the pie. It's a carefully coiffed construct, lending the notion of safety, the idea of fairness, and the promise of justice. The savvy Outlaw can see all that for what it is, a lie. 

To the Outlaw, the rules on Manifest are at best, a suggestion, and at worst a roadblock, and the only way to make one's way in the world is to go around or go through. 

Outlaws aren't always violent operators, despite their reputation. The mere threat of violence is often enough to get a courier, teller, or traveler to yield in exchange for their life. Most of the time, people are so happy that they weren't killed or worse left to suffer and die, that they won't even sic the marshals or the local sheriff on an Outlaw they perceive to be benevolent. 

Of course, that isn't always the case, a do-gooder too selfish to realize that bucking the law is a hard day's work will send a deputy or worse, Drifters, after an Outlaw. That’s when all bets are off and when most of the violence happens. Betraying the social contract of "Give over your stuff, don't tell anyone, and we won't kill ya," backs an Outlaw into a corner. Either they surrender, kill, or die, but any way you slice it, the situation has been escalated. 

If an Outlaw slings lead at the law, they've sentenced themselves to death. The only way out is in a hail of bullets or a walk to the gallows. If an Outlaw surrenders, they better hope the local law, or worse, the Factory Town authority is feeling generous. If their crime wasn’t too atrocious, they might have a chance of ending up in bond, obligated to work off their literal debt to society.

But that's the Outlaw life, short, fast, hard, and most of all: fun. There’s nothing better than running a racket with a gang, livin' good as the Outlaw looks for one last score before they head to a nice town in the Garden to live in peace. And if things don’t pan out that way, and the law or bounty hunters catch up with the Outlaw, well at least they can say they lived free.

Walking the path of the Outlaw isn't the noblest way to go through life. But it isn't working under the thumb of the people who have everything and won't share it, and it surely isn't toiling away in a system built to keep people in and down. Nope, an Outlaw just sees that the world has stacked the deck against them, and they’ve got no interest in playing fair.

Exploring Histories: Privileged
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 09:48:35 PM

Here's another Waypoint Wednesday update highlighting another one of the Histories you can pick at character creation!

Histories define where a drifter's story began and shapes the way that drifter sees the world. Some drifters embrace their history, relying on the lessons learned in those formative years. Other drifters rebel against their history, trying to escape the difficult memories of their past by becoming someone or something else. Regardless of how they feel about where they came from, a drifter's history will always inevitably be a part of them one way or another.

In nearly every society, some individuals seem to have it all. They want for nothing and likely don't understand or remember what it's like to struggle to survive. These individuals are the Privileged. While there are no noble titles on Manifest, many a Privileged person behaves as if they were royalty. By whatever means their family came to be Privileged, they know how to wield a significant amount of economic and political influence to maintain their position of power. 

In the early days of Manifest, corporate executives and wealthy explorers came to set up the Factory Towns infrastructure. They were the only influential people left remaining after the Departure. Suddenly, people of some significance or power became directly responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of lives. 

Trying to keep the populace from devolving into chaos, these Privileged predecessors used the social structures already in place to separate themselves from those they were trying to corral. They kept the 'small folk' at arm's length and convinced them that if they continued to work within the established system, they could one day live glamorous Privileged life. 

Whether or not this social separation was well-intentioned, the result today is a social stratification those at the top endeavor to keep in place.  And while occasionally one's talent, instead of their lineage, may help them rise from obscurity into the high echelons of society, they are ultimately rewarded with comfort and safety from the masses. A state which, once attained, is easy to fear losing.

A Drifter with a Privileged history might be a pampered aristocrat unfamiliar with work or discomfort in search of adventure. Or they could be a savvy merchant who has maneuvered through the political quagmire and found themselves an elevated member of the upper crust. Or, perhaps, they are a disinherited scoundrel with a disproportionate sense of entitlement, suddenly finding themselves without the influence or means to which they've been accustomed.

Before leaving the high life and courts of the Factory Town high-rises or the Garden's palatial manor houses, Privileged Drifters lived a life of luxury only dreamt of by most. As elite members of private guilds and secret societies, their lives of plenty and comfort were populated by the most powerful people on the planet, creating an endless loop of exclusive high society, with rules, customs, and drama all its own.

Despite what the uninitiated may think, high society shindigs, galas, and banquets are some of the most dangerous places on all of Manifest. These social functions are home to the highest levels of deceit and betrayal on the planet, where the friends and enemies one makes can alter the lives of every single person on Manifest. The more powerful and wealthy a person or family is, the higher the chance that they have been drawn deeply into high stakes social and political intrigue as either pawn or perpetrator.

In Privileged society, the smallest slight or the most basic faux pas may be considered the deadliest grievance, and the Privileged could find themselves suddenly shunned, ousted, and disowned, if not dead. It is morbidly common for Privileged individuals to settle even minor offenses with a duel of swords, occasionally to the death.

The Privileged life is as spectacular as it is menacing and as glamorous as it is lonely, but those who live in the exalted ivory towers never really know who they can trust. While many a Privileged can coast through the whirlwind of shifting alliances without an outward worry, they are rarely able to find true lasting happiness unless they realize life is more than the sum of their worldly possessions.

Critter Sightings: Cactus Cat and Splinter Cat
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 13, 2020 at 11:14:24 PM

Who's ready for a late night Manifest Monday update with two more fearsome critters? Manifest is home to all sorts of fascinating wildlife. Ranging from the curious to the outright terrifying, the native fauna is just one of the reasons the life of a drifter requires immense skill and luck. Only truly talented individuals can survive the wilds between settlements.

Cactus Cat

Highly recognizable for the sharp, spiky protrusions that grow all over their bodies, the Cactus Cat is a staple in the northern badlands and the more arid mountainous regions surrounding the Garden and Wastes. 

Most active around dusk and dawn, this hunter and scavenger can often be ranging around its territory in search of food. Unlike most cat-like creatures on Manifest, the Cactus Cat is omnivorous, and their mouths have a thick leathery lining, allowing them to chew thorny desert plants when necessary. However, most often, the Cactus Cat prefers meat and will trek over 3 to 7 miles during their busy time to find sustenance. 

Cactus Cats live in well-defined territories, which they mark by clawing prominent trees or rocks. A Cactus Cat's territory has a main den they will share with the other Cactus Cats in the area and several auxiliary solitary shelters on the outer extent of its range. These shelters are usually hollow logs, brush piles, and rock ledges. Cactus Cat territories are not usually limited by human populations, as long as they can find a suitable hunting ground. They are not uncommon creatures to find on the 'urban edge' on the border between human development and the wilds.

The Cactus Cat is smaller than most of the other feline badlands creatures but is no less dangerous. They are covered in thick, densely clustered, fleshy, serrated spikes that are continuously shed throughout their lifetime. These spikes have fracture planes that allow them to break off as a defense rather than be caught in a larger predator's grasp. These spikes are also used by the Cactus Cat as their primary fat reservoirs. This minimizes the insulating effect fat would have if distributed over their bodies, helping them survive in hot and arid climates. 

A Cactus Cat can drink as seldom as once every 10 days and eat once every two weeks, even under sweltering and dry conditions. They also can lose up to thirty-five percent of their body mass due to dehydration before suffering its effects.

On the one hand, a Cactus Cat's fatty spikes can be a lifesaver to the stranded drifter. The fatty deposits inside hold enough moisture and nutrients to sustain a human for a day or two. On the other hand, fighting a Cactus Cat is no mean feat. Their powerfully muscular bodies are like tightly coiled springs, ready to fight tooth and nail over carrion, a fresh kill, or fertile hunting grounds. Even if a Drifter manages to take one down, they often come out of the tumult with dozens of newly acquired scars.

Splinter Cat

Large, secretive feline creatures, the Splinter Cat ranges in the Garden and the wooded areas of the Northern Wastes, and much of it remains a mystery to humans even to this day. However, it has been studied since the pre-departure times, as it is frequently encountered at a distance by human populations. 

The Splinter Cat is of the largest felid creatures on Manifest exceeded only by the Wampus and certain breeds of Glawackus. Scientists believe the Splinter Cat is a keystone predator, modulating the prey levels in the area, keeping its habitat from being overrun by scavengers and herbivores, and maintaining the structural integrity of forest systems.

It is an agile and well-muscled animal with a robust build that lives predominantly in the treetops. The Splinter Cat is known as the Regent of the Garden, and its crown is the source of its true power. Though trappers are baffled as to how, the Splinter Cat creates and conducts electricity throughout its body, the current originating in the crown of antlers that give them their regal affectation. They can generate this electrical current soon after reaching maturity.

This phenomenon is utilized to its full advantage, especially during its hunting. Typically a Splinter Cat will walk with practiced nonchalance, but when they go into their hunting posture, electricity crackles around them. And once the electricity has reached a critical mass, the Splinter Cat will release the current, propelling itself forward at lightning speed to pounce on its prey, often leaving the splintered trees in its wake that gives it its name. 

Like most animals on Manifest, the Splinter Cat is an obligate carnivore, feeding only on meat. But it is an opportunistic hunter, and its diet encompasses a wide array of species. It is a stalk-and-ambush predator, preferring to surprise it's quarry rather than chase it. It has been observed slowly padding down forest paths, listening for and stalking prey before streaking in for the kill, attacking from cover.

After a successful kill, the Splinter Cat will use its considerable strength to haul carcasses as large as a young hodag up a tree for storage and consumption. The carcasses can serve to feed a Splinter Cat and their cubs for a prolonged time, also bringing unwary scavengers to the area, which are quickly dispatched and often stored nearby for additional sustenance. 

Survivalists will share many strategies to evade, avoid, and defeat a predator. And there's no shortage of blow-hard trappers who are quick to tell a whole saloon about when they last saw a Splinter Cat up close and survived. The embellishments in their stories are easy to spot by the 'clever tricks' the trappers claim to have employed. Crying like a baby squonk or putting copper nuggets in your ears is about as helpful for surviving an encounter with a Splinter Cat as trying to talk it down with reason. With such far-fetched tricks being bandied about, conventional wisdom dictates that one thing must be true: if you spot a Splinter Cat up close, it's already too late. 

Drifter's Choice: The Path of the Brawler
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 07:19:44 PM

Let's all start our weekend with a Folklore Friday update and a look at another path you can pick at character creation!

A drifter's path defines how they've chosen to interact with the harsh realities of life on Manifest. A path could present itself as a chosen profession or a way for the drifter to make a living. Other times a path is more like a set of values the drifter follows. As a drifter's story grows and adapts, they may even find a new path to follow as their outlook on life changes.

Path of the Brawler

For drifters that follow the Path of the Brawler, life is about getting up close and personal. Any hooplehead can pull a trigger or lose an arrow to easily win a fight, but a Brawler knows a victory is supposed to be earned. While some Brawlers don't outright abstain from the use of firearms or projectiles, their first choice is always to face their foes in close quarters combat. 

Even to this day, to say resources on Manifest are unevenly distributed would be an understatement. This means there are many areas of the planet where reliance on a firearm is foolhardy. Without ammunition and regular maintenance, a gun is just a glorified paperweight. There's a simple and practical reliability in a sword, hammer, or fist that can draw someone to the Path of the Brawler.

However, a Brawler is more than the sum of their arsenal. It takes a certain prowess to bring a knife to a gunfight and come out on top. Even more so, it takes a certain strength of will to stare down the barrel of a gun with nothing but your fists to protect you. A Brawler's body and mind must be honed to perfection if they want to survive, and when two Brawlers cross paths, it's rare for them not to test each other's strength. 

Brawlers are driven by a passion for the fight, a need to challenge themselves in combat, and a knowledge that every victory earned makes them stronger. Luckily, there's no shortage of fights to be had in Manifest. 

Whether it's a barroom brawl or a sanctioned bout in a fighting ring, the Brawler can always find a way to test and develop their athletic and martial abilities.

Brawlers are often natural performers, and their confidence against a weaker opponent can inspire showboating from time to time. From fighting one-handed to taking on more than a single opponent at once, a talented Brawler has no problem bringing spectators to their feet. A Brawler's boundless energy and personality can sway the crowd to their side, or as a heel, turn the audience against them for their own amusement. This kind of artistry is a must for Brawlers hoping to succeed on the professional fighting circuit of the Freedom City Territory.

For other Brawlers, it isn't all about the show or the competition, it's about the art of fighting itself. Instead of flaunting their skills at every chance, these Brawlers prioritize dedicating themselves to improving their craft. They'll spend their entire life mastering the staff, blade, hammer, or fist, unlocking new potential within themselves every day until their weapons become an extension of their own body. Forging their own body into the deadliest of weapons.

The exhilaration of the show, thrill of the rumble, and the tranquility of real strength are just a few of the reasons the contender, the pugilist, and the martial artist, all known as the Brawler are to be respected and feared as much as any other Drifter on Manifest.