The Scabbard

The Scabbard originate from the Null, the lowest dimension. In their native realm, these monstrous creatures perpetually devour one another and feed off of the minuscule amount of arcana that penetrates far enough to reach the Null. They typically take the form of dark purple or black masses of writhing flesh, although they express themselves in a variety of forms as described below. They have a similar sort of appearance as Celestials do, as their flesh is somewhat translucent and filled with glowing red specks of light that resemble starlight. These creatures are in a perpetual state of frenzied madness as they violently search and consume anything of arcane value. Scabbards have the unique ability to assume any form that will suit their needs best in any given situation. They can equip themselves with different weapons, create sensory organs and change their physical shape and size. Most have no semblance of intelligence or conscious awareness, except for a handful of larger scabbard organisms that shepard lesser scabbards and coordinate them to achieve larger goals. All life inherently contains some arcane essence, and are targets to be consumed by the scabbard. Rocks, metals and other inorganic material is not edible, however they can find ways to consume or destroy these materials to access edible matter. Scabbards have an innate sense for the closest arcane energy to consume and will cross light years or even dimensions in order to find it.

Scabbards have long been the most feared, the most ferocious and most effective enemy of most species of intelligent life, as well as the greatest foe of some of the gods. They cannot be reasoned with and are nearly impossible to entirely destroy once they have occupied an area. Scabbards are synonymous with apocalypse, death and end times. They are associated with Eldritch Arcana, the most loathed and dangerous school of arcane study. The scabbard are responsible for the temporary extinction of humanity which resulted in the Silence, and the near death of the Astrum.

### Scabbard Categories

These are not distinct categories, but rather traits that different scabbard can express. Scabbards have been known to express multiple of these traits, while others only express one, two or none for unknown reasons.

#### Mimimorphic

These scabbard assume the forms seen in other organisms to suit their needs. Mimimorphic scabbard have the ability to observe the features of other animals such as eyes, wings or claws and can spontaneously generate them in order to gain an advantage over whichever enemy they are trying to consume.

#### Phagomorphic

Phagomorphic scabbards can incorporate technology or objects into their form and use them for whatever purpose they want. These scabbards have been observed incorporating human firearms into their bodies, using small beads of their own matter as ammunition and using the firearms against others. Some can incorporate sensory technology into their bodies and figure out how to use and benefit from it. Some use scraps of metal for armor.

#### Logimorphic

These rare scabbard bioforms are thought to be "special" scabbards blessed by the dripping gods with higher level reasoning and coordination in order to achieve more complex goals than to simply consume matter. They have the ability to overwrite the urges of the scabbards they oversee and give them commands though some arcane connection in order to complete specific tasks. Chains of command have been observed from larger, more complex logimorphic scabbards commanding a series of underlings. These bioforms can also have spellcasting ability of Eldritch Arcana, making them extremely dangerous and high priority targets in engagements with the scabbard. Logimorphic scabbards tend to be very large in size. The entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto was one gargantuan logimorphic scabbard, a "hivemind" or "nexus" from which ranks of lesser scabbards were commanded during the events of the End.