Nucheddo

Artwork by CompliensCreator00

**Nucheddo** is the Moldy Cheese Complien. It belongs to the Life and Toxic Elements. It is not known to grow into or from anything.

## Appearance

Nucheddos have yellowish, amorphous faces made out of moldy cheese. They have a long nose, and a wide buck-toothed smile with rosy cheeks, alongside wrinkles around its eyes. It has a large head that waddles around on short legs, and its face is covered with holes and green splotches of mold. A brown triangle can be seen on top of its head. Usually, Maggrubs are seen crawling around its face.

## Information

Nucheddos are rare Compliens known mostly for their extremely foul odor. Usually measuring at roughly a meter in height with skin made entirely from moldy cheese, Nucheddos are usually able to send any Complinoids living near where they are present running in a completely different direction. The scent of a Nucheddo can be smelled from several meters away, and usually lingers for at least a few hours after the Nucheddo leaves. Only a few brave souls, perhaps with a dulled sense of smell, usually take to removing a Nucheddo from the premises. Nucheddos themselves have dulled senses, and are hardly able to sense the presence of other Nucheddos nearby, usually only finding them by happenstance.

There is actually a little-known fact about Nucheddos, which is that eating the cheese that makes up their bodies restores youth to whoever eats it. While this sounds nice on paper, doing so requires being able to first put up with the Nucheddo's scent, and then being able to put up with the taste of the Nucheddo's skin, which is about equally as repugnant. To make things more unfortunate, this only works if eaten straight from the Nucheddo itself, those who have poached wild Nucheddos and removed bits of their skin to eat later don't live for any longer than those who sustain themselves on any other diet. Since their skin is of course still moldy and rotten, usually those who *do* eat a Nucheddo have to put up with food poisoning for a couple of days.

Only one Complien species actually has been observed to regularly make use of a Nucheddo's life-preserving powers, which is the Maggrub family. These Compliens, which are actually attracted to a Nucheddo's scent and taste, usually move into a Nucheddo's holes in small colonies and slowly chew away at its skin. As the Maggrubs are significantly smaller than the Nucheddo, it generally takes a while before the Nucheddo actually dies, though most Nucheddos are observed to die of Maggrub infestation. It does not help that the Maggrubs eating at a Nucheddo stay young for as long as they are eating it, though the Nucheddo rarely minds, due to its dulled senses.

### Habitat

Nucheddos primarily live on the Kotan Island in Xiyule, where they take up residence in small urban areas, mainly villages and smaller towns. Usually they are subsequently chased out of these places by the Complinoids inhabiting them, however.

## Growth

### Name

Nucheddo is derived from "nuppeppō", the yōkai upon which it is based, and "cheddar".

### Design

Nucheddo is based on the nuppeppō, a Japanese yōkai resembling flabby flesh that grants eternal life to those that eat its flesh, but is known for its repugnant odor. It is additionally based on moldy cheese.