Elemental Beasts

Elemental Beasts, occasionally referred to as Eb, are ancient and powerful breeds of creatures that are infused with vast amounts of elemental energy. Despite their bestial appearance, all Elemental Beasts are Ib, and yet they are not capable of speech in ordinary Ib languages. Elemental Beasts instead communicate in an ancient language unique to them known as Vetus, which can be inherently understood by all Ib, except those with an affinity for the Void, but is exhausting for ordinary Ib to listen to. Elemental Beasts, however, are unable to understand the particulars in common Ib languages and will only be able to judge the general intent of ordinary speech. In order to engage in a proper conversation with an elemental beast, one must master Vetus, a feat that only the greatest of Omni Mages may accomplish.

## Elemental Beasts by Core Element

### Fire Elemental Beasts

#### Pyro Pheonix

Pyro Pheonixes, often simply referred to as simply Pheonixes due to being the most numerous and archetypical breed of Pheonix, are splendid avian Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Fire. Their strength is at its apex the moment they are born but wanes over time until their once elegant, fiery form is reduced to nothing but ashen cinders. Upon expiring, Pyro Pheonixes produce an egg inside which they will reincarnate, beginning their personal cycle anew. While this process normally continues indefinitely, it is possible to interrupt their cycle of rebirth by freezing their eggs. It is worth noting that nearly every piece of a Pheonix is a valuable component for Elemental and Alchemical craft, especially their feathers, eggshells, and ashes.

#### Honshuu

Honshuu are devious Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Fire. They take on the form of flame furred rats whose sparks do not ignite their surroundings unless they so wish, which very often they do.

### Earth Elemental Beasts

#### Shishi

Shishi are noble Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Stone. They take on the form of stone lions that stand guard at locations of great Elemental importance.

### Dark Elemental Beasts

#### Shadowbeasts

Shadowbeasts are demented Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Dark.

### Light Elemental Beasts

#### Unicorn

Unicorns are majestic Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Light. They take on the form of horses, goats, or deers possessing a spiraling golden horn in the center of their foreheads, which is a solid gem of pure Light energy much akin to a Topaz.

### Lava Elemental Beasts

#### Salamanader

Salamanaders, often mistakenly referred to as Salamanders, are amphibious Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Lava. Much as their name implies, they take on the form of Salamanders, albeit large and molten ones capable of swimming through lava with ease. They are also capable of swimming through water, and when doing so, their normally molten, oozing exterior hardens into a protective obsidian shell, providing them with superb protection at the cost of their mobility.

### Hellfire Elemental Beasts

#### Hellhound

Hellhounds are brutish Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Hellfire and a propensity for carnage.

### Mist Elemental Beasts

#### Bugle

Bugles are mammoth Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Mist. They take on the form of massive elephants with trumpeting snouts capable of unleashing lethal waves of Sonic booms.

### Poison Elemental Beasts

#### Manticore

Manticores are ferocious Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Poison. They take on the form of massive felines possessing draconian wings and an especially venomous scorpion tail. Indeed, every inch of a Manticore's body is coated in venom, but the venom of its tail is one potent enough to kill even gods.

### Frost Elemental Beasts

#### Fenren

Fenren, also known as Frost Wolves, are pack hunting Elemental Beasts that stock the frozen wastes of the far northern regions of the world. Their naturally blueish fur and fangs glisten like dazzling ice crystals, and these frosted features would truly make the creatures be considered beasts of the utmost majesty were they not so often stained crimson with blood.

### Sand Elemental Beasts

#### Sand Shrike

Sand Shrikes are Diminutive Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Sand. While their outward appearance is akin to that of regular Desert Shrikes, they are easy enough to distinguish from their mundane cousins due to their ability and propensity to fly freely through the sand as though it were air. As they mature, they gain the ability to amass great amounts of sand onto their bodies and create Gigantic, albeit fleeting, forms. These semi-solid sand forms allow the shrikes to dive into and engulf prey and whisk them into the air as they suffocate and are ground down within its grainy mass.

#### Tanooki

Tanooki are inquisitive Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Sand. Normally they take on the appearance of raccoons, though they possess the ability to convert their forms to stone and then carve themselves into whichever shape they desire and then return to flesh once more. The first time they carve themselves into an unfamiliar form is an excruciating ordeal, but once they have gained a greater mastery over their selves, subsequent transformations become routine. While they are capable of gaining mass through their shapeshifting process if given enough time and access to elemental energy, it tends to be far simpler for them to reduce their mass during their transformations.

### Gravity Elemental Beasts

#### Gargowles

Gargowles are owlish Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Gravity. At night, they are fearsome predators who pin down prey with the weight of their nightmarish gaze, whereas in the day, they rest as stone statues for they are petrified by the sun's light.

### Miasma Elemental Beasts

#### Akuma

Akuma are ethereal Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Miasma. They take on the form of ghastly, gaseous, humanoid upper bodies that silently float through the dark night sky. When they do find prey, typically adventurers wandering alone during the witching hours who believe themselves impervious to the perilous predations posed by all ordinary creatures of the night, they use noxious fumes to prevent them from falling to sleep and instilling them with an ineffable dread. The Akuma will continue to stalk them until either they return to the safety of civilization or collapses from exhaustion, and in the latter case, the beast will proceed to consume their very essence.

### Lightning Elemental Beasts

#### Fulgaris

Fulgaris are Feline Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Lightning. They are exceptionally fluffy and soft to the touch, but petting them is not recommended due to the fact that they generate surreal levels of static electricity within their intricately woven fur and will shock anything that comes into contact with them, regardless of their intent. In addition to passively generating electric charge, Fulgaris are capable of vibrating each and every strand of hair on their body in unison, producing enough energy to send forth lightning bolts at will or transforming themselves into a ball of lightning.

#### Raiju

Raiju (雷獣) are Wolverine Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Lightning. Raiju reside mainly within the clouds but will often travel down to the earth riding atop of lightning bolts in order to hunt. While sharing a common ancestry with Fulgaris, Raiju tend to be far more aggressive than their terrestrial cousins and they will most certainly electrocute anybody who attempts to stroke their finely woven fur.

### Steel Elemental Beasts

#### Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

Diabolical Ironclad Beetles are insectoid Elemental Beasts with an affinity for Steel. While the Beetle itself is naturally as Wee as any other Beetle, it is capable of growing beyond Gargantuan sizes should it consume and assimilate enough metals from its environment. Their carapace consists of interlocking plates of chitin that must be disassembled in order to strike at its vulnerable inner form; indeed, beneath its ferrous exoskeleton, the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle retains the squishy larval body from which it never truly matures.

### Erosion Elemental Beasts

#### Leaf Frog

Leaf Frogs, also known as Leaves Frogs, are herding Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Erosion. They travel in large groups of individuals who themselves are capable of dividing their forms, taking on the appearance of a mass of leaves being stirred onward by the wind. They live primarily in Broadleaf Forest regions and, like the leaves of the trees, their coloration will fluctuate between seasons. They are most active in Fall, where they take cover flocking amid the multitude of fiery leaves driven by the Autumn winds.

### Blood Elemental Beasts

#### Chupacabra

Chupacabras are enigmatic Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Blood. Their appearance is that of a pale, goatish humanoid with elongated, gaunt limbs and an excess of black horns and spines. Their serpentine tongue forks into three prongs which each possess a needle-like probocis which it uses to drain the blood from its prey and leave behind its signature scarring on its victims' throats.

### Flower Elemental Beasts

#### Lynelle

Lynelle are ferocious Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Flower. They are regal predators resemble Lions with floral manes.

### Tide Elemental Beasts

#### Genbu

Genbu (玄武) are wise Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Tide. They take the form of massive serpent turtles that often reside hidden among the stones of shallow tidepools for many decades at a time.

### Mirror Elemental Beasts

#### Occularpus

Occularpi are tentacled Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Mirror. While they are completely invisible to the naked eye, their ever-undulating form can be clearly discerned upon any reflective surfaces.

### Gem Elemental Beasts

#### Burrowing Stone Beetle

Burrowing Stone Beetles are humble Elemental beasts possessing an affinity for Gem. While they are often mistaken for mere mundane creatures, they do own a reticent intelligence all their own and are far wiser beings than any mortal would believe. Their larva feed on precious gem and ore deposits and produce luxurious chrysalises when they metamorphize into their plain adult forms.

#### Crystal Tortoise

Crystal Tortoises are extravagant Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Gem. They take on the appearance of gem-encrusted terrapins with a glamourous, crystalline shell.

### Nuclear Elemental Beasts

#### Fissile Fly

Fissile Flies are swarming Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Nuclear. While they exist as a single entity when they first enter into being as an embryo in an egg, the stress of merely existing in the world causes them to involuntarily undergo a process similar to asexual reproduction via fission in which their body is divided into identical clones of themselves; however, these clones retain one conscious mind. The energy released in this process is immense and blast through their eggshell with Nuclear force, allowing them to be born into the world, already fractured and incomplete. Fissile Flies are capable of causing themselves to fission at will, and they will do so if they are in great peril, but they would much to prefer to accumulate Nuclear energy rather than release it so that they could fuse themselves whole once more, as they only ever truly existed as at during the moment of their inception.

### Rot Elemental Beasts

#### Orochi

Orochi (大蛇) are massive serpentine Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Rot. They usually reside far from Ib Settlments, but when they do draw near, they are known to cause landslides, flooding, and all manner of natural disasters in their wake. Similar to cuttlefish, Orochi are experts at camoflage as well as mimicry and they are often able to set ambushes by disguising their entire forms as rugged terrain. Their fangs produce a special venom similar to alkahest that can dissolve almost all forms of organic matter when while fresh or most inorganic matter after being given some time to "ferment."

### Time Elemental Beasts

#### Bai Ze

Bai Ze (白澤) are Oxen Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Time. They possess an innate knowledge of all significant historic events within their immediate vicinity and are able to recreate almost any scene of past events in any location much as a Fey Witness is capable of producing at scenes of tragedy. Bai Ze are also capable of learning the personal history of any individual within their presence and can similarly recreate scenes from such events, though the truth of the events depicted are often distorted by the interference of individual's imperfect memories of the events which are no less part of their personal history than the events themselves. Bai Ze suffer from having flawless memory and are unable to forget anything that they have learned or experienced, often leading them to suffer from fatigue from learning to much at once or from sensory overload, so they tend to avoid interacting with Ib, especially long-lived Ib such as Elves, as much as possible. In order to prevent the intake of too much superfluous knowledge, Bai Ze are known to travel the land with their eyes closed and their ears blocked, navigating solely by history and memory. Unfortunately, this leaves them vulnerable to new and unknown developments such as hidden traps and recent disasters, possibly leading to their demise.

### Day Elemental Beasts

#### Kirin

Kirin (麒麟) are sacred Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Day. They resemble chimerical horses with manes of beautiful white flame, prismatic dragon scales, and great stag antlers. Kirin are known to be harbingers of great fortune and all life flourishes wherever they tread.

### Space Elemental Beasts

#### Komekos

Komekos are cometlike Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Space. They are known for occasionally soaring through the reaches of the upper atmosphere at night and sometimes coming down to the earth to fulfill the desires of fortunate Ib who made wishes upon them during their journey.

### Sky Elemental Beasts

#### Quetzal

Quetzals are reptilian Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Sky. They take the form of rainbow-feathered serpents capable of flight.

### Land Elemental Beasts

#### Basilisk

Basilisks are serpentine Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Land. They take the form of stone-scaled serpents that slither effortlessly across and through the ground and are capable of petrifying prey.

### Ocean Elemental Beasts

#### Kelpie

Kelpies are Aquatic Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Oceans. They have an appearance similar to that of horses, albeit scaly, finned horses adapted to life in the deep blue sea.

### Omni Elemental Beasts

#### Dreamers

Dreamers are exceptionally rare Elemental Beasts possessing an affinity for Omni. While at a surface level they may appear to be ordinary Humans, every cell of a Dreamer's body is infused with enough Elemental Energy to manifest a fist-sized stone and subsequently hurl it all the way around the planet and back. Dreamers spend most of their existence in a sleep-like state, but when they do awaken from their slumber, they roam the world with a reality-warping force not unlike that which a Lucid Dreamer wields within their Dreamscape.

## Notable Elemental Beasts

#### The White Stag

The White Stag is a legendary Unicorn rumored to have been born in the Clovenhoof Copse of the Fanghoof Plains but typically resides within the Sylva Woodlands.

#### The Seven Colored Deer

The Seven Colored Deer is a legendary Kirin...