Mourasta

The **mourasta** (*muhr-ahz-tuh*) are one of the lesser understood races of demons that are a part of the Sorjachani.

## Background

The mourasta are a malevolent, unfathomable race fascinated by horror and depravity. When allowed to mature unhindered, they are a deeply insidious force, tormenting demons and men alike for the pleasure of wreaking havoc.

Despite their nature, the mourasta are also the only species in the known universe that can safely produce sorjin, embodying souls of pure corruption. The mourasta are the secret producers of sorjin that the Sorjachani rely on to fuel their black magic, and they are farmed like cattle for their precious mana.

In order for the Sorjachani to interact with the mourasta without fear of psychic dominion or psychological torture, ancient traditions inform priests on the method of lobotomization for newborn mourasta in order to inhibit their mental development. For millennia, the mourasta's special needs have been at the center of sorjachani customs, and their campaign season revolves around its feeding schedule.

## Biology

The lifespan of the mourasta is unknown, since none cultivated by the Sorjachani have yet been known to die of natural causes—instead, the creature continues to expand in size and mass. It can survive in any environment and patiently molds the terrain to suit its own needs. Apocryphal information on the creatures' initial discovery by the Sorjachani reported a mourasta as wide as a canyon, with copses of fungal forest and a city erected on its lip where sacrifices flung themselves to their doom.

The plant-like mourasta is a massive demonic creature whose most recognizable feature—its gaping, circular mouth and its hundreds of rows of teeth—belies its immense body, which remains subterranean and protected from attackers. Around its lip, the precipice of the maw and solid ground, are various pedipalps and tentacle-like appendages used to help ensnare prey. Thinner, vine-like tentacles are used as sensory feelers, gracefully tapping the air and ground for tactile visualization.

The only visible part of the mourasta is its mouth, a circular pit lined with spinous teeth, pointed downward to trap and catch prey, descending in ridged folds of gum tissue. The toothy orifice at the center is the beginning of its esophagus and trachea, and from within this inner mouth are three long, tentacle-like tongues which the mourasta can use to grab its food. Sweet-smelling, sticky mucous is excreted by glands in the oral cavity and lines its gums and teeth, used to intoxicate and debilitate prey.

Beneath the surface, protected and hidden by the hard-packed earth it burrows itself into, dwells the true body of the mourasta. The mourasta is sessile and remains deeply rooted underneath the surface, with five appendages sprouting from its trunk which are used for stability and to anchor the mourasta, as well as for reburial in the event the mourasta's body became exposed. Extraneous root capillary systems leech moisture from the surrounding soil, with a knot of nerve-sensitive roots clustered at its base.

The mourasta's massive lower body is made up mostly by its four huge stomachs whose acid-flooded chambers are used to process and digest the various food and debris that fall into its cavernous maw. Among its other vital organs hidden beneath the surface are its brain, and its equivalent of a heart and lungs.

The mourasta, because of its immense physical size, is also the largest sentient promafer with a proportionately sized animus.

## Notable

* In Hephestia, a cabal of dwarves in DATE learned of the secret source of sorjin and conspired to steal their own docile giant to channel from. In the nursery where the mourasta were born, the dwarves managed to falsify a miscarriage of one of the births and smuggled the newborn to Mosod to raise in secret, giving it the name Sargat. Unaware that the temperate demeanor of the mourasta they had observed in sorjachani captivity was not in fact innate but a result of their alterations, the mourasta raised by the dwarves was healthy and treacherously clever, and by the time it had reached adolescence, Sargat had enthralled the entire *grade* to its will.
* During the course of their mission, Duck Hunt unexpectedly encounters a mourasta secretly being developed in the Black Garden by the Sorjachani, the very first of its kind to be documented by Easterners. Before then, the Arais Emodun was unsure of the source of the demons' sorjin and relied only on speculation, but an autopsy performed on the demon revealed its vital role in sustaining the Underworld.

## Trivia

* The mourasta represents the incarnation of the Christian sin of gluttony.
* Partly inspired by the sarlacc of *Star Wars*, the thorian from *Mass Effect*, the illithid from *Dungeons & Dragons*, and the old gods (ex. Chthulhu) from H.P. Lovecraft's mythos.