The Skitterlings: Eyes in the Dark, Of the Dark.
Ishizhaah is a young creature from a young race. In her plane, her species came into existence alongside humans only about three years ago. They’ve never been documented alone by anyone reuputable or encountered in large numbers, so they don’t even exist as cryptids or stories children tell each other. Nobody except for the Skitterlings themselves is aware they exist in any way, which they’re fine with. Skitterlings, as a general rule, are terrified of humans. This is because skitterlings are creatures of darkness, literally and figuratively.
The first skitterling was born in a shadowed corner of a child’s room, specifically the one corner their nightlight couldn’t illuminate. Skitterlings, unfortunately for them, aren’t born out of areas of total darkness, like a basement or forest undergrowth, but are instead brought into existence by patches of darkness in otherwise lit areas. Dark alleys in bustling cities, unused closets in well-maintained houses, side tunnels in working subways, the shadows behind picture frames and stacked boxes, and, such as the case of the first shadowling, shaded corners. It’s not known to them if the human fear of such things bring them to life, or if the darkness itself makes them, but the smartest and rarest of shadowlings (Those aware of the nature of their existence) tend to believe the former, even if that doesn't make complete sense to them. After all, shadowlings only started appearing in urban areas, and if the theories are correct, what was stopping the first shadowling from appearing between the unlit trees of the first campfires or lurking between lightning strikes? The only real answer they have is that it has something to with why they fear the humans so much: Electric lights.
That first shadowling? Vaporized instantly after the child’s parents came in and turned a lamp on. Nobody was aware it was ever there. It took sixteen more Skitterlings for one of them to survive long enough reproduce, all because of the artificial lighting humans are so fond of. Daylight is even worse, as evidenced by the really unlucky one that was created by the shade of beach umbrella in Greece and lasted less than six seconds. Why they tend to dissolve from anything brighter than a high-end light bulb is fairly obvious when their biology is examined.
The average Skitterling is a mass of oily black fog that occasionally condenses into a gel-like substance not unlike pitch, or as one child put it, ‘licorice Jello’. That gel tends to act as a malleable support structure and getting to it or seeing it usually means the Skitterling doesn’t have very long left. They reflect absolutely no light of any kind and the only thing about them that isn’t absolutely black is whatever passes for facial features. In the vast majority of skitterlings, these are little more than dots of dim light representing a pair of eyes. However, skitterlings are learning to control their forms more and more, so these lights are beginning to be shaped by their owners to suit their needs. Examples sighted include swarm of insects buzzing in the head, simple shapes and expressions (such as the types found on jack-o-lanterns or emoticons), even facial hair (such as a tiny handlebar mustache, in one bizarre case). The form of Skitterlings can also be shaped. Most appear human, with varying size and build. ‘Clothing’ can be easily woven into a substance described as always-cool silk, and simple props can be made out of darkness. Other shapes are used frequently, however, such as dogs, cats, spiders, or whatever else is required, provided it’s rather simple to assume. Adding definition is difficult, so most look like outlines rather than three-dimensional entities regardless of what they form they take.
With practice, however, the more skilled Skitterlings are beginning to pull off some very interesting feats. One very powerful skitterling lurking about a children’s oncology ward stretches herself over entire rooms to put on elaborate displays of shadow puppetry and astrology to make the children feel better at night. Another hiding in the lightless den of a cyberterrorist messes with him by replicating error screens and government alerts by sliding over inactive screens. One of the darker skitterlings has taken to imitating lights and signs on country roads to confuse travellers, another does it to lead people back home. Their lights always look distant, like a bright streetlight on a foggy street, and no skitterling has managed color yet, but they’re getting better at whatever it is they do.
How do they even survive long enough to develop these abilities? It isn’t easy. If a skitterling somehow manages to get out of it’s patch of darkness and into a safe, lightless area, then it can make more of its kind. It needs to be fed quite a bit, then it plops a glob of that shadow-gel in a corner or pit. After some time passes the glob morphs into a Skitterling and off it goes. Skitterlings are solitary creatures, as there aren't many of them, so that’s about as much interaction with their own kind one can expect. After that, the skitterling does it’s own thing, almost always centered around feeding.
Skitterlings feed off of a few things, almost all of which aren’t physical in nature. The first is emotions. Be they positive or negative, weak or strong, skitterlings are nourished by them, the greater the concentration of people, the better. This is a problem, because humans generally like to see where they’re going and tend to light gathering places. Skitterlings are inventive creatures, however, so they’ve found a few ways around it. Riding people’s shadows as they mill through crowds, lurking in the shade cast by funeral umbrellas, huddling under theatre seats, or most popularly, hiding in the rooms, closets, and beds of children. Children are very emotional creatures after all, and Skitterlings are curious. Many a bedtime story has an unexpected listener.
The second are dreams. They’re safe for the skitterlings to feed off of because dreams are basically distilled food for them and are usually done in the dark. They also enjoy watching them. Some can even manipulate dreams or cause people to sleep longer than they would normally, but this is rarely used because it might cause people to change their sleeping habits (like sleeping with a light on) or wake up unexpectedly. If anything, people having their dreams used by Skitterlings tend to sleep much more soundly and properly than others.
The third and rarest are those who feed of the stuff of life. Skitterlings, for all their weakness in the light, are incredibly strong in the dark. Some have taken to draining animals and travelers and leaving no trace of their existence except a stronger monster. For all their newfound power, these creatures invite disaster.
A young and untested race, these creatures of darkness have yet to prove themselves in their own world. What will become of them in another?
Character Name: Ishizhaah (Phonetic approximation. Her name sounds like someone sighing weakly.)
Species: Skitterling (Thoughtform)
Age: Given the nature of the species, she’s been in existence for only about two to three months.
Height: Five feet tall, although she can ‘stretch’ herself to appear in different forms.
Weight: Because of her biology (or lack thereof), she only weighs ten pounds at most. In her base form her weight is negligible.
General Desc./Picture: Ishizhaah’s form is malleable, but she has a preferred form. It looks like the vague outline of a slender adult female, scaled down. She has the standard ‘two-eyes’ expression of her race were her face ought to be, and wears what appears to be a black cloak wrapped around her. Her bare feet are clawed and she has a small pair of tiny, swept-back horns under her hood, with a thin, whip-like tail. Her fingers seem to be made of articulated knives of pure darkness. It seems to be personal preference and was influenced by the dreams of the child she was feeding off of. Her ‘true form’ is much simpler, being a uniform mass of black fog with a swarm of dim motes of light swirling within it,and she adopts it whenever she thinks nobody is around.
Abilities/Powers:
Nothing Under The Bed: Darkness is Ishizhaah’s territory. She’s effectively immortal as long as she’s in the dark, having the ability to diffuse herself easily and become undetectable. The only way to dislodge or harm her from say, your shadow (or in general), would be to use fire or light to suddenly shift it. As a result, she’s incredibly fast and very stealthy.
Shadowplay: Ishizhaah can shape both herself and other shadows. This can be as weak as changing the movements of someone’s shadow while hiding in it to true feats of transformation in dark areas. Cohesion paired with her amorphous form can be very versatile and can give her some terrifying combat abilities. Those finger-knives of her aren’t for show (if she’d ever not just run from a fight).
Sweet Dreams: Although Skitterlings tend to feed of of ambient emotions, they can feed parasitically as well. Ishizhaah ate the bad dreams of her host and kept darker feelings and sensations at bay, even pain (her new friend taught her how to play checkers as a reward).
Use Your Words: Ishizhaah is completely silent. The only way she can make any sound is with mental effort, using telepathy to communicate. It’s not even that good, barely capable of conveying spoken words (even then, it’s a barely audible, toneless whisper), focusing instead on images, feelings, and symbols. It is, however, one-sided (It can’t be blocked out), and very subtle.
Weaknesses:
Scaredy-Cat: Ishizhaah is very easily frightened. Actually having her stand her ground against something is extremely rare and she’s very reluctant to even make her presence known to anything. When she comes into contact with dangerously bright light or anything truly scary, she panics and flees 99% of the time.
Don’t Look At The Sun: Ishizhaah is damaged by light. The brighter it is, the worse it gets. Fire she can be near, even a campfire if she stays at the fringes or hides in a shadow, but anything more and she’s courting danger. Daylight is not something she even likes to think about.
Something In The Woods: Ishizhaah was an urban creature. She’s also a curious creature. As a result, she has absolutely no knowledge of anything involving wilderness (except for the park and that one nature channel), and is dangerously eager to learn everything about this brand new place.
