Shimmershells

Crustacean Custodians of Balance

Species Overview

Physiology

Shimmershells are squat, compact creatures with a hard shell exoskeleton. Their shells are iridescent with hues of twilight, refracting beautifully in water. While possessing six appendages, they have adapted to use the two front as their main arms for tasks while resting on their other four equally. Those more adapted to the waters have antennae-like eyes while those on land have gem-like beady eyes embedded in their carapace.

Demeanor

Known for a curious and tight-knit nature, Shimmershells are inherently social creatures that thrive on mutual support. To satiate their curiosity of other folk, they often build their communities both in and out of the waters. While generally hospitable and kind, they fiercely protect their kin as well as the natural balance.

History

Relatively new to the 4th Aeon, Shimmershells were thrust into the world when a Gley scientist's greenhouse of Spectrashade Mycelia came crashing down during the Sundering. An ecosystem of calm crustaceans along the Meridian Coasts, conveniently nearby, started to graze happily. Over time, well, the results speak for themselves.

Residential and spiritual abodes are safeguarded underwater while businesses or attractions rest above. High mana-alignment either way may be given weird looks and head tilts from these balanced folk.

Shimmershell
Shimmershell Variant

Outlook

Carrying the natural harmony their former selves had, Shimmershell mantras align well with The Twilight Manifest's principles:

  • Let the sum of your actions mirror the Twilight sky, where Bright and Dark meet in harmony.
  • Amidst the tides of change, find a measured step.
  • Moderation in all things, even moderation.
  • Our carapaces bear the marks of past trials; let them remind us of kin and struggle.
  • To those who walk in balance, our waters are deep and wide.

Abilities

Species Size

Small

You are squat, compact, and crusty.

  • You are a Small Species.

Innate Ability

Twilight's Harmony

Whether through strange fungi or ancestral will, you are the ebb and flow.

  • You begin play with 1 Bright and 1 Dark Allegiance Point.

Innate Ability

Sea Floor Dweller

You are comfortable commuting in the water, even if it's the 'long way'.

  • You can breathe underwater indefinitely and are immune to Suffocation in water.
  • You cannot swim easily but are able to sink and walk along waterbed floors.

Maturative Ability

Briny Bulwark

Through a long and careful rebalancing of your innate mana, you have managed to grow a truly protective wall for an arm.

  • One of your arms grows into a Large Shield, gaining all of its gear properties.
  • Unlike normal Large Shields, you do not suffer a Speed Penalty from its use.
  • You can never be disarmed of the Shield unless the arm is Severed.
  • You lose normal usage of the arm for dexterous and manipulation tasks.