ARTIST: Lee Sherman

MONSTERS: Original Creations!

ANGLEVIATHAN

This colossal marine mammal employs a device like an anglerfish's lure for the opposite purpose. Whereas a lure attracts underwater prey, this Mortasheen's appendage repels surface predators. The sudden appearance of a giant sea serpent spewing foam from its nostrils scares away whalers as quickly as a decloaking spaceship.

MOOSTRIX

These Mortasheen appeared in radioactive forests following the Canadian War. They feed on rodents and especially slow birds, which they locate with the keen senses of a bird of prey then trample mercilessly. In their spare time they enjoy dancing, making any and every kind of mischief, and attempting to climb trees.

ECHINODOOM

Combining features of toads and sea urchins, the Echinodoom is full of poison and ancient wisdom. Depending on age, lineage, and diet, an Echinodoom can have between 16 and 7,100 separate toxins, which can be injected via its spines or administered in other ways. They live in the Rain Forest of Doom (formerly Jungle of Doom), which is home to many ferocious flora and fauna. No one would set foot there if not for the tremendous wealth the Echinodoom species carries. One of the chemicals in their spines, when separated from the more dangerous chemicals, functions as a powerful aphrodisiac and a so-so truth serum.

As Echinodooms grow older and larger, their spines become too blunt to pierce skin, and slowly crystallize into giant jewels, which are even more prized than the aphrodisiac. In fact, giving one to a woman has an effect not unlike an aphrodisiac. These ancient specimens are awe-inspiring beings who croak the songs of forgotten civilizations and collectively direct the plants and animals of their rain forest like neurons direct the cells of a body.

OMNIVAC

An always-questing trunk is the defining feature of this Mortasheen species. The trunk contains acute olfactory organs that can locate sustenance wherever it may be found, and a tooth-lined esophagus that can and will suck up any edible object small enough to fit through. But the Omnivac's most amazing trait is its resistance to poisons.

Provided the Omnivac is well-nourished and reacts quickly enough, no chemical toxin can harm it. This is because it can generate an energy field to halt chemical reactions. This doesn't prevent Omnivacs from being poisoned internally, since using this ability on their digestive organs would stop their own acids and enzymes from working. But they do have an advanced gastrointestinal tract that can cope with almost anything, and a keen sense of smell to identify the few things it can't handle. Freak mutations in some Omnivac breeds can even allow them to project this field well beyond the boundaries of their body. Devices depending on chemicals are deactivated, and organic beings are rendered comatose or dead.

Omnivacs are generally used as bloodhounds, beasts of burden, or fighting animals. But a small percentage are "lucky" enough to be of use in the lucrative Echinodoom hunting industry. They can sniff out these spiny morsels and eat them with minimal ill effect. Through a painstaking and unpleasant process involving internal imaging and artificially-induced bowel movements, the Omnivac's digestive processes are used to cleanse Echinodoom spines of their dangerous toxins while leaving the aphrodisiac properties intact.

HORSESHOE GRABBER

These blue-blooded, sea turtle-sized Mortasheen are the raccoons of the ocean. They prey on other animals with copper-based biochemistry, and supplement their diet with various plants. They would be harmless to sentient life if not for their lust for treasure. "Treasure" can be anything that catches their eye (note that the entire dorsal surface of a Horseshoe Grabber's shell is decorated with ocelli which function together as a single eye). Usually anything that shines, sparkles, glows, or has colors that are rare in that part of the sea will be seen as treasure. Horseshoe Grabbers will swipe important possessions, cut off arms that are holding them, and even disassemble robots or organisms who happen to be made of "treasure." They use these baubles to line their nests, and some enterprising Horseshoe Grabbers have assembled vast gardens of glimmering junk.

FROGLEECH

These Mortasheen are cold-blooded bloodsuckers. They live in trees near sources of water, from which they glide onto their prey, draining blood for nourishment. Blood is also provided to their eggs, which can be identified by their resemblance to strawberry jelly. The insidious Frogleech has turned many a fishing hole into a death trap.

CUCUMBERSOME

These giant Mortasheen are made up of layers. At the center is a soft, fragile body like that of a holothuroid. Around that is a cavity filled with fluid. Around that is impenetrable armor. And around that is a gelatinous coating.

The outermost layer is in fact a whole colony of symbiotic invertebrates, like an epidermis made up of flattened jellyfish instead of skin cells. As the Cucumbersome crawls across the land, animals, plants, and anything else in its path are trapped in this soft coating like insects in amber. The jelly's constituents have the ability to reduce any polymer into monomers, spelling certain death for any being held together by cellulose, protein, or plastic. If they're not, they'll still probably suffocate. After skimming off enough nutrients to live, the symbiotic creatures pass the resulting debris to the host's mouth, where feeding palps are waiting to shovel food-like material into its giant maw and toss away obvious indigestibles.

The Cucumbersome would be unstoppable juggernauts of gluttony if not for one flaw. Its armor, consisting of tightly-fitted segments and plates of a high-density polymer, is not only nearly indestructible but completely rigid. Not even the Cucumbersome itself can move it. It depends on its gelatinous outer layer to depolymerize pieces of the armor and reconstitute them molded into their needed positions. This makes for very slow motion. The mouthparts are able to move more quickly. Instead of the transparent polymer, they're protected by a leathery, carborundum-laced tissue, which also protects the multipurpose orifice at the other end of the Mortasheen's holothuroid body.

Vyluss

Growing in areas polluted by interdimensional breaches, these small, immobile monsters can be incredibly dangerous. In the presence of a living organism, they emit a black beam which rapidly drains away energy, slowly crystallizing the victim's tissues in the process. Lifeforms drained entirely will eventually shatter, releasing the amoeboid larval state of a new Vyluss.

  

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