[Cosmosdex] The Universal Encyclopedia
[Cosmosdex]
Ibellut
Extremophiles / Explorers
Ibellut
Art by, Chimerii
- Strength-3
- Intelligence-5
- Charisma-5
- Endurance-1
- Agility-5
- Luck-8
Common Jobs: Scout, Treasure hunter, Tour guide
Likes: Exploring, Decorating, Giant insects, Rain
Dislikes: Unjustified information, Quiet lives
Attack Method: Hop around the opponent while kicking or biting at them.
Attributes
Homeplanet: TandureLifespan: 40 years
Size: 3.4 ft tall, 7.7 ft long
Diet: Insects, Plants
Bodytype: Quadruped
Type: Symbotic Amphibian
Social Class: Upper Middle Class
Rarity: Common
Common Traits
Whatever the situation, you can bet this character has heard (or wants to hear) the lowdown. Whether or not it's reliable info is another story. Characters with this trait tend to be very chatty.
This character will answer the call to adventure more often than not. With this trait they are more likely to run into places with more loot to be found. This character is less daunted by certain situations and morale is raised whenever they're put in an adventurous situation. This character may have fears, but they're willing to meet it face to face.
This character compulsively steals items, even if the character does not have a want or use for the items stolen. This character may hide stolen items for them to turn up later, or simply hoard them all in one big secret location.
Gods
Ibelluts find slight spirituality in the most untamed of places but do not honor gods.
Gods: None
Original Creator: Chimerii
Physical Description
Ibelluts are a quadrupedal amphibious species. They have elongated bodies with short, flat tails, a long neck, and a head with a smooth snout and two pairs of short whiskers. Their two eyes have horizontal pupils. Their legs are long and meant for four-legged walking, as well as allowing the ibellut to jump large distances. When trying to get somewhere quick, most ibelluts will opt to hop instead of run. All four of an ibellut's feet have three long, webbed toes with short claws on top, plus clawed thumbs. These toes have special padding that lets the species better grip things. While ibelluts normally walk on all fours, they are able to stand and walk on their hind legs for short periods of time. Ibelluts do not possess gills but are able to comfortably hold their breath for about half an hour.
The species is usually green with pink underbellies, webbing, and whiskers, though these colors can veer into the blue/yellow and purple/red ranges, respectively. Short grey stripes often cover their heads and tails, and grey spots cover their neck and parts of their chest. These spots are usually either grey flecks, or larger and filled with what is normally the same light blue color as their eyes. The skin of an ibellut is rarely highly saturated.
However, ibelluts can shift colors due to the archaebacteria living in their amphibious slime. While the archaea originally comes from their homeworld, they can be easily transferred to offworlders through interaction with other ibelluts, occasionally requiring forceful application of the archaebacterial slime on ibelluts that do not possess it. The archaebacteria, named ibellum, are extremophiles that are able to adapt to intense heat or cold with gradual shifting, becoming red when adapted to the heat, and blue when adapted to the cold. While an ibellut's slime is usually clear, if the ibellum undergoes either of the color shifts, the enzymes released by them will mix with the slime, creating red or blue color shifts in the ibelluts themselves.
These enzymes also give ibelluts extreme temperature resistance. While ibellum is able to gain resistance to both hot and cold, it is not an immediate process, and it also costs ibelluts in that if they are shifted towards one temperature extreme, they will be unable to safely enter any level of the other end of the temperature spectrum. The longer an ibellut spent in a cold environment, for example, the bluer and cold-resistant their slime would become. If an ibellut spent about three days in an extremely cold environment, their extreme blue color and cold resistance would quickly overheat them if they went into temperatures that could be considered mildly warm, instead having to wait three days in room temperatures before their slime would lose resistance and revert back to its normal clear color. Similarly, if an ibellut spent about a week in a mildly cold environment, their slime would only be somewhat blue, and they could still venture into relatively hot environments with far-from-life-threatening difficulty. When comfortably shifted to one extreme, ibelluts are easily able to withstand temperatures that would be extremely harmful or even deadly to most species.
A common ibellut fashion trend is to wear the chitinous shells of the large insects from their homeworld as armor. These insects are extremely varied and can greatly vary in color and shape, though many are notably adapted to the water. The most common chitin armor covers the top of an ibellut's head, the back of their neck and most of their back, part of their legs, and their entire chest. The straps that keep them affixed to the body are normally small and clear, too hard to spot unless one was looking for them, though more visible straps are always available. Ibelluts themselves are rather fragile and lightweight, so the armor makes them substantially more able to withstand attacks.
As ibelluts are amphibious, hatchlings are raised in freshwater as legless tadpoles with whiskers half the length of their bodies. By the time they could be considered halfway to adulthood, ibelluts possess both legs and lungs and no longer need to survive in bodies of water, fully losing their gills by the time they are adults. Ibellut egg clutches are around eighty-large.
Personality
Ibelluts are organized and studious about their work. Design and appearances are important to them, and the insect shells they wear generally have some sort of personal flair to them, being spiffed up with paint or other accessories. Hobbies in the arts often lead to proudly showing off their detailed creation and asking for advice. If an ibellut is uncomfortable with their physical appearance or feels too afraid not to have an anonymous lifestyle, wearing masks or full body coverings made from their insect shells is not unheard of. This is not to say that most ibelluts prefer to be perfectly preened at all times, but rather that if there is a prettier alternative to their appearance, they will take it.
Ibellut society puts just as much focus on first impressions as they do into their appearances. The common belief is that if one cannot put enough thought and effort into looking good and competent the first time, there is no reason to believe they should be able to do it another time. Ibelluts often try their hardest to put their best and most prominent traits forward when first meeting someone. While ibelluts are naturally fairly relaxed, this can sometimes lead to a "customer service"-like demeanor where they act kind and give good first impressions, only to spit drama and gossip behind a person's back once they have left or believe they have already asserted themselves in someone's mind as honorable and trustworthy.
Their society also values information and holds disdain for playing life through a mystery. Not being well-informed about a task is generally unpleasant for an ibellut, and one can expect prying questions otherwise. They rarely follow things blindly and prefer to know the reasoning and justifications behind certain rules or actions, even if it is time-consuming or even impolite to know. Where there's an ibellut rulebook, there's generally footnotes that state why a specific rule is in place, if the reason was not already obvious.
Since ibellut clutches are far too large to be raised with just two parents, as well as being too aquatic to raise in many environments, ibellut eggs are commonly passed over to private or government-run establishments where the children are raised and taught in a boarding school-like setting. They rarely know their parents, much less have a close relationship with them. As such, most ibellut last names come from the name of whatever community raised them. A common rite of passage for these ibellut children, if they are in such an environment, is to leave their education centers and their cities and spend several minutes surviving in the harsh wilderness outside it. This has only ended in death in the most dramatic of cases, but many adults have horror stories of close calls.
As a species with fair amounts of success in universal relations, ibelluts are able to implement the same colonization structure on different planets as they do on their homeworld. The common ibellut city structure consists of having every major territory covered, especially those with inhospitable environments, by at least one massive city that interacts with the other, far-away ones in a node system. Each ibellut city or town generally functions as its own city-state, and new settlements are rarely established unless it is covering entirely uncharted territory.
In the practice of establishing cities in the wider universe, since ibelluts are largely able to dodge the issue of freezing/burning to death on inhospitable planets and since said planets are usually cheaper to buy land on, most interstellar ibellut settlements are regarded as safe havens from the harsh weather that a planet would usually have. Even on their homeworld, ibelluts have built cities in areas with dangerous environments, so in nearly every case, their city infrastructure is readily equipped to handle it. Many ibelluts credit this to discovering how to make the ibellum archaebacteria give their temperature resistances to metals and other materials, though this practice is rare and expensive for other species due to not naturally being able to harvest the archaea from their bodies. For unlucky stragglers forced to land on a hostile planet, finding an ibellut city there can easily save them from certain death.
Within these cities, various large insects from the ibellut homeworld can be found, often being used for transportation, food, pets, and fashion. These insects, while extremely versatile in ibellut society, are not extremophiles. While riding these insects can be difficult for a young ibellut, it is highly encouraged for them to learn. Racing tournaments are popular with the ibellut population, and breeding the insects for a particular physical attribute is also a well-established hobby. Additionally, some ibelluts have even managed to breed their insects into being immune to pain, using them as capture creatures. Most of these insects live around 13 years, and when they expire, some feel compelled to turn their shells into armor, though not all of them do.
Occupation-wise, ibelluts frequently take advantage of their temperature resistances by pushing the frontiers of unexplored planets and areas. An ibellut not already associated with the fluidity of alien culture rarely leaves their city-state societies if not for a good reason, and for many, that reason is to explore. Many ibelluts are hired as scouts, even in areas that do not face extreme burning/freezing problems, simply finding the thrill of exploring uncharted territory more fulfilling than carrying out a task suited to their specific species. Some say this natural desire to explore is born out of an offshoot of ibellut's common desire to know the justifications for the various aspects of their societies. Ibelluts not associated with any city-state or those looking to establish their own often form exploration clubs or societies to map out lands for themselves or prospective landowners. As the members of these societies are often fairly scattered, a common identification tradition is for its individual members to wear or carry badges of its logo.
Occasionally, the bonds formed from the comradery of ibellut childhood persist into adulthood, and these ibelluts will travel together as wandering bands of explorers, not only traveling through the unknown but also completing tasks for those they meet on their travels in exchange for money or goods. There is little stigma between traveling alone or with friends in ibellut society, but this does not stop friends, whether just a duo or a whole group, from braving the unknown frontiers.
If a planet with rumors of ancient ruins and treasures exist, there's likely at least one ibellut setting out to find it, and if a person is travelling through a natural environment that many would call far too dangerous to live in, that's where one is most likely to find an ibellut.
History
The original habitat for the ibelluts was a calm swamp region on their homeplanet in which they subsisted off the large insects that lived alongside them. Without the tech to comfortably move out of their home biome or explore very far at all, nearly all of the ibellut population was concentrated in a single, massive city-state named Ibell.
Ibell was a city that thrived, though small bands of explorers would occasionally exit the city to explore the wilds beyond. With better tech, eventually smaller city-states were established and the ibelluts moved out of their swamp. What they found outside was more hospitable land that they easily colonized, as well as harsh tundras and deserts that few made moves to explore. The first exploration society, Talik, was eventually formed to tackle the planet's largest and hottest desert, and what was once only spoken about in whispers quickly exploded to well-known knowledge- the desert's weather, despite being hot enough to reach water's boiling point at times, hardly harmed the ibelluts at all.
More expedition societies similar to Talik were formed to brave the tundras and other areas of the ibelluts' homeworld until all areas with suffiently colonized. Not only that, but treasures from the ancient ruins of earlier ibellut societies further motivated their actions. Talik itself grew to be massive, eventually developing the first modes of ibellut space travel several thousand years later. The ibelluts took to the stars and became a registered species.
In the current age, spacefaring ibelluts make constant trade and communications with their home planet and their many other cities across the universe. Numerous space fleets exist to support their thriving population, as do individuals who find work as treasure hunters, explorers, and just about anything else.
Home Planet
Tandure is a planet of varied landscapes and biomes, but most ibellut civilization lives in the swamp regions in the southeastern areas of the planet. In between the cities scattered across every region of the planet, there is little civilization other than the ruins of ancient ibellut societies. These dwellings have been mostly looted, but rumors of undiscovered settlements, hidden in caves, behind waterfalls, and other regions exist, said to contain massive palaces, statues, and treasure.
Ibell is the largest and original city in modern ibellut history. Located in the southeastern swamps of Tandure, it's a metropolis notable for its frequent rainstorms. The massive insects of the swamp inside regularly fly around its skies, both as wild animals and as transportation for ibelluts and other visitors. Cascading waterfalls and rectangular patterns are a large part of its architecture, and the city itself is rather damp, many areas being filled with a slight mist to the air. As a result, many aliens are encouraged to bring umbrellas in a region most ibelluts find quite pleasant.
The tourism scene is large on Tandure, with many groups, including Talik, offering tours from the numerous city-states into the great wilderness outside of them. While most spots outside of the city-states are rather undeveloped, occasional rest stops can be found by travelers as small economic centers, exploration bases, or both. Notable amounts of these bases can be found by the ruins of old ibellut societies, said ruins frequently featuring massive buildings, larger-than-life statues, and an overall sense of grandeur. Tales of primordial, powerful insects existing in these ruins exist, but are largely unfounded.
Subspecies
Ibesdi: Many ibelluts from a floating city-state of the same name have evolved to retain their gills and long tails into adulthood, additionally having longer whiskers than most. Ibesdis also possess greater resistance to pressure and are thus able to swim to deeper depths. Their skin contains some pink highlights. They are also able to survive in both saltwater and freshwater conditions, though they do better in saltwater. However, they are frequently unfamilar with the insects so common to the rest of the their species, unable to raise them in a city completely surrounded by ocean.
Hedalla: Ibelluts living in the massive desert of the same name have shed many of their amphibious qualities in order to survive. Hedallan hatchlings are born with lungs and small, stump-like legs at birth, not being completely water-bound. Their ibellum archaea is, by default, shifted red, and has a harder time shifting blue or back to clear. Hedallan adults look the same as regular ibelluts except that their skin frequently has much warmer colors and is more speckled. They are unable to travel as quickly as most ibelluts, but appear to be better at taking hits.
Duenel: Those hailing from the Duenel Tundra of far south Tandure are adapted to the cold. Their ibellum archaea is, by default, shifted blue, and has a harder time shifting red or back to clear, though this blue color is extremely light to blend in with its snowy surroundings. The skin of the ibellut itself is lighter and paler, as well. Duenels have long claws and although they are able to eat meat and seafood, they are unable to eat plants. Many have wider foot pads, making them better at walking on ice and unstable surfaces.
Special
Extremophile Shift: The ibellum archaea living in the slime that coats ibelluts' bodies allow them to gradually shift temperature weaknesses and resistances. While their slime is generally clear, three days in hot or cold temperatures will give them extreme resistance to said end of the temperature spectrum, making them red or blue, respectively. When fully shifted towards one end, ibelluts have great difficulty entering the other, needing to wait three days in room temperature before their slime shifts back to clear.
Trivia
• Due to the frequent winds and rains on their homeworld, and the surprisingly low amount of fossil fuels, large amounts of power in ibellut cities is drawn from wind or hydroelectric sources, a practice which has even sustained itself offworld. This expands into some aspects of their tech, which do not function on fuel, but instead more natural sources. Ibellut tech, instead of needing to be electrically charged up, might instead just need water or a bit of solar charge to function. For many ibelluts, this has worked in their favor when exploring places where charging an item normally would not be possible, even if it can sometimes be a more time-consuming process.
• An infamous rule from the lawbook of Ibell is that no one is allowed to place hatchlings in the city's central fountain. The reason given is that someone once tried to raise them there, resulting in the clogging of large sections of the city's pipes and the deaths of 76 out of 77 hatchlings. The last hatchling was never found, yet some people who have checked Ibell's sewers have reported seeing a monstrous and heavily mutated ibellut skulking around, the public's general conclusion being that it is the very same person.
• In the ruins of the largest city of ancient ibellut society, Issenex, several exploration societies, on top of finding gemstone-laced trinkets, towering statues of old and forgotten gods, and massive, overgrown, and water-eroded palaces, have also found sharp and chitinous shells of massive insects several times bigger than the usual. Reports have found the shells to be in far better condition than the other ruins of the city, but it is the agreed belief that said insects were what wiped out the original population of Issenex. No one is sure if they, too, died out, or if they still crawl around the ruins...
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