Lens Groves
Species - Sapient - Parasite Lenslings are the final product of a modified ashling parasite that affects predominantly the undead, silicifying their tissue into a tree-like glass growth.
Newly infected undead show little sign of the transformation, as the lensling contagion is fairly localised in action and spreads quite slowly. The zombie or skeleton in question typically displays a layer of smooth, glass-like crystal covering the affected extremity, usually replacing the underlying skin. Networks of cracks and layers of glass separated by siliceous fluid allow the joints to continue moving freely. Initially, the glass imitates the colours the undead had in life, although its transparency tends to highlight the layers of scarlet blood more than the skin.
As the infection approaches its lengthy middle state, the glass surface advances in thin lines directly to the face and skull, from which it will take on its full range of colour and slowly descend to the rest of the skin. The head is where the most radical physical changes take place in the lensling. The veins here spread out from the face, particularly above the eye-line (or upper beak, in the case of hain). They sprawl into a flat-topped, vaguely mushroom-like inverted cone, consuming the eyes and brain. The mouth is typically left altered but intact. Shape does, however, vary between individuals, and eventually similar canopies will spread from the neck and shoulders.
As glass flows to replace the rest of the undead's body, its outer colours fade from simple verisimilitude into greys, then perfect clarity. The bones are easily visible, and take on bright purple, red and blue shades. The upper canopy typically displays its own unique combination of colours determined by the soul and dreams of the lensling.
In time the mature lensling will cease to wander, and find a place to settle down, typically where others have before. The resultant lens-tree may live for a century, and can grow to an enormous size, twenty metres tall. In shape they will never quite resemble a true tree, appearing closer to the undead flesh that gave rise to them, consisting mostly of veins, bones, and transparent blood, all as smooth as glass and usually without leaves or deep roots. Their colours, however, do not change, and remain a mix of transparent trunks enclosing brilliantly coloured bones, with a canopy of branches in a simple, vivid stained-glass pattern. To stand under a sleeping soul's lens-tree on a sunny day is to be illuminated by a kaleidoscope of refracted light in the colour of their magic.
It is worth noting that lens-trees are easily grafted onto one another, mingling the colours and bones into a bewildering variety of new arrangements. An unhybridised adult tree, however, can only grow bones of the same type and arrangement as the original undead, and therefore holds in its transparent branches many copies of the same skeleton, often in various sizes, curled around each other intimately as if to support the tree in their sleep.
Life Cycle: Unlike ashlings, which spread quickly and aggressively, lenslings are difficult to cultivate and are not able to form a wild population without sentient intervention. Lenslings can only grow on dead flesh, as living creatures are defended by a potent immune system, and cannot grow without a soul, nor can they produce offspring souls of their own accord. A new lensling is therefore usually brought about in one of two ways.
Ashlings, whose bodies have already been turned to amorphous glass, have no way to resist the growth of a lensling. Their ability to reshape themselves with pure willpower in order to heal wounds and form blades makes their shape-shifting bodies vulnerable to influence by similar soul-forces exerted by lenslings, and they do not need to be in contact with an adult lens-tree to be infected. The very instinct that drives them to implant other creatures with their own substance only causes first-stage Lens Ashlings to infect others within their horde through violent contact. In this way whole groves of lenslings arise from what would otherwise be lethal outbreaks of the ashling plague.
It follows that this phenomenon is reliant on population. Small groups of Ashlings with dedicated territories are unlikely to encounter an adult lensling, while for rampaging hordes it's only a matter of time before the plague strikes and spreads through proximity.
Most lens-trees arise when an undead mortal allows themselves to be implanted with a fragment of adult lensling. This tends to be done ceremoniously by Urtelem, who maintain most lens groves and will deliberately seek out willing zombies for the cause, both out of desire for food and simply because they are kind and simple creatures who wish to give the opportunity to all who may desire it.
Mortals with a need to protect themselves from ashlings may also perform the implantation, if a willing zombie is available. Notably, there are shamanic rituals capable of channeling the voluntary soul of a dying mortal into a fragment of a lens tree, allowing it to grow on their cadaver without rising from the grave naturally. The success rate of the procedure is meagre at best.
While lenslings have no upper limit to their lifespan, lens-trees are not immortal. After decades of growth, though not necessarily to full size, the tree dissolves. The end comes all at once, with no sound or movement or loss of vibrance as everything from roots-folds to twig-veins simply collapses into a fine, colourful sand. The trigger for this quiet ending is not known.
Description: Lenslings and the trees that rise from them are benign creatures that develop from a sentient soul forced to remain trapped on Galbar for longer than its allotted time. Where the undead are, upon rising, stripped of their ability to feel visceral pleasure, to eat and drink and sleep, lenslings offer a way to give back these simple pleasures through dreams.
Zombies may be organic, but they are clearly quite dead. Lenslings, while inorganic, are very much alive. An undead mortal infected with glass is once more able to feel the world around them, though not through the same set of sensations. They can feel warm sunlight in them, feel themselves grow with time and feel currents of energy swirl around nearby fae. Most importantly, their thought processes ease, slow, and become meditative as they reach maturity. They can sleep at will, even while walking. Lensling dreams are no more prone to precognition than any other race, but they are long, clear, and many. The decision to settle down in Raka and form a lens-tree comes with a sense of enlightenment.
That said, lens-trees are still capable of sleepwalking. They do not lose their ability to wake up, and sometimes even speak.
Physiologically, lenslings absorb mass and energy from a variety of sources in order to grow. Sunlight, of course, is a major source. The same chaos magic that animates the undead and that ashlings use to change their shape helps their organs fuse with glass and stay fluid. Absorbing natural quartz is a necessity for growth.
The most significant contributors to lens-tree development are fae. Fae can detect lenslings and use them as duelling-grounds around which to meet other fae, fight, and breed. While fae are poor at conserving and using energy, they are absolutely unparalleled at absorbing and dissolving it into surrounding Gaps. Lenslings take advantage of this waste energy. Alone, their development is imperceptible even over decades. With fae, their growth can be as swift as a young pine.
The colourful canopy of a lens-tree is richly nourished by both faery energy and sunlight, absorbs minerals from the root-pads and produces rare metal isotopes from the nuclear particles fae emit when relaxed. This makes them highly nutritious to Urtelem.
Interactions: Urtelem herds welcome lenslings and are the primary vectors of their spread. The tireless nature and meditative peace of a lensling allows them to keep pace easily, and fit in well among the contented stone folk, though there are rarely more than two in a large herd, if any. Of course, Urtelem benefit greatly from being able to harvest from adult trees, and often carry bundles of veins for planting and consumption on their migration. This significantly decreases the amount of time Urtelem have to spend digging and chewing while on the move, allowing roaming herds to meet more often, exchange the 'guard duty' around villages, and visit groves frequently.
The groves themselves, often positioned not far from the very villages Stonemen continue to live by, form the backbone of an emerging culture of unity between isolated herds. With their rewired brain highly adept at processing the geometry of physical space, herds easily remember how to find groves, no matter how distant or how long since they've visited, and there meet others of their own.
Sculptors add another dimension of connection to the relationship. While herds far outnumber the cultists, their increased mobility and interaction allows Sculptors to 'hitchhike' in a desired direction more easily, rather than having to travel alone or follow a single family. Their ability to translate is useful when informing the undead of implantation, and of course, the fae they bring are a boon to lensling growth. Groves often contain Sculptures collaborated on by passing Sculptors.
Mortals interactions with lens groves are mixed. Many find them beautiful, some horrifying, most simply bizarre. Sculptors only add to the strangeness. The presence of Urtelem around them does ease interactions, as it's hard to imagine a hostile relationship with the stone folk.
To ashlings, the lens plague is a scourge, another factor alongside fiberlings and Urtelem that holds their population at small enough numbers to live harmoniously with the rest of Galbar's biosphere. The proximity and numbers required for an outbreak of ashlings to form a major horde makes them vulnerable to rapid spread of lens through violence. Ashlings therefore now tend to split up into smaller roving bands, much like other predators, finding safety in wide distribution. This may make raids by them more frequent, but also more easily survived.
Fae, of course, come to lenslings to breed and die. This little changes their usual life cycle, as they still remain fairly common everywhere else too.
Of course, the most critical interaction is with the undead. Even where a fairly large proportion of the undead end their existence as a lens-tree, very few seek out implantation as soon as they die. Most have emotional ties still alive, or consider that they still have work to do. Implantation is therefore only sought out when undeath becomes too empty, too tiring.
Many choose never to sleep, being satisfied enough with the eternal life they have- After all, the loss of food and drink and dreams can be adapted to by a well-organised mind. Urtelem will continue to offer the service every few years, however.
Some cultures, especially among hain, may actually consider it taboo for the undead to disgrace themselves with a hundred years of lethargy as a tree where they could have a thousand worth of creativity as a skeleton. Whether the taboo is strong enough to hold back those who choose to go will vary. The Stone Folk do not judge, or question motives: The offer is open to all who ask.
Cyclone
Vec