The Kratox
From Valwiki
::The Kratox's antennas wave gently at you while it crawls::
Contents |
What is the Kratox?
The Kratox is an organism; though not one of organic matter like you and I. In truth the Kratox is an anomaly of nature. It exists as an organism between the material plane, where we live, and the plane of mana, which are constantly intersecting. It may be in either of these planes depending on its state, but its body is always composed of mana and its shell (which is actually a conch and composed of matter) is restricted to the physical plane. The Kratox is about three and a quarter inches in length.
Nobody currently knows whether the Kratox was created by Syren as a plaything in her boredom, or as a gift from her mother Myria, or perhaps simply by a cosmic glitch. Any hypothesis is a possibility.
The Two States
The Kratox exists in one of two states, its active form and it's inactive form. It takes some sort of stimulus to switch between the states, though this stimulus is not static through time and nobody knows exactly what may cause the Kratox to become activated or deactivate at any given time.
- Active State: In this state the Kratox exists as a composite organism, with a body of concentrated mana, similar to the body of an Arcane construct, and a shell composed of a strong material. In this state is resembles the marine gastropods Conches, but with a blue body as is typical of pure mana.
- Inactive State: In its inactive state nothing remains of the Kratox but its shell. The rest of the body is not manifested in our plane but is only within the plane of mana. Not much more is known about the Kratox in this state.
History
It is possible that the Kratox is very old. Nobody knows when it came into being or how many times it has switched between its active and inactive states. The earliest uncovered account of the Kratox is in an Empyrian collection of lore. In the tale, a swimming fisherman's son discovers what is sometimes attributed to be Syren, other times a mermaid or just a beautiful maiden, letting the Kratox inch along her arm. The boy's discovery causes the lady to disappear and jolts the Kratox into its inactive state. This is the last known time when Kratox switched to its inactive state- where it has remained until recently.
This lore later resurfaced during the investigations of an adventurer and collector by the name of Mark De'Lure. According to De'Lure's interpretation of the lore, the fisherman whose son discovered the Kratox took the shell to a well regarded clergy scholar. The scholar informed the fisherman that to reactivate the conch it must be blown like a horn- the problem was that the conch is so small in size no human had the power to do so. De'Lure recounts this in his journal, along with his hypothesis as to the whereabouts and activation of the Kratox.
Abilities
The there is no current account of what the Kratox's abilities are, and thus each of these properties are shrouded in mystery.
- The Kratox may be used to store ideas, similar to a journal. The Kratox holds these ideas in what can only be called, to the best of our knowledge, its memory.
- The Kratox might hold forgotten or undiscovered knowledge, but this will not be known unless someone finds a way to communicate with it.
- The Kratox may be used by a mage as a sizable depository of mana.
- The Kratox has the potential to access a very large pool of mana. It is possible that it won't ever open this up to access for anyone, and likely that it will limit such access if it does.
