Swallowers

I've always been fond of this idea, and figured it wouldn't hurt to throw it out there.

Swallowers (I'd love if someone could come up with a better name <3)

Tauric gulper eels.

Swallowers are an unusual species, who left the depths of the Topazial sea a long time ago, mostly out of boredom of living in a world of dark nothingness. Today, they are even found on land, having the ability to function on land pretty well for an eel. They are however never found in deserts, or anywhere very dry. Voracious predators, they prefer smaller prey, but have insanely stretchy throats and stomachs, and will even go after other large hybrids, if they get hungry enough. They are also somewhat accomplished climbers, being clumsy at the actual act of it, but are very good at not falling, mostly from being very long and having a lot of body length to wrap around branches to prevent that. Being mostly nocturnal, they tend to venture out of water at night.

They are usually around the size of a large naga, but less heavily built, and much longer, although most of that length is a very long whiplike tail. The tail is very prehensile, and is essential in capturing of prey. Usually black skinned (on the eel half, human half comes in a variety of colors, as it seems to with most of the other predators) with a small bioluminescent lure on the tip of the tail, which has proved to be useful on land as well, as it has the bonus of luring the occasional group of adventurers in, thinking they have found a settlement or camp. Most creatures on land are not familiar with lighted lures being a predatory tactic, so it works pretty well.

Many of them have a very hard to read, almost seductive personality, although on the occasions they outright say they will or will not do something, they mean it. Many races are very apprehensive around them, due to their reputation. Fairies are an exception, and both are generally on good terms, seeing as they usually can shrink down enough to be of little interest. (How small do fairies shrink? Much smaller than a human,i think, right?)
So what do you guys think?

It sounds good to me, but if you're referencing locations in the Felaryan universe such as te Topazial Sea, well, let's just say that I'm obviously even newer here than you are, and don't think that my opinion should count as being valid. xD Still, personally, that sounds interesting to me. ;o Sounds like that might be a fun race to roleplay.

Irrelevant wrote:

It sounds good to me, but if you're referencing locations in the Felaryan universe such as te Topazial Sea, well, let's just say that I'm obviously even newer here than you are, and don't think that my opinion should count as being valid. xD Still, personally, that sounds interesting to me. ;o Sounds like that might be a fun race to roleplay.

Aw, your opinion is valid :3
I've just been lurking for a really long time. Used the Topazial sea as an origin, because of all the references to a bunch of huge weird stuff living in the abyssal sections of it. ^^

Aww, thank you- that was a very kind thing of you to say! :3
Nyah~, I see. ^.^

What's this, a species idea? WELL NOT SO FAST BECAUSE WARRIOR IS HERE TO RUIN YOUR FU-

......

Hmmmmm...

Well, actually, I'm surprisingly alright with this. When something like an Eel (or indeed most marine creatures) hybrid comes about the automatic relation that I would draw would be to something mermaid like, a subspecies even. However, you didn't seem to shoot for that, instead opting to make an entirely new species entirely, and that earns this idea some points for nothing more than the concept uniqueness.

Furthermore I'm pleasantly surprised by the apparent lack of any balance breaking abilities that they would have. In fact, I think you've achieved the opposite of breaking the system and have in fact created something that in my eyes would fill a little nice quite nicely. That nice being the one of same size vore. I'm not over emphasizing the importance of fetish integration into every idea, but you see, the main thing that occurs in Felarya is a giant species consuming another, and or a normal sized one utilizing magic to shrink another, ect. That sort of thing. But given the stretchy jaw trait you've given your species here that trend could be broken, and the results would be nice to see.

The only real issues I can find here are; 1) your explanation of how they partially migrated upwards to the surface. Living at such an abyssal depth as they did originally would cause them to evolve naturally to have either little or no use of their eyes (read; Blind), so seeing would be a complication for one thing, but I suppose if they were to adapt to light then they would evolve sight back over time but that would take millions of years delectably and is just a very convoluted explanation for a simple concept. This could certainly use some work, but it's not as bad as it could have been.

And; 2) Along with the aforementioned issue of sight the changing in pressure at the deep ocean/Mid ocean/ surface would be so great that it would in all likelihood literally kill them. However, there are some species that do endure said change regularly, namely whales that dive to great depths. Thing is, whales are huge, but then again so are most felaryan species so I guess that sorts itself out. The only remaining complication at that point is the fact that anything with the mass of a whale on land would be smothered beneath its own weight, but then we get into the issue of the fact that the same would apply to most giant Felaryan species, an age old argument that always ends in blood and tears. (Mainly tears.)


Really, I actually like this idea and would love to see where it could go if it improved a bit.

I like this idea, although it does need a bit of work.

I agree with all of warrior's points and also...

Quote :

As far as personality, they are surprisingly good natured. If you can manage to befriend one while they are full, you are generally safe. Most races are a little aprehensive with them, due to them having a reputation of eating other large hybrids, but that is a very unusual act.
At least as long as there isn't a large size difference. ;D

I find this to be very generic. It seems that this is true for many predators. The "good natured when they're not hungry" thing gets a bit boring.

It's not too bad. I had an idea like this for a while, well, a character at least. However, it does need a bit of work. Being able to work as well on land as in the water, especially being good climbers is opening a LOT of gates, so they should be restricted on that aspect. I have to agree with 3k, the fact they adapted their sight to abyssal to where the sun can reach is a little too convenient, and again, open a lot of gates for them to pass through, which can make them a bit broken. If they had poor eyesight, not that great mobility on land, i.e. not that great in climbing and fairly slow outside of water, that'd be acceptable.

I also have to agree with AJ, the "friendly when full" has gotten old, and while it's not inherently bad, I think you can come up with either a better explanation or an alternative.

Hmm. A lot of good points ^^ Lemme see what I can do as far as fixing them up. Perhaps as far as the abyssal things being blind goes, perhaps they could have worked something like viperfish before? Living deep down during the day, and coming into shallower water at night? The climbing think does seem kind of weird though for something that used to be deep sea. I more meant they would be pretty good at not falling, just because they would be so long (something like this)http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2321/2497478386_a644c8f8bd.jpg), they could kind of wrap around everything, always having some sort of hold, and be pretty clumsy as far as the actual climbing itself.

As far as the good natured when full, I'd be alright with changing that to make it more interesting. I was trying to tie it into the reason they left their original areas, basically being starved for interaction with more than just some massive black void.Gulper eels just seemed like something that would be pretty laid back, although voracious. :3

I think, more than this (possible) new race, I learned a little on how to properly critique an idea in the Felaryan universe.
Quick, someone submit another idea and everyone else point out the pros and cons so I can learn more about this sorta thing.

Irrelevant wrote:

I think, more than this (possible) new race, I learned a little on how to properly critique an idea in the Felaryan universe.
Quick, someone submit another idea and everyone else point out the pros and cons so I can learn more about this sorta thing.

I've got a few, but they are at the "I-can-probably-submit-this-but-I'm-not-really-sure-if-it's-done" stage.

Great; that sounds perfect! I'd love to hear about 'em. :3

Though I've heard this vague idea before, your proposal of it intrigues me. I bet it would be a unique being to encounter during a road trip.

This seems to have gone over much better than I thought it would
Maybe a shady general personality would fit better? Not flat out mean, more of something, where you are pretty unclear as to what they are going to do, but they are still calm, and almost (for lack of a better word) seductive about it. So even if they had no intention of harming you, they wouldn't really seem like it.

Although, of course, there would be a wide range of personalities, as you would expect from most sentient things.


I was trying to come up with general sizes. What is the general average height of most preds?

Also, can anyone thing of a better, catchier name? :3

From what I know, I think, gulper eels are generally small, so I guess like 20 to 30 ft when standing straight like a Naga would work. As for the "friendly when full", I can think of an alternative that they are usually lazy when satiated, so they don't bother too much about potential preys while digesting. Of course, that wouldn't mean you are completely safe.

Sean Okotami wrote:

From what I know, I think, gulper eels are generally small, so I guess like 20 to 30 ft when standing straight like a Naga would work. As for the "friendly when full", I can think of an alternative that they are usually lazy when satiated, so they don't bother too much about potential preys while digesting. Of course, that wouldn't mean you are completely safe.

I was thinking they'd be a bit bigger than that, just because the wiki talks about the depths of the Topazial Sea being full of things that put leviathan mermaids to shame, size wise (although I wouldn't want these guys to be anywhere near THAT huge, definately no taller than decent sized nagas)
Gulpers are pretty huge, at least compared to most other deep sea fish.
They can get up to about 6 feet (at least thats the largest recorded) Most other deep sea fish stay like the size of a fist. They'd probably be bigger, if they weren't in an environment where food was scarce, and even then, there isn't much in the way of large meals. ^^

Although, I wouldn't want to overpower, by having them be too huge.

Edit: forgot to mention earlier, these would be pretty uncommon. :3

X wrote:

Sean Okotami wrote:

From what I know, I think, gulper eels are generally small, so I guess like 20 to 30 ft when standing straight like a Naga would work. As for the "friendly when full", I can think of an alternative that they are usually lazy when satiated, so they don't bother too much about potential preys while digesting. Of course, that wouldn't mean you are completely safe.

I was thinking they'd be a bit bigger than that, just because the wiki talks about the depths of the Topazial Sea being full of things that put leviathan mermaids to shame, size wise (although I wouldn't want these guys to be anywhere near THAT huge, definately no taller than decent sized nagas)
Gulpers are pretty huge, at least compared to most other deep sea fish.
They can get up to about 6 feet (at least thats the largest recorded) Most other deep sea fish stay like the size of a fist. They'd probably be bigger, if they weren't in an environment where food was scarce, and even then, there isn't much in the way of large meals. ^^

Although, I wouldn't want to overpower, by having them be too huge.

Edit: forgot to mention earlier, these would be pretty uncommon. :3

The thing is, if they are so damn huge with such a massive and stretcheable stomach and can go on land as well as on the surface, it kinda breaks them. They'll need something to counterbalance this.

Sean Okotami wrote:

The thing is, if they are so damn huge with such a massive and stretcheable stomach and can go on land as well as on the surface, it kinda breaks them. They'll need something to counterbalance this.

Hmm..good point.
Them being a bit smaller (at least mass wise, seeing as gulpers have that insanely long tail) sounds good. :3
The stomach probably wouldn't be nearly as stretchable as an actual gulper, just because I can't think of any way something with a human torso (even with dislocating ribs/jaws) could swallow something multiple times it's size. I wouldn't think they'd be able to be too much better than a naga, as far as swallowing large things, just due to that limit. ^^
You probably wouldn't want to make a habit of being so horribly bloated, you wouldn't be able to move, in a place like Felarya anyway .

Maybe a slow metabolism, or just being more 'energy efficient', so they don't eat as often, as well?

X wrote:

This seems to have gone over much better than I thought it would
Maybe a shady general personality would fit better? Not flat out mean, more of something, where you are pretty unclear as to what they are going to do, but they are still calm, and almost (for lack of a better word) seductive about it. So even if they had no intention of harming you, they wouldn't really seem like it.

THIS. That uncertainty would be great in a story.

X wrote:

Although, of course, there would be a wide range of personalities, as you would expect from most sentient things.

Indeed

X wrote:

Maybe a slow metabolism, or just being more 'energy efficient', so they don't eat as often, as well?

Things with a slow metabolism tend to move pretty slowly most of the time too.

Redid a lot of the first post. ^^

It should make a little more sense now, and I fixed all of the stuff mentioned in the thread, I think.

It's an interesting species I think
I agree with some posters that the fact they changed so much their environment can be a little probelmatic, so that idea of having them going out of the water at night and being nocturnal is a nice opton.

Karbo wrote:

It's an interesting species I think
I agree with some posters that the fact they changed so much their environment can be a little probelmatic, so that idea of having them going out of the water at night and being nocturnal is a nice opton.

ooh, I like that idea.