Asceoloth

Asceoloth
A Size Comparison
Scientific classification
Species:	Asceoloth
Binomial name
Amīcissimus Colossus

The Asceoloth {Ask ey oh lawth} [Amīcissimus Colossus] are the largest of all Mongonoid creatures brought to Sparkalia. Measuring around 80 yards in the case of adult males, they are characterized by their immense size, but also by their high intelligence, and their relative docility. Their docility primarily comes from their historical lack of predators on Mongo, and from their nature itself. Their gentleness means that many creatures swim near them without fear. However, they are known to be ferocious when defending a mate or calf. Some other sea creatures utilize their defensive nature by hiding from predators by fleeing near an Asceoloth, and relying on it to drive off their attacker. Mating for life, Asceoloths are entirely monogamous, and work together to raise a single calf until it is at least a juvenile, if not into its young adulthood, which takes many decades, and causes them to reproduce incredibly slowly.

Created by Tao/Atol, they are made native to Mongo, inhabiting the seas of the rogue planet. Requiring radiation to live, the planet was a heaven for them, but on Sparkalia they are limited to the Glowing Sea. They were brought to Sparkalia in small numbers when the Golden Domain was established, during a time when Mongo happened to pass relatively nearby Sparkalia, before heading away into the infinite abyss of space from which it came.

Asceoloth are radiation consuming creatures, needing only water and radiation to survive. Thus they have no need to consume either food or plants for sustenance. Like many other sea creatures, Asceoloth never truly sleep as humans do. Rather, Asceoloth sleep as whales do. They possess little difference between their male and females besides reproductive organs and size. They are intelligent creatures capable of emotions such as love, and are known for being especially gentle towards most things, almost always only acting in a defensive manner against perceived threats.

Etymology

Asceoloth is a combination of two words. The better known is the common -eoloth, from the Mongon word for “glow”, referring to their radioactive nature, and the fact that they rely on radiation for energy. The Asc- comes from the Mongon word for a “call/summon”, deriving from the sounds which they make.

Asceoloth can be used both for the singular and plural form of the world. Asceoloths is also appropriate when referring to more than one Asceoloth.

History

The first Asceoloth were created on Mongo in a time beyond remembrance of even the oldest of the golden people. Crafted by Tao/Atol, they are native to the rogue planet of Mongo, and thus are known as “Mongonoid” animals. Like all of Tao/Atol’s creations, all Asceoloths have a very slight “taint” of anti-magic. [However, in most cases, including the cases of most Asceoloth, it is such a slight taint that the average magic wielder would only feel slight discomfort, and that only when in a relatively close vicinity to them.] Move

Asceoloths were introduced to Sparkalia by the Mongon settlers that would create the Golden Domain when they arrived onto the planet of Sparkalia. The first Asceoloth to swim in the seas of sparkalia were calves, although they were watched closely and kept safe, near the shore, until they became juveniles. Once they became juveniles, they were deemed large enough to safely swim on their own in the open waters of what had become the Glowing Sea. Due to slow reproduction, they still have a fairly small population.

Habitat

The Asceoloth are native to the waters of Mongo, where they swim freely and without fear of harm, and where they grow larger than any which live on Sparkalia, though no one from the Domain is able to confirm such reports.

On Sparkalia, they inhabit the Glowing Sea, an extremely irradiated portion of the sea which is located by the Glowing Coast, the term for the lands which the Mongons settled in and transformed. Requiring the consumption of radiation, which they primarily get by drinking irradiated water, to get energy, and thus survive, their habitat is thus fairly limited. The larger and more powerful Asceoloth are capable of fasting for longer, and thus are capable of going further than the younger one. Juveniles can hardly leave the irradiated waters without dying of starvation, and the energy required to produce Lēomena for the calves to feed on means that mother Asceoloths cannot afford to leave long either, and therefore neither can their calves. They can live in both fresh and saltwater, but are too large to live within the rivers of the Domain, at least when adults. Thus, they are currently only found in the sea.

Biology

Physiology

Asceoloths are large aquatic creatures, which possess four large flippers, a whale-like tail, and a large head. They possess two eyes, one on each side of the head. They breathe through two nostrils located on their head, breathing manually as whales do. A fully grown Asceoloth is capable of diving for an estimated 6 hours, though size and age can increase or decrease the time. Female Asceoloth are roughly 90% of the size of their male counterparts. Asceoloth move relatively slow compared to their size. However, they are fairly maneuverable, able to rotate near on the spot in the water due to their large flippers.

Senses

Asceoloths have fairly decent vision due to their large eyes. They are able to see as well underwater as above it. In turn, they have no sense of smell. However, they can taste the water, which can act as a slight crutch, and allows them to determine the saltiness of water.

Their most important sense is arguably their hearing, when combined with their ability to echolocate. They produce a powerful signal that, while not as powerful as a sperm whale’s proportional to their size, is more powerful due to their much larger size, when adults. The sounds they make are powerful enough to potentially kill a person if caught directly in the way of a particularly loud blast.

Life Cycle and Span

Asceoloths are born as a sole calf in a live birthing process. At birth they are around. Ten yards long for male calves, and 9 yards long for female calves. It takes around forty years for the calf to reach a level of maturity that is required for it to be known as a Juvenile. At this point, on average males are 50 yards long and females 45 yards long. During the juvenile period they grow into sexual maturity. However, juvenile Asceoloth rarely seek out a mate until they have reached “adulthood”, due to their small size making birth harder and making them more vulnerable to threats themselves and less competent at defending their calf. Juveniles also often stay near their parents, especially in the early years of being a juvenile. When they are not near their parents, Juvenile Asceoloths tend to stick to water near the coast. Reaching what is known as “true adulthood” takes an average of 90 more years. By this point, male Asceoloth are roughly 80 yards long, while female Asceoloth are only around 73 yards on average. By this point, most Asceoloth have either sought out a mate during their late juvenile faze, or will begin to search for one. Once they have found a mate, they stick with them for life.

Consumption

Asceoloths, as Mongonoids, need only water and radiation to survive. Asceoloths can drink either fresh or saltwater, only requiring that the water be pure enough for them to drink, radiation not counting against such. Their bodies naturally filter the salt out. In order to consume radiation, they, like other Mongonoids, have two options. The first is the passive method, in which they simply absorb it. This gives them the energy directly, but is slow, and few Mongoid species, including the Asceoloths, could survive on it, and certainly could not thrive with it. Thus the second method, the drinking of irradiated water, is the primary way that most Mongonoids, including Asceoloths, feed. Due to not eating food, Asceoloths lack both guts and intestines. Instead, they possess a large water organ, known as a Theote, which both acts as the equivalent of a water stomach, and fulfills the role of kidney. In order to drink, Asceoloths force water out of their mouth, often by surfacing and letting it drain out, before closing their jaws. Using their specially made teeth to prevent creatures from entering their mouth, they swim forward, cousin water to make its way into their mouth, which they then drink. Their teeth are large and thick, and have strands, similar to baleen, on the front of them, which are what prevent most creatures from entering their closed jaws when they attempt to drink. If a tooth is broken the entire tooth will be dropped. If a tooth is dropped a new tooth will regrow within a month in adults, and half the time for juveniles, with calves growing a tooth back in around a week.

Asceoloth calves drink the Mongonoid equivalent of milk, a fluid known as Lēomena, a radiation rich water based fluid produced by all female Mongonoids. By the time they have developed into juveniles calves are weaned of this fluid. Due to the high radiation of the fluid, the mother is required to consume far more when producing it, and thus are forced to remain in heavily irradiated areas when nursing.

Defenses

Asceoloths have three primary defenses, besides the sheer size of an adult, which they use to intimidate, ward off, and sometimes even kill threats to them and/or their young. These methods are almost never used on offense, as Asceoloth are naturally extremely gentile creatures, often fearing nothing. This nature has allowed scientists to swim up to, and often touch, Asceoloths. Other animals also benefit, with many other creatures, including actual whale, swimming alongside them, and using them as a form of defense. However, when they feel a creature is a threat to them, their mate, and especially their calf, they act hostile, and thus Orcas are driven off. When facing a threat, a warning sound is generally issued first, before a fiend charge or threatening motion is made, in an attempt to drive away the perceived threat. If all else fails, Asceoloths will attack the threat, though if it flees they rarely pursue it far, only making sure the threat is truly gone. Morthor, a large than average bull Asceoloth, is the only currently documented case of an aggressive Asceoloth.

The first method is with their tail, which they use by beating into smaller creatures, thrashing, stunning, and depending on the size difference, sometimes even killing their attackers. Using the method generally means that they are by the surface, and that their attackers are smaller, often pack hunting, predators.

The second method involves their own sound. With it, they can stun many attackers, and even kill some smaller or particularly sensitive creatures creatures. However, the larger threats may only be fazed by such a method. However, the method also serves simply to help them detect attackers, and they often use calls to try and warn off would be threats.

The final, and most extreme method at the disposal of Asceoloths, is to bite down onto an attacker. While not designed to tear flesh, their teeth are strong and large, capable of crushing exoskeletons or breaking flesh and bone. They also are useful for gripping, and thus the bite can be used by a bull Asceoloth to hold an attacker, while the mother and calf Asceoloth flee. Biting is the least common method used by adult Asceoloth, as few creatures attack such large, and mostly docile, creatures.

Variation

The average Asceoloth is fairly bland in appearance, possessing a pinko-gray-blue colored Dels. Like normal Mongonoid creatures, their anti-magical taint is faint, and would be a mere incontinence to any skilled magic user, at the most, if not a mere disturbance. Besides the greater thickness due to their size, nothing about their biology is special compared to other Mongonoids.

The far rarer kind of Asceoloth is the Golden Asceoloth. They are in many ways the Asceoloth equivalent of the Aureoloth, but are a rare condition, instead of a separate species. Like the Aureoloth, their Golden Dels is immune to acid, and also dissipates the atomic blasts of Domain atom-guns. It is also heavier, but in turn tougher, and better able to support their weight. Also like the Aureoloth, they are intensely anti-magical. Their aura of anti-magic is powerful, dissipating almost any magic, except that of some of the most powerful users, that comes near them by one length of their body. As is the nature of anti-magic, it has no effect on non-magical creatures, and it causes no harm to anti-magical creatures. Some of the anti-magical effect is transmitted whenever they echolocate. However, despite this, they are not any more aggressive towards other creatures, magical or not, than the standard Asceoloth. In fact, they are often seen as being even gentler, likely in part due to their tougher dells causing them to feel less threatened.

Members

Apater and Konego

Apater and Konego, a mated Asceoloth pair, are the two oldest living Asceoloth on Sparkalia. They are also especially huge, being not just the oldest Sparkalian Asceoloths, but also the largest, with Konego coming in at 100 yards long, while Apater, who is even larger, measures in at 110 yards long. Both of them are Golden, and both are known to be exceptionally amicable, especially to the interaction of humanoids. Many divers have been able to touch, and even sit on not only them, which many other Asceoloths will allow, but also were able to touch their calves, an extremely rare trait. On top of their naturally gentleness as a Asceoloth, the fact that they were raised as calves by the humanoid Mongons, like all of the other first generation Sparkalian Asceoloths were, is believed to have helped contribute to their friendliness. They have produced several offspring.

Morthor

While Apater and Konego are both friendly and golden, Morthor is anything but. He is a standard Asceoloth, though in size he is larger, being 90 yards long, making him the 3rd longest Asceoloth to ever swim the Sparkalian seas. Like all Asceoloths he is a fairly intelligent creature, but his similarity in mentality ends their, for he is the sole Asceoloth known for starting aggression with other species. Having mated as a Juvenile, his mate and first calf are believed to have been slain by a large pod of Orcas. This belief stems from a period during which he was recorded, on several different occasions, hunting down and killing Orcas. It is believed that trauma from his early loss, and potential physical damage to his mind, are the primary culprits behind him having gone mad. Due to his aggressiveness, the other Asceoloth avoid him, and he swims at the northern edge of the Glowing sea, attacking creatures in fits of aimless rage. His name was given after the news about his killings was discovered.