Fusion

Race: Daemon

Alignment: Chaos

Primary element: Chaos

Height at shoulder: ~1 - 1,2 m

Length: ~5 m

Weight: ? (relatively light)

Lifespan: potentially immortal, average 80 – 300 years (adults at 30)

Core Hounds are chaos elementals living in Drakkhar. Initially genderless, they may think of themselves as ‘male’ or ‘female’ at psychological level, although it’s not common. Many choose a companion at some point of time and remain bounded to them for the rest of their lives. They live in packs of about 8-20 specimen with one or two alphas on the lead. Only alphas are able to ‘create’ new pack members, i.e. reorganize a part of their elemental power and give it a shape. The process is time-taking and exhausting, so not many choose to undergo it for fear of losing their position in the pack.  They’re very territorial and any kind of  contact with other packs will most likely result in bloodshed.

Core Hounds use the life source of other chaos elementals for nourishment, including the representatives of their own species. Although they will never feed on fellow pack members. Core Hounds are very swift hunters, but lacking physical strength of other creatures, and as such trying to use numbers to their advantage. Their main weapons are their claws and teeth, attacking the prey from below and aiming for the neck. (If one looks like it’s bowed it’s a clear sign it’s agitated and about to attack) They communicate using hisses (unhappy/ angry) and high pitched shrieks (happy/calling others).

The visible glowing substance seen in Core Hounds is the chaos energy making up their bones and muscles. Skin is colourless making their insides show through. The skin on legs is rougher and covered in small scales, which may come in various colour and patterns. The ‘visible’ bone structures are not their real bones (they would be the same colour as the rest of the core!) but a corneous substance covering their real bones, and serving as a kind of light armor. If hurt, Core Hound will bleed a sticky gas/fluid and burning hot substance, with some of it evaporating into the air.

Core Hounds cannot actively manipulate their main element, but the chaos energy acquired through other elementals helps them grow stronger. Particularly strong Core Hounds are able to feed off one more kind of elementals of their choice to acquire the second element, and at the later time become an alpha. As the result their bodies acquire new features varying between specimens. Alphas help synchronize the attack patterns of the pack making hunting easier. Sometimes they chose to lead the solitary lifestyle. If a Core Hound has any spikes, horns, etc. not shown on the regular base, then it's generally an alpha. In the wild Alphas are 300+ Drakkharian years old, and as such extremely rare.

As Core Hound’s bodies are of insanely high temperature, they can only function in the areas where the temperature is about equally high. They grow weaker as the temperature gets lower, to eventually become completely solid and still. They can only survive 3 Drakkharian days (about 32 hours) in this frozen state. Their insides will slowly cease to glow, and eventually crumble.

Core Hound’s eyesight is mediocre during both day and night, and as such they rely mostly on their sense of smell. In addition to that, they can sense the world with their cores, emitting and receiving heat to feel their environment.
A peculiarity with Cores is that once they catch and/or get food, they will eat it. ALL of it, no matter how much there is, with no exceptions. Afterwards they may just splatter their bodies on the ground and lay there in a sleep-like state, until they're able to move again. Did I mention they often don't survive for too long? Yeah, that's why. They do not need sleep to survive other than that in that case though!

Please check the reference sheet for MY Core Hound, Acid for details about anatomy  I've not included here (yet)! Note that Acid is a ‘rare’ Core Hound and as such his core structure is a bit different. Regular cores’ form is not boiling but fairly solid.