• Lore

• Some hundreds of years after hoodmakkas started prospering on the Fallen Lands, the unknown origins of a dangerous foe crept into the shadows. Night terrors, as they like to call them. Long serpent like forms that would only emerge and exist in the night, regardless of shadows in the day. They capture the souls of unsuspecting Hoodmakkas and disappear with them into the sky, with no way to get them back. Lost forever. Thankfully, these foes can be destroyed or killed, only to discover they would dissipate into the unknown. Unnaturally, with these foes appeared with them the first fragments. They would never fall to the ground but would wait idly in the atmosphere with the stars. These were hard to find, and some lucky hoodmakkas have witnessed a small mass of stars magnetize and collide to form fragments. When hoodmakkas brought these fragments down to the Fallen Lands, they would grow rapidly in size and crystallize in mere days. Soon from them hatched the first mutants, who emerged as full grown hoodmakkas. Others were very wary of them, for their strange properties and appearance. There is one antidote known: The light. Fires, lanterns, stardust or comet trails, anything that glowed would deter Night Terrors from coming close to these hoodmakkas. Some of the lucky hoodmakkas inherit a bioluminescent trait. Though Night Terrors vary in size, the larger ones tend to get testy and will tempt a hoodmakka who’s light appears smaller than them.
  
  
  HOODMAKKA INFO
  Housing: Hoodmakkas tend to create bird nests, find refuge in caves, or the more crafty may build bungalows or similar structures.Currency: fallen stars are very valuable, and the ever rarer fragments are used in trading and commerce. Economy and occupation: Carpenters and architects, artists, teachers, farmers, foragers, warriors, blacksmiths, etc. Hoodmakkas will tend to form communities and seek out others with needed skill sets in order to live.Social: Hoodmakkas can either be nomadic, settled, and can be a part of groups or may be totally independent. It is very common to find group populations traveling with at least one trusted goliath.Behavior, diet, life cycle and instincts: Hoodmakkas lay eggs and age normally like humans would. When they hatch, their cape is the same ratio it would be to their body when they are young and fully grown. Hoodmakkas tend to pair/partner up for life, with whomever they choose. The original mother may take care of their young, but it is very common for the entire community to pitch in and take care of the young. They can live upwards to 80-90 years, and ancients can last for as long as 200 years. Because of the night terrors, Hoodmakkas are primarily nocturnal. Those with tails or cape tails tend to sleep hanging upside down like bats would. Hoodmakkas are omnivores, and prey mainly on insects and fish, as well as forage fruits, plants, vegetables, and fungus. Very small amounts of the Hoodmakka population need blood to survive as their main source of food.
  
  
  I may have to fix these. Whether you want your hoodmakka to be a part of the world/lore is your choice!

The origin of Hoodmakkas started nearly 250 million years ago. At the time, Humans were still occupying earth, and were on an expansion mission as the earth’s resources were tainted and dwindling. In their search, they came across an asteroid many miles wide on a collision course towards earth. They discovered that trillions of little star shaped aliens were clustered and living on the rock, and upon bringing a sample home found that the aliens could change their molecular structure to whatever they pleased. People became greedy, and sought out the colony again, realizing they could use these creatures to replenish lost resources. What the people didn't realize was that the asteroid was not an asteroid but a dense cluster of crinoid-like organisms, and that the largest organism within the colony was sentient and angry that part of its colony was stolen. The mothership of this colony was known as “The First”, and was vengeful in seeking out to destroy earth and claim it for its own colony. The First was in awe of the culture and things of both earth and the human race, and wanted to keep it for its own colony without the presence of humans. 

Before it destroyed the earth, it used its tendrils to rapidly cover vast areas of the planet in a molten ooze that ambered and preserved flesh, plants, bone and paper when solid. Only it was not amber, but the tough foreign material that made up the outer bodies of the crinoids. It thrives off of heat and is impenetrable to the firepower produced by the militia power of humans. It only took a few days for the First to withdraw and hurl its body towards the earth at intense speed, causing a mass extinction event for all of the planet that was not ambered. The First suffered damage to its own body, splitting its form to be less dense and causing most of the organisms to fossilize under the intense pressure in order to preserve their power and essence. 

NOTE: depending on the environment and condition the star fossilized under, they created variations of normal, red, lost, and shimmering in order to combat those changes in environment. Later, these could be crushed and added to an existing species to increase their “Starpower”. Fragments are like stars, but more vulnerable and susceptible to implosion. True hoodmakkas are resilient to this trait, and can use it to the same effect that the first could (free forming parts, increased durability and strength of said parts). Night terrors came along from Fragments that imploded, causing a loose free flowing creature to seek out its own solid form via successful crinoids that evolved. Very few original species exist in the world now, especially not without the influence of stars/crinoids

Even after crash landing, the First immediately got back to hunting down the last of the Human race and shepherding fossilized and surviving crinoids under its care and gaze. After this it began working to cultivate a new world for its colony. The surviving crinoids that were not under the first’s gaze soon gained sentience when they merged with other surviving species of earth, the most successful one deriving from bats. The oldest species started on the mainland, and as they spread and discovered other stars, their traits began to morph with the memories contained with the stars in the geographical area. True hoodmakkas are the oldest strand of species, and as the other sub species became more solidified in their form and function, hoodmakkas moved west towards the crash site to remain versatile and freeforming. This migration was nearly 190 million years ago. 

The first likes to deposit stars and objects of the past towards the crash site, believing that there were no inhabitants as it was very far from the mainland. However, this allowed true hoodmakkas to diversify greatly, and even appear as cultural and pop culture things that existed during the anthropocene. Hoodmakkas of the crash site were unaware of the First’s presence until Pumpkin King caught sight of it one day. However, Pumpkin Kings goal was to revive his family after a Terror attack and kept the information of dust dancing and the terror lore to himself in fear that word would break loose and Hoodmakkas across the country would put an end to terrors before he could find the Terror that took his family. Unbeknownst to Pumpkin, He had already rid of that possibility when he accidentally smashed the red star gifted by the First into a fragment supercluster that spawned the existence of “feisty stars”. That supercluster was in fact the Terror that preyed on his family as well as some many others. So if he were to try and revive his family, he could have only done one member. Pumpkin does not know this until his exploration of the Vagantmakkas, who use red star traits. Pumpkin King is wary of the information he holds, and often uses terrors to his advantage to try and dissuade other hoodmakkas from coming close, in a sort of similar manner that the First does. 

Hoodmakkas exist in a time known as the “Posteocene”, on earth, and on the supercontinent “Apierongea”

Hoodmakkas have been changed to be more like synapsids, or mammal-like reptiles, but they give birth to live young. A litter now can consist of 1-4 Hoodmakkups (or hoodmikkens), and within the first 15 minutes of leaving the womb, the sinews of the hood and cape on a baby hoodmakka begin to dissolve and separate. Before this process, hoodmakkas look like they're in eggs. The Star plating on their capes, feet, and head tend to make a star shape when they are curled up.

Also fun fact but Bats, whales, and echidnas/platypus are some of the most unique clades of synapsids that exist today (Of course though, they all have evolved long past permian pelycosaurs)  

Crinoids: The star shaped aliens that arrived on earth 250 million years ago, not sentient

Stars: The fossilized version of crinoids. They are buoyant in the sky, but upon “maturing” (which is more of an act of absorbing more mass from stardust) they become heavy and fall, and can be used to enhance a living hoodmakka. 

Starpower: The amount of stars taken to give 1 singular organism more stability and variance to perform their task and survive their environment

The First: Sentient Crinoid supercluster colony that pioneered the arrival of hoodmakkas on earth. The first could not evolve like hoodmakkas so it remains a silicon based life form

Stardust: falls off of falling Stars, can be collected from pulverized stars as well. 

Special (pop up) Stars:

Fragments: Clusters of fossilized stars that could not break free of each other (hence why imploded fragments create Night Terrors whose bodies appear webbed together)

Night Terrors: come from imploded fragments, barely sentient, and crave the blood and physical bodies of their evolved cousin, hoodmakkas. When they collect the blood of one, they are capable of storing that hoodmakkas memories, their copied gene patterns and DNA, and rarely their own essence when they successfully re-crystallize into a fragment. It is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a fragment that has been forged or made from one that has already imploded and re-crystallized because it became a Night terror. There is no clock as to when they wake and re-form, but it may be influenced because of Dust Dancing. Giant fragments (super fragments) are the result of a Terror collecting dozens of Hoodmakka essences, and is the most obvious form of a crystallized Terror. Terrors can be killed at the hand of hoodmakkas via ripping or shredding their bodies, which separates the single cell organisms to become normal stars once again. Terrors dissipate in the daylight, but reform as crystals back in the atmosphere if they cannot hide in the shadows beforehand. They can survive intense cold and heat, but wcannot survive in outer space or in water. Light of any kind dissuades them. 

Dust Dancing: The act of commanding a Night Terror with the soft light of stardust. It is in a similar manner to how the First is able to become a cluster organism. Hoodmakkas with Feisty star traits, “Midas Touch” or Mutation traits have a much easier time doing this. When done right, it can cause the Night Terror to re-crystallize. It can even be used to start the metamorphosis process where many mutated makkas are born. If a fragment essence is successfully restored to the body of a hoodmakka, then it is known as a “rebirth”. The only drawback is that the Makka inherits a mutation trait, and you may or may not deal with some-makka not wanting to be revived. 

5 Point Star: The shape made at birth by the cape, feet, and head plates on a makka. It is said that the plates are a remnant of their star shaped ancestor.

TLDR: Hoodmakkas are a hybrid of carbon and silicon based life that evolved from their alien and earth ancestors. They are a very resourceful, curious, and hardy species. The first does not like this and attempts to hoard and hide many star variants and pieces of the past from the hoodmakka race so they do not discover it. Can commandeer Night Terrors to control their population and how close they get to the First. 

Very TLDR: Version: Fossilized alien stars contain memories and gene structures from anthropocene earth that affect how Hoodmakkas appear and act. Hoodmakkas seek out answers of the past and wish for more freedom from the First. True Hoodmakkas can interact with Night Terrors, other subspecies cannot due to lost connection to their root ancestor.