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Description
When it comes to myths and legends, many species are guilty of turning simple creatures into grand, impossible monsters. You get one or two bad encounters, and suddenly the whole race is taking about invincible monstrosities that destroy towns, abduct virgins and live off a healthy diet of babies. I cannot pretend we dryads are above this, as the Planggalan scares in the past have led to quite a few executions. I must say, though, out of all the races I have encountered, the one that is most susceptible to this weird mania seems to be humans. This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to you or or me, since humans have quite the healthy paranoia when it comes to other creatures. You wouldn't believe the amount of human villages that have barred me from entering, believing I had come to seduce their men, lure them into the woods and turn them into apple trees (yeah, apple trees. Beats the heck out of me why). It seems like every other species they encounter is suddenly hyped up as some monster sent from the gods. Be it Trolls, Ogre Spiders or Ningen, they often act like practically everything is a spirit of the dead or an unholy abomination sent by devils to steal their souls and innocence. Pretty strange. Explains why their settlements always have such high walls. The purpose of this entry is not to mock humans for their paranoia, but for something else entirely. Though humans have the tendency to make monsters out of everything, they aren't always wrong. An example of this can be found with the changlings.

Changlings are quite strange looking creatures, making it quite hard to figure out if they are mammal, reptile, amphibian or even some kind of malformed insect. They bear a rough resemblance to a humanoid, but there are plenty of differences that are quite obvious to the eyes. The outside of a changling has two different types of flesh/skin/exoskeleton. There is the gray flesh that composes most of their body, which is surprisingly spongy and malleable. It is quite off putting to touch, as poking it with a finger will have it sink in a good ways. One fun description of their flesh that colleague brought up was that it was like "if pillows were made of meat." Changlings do indeed have muscle, but it is much thinner and tougher than normal, and are buried deeper in their bodies. The second kind of coating they have is found on their arms, legs and spine. It is a tough exoskeleton made of chitin that sits quite close to the bone. A thin layer of tough muscle hides beneath it, which allows them to move and hunt. These parts of their body are quite sturdy, despite their emaciated look. The claws on their hands and feet are quite sharp too! The reason for this odd amalgamation of parts is mainly because changlings live in caves and dark, rocky environments. Their thin, sturdy limbs aid in climbing, while their soft flesh allows them to absorb the impact if they fall or are struck by a falling rock. What also helps with their dark environment is their enormous eyes, which take up quite an amount of space on their face. These huge eyes help capture what little light there is, and aid them in navigating through the dark. They also help when hunting, as they can pick up tiny details and subtle movements.

Changlings live in family groups, which are often referred to as a "pod." Numbers of individuals range from three to eight, though they prefer to keep it around five or six. They make their nests in caves, often finding nooks and crannies high above so predators cannot reach them. When not hunting, changlings prefer to groom one another and file their claws on specific stones. It seems that the chitin on the tips of their digits and stingers continuously grows throughout their life, so they must wear it down and shape it so it does not hinder them. Though they form pods, changlings are asexual creatures, having no distinct male or female parts. All carry the same organs and arrangement, which allows them to mate with any other member of their species. Reproduction is a group wide event, where a "carrier" is selected to bear the offspring. The individual who is chosen will then be stung by the tendrils of every member of the pod, which is how they transmit their reproductive fluids. It is believed that this group mating allows them to "mix up" the breeding process enough so that their pods do not face inbreeding problems. Offspring are released from the "carrier" in a cocoon-like structure, which some have described as an "external womb." They will grow in there for a few months, before hatching and joining the pod. Baby changlings are quite pudgy, doughy creatures, which look quite comical. Since their proboscises do not develop until a few months later, family members feed them by injecting the nutrients into them directly.

This leads us to the hunting methods of the changlings, which I am sure many were waiting for. Changlings are quite infamous for their method of obtaining prey, so much that other species are accused of doing the same thing. Changlings are capable of feeding off of small animals, but that makes up a small portion of their diet. What they mainly feed off of is young prey. Out of all the options, changlings prefer to hunt human children for prey, for what reason I am not sure. When the pod is hungry, changlings will leave their caves at nightfall and travel to nearby towns and villages. There they will execute their first stage of the hunt: harvesting. With agile, silent movements, they will sneak up on prey and jab them with their barbed tentacles. These inject a fast acting paralytic that will knock out prey in seconds. While the victim is unconscious, they will use their proboscis to suck out a small amount of blood. Once they have what they want, they swiftly flee the scene , leaving the victim to wake up minutes later with no memory of what happened. Once the changlings have taken blood samples, they will return to their cave and begin the next stage: decoy making. As I said, changlings are asexual creatures, and thus any one of them can take on the role of male or female. Those who collect the blood will mix it with their own fluids to create a fast fertilizing, quick growing embryo. A cocoon will form within their body like their normal offspring, which will be expelled and turned into an external womb. Within it, the "decoy" will form and take on the appearance of their prey. Babies that hatch from these cocoons will look like the offspring of the target species, but will actually have a mixture of both species within. After the few days that require the procreation of the decoys, the changlings will take the decoys and return to town. They will then find accessible homes that have young prey in them, and find a way in. They are quite stealthy and good at noticing details, so they are quite skilled at breaking into homes. They will knock the child out with an injection, take it from its crib and replace it with the decoy. With prize in hand, they will scurry off into the night. The decoy will serve as the replacement for a couple of weeks, but something inside them does not last for much longer. At some point in time, the false child will sicken and die, their death blending in with the other children who perish from disease and poor nourishment at an early age. The stolen child will be taken back to the caves, where they will be kept alive on cave moss and small critters while the changlings feed on their fluids bit by bit. The life span of stolen children varies, mainly depending on how many changlings feed on them. Some children have been known to live for years within these caves before they succumb to the feedings. To prevent accidental death, changlings often create some kind cocoon with their secretions to keep them immobile. Once the children die, they must return to town for another food source.

While changlings are indeed interesting creatures, it is sad to say they are quite a menace to humans and other susceptible species. No one likes having their child stolen and fed on, so removal or elimination of these creatures is top priority whenever a nest is found. The problem with finding their nests is that they hide in hard to reach spots and often disguise their caves. Unless you have a helper who can track their scent, you will never find the entrance. That is even assuming that you notice children being taken. Decoys are hard to spot, and not many think to check their child every single morning. Decoys can be detected by locating hidden pouches in their bellies that store their tendrils. When reeled in, these pouches are hard to find, as they are just tiny slits on the child's stomach, easily blending in with wrinkles or creases of the skin. Applying pressure in just the right area will force them to pop out, which breaks the disguise and reveals that the child is a decoy. When it comes to rescuing stolen children, it is obvious that one should retrieve them as soon as possible. The dark cave environment is not fitting for human babies, nor is their immobile lifestyle. If the child is not recovered within a few months, they often are permanently changed from their environment. Children who have been held by changlings for years are often pale, malnourished, feeble in their limbs and cannot stand sunlight without going blind. Many communities find death to be a mercy at this point.

Not wanting to leave this entry on a downer, I wish to bring up the odd cases where changling decoys have actually survived longer then intended. In rare cases, they do not grow sick, and actually live healthy lives for years. In these cases, families often don't detect the swap, or the just don't care (this is even rarer). As the child grows in age, the other half of their lineage will start to become more obvious. Their limbs will be much thinner than normal, and the skin around their arms and legs will turn dark and black. Their eyes are a bit larger than a humans, though not obviously so. The tendrils inside them will grow to a normal size, which makes them harder to hide. Human-changling hybrids often appear fatter than others, as their stomachs are storing these extra appendages. They are also often bald, as something in the changling heritage makes hair growth difficult. This hybridization is quite bizarre, but also rather interesting. The problem is that it is difficult to study, as most decoys that survive past their supposed deaths are eventually found out and killed. Very few escape the horrified parents and vengeful mobs. Even then, those who have not been killed live shorter lives than either of their parents and are sterile. How strange! I have never met one of these hybrids in my life, so far, but the tales make me wish that I get the chance someday!

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

--------------------------------------------

Update to these weirdos!

Description
When it comes to myths and legends, many species are guilty of turning simple creatures into grand, impossible monsters. You get one or two bad encounters, and suddenly the whole race is taking about invincible monstrosities that destroy towns, abduct virgins and live off a healthy diet of babies. I cannot pretend we dryads are above this, as the Planggalan scares in the past have led to quite a few executions. I must say, though, out of all the races I have encountered, the one that is most susceptible to this weird mania seems to be humans. This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to you or or me, since humans have quite the healthy paranoia when it comes to other creatures. You wouldn't believe the amount of human villages that have barred me from entering, believing I had come to seduce their men, lure them into the woods and turn them into apple trees (yeah, apple trees. Beats the heck out of me why). It seems like every other species they encounter is suddenly hyped up as some monster sent from the gods. Be it Trolls, Ogre Spiders or Ningen, they often act like practically everything is a spirit of the dead or an unholy abomination sent by devils to steal their souls and innocence. Pretty strange. Explains why their settlements always have such high walls. The purpose of this entry is not to mock humans for their paranoia, but for something else entirely. Though humans have the tendency to make monsters out of everything, they aren't always wrong. An example of this can be found with the changlings.

Changlings are quite strange looking creatures, making it quite hard to figure out if they are mammal, reptile, amphibian or even some kind of malformed insect. They bear a rough resemblance to a humanoid, but there are plenty of differences that are quite obvious to the eyes. The outside of a changling has two different types of flesh/skin/exoskeleton. There is the gray flesh that composes most of their body, which is surprisingly spongy and malleable. It is quite off putting to touch, as poking it with a finger will have it sink in a good ways. One fun description of their flesh that colleague brought up was that it was like "if pillows were made of meat." Changlings do indeed have muscle, but it is much thinner and tougher than normal, and are buried deeper in their bodies. The second kind of coating they have is found on their arms, legs and spine. It is a tough exoskeleton made of chitin that sits quite close to the bone. A thin layer of tough muscle hides beneath it, which allows them to move and hunt. These parts of their body are quite sturdy, despite their emaciated look. The claws on their hands and feet are quite sharp too! The reason for this odd amalgamation of parts is mainly because changlings live in caves and dark, rocky environments. Their thin, sturdy limbs aid in climbing, while their soft flesh allows them to absorb the impact if they fall or are struck by a falling rock. What also helps with their dark environment is their enormous eyes, which take up quite an amount of space on their face. These huge eyes help capture what little light there is, and aid them in navigating through the dark. They also help when hunting, as they can pick up tiny details and subtle movements.

Changlings live in family groups, which are often referred to as a "pod." Numbers of individuals range from three to eight, though they prefer to keep it around five or six. They make their nests in caves, often finding nooks and crannies high above so predators cannot reach them. When not hunting, changlings prefer to groom one another and file their claws on specific stones. It seems that the chitin on the tips of their digits and stingers continuously grows throughout their life, so they must wear it down and shape it so it does not hinder them. Though they form pods, changlings are asexual creatures, having no distinct male or female parts. All carry the same organs and arrangement, which allows them to mate with any other member of their species. Reproduction is a group wide event, where a "carrier" is selected to bear the offspring. The individual who is chosen will then be stung by the tendrils of every member of the pod, which is how they transmit their reproductive fluids. It is believed that this group mating allows them to "mix up" the breeding process enough so that their pods do not face inbreeding problems. Offspring are released from the "carrier" in a cocoon-like structure, which some have described as an "external womb." They will grow in there for a few months, before hatching and joining the pod. Baby changlings are quite pudgy, doughy creatures, which look quite comical. Since their proboscises do not develop until a few months later, family members feed them by injecting the nutrients into them directly.

This leads us to the hunting methods of the changlings, which I am sure many were waiting for. Changlings are quite infamous for their method of obtaining prey, so much that other species are accused of doing the same thing. Changlings are capable of feeding off of small animals, but that makes up a small portion of their diet. What they mainly feed off of is young prey. Out of all the options, changlings prefer to hunt human children for prey, for what reason I am not sure. When the pod is hungry, changlings will leave their caves at nightfall and travel to nearby towns and villages. There they will execute their first stage of the hunt: harvesting. With agile, silent movements, they will sneak up on prey and jab them with their barbed tentacles. These inject a fast acting paralytic that will knock out prey in seconds. While the victim is unconscious, they will use their proboscis to suck out a small amount of blood. Once they have what they want, they swiftly flee the scene , leaving the victim to wake up minutes later with no memory of what happened. Once the changlings have taken blood samples, they will return to their cave and begin the next stage: decoy making. As I said, changlings are asexual creatures, and thus any one of them can take on the role of male or female. Those who collect the blood will mix it with their own fluids to create a fast fertilizing, quick growing embryo. A cocoon will form within their body like their normal offspring, which will be expelled and turned into an external womb. Within it, the "decoy" will form and take on the appearance of their prey. Babies that hatch from these cocoons will look like the offspring of the target species, but will actually have a mixture of both species within. After the few days that require the procreation of the decoys, the changlings will take the decoys and return to town. They will then find accessible homes that have young prey in them, and find a way in. They are quite stealthy and good at noticing details, so they are quite skilled at breaking into homes. They will knock the child out with an injection, take it from its crib and replace it with the decoy. With prize in hand, they will scurry off into the night. The decoy will serve as the replacement for a couple of weeks, but something inside them does not last for much longer. At some point in time, the false child will sicken and die, their death blending in with the other children who perish from disease and poor nourishment at an early age. The stolen child will be taken back to the caves, where they will be kept alive on cave moss and small critters while the changlings feed on their fluids bit by bit. The life span of stolen children varies, mainly depending on how many changlings feed on them. Some children have been known to live for years within these caves before they succumb to the feedings. To prevent accidental death, changlings often create some kind cocoon with their secretions to keep them immobile. Once the children die, they must return to town for another food source.

While changlings are indeed interesting creatures, it is sad to say they are quite a menace to humans and other susceptible species. No one likes having their child stolen and fed on, so removal or elimination of these creatures is top priority whenever a nest is found. The problem with finding their nests is that they hide in hard to reach spots and often disguise their caves. Unless you have a helper who can track their scent, you will never find the entrance. That is even assuming that you notice children being taken. Decoys are hard to spot, and not many think to check their child every single morning. Decoys can be detected by locating hidden pouches in their bellies that store their tendrils. When reeled in, these pouches are hard to find, as they are just tiny slits on the child's stomach, easily blending in with wrinkles or creases of the skin. Applying pressure in just the right area will force them to pop out, which breaks the disguise and reveals that the child is a decoy. When it comes to rescuing stolen children, it is obvious that one should retrieve them as soon as possible. The dark cave environment is not fitting for human babies, nor is their immobile lifestyle. If the child is not recovered within a few months, they often are permanently changed from their environment. Children who have been held by changlings for years are often pale, malnourished, feeble in their limbs and cannot stand sunlight without going blind. Many communities find death to be a mercy at this point.

Not wanting to leave this entry on a downer, I wish to bring up the odd cases where changling decoys have actually survived longer then intended. In rare cases, they do not grow sick, and actually live healthy lives for years. In these cases, families often don't detect the swap, or the just don't care (this is even rarer). As the child grows in age, the other half of their lineage will start to become more obvious. Their limbs will be much thinner than normal, and the skin around their arms and legs will turn dark and black. Their eyes are a bit larger than a humans, though not obviously so. The tendrils inside them will grow to a normal size, which makes them harder to hide. Human-changling hybrids often appear fatter than others, as their stomachs are storing these extra appendages. They are also often bald, as something in the changling heritage makes hair growth difficult. This hybridization is quite bizarre, but also rather interesting. The problem is that it is difficult to study, as most decoys that survive past their supposed deaths are eventually found out and killed. Very few escape the horrified parents and vengeful mobs. Even then, those who have not been killed live shorter lives than either of their parents and are sterile. How strange! I have never met one of these hybrids in my life, so far, but the tales make me wish that I get the chance someday!

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

--------------------------------------------

Update to these weirdos!