Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Sept 20, 2017 22:55:18 GMT -5
The following information is crucial to your survival.
An ala (plural: ale) is an extradimensional organism that feeds off of universes and the life within them. They travel the multiverse in the form of clouds controlled by an intelligent, psychic queen, searching for universes or otherwise habitable dimensional landmasses to plant their young. Vicious, ravenous, unfeeling, and dominated by a collective consciousness, they have been known to ravage entire universes within years or even months at a time, leaving death and destruction in their wake and seeking only to devour all life they come across.
If you're reading this, it means your universe has become a target for an ala queen. Your chances of survival are highly unlikely, and your best option is to escape at all costs. However, should you choose to stay and fight... first of all, you're a fool... but more importantly, it would be best to know what you're up against.
Ale come in innumerable shapes and sizes depending on their current stage of life and their environment, though they all bear a consistent, rust-red color scheme and a smell to match it. Be aware that ale are a tremendously durable race, capable of surviving highly unfavorable environments and even the vacuum of space, with no need for sustenance beyond maturation. As such, they are not easy to kill en masse, let alone individually. The best way to kill an ala is with fire, acid, or any other means of completely incinerating/dissolving its form; otherwise, killing one simply runs the risk of spawning even more of them. That's really all you need to know –the complete ins and outs of their biology isn't going to make much of a difference to you when they're devouring everything you know and love– but it can't hurt to familiarize yourself with the various forms of the ala lifecycle:
Spores: Red dust-like particles that gather in large red clouds, dense accumulations of various gases, spores and eggs that coalesce around a queen ala. Within these clouds, the spores fertilize the queen, allowing her to lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time, which remain dormant until they are warmed by the sun and atmosphere of a planet. Spores are naturally produced by Stage 2 and 3 ale, immediately rising into the atmosphere to join the cloud upon expulsion. Should a living, non-ala creature inhale spores, they will become infected, causing their bodies to produce more spores and their minds to be psychically susceptible to control by the queen; this process is typically nonlethal and can be cured.
Stage 1: "Wyrm." The larval stage, taking on a tapeworm-like form with a pair of hooked mandibles on each end, starting out at three feet in length and capable of growing to six. Upon hatching, wyrms will rain down from their spore cloud onto the land below and immediately seek to devour any and all organic matter in their path. Their skin is extremely dense and difficult to pierce, and cutting a wyrm in half will result in both ends becoming separate entities, a process that rings true for any living part of the wyrm still attached to a pair of mandibles. They cannot consume metal, rock or plastic, and they can be warded off by water, extreme heat, or extreme cold. Freezing a wyrm will merely cause it to go dormant until it is thawed. The only way to kill wyrms is with fire or acid.
Stage 2: "Pupa." After consuming an adequate amount of organic matter, an ala will find a safe, secluded area in which to cocoon itself and undergo a rapid metamorphosis into their third stage. Depending on the form they will ultimately take, the process typically takes anywhere between twelve hours to three days to complete. In this stage, they are highly vulnerable and easily killed, but will release a large burst of spores from their broken cocoons.
Stage 3: "Chimera." Upon hatching, releasing a burst of spores in the process, an ala will have taken on a form resembling an amalgamation of whatever lifeforms it fed off of in its larval stage. Chimeras vary greatly in size, shape and features, ranging from plants to animals to humanoid beings to grotesque hybrids of each. They typically stand between seven to twelve feet, but larger chimeras have been documented. Though they no longer require nourishment, they still feel an innate need to consume all living things they encounter. In this stage, depending on their attributes, they can be more easily killed by more conventional means (i.e. stabbing or beheading), but they heal quickly and will release spores from their body should they be wounded or killed. The preferred method of killing chimeras is still fire or acid, which will also kill all spores.
Stage 4: "Queen." The rarest and most dangerous form an ala can take. Should a chimera consume the heart of the universe its colony has occupied, it will acquire sentience, self-awareness, and vast psychic abilities, subsequently undergoing a rapid metamorphosis into a squid- and/or dragon-like creature the size of a small landmass. The new queen will then psychically take command of every ale and spore-infected being in the universe, forcing them to release spores into space for her to immerse herself in and create a new spore cloud. She will then depart to the void of the multiverse to begin her brooding and find a new universe to start a new colony, while the ale left behind feed off of the remains of the dying universe. Typically, the queen that initially birthed the present colony will remain in that universe until another queen has been produced. Queens are impervious to nearly all forms of damage, and as such, it is almost impossible to kill one. Almost.
Bearing all of this in mind... run. Get off this island. While you still can. Leave these monsters to me. If you still wish to take your chances against them, you have my condolences, but don't say I didn't warn you.
~Koeham
An ala (plural: ale) is an extradimensional organism that feeds off of universes and the life within them. They travel the multiverse in the form of clouds controlled by an intelligent, psychic queen, searching for universes or otherwise habitable dimensional landmasses to plant their young. Vicious, ravenous, unfeeling, and dominated by a collective consciousness, they have been known to ravage entire universes within years or even months at a time, leaving death and destruction in their wake and seeking only to devour all life they come across.
If you're reading this, it means your universe has become a target for an ala queen. Your chances of survival are highly unlikely, and your best option is to escape at all costs. However, should you choose to stay and fight... first of all, you're a fool... but more importantly, it would be best to know what you're up against.
Ale come in innumerable shapes and sizes depending on their current stage of life and their environment, though they all bear a consistent, rust-red color scheme and a smell to match it. Be aware that ale are a tremendously durable race, capable of surviving highly unfavorable environments and even the vacuum of space, with no need for sustenance beyond maturation. As such, they are not easy to kill en masse, let alone individually. The best way to kill an ala is with fire, acid, or any other means of completely incinerating/dissolving its form; otherwise, killing one simply runs the risk of spawning even more of them. That's really all you need to know –the complete ins and outs of their biology isn't going to make much of a difference to you when they're devouring everything you know and love– but it can't hurt to familiarize yourself with the various forms of the ala lifecycle:
Spores: Red dust-like particles that gather in large red clouds, dense accumulations of various gases, spores and eggs that coalesce around a queen ala. Within these clouds, the spores fertilize the queen, allowing her to lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time, which remain dormant until they are warmed by the sun and atmosphere of a planet. Spores are naturally produced by Stage 2 and 3 ale, immediately rising into the atmosphere to join the cloud upon expulsion. Should a living, non-ala creature inhale spores, they will become infected, causing their bodies to produce more spores and their minds to be psychically susceptible to control by the queen; this process is typically nonlethal and can be cured.
Stage 1: "Wyrm." The larval stage, taking on a tapeworm-like form with a pair of hooked mandibles on each end, starting out at three feet in length and capable of growing to six. Upon hatching, wyrms will rain down from their spore cloud onto the land below and immediately seek to devour any and all organic matter in their path. Their skin is extremely dense and difficult to pierce, and cutting a wyrm in half will result in both ends becoming separate entities, a process that rings true for any living part of the wyrm still attached to a pair of mandibles. They cannot consume metal, rock or plastic, and they can be warded off by water, extreme heat, or extreme cold. Freezing a wyrm will merely cause it to go dormant until it is thawed. The only way to kill wyrms is with fire or acid.
Stage 2: "Pupa." After consuming an adequate amount of organic matter, an ala will find a safe, secluded area in which to cocoon itself and undergo a rapid metamorphosis into their third stage. Depending on the form they will ultimately take, the process typically takes anywhere between twelve hours to three days to complete. In this stage, they are highly vulnerable and easily killed, but will release a large burst of spores from their broken cocoons.
Stage 3: "Chimera." Upon hatching, releasing a burst of spores in the process, an ala will have taken on a form resembling an amalgamation of whatever lifeforms it fed off of in its larval stage. Chimeras vary greatly in size, shape and features, ranging from plants to animals to humanoid beings to grotesque hybrids of each. They typically stand between seven to twelve feet, but larger chimeras have been documented. Though they no longer require nourishment, they still feel an innate need to consume all living things they encounter. In this stage, depending on their attributes, they can be more easily killed by more conventional means (i.e. stabbing or beheading), but they heal quickly and will release spores from their body should they be wounded or killed. The preferred method of killing chimeras is still fire or acid, which will also kill all spores.
Stage 4: "Queen." The rarest and most dangerous form an ala can take. Should a chimera consume the heart of the universe its colony has occupied, it will acquire sentience, self-awareness, and vast psychic abilities, subsequently undergoing a rapid metamorphosis into a squid- and/or dragon-like creature the size of a small landmass. The new queen will then psychically take command of every ale and spore-infected being in the universe, forcing them to release spores into space for her to immerse herself in and create a new spore cloud. She will then depart to the void of the multiverse to begin her brooding and find a new universe to start a new colony, while the ale left behind feed off of the remains of the dying universe. Typically, the queen that initially birthed the present colony will remain in that universe until another queen has been produced. Queens are impervious to nearly all forms of damage, and as such, it is almost impossible to kill one. Almost.
Bearing all of this in mind... run. Get off this island. While you still can. Leave these monsters to me. If you still wish to take your chances against them, you have my condolences, but don't say I didn't warn you.
~Koeham
