Skelk

The skelks (Dhahor’ko: shak’ki, Dhahor’ko plurar: shak’kiki) are a carnivorous, quadruped hellbred originating from the the Coils. A mono-gender race—distinctly masculine and canid in appearance—the skelks are known for their highly aggressive nature and an endless appetite. They roam the very soil of the deity that spawned them into existence; Zrallee, the Guiding Mother. These living nightmares devour all upon their path to still their endless appetite, to clear their mother’s realm of the damned that dare roam upon her flesh, as commanded. They are part of her hive mind; Zrallee’s whispers are loud enough to deafen her children to even their most inner thoughts.

Appearance and Anatomy
The skelks' body heavily resemblance that of an enormous canine. Distinctive features include a multitude of metal horns sprouting from their flayed bodies.Their frontal limbs appear more avian than canine; the digits are arranged in an anisodactyl manner with three toes pointing towards the front and one to the back. Their hind legs resemble those of ungulates to an extent; while the bone structure differs to equines, the hooves strike a close similitude. A skelk’s elongated tail reaches the span of their entire body, doubling their measurement.

What little fur covers their bony bodies changes with the coming of different seasons upon the Mortal Plane. With summer, the skelk's pelt is a fair blonde—nearly white. In harsh contrast, with the arrival of winter it changes for pitch black. The change is gradual; in autumn and spring their pelt would be of brownish shades. Their metal bones—which can be manipulated by the skelk to a great extent—are made of a metal substance unknown to mankind. These can be utilized as natural weapons and can adapt to any form within limits. The density of the metal lessens the farther their bones are extended and expanded, weakening the bone severely depending on the complexity of the adapted shape. The bone itself is of a dark, glossy substance that can alter in flexibility and configuration at the skelk's will.

While skelks live and breathe, they miss out on most organs that formate mortal creatures of the Mortal Plane. Its rib cage is filled with lungs like most, along with a heart, but organs such as the liver and diaphragm are not present. And unlike a mammal's heart, the heart of a skelk houses six chambers despite the universal four. Underneath the rib cage is a large stomach, one that dwarfs the skelk's other organs by great extent. It can stretch twice its measurement and store great amounts of food, even if such is almost a trivial matter; the extremely strong acid within eats through meat in less than a minute or two, depending on the amount and density. The hollow area where usually intestines reside offers the stomach much freedom to expand without hindrance of other organs. While shak are lacking in a defining liver, their stomach appears to take up some of its functionalities; it produces bile, which breaks down fat, and it takes the blood coming from the digestive tract and changes all the nutrients into forms the body can use.

Skelks are spawned from the soil of Zrallee, thus hellbred. Like sprouts that rise from the mud; a gory display of manifesting organs, flesh, and bones erect from the mire at their birth, slowly forming the skelk. It's a horrific process to witness to most, and one that can take up to six hours. Upon death, which transpires by cardiac arrest, the skelk disintegrates into a puddle of mud, leaving not an ounce of their original form behind.

Subspecies Unlike their mindless brothers, the evolved skelk is capable of sentient cognition. They each have their own personality—though often established as vile and self-serving—and have means of making their own choices that can counter Zrallee's whims. Most, if not all, evolved skelks have fled from the Coils to take refuge upon the Mortal Plane, away from the dictation of their mother. Evolved skelks are entitled rak'ki (English: heretic) once they leave Zrallee’s soil—traitors to be hunted down by the Gatherer and be brought back into servitude.

A skelk doesn't have a human visage; they have to strip the flesh from a human being and wear it like it were their own. Once they've settled in their new appearance, it melts with their genetic information so that, should they transform into their original form, the stolen visage isn't lost. The death of evolved skelk appear to be the same as that of its primitive counterpart, but should they reside upon the Mortal Plane, their essence lingers until the Rest Day, or Sunday for most. Then their spirit is drug back to the Coils where they are recycled, reverted into their primal state. Oddly enough, their cadaver remains until that occurs, offering the evolved skelk means of coming back by the help of others. It cannot reclaim its vessel through own means unless its spirit left through ritual. The spirit of the evolved shak cannot anchor itself to anyone unless forced, or aided by someone. Once the spirit is anchored to a being or object of the Mortal Plane, its body will remain, putting a halt to the swift decay-process.

The Gatherer (Dhahor’ko: Meean) is a giant amongst giants. Standing at approximately 575 feet tall, the father of skelks is a force to be reckoned with. And while he shares many similarities with his offspring, there are several differences that make him stand out. He lacks a lot of the pelt, which is but a meagre twenty percent across several parts of his body. Yet, like other skelks, his pelt does shift colour with the change of the seasons upon the Mortal Plane. The Gatherer's skull isn't flayed, and the skin that cover it is stretched to such extremes that cheeks are rent and agape. On his back dances a large flame that never seems to dim. It's the mark of the Forge of Corruption, and the sole reason for his hideous appearance, standing amongst many hellbred as a hellforged.

With each soul he devours, one eye is added to his body. They appear alive, and are capable of blinking and perceiving. They're not, however, organs the Gatherer can utilize. Each eye stands for one soul, and each and every soul has its own cognition. They're thus often perceived in a state of fright; eyelids wide with pupils dilated. The eyes of the damned slither across the Gatherer's flesh, and are at times seen to submerge underneath the shak's upper dermis while leaving a small swell in their wake. Abilities Skelks, unlike most canid mammals, hunt alone. They prefer to skulk their prey, using the muddy dunes of the Coils to their advantage to lie in wait for an opportune time to ambush. Often do they make use of their shrill cries to strike fear into the hearts of the damned. Once their calls are heard, torment often follows...


 * Metal Manipulation: Their skeleton, which makes these horrors far heavier than their lanky figures appear, are not coated by metal, but made by it. Not only can the skelk alternate their own bones, but outer metals as well. They need be in direct contact with said metal should they wish to manipulate it within the item’s very boundaries. skelks cannot create more metal, they can merely change the structure to their whims. Not the density.


 * Fire Embodied: Their blazing sockets are but a meagre glimpse of the hellish fire that feeds their very soul. Should a skelk gape its maw, its very gullet roils with an inner furnace. Yet, upon contact, neither the heated aura about them nor their inner soma is hot enough to burn someone unless they conjure actual flames to do so. This very fire is reminisce of their father, the Gatherer, for they’re embodied with the very fire that dances endlessly atop of the monstrosity’s back. Their blood, however, burns upon contact on organic matter as if it were made of aggressive chemicals, causing superficial damage.


 * Enhancing Saliva: While every other bodily fluid they possess is meant to cause harm, their saliva is of curative properties. Once applied to the bloodstream, it will enhance the host’s regenerative ability; to a human being, that would entail a quickened process of crusts to form while the body repairs itself at a faster pace, but to an entity with fast regeneration of their own will get an inhuman boost.


 * Shapeshifter: Dependant whether the skelk in question has stripped a human being’s flesh and worn it as their own, they can adapt a canid, demonic and humanoid appearance. Within these given stages they can alternate smaller details due their means of manipulating their own bones. Each shift is a grisly sight to behold; there’s no magic that aids these creatures during said shift. It’s a bloody, long-drawn procedure, and often leaves the skelk drained for moments to come.


 * Insatiable Hunger: While not necessarily a power per se, these horrors can eat endlessly. The acid within their stomach eats through organic matter in mere moments, and while they crave food far more often than your typical mammal, it takes several days before it affects the link between them and Zrallee. Skelks that often befall this stage of malnourishment are more prone to become an evolved skelks due disconnection to the hive mind.