Gremlin
Out of all the faery races of Altairus, perhaps none are as diverse or easily recognizable as gremlins. These short-tempered, mischievous little beings inhabit each and every corner of Altairus, from the forests to the fields and even the seas and skies. Once only a single race of feral faeries that inhabited Mischief Mire and the surrounding territory, gremlins have evolved into six different ethnicities, each uniquely suited for the environment they live in.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Gremlins only give birth to 1-2 young at a time. These young take 20 years to fully mature.
Growth Rate & Stages
From the time a gremlin is first born to about 5 years of age, they are referred to as a widget. "Imp" is another common term used to describe a juvenile gremlin, though "widget" is the technical term. This is the first period of rapid growth for gremlins, who develop a voracious appetite to keep up with it. This appetite never truly dies down as they age.
Gremlins between 6 and 12 years of age are simply referred to as juveniles. By this time, the little gremlin will usually have found their place in the larger community and will be given special apparel or other gifts to commemorate this.
Gremlins hit puberty around the age of 13-14 most often, though they can be as young as 11 or as old as 15. Once this happens, they are referred to as adolescents. This is the second period of rapid growth for a gremlin. As such, hormonal changes will result in unpredictable mood swings, increased appetite, and sometimes magical incontinence. Gremlins in this stage are considered more dangerous than others, as their tempers are more easily triggered.
A gremlin reaches maturity after 20 years. The symptoms associated with puberty come to a close and the gremlin becomes more even-keeled, though they still retain some of their short-tempered, food-loving nature. From this point forward, as the gremlin ages, they will slowly grow bigger and more powerful, inching towards ancient status.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Despite what one may think by their sharp teeth, all gremlins are omnivorous. Furthermore, due to their nomadic nature, they are adapted to consuming a highly varied diet and can adapt to consume many different things, even those which would not normally be considered food. This was one of the traits that allowed gremlins to colonize the many lands of Altairus so easily.
One lesser-known fact about gremlins is that they are completely immune to gout. This means that they can consume foods like red meat and wine to their leisure without adverse effects on their joints. The exact reason for this is unclear.
Behaviour
All gremlin races are nomadic, though their means of transportation vary. Most gremlins achieve it on foot, though there are a couple of exceptions. Harlequin gremlins travel together in caravans consisting of many wooden wagons, while storm gremlins tend to inhabit floating islands that do the traveling for them.
If there's anything else gremlins are known for, it's playing pranks. They like to sabotage machinery in particular, ripping it apart with their strong, sharp teeth. Besides this, they like to use their unique magical powers to cause havoc, whether that be raising a storm out of nowhere, stealing shiny objects from birds' nests, or leading wayward Earth dwellers unknowingly into Altairus portals. Usually, these tricks are harmless enough, but if a gremlin is put in a bad mood, they can become dangerous.
With both of these in mind, it's no surprise that gremlins are known for their voracious appetites. These faeries will eat just about anything that isn't nailed down and are prone to food aggression. Originally, this was because their nomadic nature made them face evolutionary pressures that less mobile faeries didn't. Since most gremlins never settled down long enough to start agriculture, their food supply was highly dependent on the food supply of the lands they went to. Even nowadays with better food supply chains and more widespread agriculture, gremlins retain this behavior.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Despite living in communal settings, gremlins tend to be pretty solitary for the most part. Most of their activities are done alone or in small packs, rather than large groups. When they do work as a team, it is often the oldest gremlin who gets to lead the charge while the others follow.
Storm gremlins, hades gremlins, and sun gremlins all have a matriarchal social structure. The male is considerably smaller and less powerful than the female. Females will often oversee packs of male storm gremlins in carrying out tasks when they agree to work as a team.
Besides this, gremlins care little for hierarchy. In practice, most gremlin societies tend to be fairly egalitarian. Most gremlin communities are small enough for decisions to be made democratically, and even larger gremlin communities tend to lend their representatives about as much respect as the rest of them.
Facial characteristics
When encountering a gremlin of any race, the most dangerous thing about them is their teeth, which erupt around the age of three months. Yellow, pointed, and interlocking, gremlin fangs are strong enough to cut through steel without chipping. Gremlins' jaws are like bear traps; they have the strongest bite force out of all faery races. In the wild, they use their teeth to crush the throats and bones of prospective prey.
Worse yet, the bacteria living inside of gremlins' mouths give them a septic bite. Even if their prey gets away, it will soon die from infection. Wild gremlins will often track prey for several days after a bite, reaching them once they have died to feast on the carcass. If a gremlin bites you and manages to break the skin, you need to go to a doctor immediately.
Fortunately, gremlins' powerful bite force gives them very weak mouth-opening muscles, making it easy to keep them from biting. Healers around Altairus will often use a form of headgear that goes around the head and straps the jaw shut on very young widgets to keep them from fear-biting during check-ups. This same headgear can be used on older gremlins who have become aggressive due to stress.
Average Intelligence
Gremlins are incredibly smart. While they are mostly associated with destroying machinery, they have invented quite a few machines themselves. The self-driving wooden trailer (used by the Circus of Shadows), the lightning harness (used to power settlements on floating islands by storm gremlins), and many unique magical artifacts were crafted by gremlins.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Gremlins have large, pointed ears and long, pointy, beaklike noses. These features gift them with exceptional hearing and smell.
Their antennae (if they have them) are used to sense changes in their environments. Since antennae teem with nerve endings, they are sensitive to the touch. Touching or grabbing a gremlin's antennae is bound to be uncomfortable at best, painful at worst. For this reason, it is considered incredibly rude to touch a gremlin's antennae without their permission.
Civilization and Culture
Beauty Ideals
Most gremlin races consider male gremlins (and sometimes female gremlins) with big, round bellies to be more attractive. This is for a two reasons.
The first is that post-meal bloating is so common amongst gremlins that it is effectively shorthand for communicating that a gremlin has recently eaten. A gremlin with a distended abdomen, then, is likely to have greater access to food and be more healthy in general.
The other reason is that many gremlins, males especially, are fairly lean in their youth, but tend to fill out as they age. Hence, a gremlin with a fuller, rounder belly is more likely to be older (hence, more powerful and emotionally mature) than others.
Unfortunately, many gremlins force-feed themselves to obesity to try and fulfill this ideal of attractiveness. This can lead to many health problems down the line.
Gender Ideals
Storm gremlins, hades gremlins, and sun gremlins have more pronounced gender dimorphism than the other gremlin races. The females are typically taller and more aggressive. For these races, fifinellas are usually more dominant, directing the activity of small groups of the much smaller males.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Common Gremlin Sayings/Idioms
Common Etiquette Rules
One thing of note; if you are interacting with a gremlin and they offer you food, it is best to take it. Refusing to them signals a lack of appetite, which at best is met with concern and worry. At worst, the gremlin will have a primitive disgust response, as lack of appetite is a very serious sign of illness amongst gremlins. In that sense, it is considered rude to refuse food in most gremlin cultures.
Also, if a gremlin invites you into their home, anticipate that they are probably going to try and stuff you with food. This is a way of showing friendship between gremlins, and if you refuse, they may feel rejected. If you have to refuse, take care to let them down gently. It might be best just to try and eat something in most cases.
Common Dress Code
While it is not ubiquitous, harlequin gremlins, storm gremlins, hades gremlins, and sun gremlins are all known for wearing full-body jumpsuits.
History
All gremlin races are descended from the mire gremlin, or Faeus Gremlis Erectus.
Not much is known about this creature. What little is known is gleaned from ancient cave paintings recovered from around Mt. Mischief. In these paintings, the mire gremlin, as it is informally called, is depicted as a short, squat creature with dark green skin, enormous ears, claws, and saber teeth.
It is believed that the mire gremlin is the common ancestor between all gremlin races. These beings were depicted to be vicious hunters with voracious appetites, with many paintings depicting them feasting after a successful hunt.
Mire gremlins are extinct nowadays, but it is not clear whether they all died out or simply mated with other races to produce the six gremlin races we know today.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
All over Altairus, gremlins are recognized for their fun-loving yet ill-tempered natures. They often serve as traveling merchants, providing wares from other nations they have visited. Many gremlins exploit this to make money. They purchase goods from others on the cheap and then sell them for a much higher price where those goods are highly valued. This practice allowed many gremlins to become very wealthy and was the start of Altairus's supply chain system.
Of course, this was not all good. Many gremlins were less than honest about the wares they carried, and even the honest ones were looked down upon for being able to make big money for very little work while others worked the fields all day and still couldn't make ends meet. This led to some friction between gremlins and other races. Even to this day, there are some who resent and look down on gremlins for their supposed laziness and duplicity.
Male gremlins have stocky, fat-bellied forms, while females, called fifinellas, tend to be thinner and more shapely. In storm gremlins, hades gremlins, and sun gremlins, this gender dimorphism is even more pronounced; females are taller and more muscular than males.
Due to their voracious appetites, it is incredibly common for gremlins' abdomens to become visibly distended after eating. This is not dangerous, nor does it cause the gremlin any significant discomfort. However, it may make walking difficult. Bloated gremlins will often lie down and go to sleep to digest after their meal.
Gremlins' skin can be any color of the rainbow. Different races tend to have different skin colors:
- Forest Gremlins (Goblins) - Green or brown skin
- River Gremlins (Sea Monkeys) - Any color skin; blue, green, and purple most common
- Harlequin Gremlins (Devils) - Ashen grey skin
- Storm Gremlins (Spandules) - Blue skin; ranges from cyan to lilac
- Hades Gremlins (Imps) - Red or black skin
- Sun Gremlins (Cherubs) - White, silver, or gold skin
Many gremlins have flushed cheeks.
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