Lurkettles

"Never follow a Lurkettle past the graves. You might come back with someone else’s childhood.”

The Lurkettle is a creature of contradictions, timid yet terrifying, generous yet brutal, and possessed of a body that seems built for violence, despite a spirit shaped by quiet restraint. Neither beast nor man, monkey nor bird, it is a relic of something older, some strange, unfinished thread of evolution that never quite chose between feather and scale, predator and parasite. It exists now as a quiet shadow among Everwealth’s fog-choked ridgelands and vine-choked spires, avoiding civilization but watching it from just beyond the mist. Hunched, four-armed, and armed with clawed limbs capable of tearing through bone, the Lurkettle is nonetheless known to offer shelter, food, and eerie stillness to lost travelers. However, its hospitality is sacred, those who betray it, harm its kin, or cross unseen thresholds are met with sudden, calculated violence. Its mind is ritualistic, its movements measured, and its eyes burn with an ancient light, as though it still listens for something the rest of the world has long forgotten. While often dismissed as myth, its venom sacs are highly sought by alchemists. Properly diluted, the venom does not kill, but plants false memories, a gift or curse depending on the dose. Some who’ve consumed it wander for days believing they are someone else entirely. Others claim the venom reveals not a lie, but a life you could have lived. But none of this, say those who’ve seen one and survived, is as unsettling as the way they wait. Not for prey. Not for pity. But perhaps for a time when the world made more sense to things like them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Lurkettles are semi-simian quadrupeds with four limbs, two upper arms adapted for climbing and articulation, and two lower arms optimized for powerful sprinting, leaping, and gripping terrain. They average 6-7 feet tall when upright but typically move in a low hunch. Their bodies are dense with roped muscle, making them unnaturally strong and agile for their size. Their skin ranges from peat-brown to bruised kelp-green, dappled with shifting undertones. Spine and joint ridges are lined with vestigial feather-quills, now functioning as both threat displays and minor atmospheric sensors. Their elongated heads taper into beak-like mouths filled with rows of jagged, shearing teeth, concealed when at rest. Their eyes are large, flat, and candle-gold, glowing faintly in low light, intensifying under stress. Though capable of tearing a boar apart with one swipe, their default posture is passive, almost monk-like, until provoked.

Genetics and Reproduction

Lurkettles reproduce via parthenogenesis, laying 2-3 leathery eggs per adult during early spring. Nests are formed in remote, humid cradles, hollowed stone faces, overgrown spires, or naturally sheltered cliffroot beds. Eggs absorb environmental magicks and bio-signatures, meaning each offspring is subtly shaped by the land it hatches in. This contributes to territorial uniqueness, a Lurkettle from a mosswood fogbank may have dramatically different patterns or instincts than one from basaltic cliff zones.

Growth Rate & Stages

• Egg Stage: 4 weeks; sensitive to spiritual and alchemical influence.

• Hatchling: Feathers are soft, lacking venom sacs. Vulnerable but quick learners.

• Juvenile (3 months): Begins to mimic sound and display rudimentary problem solving.

• Adult (1 year): Fully developed venom sacs, complete emotional awareness.
[/12 years, though some elders are rumored to live longer in deep catacombs.

Ecology and Habitats

Modern Lurkettles occupy isolated ridgelands, fog-shrouded plateaus, and dense highland forest pockets, far from civilization. They nest in natural stone hollows, overgrown ruins, or tangled vineforts. Known territories are often marked with woven bone talismans, scratch-glyph trails, and carefully placed moss to confuse scent and sound tracking. Their proximity often coincides with sudden stillness in local predator populations, and an increase in moss and fungal bloom density, likely due to unknown pheromonal or environmental manipulation.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Lurkettles are omnivorous, subsisting on lichen, root-flesh, small mammals, insects, and carrion marrow. They are particularly fond of fermented plant matter, and will cultivate certain mosses in woven nests. Their feeding is ceremonial, often shared communally or offered to guests as a sign of peace. Their claws are as capable of peeling fruit as of gutting a deer, the difference lies in intent. They never take what they cannot replace, and some scholars have observed Lurkettles offering food to wounded animals before killing them, though whether out of ritual, mercy, or mimicry remains unclear.

Biological Cycle

The Lurkettle is primarily active in cooler months, when fog is frequent and decay rampant. During warmer seasons, they retreat into underground nests or hollowed cairns, entering a semi-dormant state where their scales harden and metabolism slows. Young Lurkettles shed their feathers during this phase and grow them anew each winter, the regrown plumes said to reflect the emotional climate of their habitat.

Behaviour

Lurkettles are intelligent, ritualistic, and aloof. They rarely travel in groups larger than 3-5 and often act as silent watchers of their chosen lands. They speak through gesture, body posturing, and complex mimicry of natural sounds. This mimicry is not just vocal, it extends to movements, scents, and even heart rhythms. Hospitality, to a Lurkettle, is sacred. A traveler who is fed or sheltered is considered bound to a quiet pact of gratitude and non-violation. Those who break it, by stealing, harming kin, or disrespecting shared food, are considered forfeited. When enraged, a Lurkettle is blindingly fast, leaping with inhuman force, using both upper and lower claws to disable and dismantle foes in seconds. They do not roar or warn. They correct.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Lurkettles are nocturnal and rely heavily on thermal and vibrational sensitivity. Their hearing is acute enough to detect heartbeats at close range, and their scent glands can isolate the chemical signature of grief, which they seem to be drawn to. Though lacking true telepathy, many whisper that a Lurkettle "feels" emotion with eerie precision, often appearing when mourners are most vulnerable or lost in thought.

Scientific Name

Simioscorpio luctum.

Origin/Ancestry

Scholars from the Scholar's Guild believe Lurkettles are a surviving remnant of a pre-Schism genus, one that once shared common ancestry with both avian and reptilian fauna.

Conservation Status

The Lurkettle, once a more common sight among ancient Everwealthy burial landscapes, now teeters on the brink of obscurity. Its population has declined sharply over the past century, a result of increased, urban expansion, and unregulated harvesting for its alchemical venom sacs. Though never populous due to its solitary nature and restricted habitat range, Lurkettles now survive only in isolated bogs and marshes where the old traditions of nature are still observed. Attempts to breed or study them in captivity often end in failure, Lurkettles lose interest in feeding or exhibit extreme distress when removed from soils they are familiar with. As such, conservation efforts are limited to passive protection of known lurkettle nesting grounds, burial sanctity laws, and outlawing the sale of Lurkettle parts in urban markets. Still, poachers and desperate alchemists remain a threat. The Scholar’s Guild has quietly funded efforts to track nesting cairns and ward them with illusion magicks, though few admit involvement publicly, fearing backlash from those who deem the Lurkettle cursed rather than endangered.