Rubbleback

"There are bones under the stones, and under the bones there's Rubblebacks." -Common grave-digger's warning.

The Rubbleback is a powerful, earth-burrowing creature native to the ruined temples, shattered hillforts, and moss-veiled cryptlands of the Everwealthy frontier. Though often mistaken for a beast of low cunning, the Rubbleback is in truth a territorial tunnel guardian, a living siege-creature made of stone-hardened instinct and ancestral memory. Broad of body and low to the earth, it resembles a scaled amalgam of stone and beast, bearing heavy plate-like ridges along its back that flake and crack like ancient roof tiles. Despite its blunt shape and subterranean habits, the Rubbleback is no mindless digger. It is deliberate, organized, and communal, one of the few known land-creatures to form familial units beneath the ruins of Everwealth. These packs, made up of a dominant matron and several younger kin known as stonelings, act as natural wardens of buried places, often reinforcing the integrity of crumbling tombs or hollowing out den systems along leyline-stressed corridors. These creatures are neither fully animal nor quite magickal construct. Many scholars believe they arose in the aftermath of The Great Schism, when decaying architecture and root-drowned shrines bled residual faith into the bones of the land, twisting burrow-creatures into something new, something sacred, patient, and devastatingly strong.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Rubbleback’s body is a sloped, wedge-like mass of dense muscle wrapped in clay-colored, scale-armored plates. Its scales vary in hue from rust-red to charred ochre, often speckled with lichen or dulled by burial grit. The most distinctive feature is its back: a series of overlapping ridge-plates that resemble fractured ceramic or soot-glazed brickwork. These plates are not just armor, they slough off naturally in seasons of high humidity, and are prized by alchemists for their anti-fungal and magick-absorbent properties; These jagged shingles also act like a drill during hurried digging or tunnel-widening practices, the Rubbleback tucking it's head before propelling itself forward off the tunnel walls with it's legs in a corkscrewing motion until the tunnel is as wide as desired. The Rubbleback's skull is flat and shovel-like, with a reinforced nasal bridge and crushing jaws built for grinding mineral-rich roots, bones, and soft stone. Its forward limbs are broad, with multiple digits ending in blunt, clawed paddles capable of pulverizing earth and cracking through layered stone. Though it is quadrupedal by nature, its hunched forequarters give it a siege-beast gait, perfect for rapid low charges or collapsing supports from below. Its tail is short and thick, used primarily for directional balance underground or to deliver concussive strikes when cornered.

Genetics and Reproduction

Rubblebacks reproduce through small, matriarch-led clutches. Females deposit calcified egg-pods into the warm fissures of collapsed root-tunnels or among the rubble of buried sanctuaries. The pods are coated in a protective mineral slime, which hardens to mimic masonry. When ambient heat and spiritual pressure rise (usually near solstices or after localized seismic shifts), the pods soften, and 1–3 stonelings emerge. Young Rubblebacks are born with soft scale nodules that harden rapidly after their first molt. These juveniles are raised communally and are known to follow elder scent trails for years before forming their own tunnels.

Growth Rate & Stages

• Hatchling (0-1 month): Soft-scaled, scent-bound to parent.

• Stoneling (1 month-2 years): Learns tunneling and rudimentary group coordination.

• Adulthood (2+ years): Fully scaled, develops ridge-plates, begins territory enforcement.

• Rubblebacks may live 20-25 years, though many perish in tunnel collapses or territorial conflict.

Ecology and Habitats

Rubblebacks are almost exclusively found beneath or around collapsed shrines, sunken fortresses, or buried ruin sites featuring brickwork in-general; The creature seeming to intrinsically understand where it's brick-like camouflage works best, smooth marble ruins not conducive to it's often disguise based survival. Their bodies and behavior are uniquely adapted to such environments: their scale ridges deflect falling stone, and their nostrils seal tightly during cave-ins. They feed on both organic and mineral sources, rooting for fungus-rich clay, marrow bones, moss, and even powdered brick. Though primarily subterranean, they surface during heavy rain or high spiritual pressure, often to relocate dens or reinforce tunnels. Their paths are marked by arched grooves in soft stone, claw-scraped sigils, and discarded ridge-plates. In areas like The Grandgleam Forest rich with possibly thousands of ruins yet to pilfer, they are not just accepted, they're respected. Locals leave offerings of bone-meal, lichen, and carved stones near known dens, hoping to prevent accidental collapse or earn favor during construction.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Rubblebacks are omnivorous but prefer decay-rich substances; Earning them an affectionate nickname as 'grave tenders' as they will dispose of the bodies of unfortunate Treasure Hunters seeking to loot the ruins the Rubblebacks call home. Their diet includes:

• Mineralized fungi and cave-root.

• Softened or crushed bones.

• Ash-layered soil and spoiled loam.

• Alchemical slag and brick-dust from old ruins.

They chew slowly and often swallow stone to aid digestion. Occasionally, they will consume carrion, but only when desperate. They prefer still, quiet territory and react violently to noisy excavation or magickal disturbance. When hunting or disturbed by unfamiliar presence, Rubblebacks have been observed to half-bury themselves among piles of rubble, where their cracked, shingle-like hides blend perfectly into the ruin around them. In this camouflaged state, they lie motionless, waiting for their tremor-sense to detect prey. Once movement is close enough, they explode from cover in a sudden ambush, crushing or dragging their quarry beneath the debris with brutal efficiency.

Biological Cycle

They do not hibernate, but undergo seasonal torpor, a slow-down period in winter where they reduce activity and anchor themselves in deep tunnel-cradles. During this time, their metabolism drops, and their ridge-plates thicken, slowly absorbing ambient pressure and protective minerals. Before spring, Rubblebacks shed these plates like tiles, emerging sleek, raw-scaled, and hyper-territorial until new ridges calcify. This process is called the Red Molt by surface-dwellers, and entire regions mark it with superstition and cautionary rituals.

Behaviour

Unlike most solitary burrowers, Rubblebacks display pack-oriented behavior. A matron leads with deep, rhythmic rumbles and seismic tapping, felt, not heard, while stonelings echo the signals. Packs seldom grow beyond five members but work in unison to collapse tunnels, dig resting chambers, and even direct rainfall through stone gutters. They are violently defensive of their den systems, especially if bones, ruined altars, or “gift-pits” are disturbed. A single Rubbleback is dangerous, a full pack can collapse an entire crypt hall from below in minutes. Despite this, they are not needlessly aggressive. Builders and ruin-walkers who leave offerings or move respectfully are often spared, even if they unknowingly pass through a claimed tunnel.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Rubblebacks are functionally blind, with rudimentary light detection at best. They rely on:

• Tremor-sense, through their feet and claws.

• Air-pressure shifts in confined spaces.

• Soil and stone resonance, used to navigate mazes and trace old tunnels.

• Magickal vibration, particularly in decayed divine structures.

They do not vocalize above ground. Their underground communication is entirely tactile and seismic.

Scientific Name

Terrapilus tectombus.

Origin/Ancestry

Believed to have emerged post-Schism from burrowing fauna saturated with residual faith and architectural memory, shaped by proximity to the spiritual detritus of collapsing shrines and cursed fortresses.

Conservation Status

Stable, but heavily localized. Rubblebacks are rarely seen outside ancient ruins or grief-heavy terrain. Their habitats are shrinking due to excavation and relic poaching. Scholars and preservationist sects petition for sanctified ruin zones to prevent their extinction, but others still treat them as living resource nodes. Killing a Rubbleback is considered unlucky in some frontier provinces, where entire mining crews have vanished after desecrating one’s den.