Cyrail

Created in laboratories by a mysterious disappeared race, the Cyrail is the ultimate predator in the Elemental Plane of Water from where it originates. The Cyrail takes all the dangerous traits from leeches, gelatinous cubes, grells and even mind flayers and combines them into one terrifying creature.

To look into a Cyrails mindset is like looking into an abyss. You will not understand it or even see anything, but it will still manage to be unnerving. All we know is that when it has found its prey it will stalk it until either them or it is dead. The predator is found in only one air-filled cave in the Water Plane stalking an old ruined city where their creators once lived, where they float around searching for prey that has swum into the caves.

The Cyrail possesses many traits that make it such a dangerous foe. It floats silently through the air, masking its presence until it's too late. It then proceeds to latch onto their prey with their huge sharp teeth and thick front tentacles. And that's when it drains not just all the body fluids, but the prey's soul itself. It doesn't stop until the target is a dried up soulless husk with no semblance of life left. Then it leaves the husk behind to rot and floats around until it is time to cocoon itself. Because the silent parasitic predator is only the first step in the Cyrail's 3-stage, in some cases 4, life cycle. If you ever were to encounter a Cyrail - run. There is no escaping its grasp.

Physical Biology

A Cyrail changes dramatically over the course of its life. It starts out in a larval stage where it remains until it has consumed either a strong enough soul or enough smaller ones. When it does it cocoons itself to mold into its nimble reptilian Apex stage. The name is somewhat misleading, because when enough time has passed and its body has matured enough it molds into yet another stage: the Monarch stage. A Monarch Cyrail. This grotesque 10 ft. tall hulking monster can only be challenged by another Monarch in it's natural habitat. But one Cyrail each generation can go even further. Every generation, there is an Empress...

Larval Stage

A fully grown Larval Cyrail reaches about 1 meter from edge to edge. The main body is relatively small, flat and circular with 4 huge fangs surrounding a round leech-like mouth on the underside. In the front are two massive tentacles to grab and hold a target, each 2 meters in length. Surrounding the back half of the main body are 4 smaller and less firm tentacles to move prey closer to the mouth. On top of the main body is a fleshy blob-like organ, preumably either the organ that keeps the Cyrail floating above the ground or the creature's brain. Surrounding the top of the body is a large green mesoglea cap protecting the vulnerable organ. The cap of a Cyrail that has drained a soul shimmers in varying colours depending on the strength and type of soul drained. E.g. a human soul gives a light brown tint and a Plesiosaurus gives a light blue tint.

Apex Stage

When a larval Cyrail has drained enough soul energy they land on the ground for the first time since birth. There the cap starts to grow and eventually encapsulates the now hibernating predator, then hardens to form a solid cocoon. And about 6 months later the cocoon bursts open, and out steps the next stage in the cyrail's life cycle. It is now approx. 2 meters from head to rear with a much more dromaeosaurian body shape. Its backside is covered in leathery armor plates, its head has transformed into a crocodilian maw, a long tail reminiscent of the previous form's tentacles sprouts from its behind and 4 pointy insectoid legs carry it. This is an Apex Cyrail. Each one differs in appearance depending on the drained soul. E.g. a Cyrail that has drained a powerful soul from a huge muscular red creature is more muscular and physically strong with a red body tint, but less agile. In this form the Cyrail has lost the ability to drain souls from victims and seemingly doesn't need to feed at all, but it's still highly aggresive and attack almost anything that moves. Compared to the slowly hovering leech-like larvae, the Apex form is a very fast ground runner that mauls its prey to death with its huge jaws. It even possesses the ability to quickly climb and stick on walls just as easily as on the ground. When an Apex Cyrail has reached 5 years of age after its first transformation, it violently starts vomiting a jelly-like substance over itself until it's covered. Then it once again goes into hibernation to reach its final stage.

Monarch Stage

After another 6 months of hibernation, a hulking monstrosity erupts from the Apex cocoon. The Cyrail is now a bipedal 3 meter tall muscular brute with scythe-like arms, a spiked tail and thick armor covering every inch of its body along with the maw and reptilian traits of its previous form. This is a Monarch Cyrail. Depending on the soul drained in its larval stage its appearance deviates further. If it was muscular in the previous form it's now immensely so, if it was faster than usual it's extremely fast for its size now and if it had wings they are much larger and more functional now. Regardless of shape and traits, the Monarch Cyrail is extremely dangerous. The beings in its home plane that can take it down can be counted on one hand. Anything else will eventually fall to its monstrous strength, ferocity and destructive abilities. Given that it does not need to feed and still lacks the ability to drain souls, it's believed that the only things that drive it is an intense innate ferocity and a territorial drive. For most Cyrails this is the final stage until they die of old age or in combat with another Monarch. But each generation there is an even stronger being.

Empress Cyrail

Each Cyrail generation there is an offspring that will possess the Empress gene. This gene not only makes the offspring even more powerful, resilient and fierce than other Cyrails, but it also enables them to morph into a stage beyond Monarch. When said offspring has been in the Monarch stage for about 13 years they cocoon yet again, during which they are protected by other Cyrail. And about 1 year later, it is complete. The fully grown Empress Cyrail is an absolute monster. It has foregone bipedalism and gone back to the Apex stage's quadrupedal stance, the tail has split in two and 6 small eyes on its head gives it a large field of vision. Almost 10 meters in length and weighing more than 6 tons, it can barely move from its position. But it doesn't need to. Its strength is immense enough to snap a steel beam in half with just its jaws, its resilience is almost supernatural and its acid spit will melt through a regular person in seconds. In the water plane, only the likes of the Kraken and Leviathan can take down an Empress and even then it won't be an easy task. Despite this, the empress rarely moves from its nest. Its main role is to lay eggs and command lesser Cyrails to follow its orders. The single documented Empress has laid up to 200 eggs in its lifetime, and out of all of them only one possessed the Empress gene. The Empress Cyrail is a force to be reckoned with, and should be avoided at all costs. Even more so than the rest of her species.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Eggs are produced asexually by the Empress and a batch of up to 7 soft eggs are created over the course of 1 month. They are guarded by the Empress and her minions until they hatch 2 months later, when they are on their own until they've grown up. Adult Cyrail have been documented killing hatchlings that get too close, so the reproduction rate and general population remains low.

Growth Rate & Stages

Cyrail's are born as small larvae at around 10 cm in diameter, which is the only point of their life when they are truly vulnerable. They grow quickly and are 1 meter in diameter long adults when they are 3 years old. They stay at this stage until they have drained enough soul energy to mold into their Apex stage, a cocooning process which takes about 6 months. They stay in this stage until they are about 5 years older, which is when they mold into their Monarch stage. A normal Cyrail is fully matured at this point, but if they possess the Empress gene they mold into an Empress Cyrail 13 years after the Monarch transformation.

Ecology and Habitats

The Cyrail was created in a now ruined city in a cavern in the Elemental Plane of Water, where they have remained and grown in numbers since. They are speculated to take oxygen directly from whatever is around them, making them theoretically capable of breathing both air and water. Therefore the preferred habitat of the Cyrail is caverns connected to water.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Cyrails drain souls and bodily fluids from grabbing their victims, but oddly enough only seems to need the former given all forms can go without sustenance practically their whole lives. It's believed they have an organ which can convert kinetic energy to organic energy they sustain themselves with, which explains why they move around most of their time.

Larval Cyrail

Scientific Name

Parasitus Arani

Lifespan

30-40 years

Average Height

1 meter (Larval Stage)
1,2 meters (Apex Stage)
3 meters (Monarch Stage)
4 meters (Empress)

Average Weight

6 kg (Larval Stage)
50 kg (Apex Stage)
1 ton (Monarch Stage)
6 tons (Empress)

Average Length

1 meter (Larval Stage)
3 meters (Apex Stage, tail included)
6 meters (Monarch Stage, tail included)
10 meters (Empress, tails included)