Valzneg (Val-sneg)
Summary
A lonesome and difficult to find creature, Valzneg are peculiar for an ice-aligned creature in their desire to seek out sunlight, and to a larger extent, heat. They actively convert sunlight into ice mana, shedding it beneath their wings in sparkling droplets. This often causes super condensation to flash form, creating splatterings of water or actual snow, depending on how hot things are around them. This mana-rich sleet left behind is often quite useful for plants or smaller insects, such as Cindermoss, which the valzneg preys upon. In environments of prolonged or permanent frost, valzneg areas can become filled with towers of thin, tiny icicles made from them sitting still for a while. These forms of ice often take on pearlsceant and unusual colorations inside their crystal structure, making them quite attractive for artwork. Not to mention the availability of easier-to-use ice mana, which makes their presence something of a commodity in magical circles. Domesticating the valzneg is functionally impossible, but large, glassy enclosures can contain them for easier herding efforts. While they're evasive by nature and prefer to hide whenever possible, the valzneg's also generally quite unpleasant to eat. The more regular kinds of predators in their environments pass them over, unless its an act of desperate hunger. People have long given up on figuring out if there's any good way to cook them, and their novelty as a species dissuaded it from entering popular cuisine or culture. Amongst the many dangers of Veltrona's wildernesses, they're a pleasant experience to run across, even if the ice is still dangerous because it's ice. Some of the most common encounters people have is when a valzneg comes by a camp fire, soaking up the light and heat. It can be quite annoying when one is trying to get warm. While they incidentally appear, if at all, in folktales as stand-ins for spirits or other ideas for most, many different urni cultures tend to regard the valzneg more contemptously. Rather than signaling them out in particular, it's a broader theme among the urni who regard sunlight-dependent life as 'foolishly dangerous'. Something that is often hard to translate and ill-understood among other peoples, as the urni consider sunlight as something not only alive, but actively involved in the world.Basic Information
Anatomy
A large moth-like creature, often the size of most small birds, Valzneg are wintery, cold athropods of a heavily ice-aligned nature. They're coated in a dense insulation of fuzzy hair, often grays or blacks and some whites mixed in. Its four wings have rock-like patterns, blending them in with their usual environments. Their wing edges are usually jagged looking, helping to blend in with uneven or pointy rock. The topside of the wings are covered in a flexible, glass-like covering, the means of absorbing light into the wings themselves. Its jagged, inflexible antenna are more fixed for finding sunlight than anything else.
Their natural camouflage makes spotting them at a distance difficult, and basically impossible at night unless one or more full moons is out. Those with familiarity to them might notice their 'opaque' profile in a sunlight rich area. Whereas everything else would be shiny or reflective, their presence stands out more because it isn't.
Biological Traits
Catalytic Thermal Conversion – Valzneg turn heat sources into ice mana through their natural biology, sunlight and fire being their two means of doing so. Many of the things they prey upon for sustenance are attracted to their icy offerings, which forms their simple but effective baiting scheme.
Humidity Sensitivity – While the valzneg can endure incredible heat, their real weakness is ambient moisture. Dry, desert-like environments can choke them to death quickly, and things like blizzards make them hide around pools or lakes. Some variants have adapted to deal with this issue, but they're even rarer to find and less well-known.
Average Height
Small
Average Weight
Light
Geographic Distribution
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