Forest Mystish

The forest mystish is a member of the Gene Sea on the World of the Long Sleep. Of all the creatures in the Gene Sea, the mystish are perhaps the most alien in terms of their body plan and hunting strategy, with no real analogue amongst known life forms native to Earth.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Each individual is made up of a tangled mass of fibrous nervous tissue, some organised into tentacles, surrounding a core structure consisting of a cranial cavity and a hollow buoyancy bladder in a shell of bone with muscular valves that can be opened and closed to make it airtight or to allow gas to escape. They have large luminous eyes and an accute sense of smell.
A layer of cells which biologists call the "gas batteries" is capable of initiating a fast chemical reaction that liberates hydrogen and directs it into the buoyancy bladder, allowing the creature to float. It can then steer round and through forest obstructions. Although it takes some time to charge the gas battery cells, the generation time for fresh hydrogen is remarkably rapid when they have the necessary precursor reactants.
The tentacles are poison tipped and the mystish can use them to paralyse prey which they have prepared by a form of stalking hypnosis, aided by their glowing eyes and a haunting music which they can generate through wind pipes in the core of their body. Mystish can absorb nutrients from dead and dying animals, directly through the tentacle tips and having made a kill, will typically spend several days eating it, through a process of slow digestion within tubes in their tentacles before they move on.

Biological Traits

There is a degree of sexual dimorphism in the species. Females, such as the one shown in the header article, have yellowish eyes and are a little rounder and fatter, where the males have pale blue eyes and are somewhat taller.

Forest Mystish Male by DMFW with Midjourney

A variant of the forest mystish, known as the marsh mystish was a little smaller with a yellowish green colouring. The marsh mystish was always rare, being limited to the foggy wetlands of north east Trass. It is believed to be long extinct on Earth with the last reported sighting, being back in the age of the Trade Wars.

Behaviour

Forest mystish are nocturnal stealth hunters with a particular ability to hypnotise their prey through the medium of their glowing eyes and a weird haunting melody they make via a set of whistling pipes that serves as an odd kind of voice box. They will surprise sleeping young pearl hart, deer, rabbits in their burrows and even human travellers who are caught unaware in the woods at night.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

During the Season Of Innocence, forest mystish could be found throughout Trass, Fereth and Equatoria but they are now thought to be extinct everywhere, except for a small population in Equatoria.

Lifespan

120 years

Average Height

2 metres

Average Weight

60 kg

Average Length

1 metre