Name: H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth
Nickname: Shug
Age: 22, appears 14
Birthday: August 25
Gender: Genderfluid, female presenting (They, She/Her)
Species: Bookwyrm (original species)
Category: Supporting Character
Work: School Librarian
Appearance Description:
In her human form, H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth looks fully human, though much younger than she is, somewhere around 14. Even her body seems undeveloped, slim and boyish and short, only 4'7". Shug's skin is pale, like it's never seen the sun. Her chest length white hair is not exactly messy, but loose and uncombed. Her eyes are slightly unusual, heterochromatic, one green, one red eye. Three black tattoo like markings run along her collarbone. An intricate sigil on the left, an elder sign in the middle, and another intricate sigil on the right. These are normally covered up. Even in this form, her tongue is long, slender, and ink black, though rarely seen even when she talks.
Shug carries herself as if she's uncomfortable with this form, not quite used to her limbs or walking on two legs. Usually, her expression is neutral and her gaze distant, not quite focused on the people around her. She generally dresses in dark, comfortable clothing, but doesn't give much thought to her appearance. Often she forgets herself and speaks in her native tongue, which sounds like an eldritch-tinged mixture of draconian and demonic languages. Even when she speaks the hearer's language, her voice echoes oddly with a telepathic backbone and an exotic unplaceable accent.
(Original Art)
Bookwyrm form - In her natural form, Shug is about 1 foot long and a few inches around, roughly the length of a thick hardcover novel, though she can become longer in certain circumstances. The bookwyrm resembles a furred eel-like snake with a wolf's head. She has a grey-blue pelt similar to a seal's with a ridge of soft green fur along her spine and lighter fur around her face. Her eyes are solid black, and her long black prehensile tongue is made of a magical inky substance. Her markings run along the underside of her neck in this form. The inside of her mouth is covered in small but diamond sharp teeth that actually move inside her mouth like a paper shredder, perfect for devouring books, or even stone tablets if necessary.
Because she has no actual limbs in her natural form, Shug has to use her body, especially the tip of her tail to interact with most things.
Personality Description: One word to describe Shug is unbalanced, though whether this is just her nature and upbringing or a result of forbidden knowledge is impossible to tell. She has turbulent emotions that she doesn't understand, and dislikes hope, faith, and love as something foreign and incomprehensible. She is also quite impatient, having a tendency to leap before she looks, which had gotten her in trouble before. She hungers for knowledge, both to devour and possess, especially secrets or forbidden knowledge. She is both curious almost to the point of nosiness, while keeping her own secrets close. Though she does have a broad knowledge base, Shug is socially inept. She hoards it indiscriminately, and is very in her head, not sure how to relate facts and stories to real life. The bookwyrm does not understand most social activities, except perhaps those involving public speaking.
As a bookwyrm, H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth, is biologically predisposed to caring about words. She hates the destruction of knowledge, while also disliking seeing it widely disseminated, preferring to keep it all to herself and her species. Though she will trade information, and she enjoys when people learn secrets, even if it is mostly so she can find them out.
Active Abilities:
Tattoo (see passive) Human Form - The leftmost sigil allows her a human form. She can switch back and forth instantly, but has same vulnerabilities and abilities. Can remain in human form indefinitely unless unconscious or asleep.
Size-changing in Natural Form - small natural size, but can add a foot to her length for every book in the room, up to 10 feet. Doesn't work outside. Does not require concentration, cannot maintain while asleep or unconscious.
Book eater - Eats words. Can eat words from any substance she can get into her mouth, from paper to actual books, from cereal boxes to stone tablets. This is harder, but not impossible in human form. Does not gain nourishment from electronics-based words or any words she has written herself (or another bookwyrm has written). Remembers every word she has ever eaten, and in context, as if she understood whatever language the words were written in. But this knowledge doesn't necessarily mean comprehension, and just knowing the meaning of the words doesn't mean she grasps the concepts behind them. Needs roughly 80,000 words a day, or the length of an average novel, to maintain her health, can survive on less, but will become malnourished and potentially die of starvation if she eats much less for long. Can last as long with no words as a human with no water.
Truth hurts - When talking to someone who can hear her both physically and mentally, she can cause her words to generate pain, as long as she is speaking the truth about them. If she can keep talking, can sustain for half an hour. Must rest for as long as she talked. Pain varies with how secret the knowledge is. Something immediately obvious like hair colour would be mild annoyance, a hidden tattoo slightly painful, something only a few people know more painful, and something deeply personal could be agony.
Passive Abilities:
Magic Tattoos - Has been given three bookwyrm ink "tattoos" by a much older bookwyrm. These go inches deep into her flesh and are visible in either form. They are not removed by her regeneration and must be cut out of her skin to be removed. Power nullification also nulls the effects while active.
Tattoo Elder Sign - Prevents her from transmitting or using any knowledge gained from the forbidden tome she ate. Also places a mental barrier that prevents mind-reading, though telepathy and empathy are still possible. This barrier can be detected by mind readers and attacked, but it would take a concentrated and powerful attack to break through, which would alert her to the attempt.
Tattoo Universal Language - The rightmost sigil allows her to speak and understand any spoken Earth language, including dead languages, languages native to other sentient Earth species such as dragons, some demonic, and some Underhill, but not alien languages, heavenly languages, or languages from another dimension with no earth counterpart.
Echoing Voice - When she speaks out loud, her voice has a telepathic echo that can be heard even by the deaf, this can be blocked by anyone that can normally block telepathy.
Weight of knowledge - Those within 10', feel a presence with depth and weight that speaks of forbidden fruit. She seems somehow larger than herself, like she has access to deep secrets and knowledge beyond her years.
Writing sense - Can sense any writing within 25' whether handwritten or typed, but not via electronics like tablets, computers or tv. Knows when writing has been erased or moved.
Inky tongue - While attached, tongue produces an unlimited supply of bookwyrm ink, though this is not produced in large enough amounts to be held in a container. A bookwyrm's ink and especially tongue is said to have magical properties, quite valuable to alchemists or for magical inks, but she is too young to imbue any power in her marks. She can write about enough to cover an average man's back ink before needing to pause for 15 minutes.
It is an indelible ink that sinks in a couple mm and will mark any solid surface including flesh, does not work on liquids or gasses. Can only be removed by cutting it out, or in the case of flesh, with healing magic. Is not an injury, so overrides most automatic regeneration, but can be removed by regeneration if the inked area is injured. Cannot be painted over, except by older bookwyrm ink, as it absorbs paint and ink, but can be marred and damaged by anything that would normally affect the surface.
Bookwyrm physiology - Immortal and ageless, won't die unless killed. Matures at roughly the same rate as humans mentally, though physically her bookwyrm body is still immature. Incredibly fast regeneration, can regenerate her whole body, except tongue, in seconds from any physical injury. Healing magic noticeably slows regeneration. Immune to disease/poison, unharmed by temperature. No need for food, breath, or sleep. Strong jaw in both forms, would require super human strength to pry open. Tough skin in both forms, like strong leather. In natural form, her teeth are sharp as diamonds and she can unhinge her jaw and press her teeth against a surface to shred it. Does not do this often as it leaves her tongue vulnerable.
Never forget - Immune to magic affecting memory. Can still be mind controlled, but will not forget. Still affected by purely emotional effects like attraction auras, empathy, or similar and also sensory effects like illusions.
Weaknesses:
Weak to sigil and runic magic. Magic based purely in written sigils and runes will affect her at peak efficiency and she is unable to resist while the magic is active. This weakness does not override her memory affecting immunity.
No faith - Vulnerable to magic based on hope and belief or love. Weak in places of worship such as churches, as well as uncomfortable. Repelled by holy symbols wielded by a practitioner of the faith. These cause pain on contact, though no actual damage.
Cannot enter a building/area where a wedding or funeral is taking place.
If her tongue is removed from her head, she will die in agony in minutes.
Biography:
An old and powerful but somewhat rare species, distantly related to both dragons and demons and often mistaken for one or the other, Bookwyrms as a whole have become somewhat eldritch due to their vast knowledge. They are natural denizens of Hell, though often found outside it once they reach maturity. Like all Bookwyrms before her, Shug was hatched from an egg, the only child her parent would ever have.
Bookwyrms mature in a different way than humans, through an intimate and painful process of interspecies knowledge transmission designed to, among other things, intertwine them in the species memory and strengthen their minds to handle the knowledge they eat. It can take from 50 to 100 years for this process to have continued long enough for a bookwyrm to be able to eat a more powerful magical tome. At this time they would pass from hatchling to child. Shug, however, had barely begun this process, when she managed to eat a tome of forbidden knowledge meant for someone else. This was dangerous to the hatching as well as being frowned upon by the rest of their society.
For her own and others' protection, Shug was sealed with an elder sign. To escape the shame, her parent sent her to the human world after marking her with both a human shape and language charm. They believed life on Manta Carlos would be best suited to their errant hatchling, and also that she could share any knowledge gained there.
She had enough experience with books to get a job as a librarian, while also sitting in on some classes in her spare time, though she is not actually enrolled in the school.
Resources: Works as a school librarian and spends most of her income on books, which she eats. Pays for a small storage locker where she keeps some clothes but otherwise lives nowhere.
Additional Information: In addition to her native language, can speak some demonic language, as well as reciting in Greek, Latin, English, and German, without her language charm.
Nickname: Shug
Age: 22, appears 14
Birthday: August 25
Gender: Genderfluid, female presenting (They, She/Her)
Species: Bookwyrm (original species)
Category: Supporting Character
Work: School Librarian
Appearance Description:
In her human form, H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth looks fully human, though much younger than she is, somewhere around 14. Even her body seems undeveloped, slim and boyish and short, only 4'7". Shug's skin is pale, like it's never seen the sun. Her chest length white hair is not exactly messy, but loose and uncombed. Her eyes are slightly unusual, heterochromatic, one green, one red eye. Three black tattoo like markings run along her collarbone. An intricate sigil on the left, an elder sign in the middle, and another intricate sigil on the right. These are normally covered up. Even in this form, her tongue is long, slender, and ink black, though rarely seen even when she talks.
Shug carries herself as if she's uncomfortable with this form, not quite used to her limbs or walking on two legs. Usually, her expression is neutral and her gaze distant, not quite focused on the people around her. She generally dresses in dark, comfortable clothing, but doesn't give much thought to her appearance. Often she forgets herself and speaks in her native tongue, which sounds like an eldritch-tinged mixture of draconian and demonic languages. Even when she speaks the hearer's language, her voice echoes oddly with a telepathic backbone and an exotic unplaceable accent.
Bookwyrm form - In her natural form, Shug is about 1 foot long and a few inches around, roughly the length of a thick hardcover novel, though she can become longer in certain circumstances. The bookwyrm resembles a furred eel-like snake with a wolf's head. She has a grey-blue pelt similar to a seal's with a ridge of soft green fur along her spine and lighter fur around her face. Her eyes are solid black, and her long black prehensile tongue is made of a magical inky substance. Her markings run along the underside of her neck in this form. The inside of her mouth is covered in small but diamond sharp teeth that actually move inside her mouth like a paper shredder, perfect for devouring books, or even stone tablets if necessary.
Because she has no actual limbs in her natural form, Shug has to use her body, especially the tip of her tail to interact with most things.
Personality Description: One word to describe Shug is unbalanced, though whether this is just her nature and upbringing or a result of forbidden knowledge is impossible to tell. She has turbulent emotions that she doesn't understand, and dislikes hope, faith, and love as something foreign and incomprehensible. She is also quite impatient, having a tendency to leap before she looks, which had gotten her in trouble before. She hungers for knowledge, both to devour and possess, especially secrets or forbidden knowledge. She is both curious almost to the point of nosiness, while keeping her own secrets close. Though she does have a broad knowledge base, Shug is socially inept. She hoards it indiscriminately, and is very in her head, not sure how to relate facts and stories to real life. The bookwyrm does not understand most social activities, except perhaps those involving public speaking.
As a bookwyrm, H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth, is biologically predisposed to caring about words. She hates the destruction of knowledge, while also disliking seeing it widely disseminated, preferring to keep it all to herself and her species. Though she will trade information, and she enjoys when people learn secrets, even if it is mostly so she can find them out.
Active Abilities:
Tattoo (see passive) Human Form - The leftmost sigil allows her a human form. She can switch back and forth instantly, but has same vulnerabilities and abilities. Can remain in human form indefinitely unless unconscious or asleep.
Size-changing in Natural Form - small natural size, but can add a foot to her length for every book in the room, up to 10 feet. Doesn't work outside. Does not require concentration, cannot maintain while asleep or unconscious.
Book eater - Eats words. Can eat words from any substance she can get into her mouth, from paper to actual books, from cereal boxes to stone tablets. This is harder, but not impossible in human form. Does not gain nourishment from electronics-based words or any words she has written herself (or another bookwyrm has written). Remembers every word she has ever eaten, and in context, as if she understood whatever language the words were written in. But this knowledge doesn't necessarily mean comprehension, and just knowing the meaning of the words doesn't mean she grasps the concepts behind them. Needs roughly 80,000 words a day, or the length of an average novel, to maintain her health, can survive on less, but will become malnourished and potentially die of starvation if she eats much less for long. Can last as long with no words as a human with no water.
Truth hurts - When talking to someone who can hear her both physically and mentally, she can cause her words to generate pain, as long as she is speaking the truth about them. If she can keep talking, can sustain for half an hour. Must rest for as long as she talked. Pain varies with how secret the knowledge is. Something immediately obvious like hair colour would be mild annoyance, a hidden tattoo slightly painful, something only a few people know more painful, and something deeply personal could be agony.
Passive Abilities:
Magic Tattoos - Has been given three bookwyrm ink "tattoos" by a much older bookwyrm. These go inches deep into her flesh and are visible in either form. They are not removed by her regeneration and must be cut out of her skin to be removed. Power nullification also nulls the effects while active.
Tattoo Elder Sign - Prevents her from transmitting or using any knowledge gained from the forbidden tome she ate. Also places a mental barrier that prevents mind-reading, though telepathy and empathy are still possible. This barrier can be detected by mind readers and attacked, but it would take a concentrated and powerful attack to break through, which would alert her to the attempt.
Tattoo Universal Language - The rightmost sigil allows her to speak and understand any spoken Earth language, including dead languages, languages native to other sentient Earth species such as dragons, some demonic, and some Underhill, but not alien languages, heavenly languages, or languages from another dimension with no earth counterpart.
Echoing Voice - When she speaks out loud, her voice has a telepathic echo that can be heard even by the deaf, this can be blocked by anyone that can normally block telepathy.
Weight of knowledge - Those within 10', feel a presence with depth and weight that speaks of forbidden fruit. She seems somehow larger than herself, like she has access to deep secrets and knowledge beyond her years.
Writing sense - Can sense any writing within 25' whether handwritten or typed, but not via electronics like tablets, computers or tv. Knows when writing has been erased or moved.
Inky tongue - While attached, tongue produces an unlimited supply of bookwyrm ink, though this is not produced in large enough amounts to be held in a container. A bookwyrm's ink and especially tongue is said to have magical properties, quite valuable to alchemists or for magical inks, but she is too young to imbue any power in her marks. She can write about enough to cover an average man's back ink before needing to pause for 15 minutes.
It is an indelible ink that sinks in a couple mm and will mark any solid surface including flesh, does not work on liquids or gasses. Can only be removed by cutting it out, or in the case of flesh, with healing magic. Is not an injury, so overrides most automatic regeneration, but can be removed by regeneration if the inked area is injured. Cannot be painted over, except by older bookwyrm ink, as it absorbs paint and ink, but can be marred and damaged by anything that would normally affect the surface.
Bookwyrm physiology - Immortal and ageless, won't die unless killed. Matures at roughly the same rate as humans mentally, though physically her bookwyrm body is still immature. Incredibly fast regeneration, can regenerate her whole body, except tongue, in seconds from any physical injury. Healing magic noticeably slows regeneration. Immune to disease/poison, unharmed by temperature. No need for food, breath, or sleep. Strong jaw in both forms, would require super human strength to pry open. Tough skin in both forms, like strong leather. In natural form, her teeth are sharp as diamonds and she can unhinge her jaw and press her teeth against a surface to shred it. Does not do this often as it leaves her tongue vulnerable.
Never forget - Immune to magic affecting memory. Can still be mind controlled, but will not forget. Still affected by purely emotional effects like attraction auras, empathy, or similar and also sensory effects like illusions.
Weaknesses:
Weak to sigil and runic magic. Magic based purely in written sigils and runes will affect her at peak efficiency and she is unable to resist while the magic is active. This weakness does not override her memory affecting immunity.
No faith - Vulnerable to magic based on hope and belief or love. Weak in places of worship such as churches, as well as uncomfortable. Repelled by holy symbols wielded by a practitioner of the faith. These cause pain on contact, though no actual damage.
Cannot enter a building/area where a wedding or funeral is taking place.
If her tongue is removed from her head, she will die in agony in minutes.
Biography:
An old and powerful but somewhat rare species, distantly related to both dragons and demons and often mistaken for one or the other, Bookwyrms as a whole have become somewhat eldritch due to their vast knowledge. They are natural denizens of Hell, though often found outside it once they reach maturity. Like all Bookwyrms before her, Shug was hatched from an egg, the only child her parent would ever have.
Bookwyrms mature in a different way than humans, through an intimate and painful process of interspecies knowledge transmission designed to, among other things, intertwine them in the species memory and strengthen their minds to handle the knowledge they eat. It can take from 50 to 100 years for this process to have continued long enough for a bookwyrm to be able to eat a more powerful magical tome. At this time they would pass from hatchling to child. Shug, however, had barely begun this process, when she managed to eat a tome of forbidden knowledge meant for someone else. This was dangerous to the hatching as well as being frowned upon by the rest of their society.
For her own and others' protection, Shug was sealed with an elder sign. To escape the shame, her parent sent her to the human world after marking her with both a human shape and language charm. They believed life on Manta Carlos would be best suited to their errant hatchling, and also that she could share any knowledge gained there.
She had enough experience with books to get a job as a librarian, while also sitting in on some classes in her spare time, though she is not actually enrolled in the school.
Resources: Works as a school librarian and spends most of her income on books, which she eats. Pays for a small storage locker where she keeps some clothes but otherwise lives nowhere.
Additional Information: In addition to her native language, can speak some demonic language, as well as reciting in Greek, Latin, English, and German, without her language charm.
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Name: H' ahf' mgep ah'legeth shugnahoth