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PERSEPHUME  CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT BIOLOGY: This elegant creature manufactures an extremely fragrant chemical concoction within its hollow body that it can vaporate instantaneously through its cranial pipe, the complex scent and hazardous side effects varying from one individual Persephume to the next. According to its composition, inhalation of the vapor by different subjects may result in severe impairment of judgment, motor function, alertness, pain reception, visual processing or cognitive speed, but the sense of taste and smell are only ever amplified. The same fragrance may be equally repellent or irresistibly attractive to a given monster, and the Persephume must take care that its miasma will have the desired outcome on prey versus predator. The creature's transparent body walls have a plastic-like consistency at rest, but can be softened to an almost gelatinous state or hardened to the rigidity of diamond. In the latter state, it is able to refract light with enough intensity to blind an attacker. The sucker-like base of the Persephume is its actual mouth, which feeds through its millions of fluid-sucking microcilia. It can glide across surfaces at a reasonable pace, but can also bounce from place to place as it repeatedly softens and stiffens the tubular stem. When two given Persephume overcome enough of their almost universal contempt towards one another, they may attempt a ballet-like reproductive dance and exchange some of their own concentrated perfume. Within days, each Persephume develops a number of crystalline "seedlings" it plants wherever it sees fit. Each offspring develops its heads first, and grows upwards on a transparent, winding stalk with delicately glassy "leaves" until achieving its adult height. The stalk expands into a complete body over the course of ten days, and the creature has already finalized its signature fragrance by the moment it breaks free from its root.  BEHAVIOR: Every Persephume is certain that its fragrance is the most sophisticated, complicated and desirable of its kind, and flamboyantly conducts itself as a celebrity figure regardless of their present company. It feels flattered by any who find its scent appealing, while those who find it repulsive are dismissed by the Persephume as an uncivilized lout, at best only deserving the charity of its begrudging pity. A Persephume desires to be pampered and doted upon without end, especially desiring its surface to be polished on a daily basis however spotless it may already be. It is particularly agitated by the discovery of any social gathering that they were not invited to, no matter the appropriateness or even physical and chronological possibility of its attendance. It has little to no regard for the social boundaries of others, and fully expects to be brought along for everything from funerary processions to their master's private dates, where it also expects to be met with unanimous gratitude for having graced such an event with its presence. APPLIANCE: Every Persephume offers unique advantages and disadvantages to every situation, but the majority of effects are debilitating on some level to all those exposed. Heavily diluted samples are sometimes utilized in consumer perfumes, soaps, scented candles and air fresheners, but the result is rarely any better received than cheaper, more mass produced products of their kind, a reception the Persephume confidently chalks up to a mix of the dilution process and the petty jealousy of the plebeian masses. Persephume are also known to enjoy singing, but their voices tend to be unpleasantly shrill to most other creatures. DENSITY SHIFT: the Persephume can harden or soften its body at will, becoming almost impenetrably tough or soft enough to slip through the tightest grasp. FLASH: the monster can refract an intense flash of light in its hardened, crystalline form. FRAGRANT MIASMA: the monster's vapor affects other monsters in a variety of ways. • 1: impaired judgment, poor self preservation • 2: impaired reasoning, slowed cognition • 3: feebleness and exhaustion • 4: poor motor control, similar to intoxication • 5: distracting levels of amorousness • 6: elevated anxiety, paranoia, fearfulness • 7: extremely blurred vision • 8: near total deafness • 9: impaired sense of touch and no sense of pain • 10: effects 7-9 simultaneously. Roll one more D10 to determine one more effect on that class from the following: • 1: finds the smell extremely comforting and calming* • 2: finds the smell appetizingly sweet and addictive • 3: harmlessly but irritatingly allergic; itches and sneezes • 4: finds the smell revolting, but can tolerate it if necessary. • 5: intense romantic affection for the Persephume • 6: intense desire to eat the Persephume • 7: weird, confusing combination of effects 5 and 6 • 8: viscerally repulsed by smell, desperate to escape it • 9: disgust surpassed only by compulsion to destroy Persephume • 10: ambivalent to smell, it's just "alright" ** *If the subject is also suffering the fearfulness effect, it now desires to hide within the vapor and will violently resist removal. **This is the only thing the Persephume loses its cool over. It is absolutely infuriated by this and will not let it go whatever the personal risk.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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