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Gargoyle Rover/Male (Left) and Nester/Female (Right)
Gargoyles, or more broadly grotesques, are most
often associated with medieval European cathedral architecture, but
similar creatures are found in many cultures. True gargoyles are
functional downspouts, diverting water from rooftops away from stone walls.
Grotesques are decorative figures similar to gargoyles. Church gargoyles,
such as the famous figures on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, are said
to scare away evil spirits. Even today, many major cities
feature buildings with a few gargoyles and grotesques peeking down at the streets.
Origins
Gargoyles are
part of the family of creatures known as Stonekin, ranging in
size from colossal hillbeasts (monsters so large they can
literally be mistaken for a mountain) to tiny sandbits (beetle-sized
creatures who act on stone as termites act on wood, the bane of masons and
architects throughout the land.) All are, as implied, creatures
or beings of living stone.
According to Stonekin legend, a long-lost race of magical beings known as
the Great Masons "wakened" the stone guardians of their cities with magic many
centuries ago.
After their rather sudden and chaotic disappearance, the Stonekin lived
on. Stonekin vary widely in appearance, from near-perfect renditions
of existing (or extinct) creatures to beasts fantastic
even by Tiriallean standards, formed from any variety of stone or mineral
imaginable. The species known as gargoyles, represented (in a small
part) at Skyhaven, are the most common variety of Stonekin. Gargoyles in densely populated areas
are often smaller, while those in remote ruins have been known to reach five
or six feet long.
Habitat
Gargoyles are the
most urban of the Stonekin. Much like their nonliving counterparts on
other worlds, they prefer to live in, around, and on stone buildings.
In Tirialle, they frequently inhabit ruins, but are also quite at home in
thriving cities. Some few live on cliffs. They dislike intense
cold, especially frost and hard freezes, and also shy away from intense
heat. All they need in the way of shelter is a ledge to keep the worst
of the rain off their backs and a protected place for their eggs. They tend
to be nocturnal, their softly-glowing eyes a familiar sight to
late-night city wanderers.
Feeding
Stonekin don't eat meat per se, though many hunt
animals to eat their bones, and sometimes their teeth, scales, or
horns. Gargoyles are no exception, sometimes killing pigeons and rats, but for the most part they avoid
bloodshed. They obtain nutrients by eating rocks, crystals, and
gemstones, sometimes licking large boulders or outcroppings as other animals
lick salt. Where available, they eat sandbits, considering the little pests a
delicacy (though a somewhat hazardous one; sandbits are the only parasitic threat to
Stonekin, chewing on living stone as readily as dead stone.) They
also gnaw on pure metals, but seem to consider
them treats rather than necessities; gargoyles seem especially fond of iron. In the
wilderness, gargoyles drink from mineral-heavy springs, but they seem to be able to live with
little more than the occasional rainfall to dampen their dry throats.
Life Cycle
Gargoyles, like
all Stonekin, rely on soulstones to invigorate their solid stone eggs,
imbuing them with life. These are softly glowing stones, almost perfectly round,
which grow like pearls through the ages. Soulstones were originally created by their
makers (referred to superstitiously as the Carvers or Masons), but over the
centuries Stonekin learned to make their own through means never revealed to
outsiders. Each gargoyle watch has at least one of these mysterious stones. Only
nesters (fertile females) are allowed to touch a soulstone; nobody is certain of the effects
on male gargoyles, but non-Stonekin who pick up soulstones suffer very
traumatic reactions, from mere shock to petrification, even transformation into Stonekin versions of themselves. This
is, incidentally, the only sure-fire way to determine a gargoyle's gender if
they don't choose to tell you; gargoyles clutching or perched on a soulstone
must be nesters. Eggs - invariably and regardless of external
resemblance to other creatures, all Stonekin hatch from
eggs - are placed around the soulstone in a
fiercely-protected alcove, where they can take upwards of five years to
"quicken" and hatch. After
hatching, the dominant nester rolls the soulstone over the stony egg shards,
which meld into the soulstone as bits of clay adhere to a larger ball.
Gargoyles grow relatively rapidly for Stonekin, reaching their full adult
size (in the case of Skyhaven gargoyles, an average of two to four feet long
from
shoulders to tail-base) in about five years. They can live for hundreds of years, though as they
mature,the resiliancy of their
living stone flesh diminishes, slowing them down considerably. Few live to see
one thousand years without having shattered or
"petrified," a term for the loss of their living spark and
reversion to dead stone. Gargoyles have few natural enemies,
save other gargoyles, a few of the nastier Stonekin, and general wear and
tear.
Culture
Gargoyles usually live in
groups known as watches, consisting of about 10 to 40 individuals.
Discerning gargoyle gender is well-nigh impossible to outsiders, as the entire species varies so widely in appearance, but experts
believe that there are are only two to five fertile females (called nesters)
in any given watch, who tend to remain close to home. Likewise,
there are only a handful of fertile males (called rovers.) Whether the rest
are immature, asexual, or simply nonbreeding is a matter of great debate, and the
gargoyles themselves refuse to discuss the matter with outsiders (of all
Skyhaven residents, they are perhaps the most prudish in this respect.)
Within the watch, nesters are dominant over the roosting site while rovers
rule over territory patrols and food scouting expeditions. Gargoyles only fight
when there are territory disputes. In those instances, the nesters and
rovers almost never join in, save to defend their own lives, acting instead
as generals directing the troops.
Through enlightened self-interest, gargoyle watches keep a close eye on
others within and around their roosting spots. It often becomes a
point of pride with them to maintain the integrity and security of their
home. Some building owners actively
encourage gargoyle nesting for security purposes. However, whatever
problems a gargoyle sees, a gargoyle deals with on their own, for good or
ill. Unless
one maintains a good friendship with one's resident gargoyle watch, one
could end up in a lot of trouble, as gargoyles may attack friends or let
foes pass unharmed if they don't perceive an immediate threat. On
more than one occasion, absentee landlords found themselves chased out
of their own buildings by angered gargoyles protecting the homeless
squatters who took up residence therein. Gargoyles, like all Stonekin,
are exceptionally strong
and, despite their heaviness and sometimes awkward arrangement of limbs,
very agile, almost never tiring. The only terrains that effectively
stop them are lava and deep water.
Gargoyles tend to get rowdy during thunderstorms and full moons, laughing
and singing and spitting rainwater on passersby. They also are prone
to eavesdropping and spying, more for personal amusement than anything else;
mostly, as the Tiriallean saying goes, what a gargoyle hears stays in
gargoyle ears. It may well spread to quite a few gargoyle ears before
long, though, and those outsiders who are exceptionally well-liked by them
could be privy to such secrets, which can lead to many problems. They
don't intend malice, but, being made of stone, they don't always understand
how some truths can hurt, or how rashly-spoken words perhaps shouldn't be
repeated. Gargoyles tend to be fairly straightforward and honest
creatures, on the whole, which is another reason why the frequent
mood-shifts and duplicities of true-flesh beings both puzzle and amuse
them. That said, it's wise to check the rooftops and
rafters for stony watchers before saying or doing anything you don't want
coming back to haunt you.
Temperament
Like all Stonekin, gargoyles vary widely in appearance even within a single
family, though they tend to
be four-legged, roughly animalistic creatures. They vary just as
widely in Temperament, too, some being cheerful and helpful and some being
foul-tempered. Fortunately, due
to the deep intertwining of Stonekin nature with the magic that creates,
maintains, and propagates their living stone flesh, it's relatively easy to
tell them apart, as they display their attitude and alignment openly.
Nasty
Stonekin are more grotesque, tending to sharp angles and jagged horns and brooding
brows, while nice ones are more happy, even cartoony in appearance.
Magical Traits
The living stone of Stonekin flesh has some macabre fascination for certain
magic workers, most notably crackpots or con artists pitching dreams of intelligent buildings or self-healing cobblestones (one famous
scheme involves detailed plans to create a whole living city of
self-cleaning homes and traffic-guiding streets, a con that parts many
foolish investors from their money annually throughout Tirialle), but thus far
experiments have been fruitless. Once a flake of living stone
leaves the Stonekin, it reverts to being true stone, though with an odd
pattern similar to animal cells when seen under a microscope. Some
claim that artefacts (charms, amulets, etc.) made from once-living stone
have magnified properties compared to a similar artefact made of
"dead" stone of a similar type (for instance, an invisibility
charm made from living diamond is stronger than one made of normal diamond.) No
researchers have been able to replicate the magic that originally wakened the
Stonekin or created soulstones. (The golem, or living statue, is not a true
Stonekin as the golem only "lives" while under the influence of
its maker's spell, displaying no independent survival instincts,
intelligence, or personality. Stonekin consider golems
and their makers to be abominations of the lowest sort, all the moreso
because golems are the only known way for an outsider to steal and transport
a soulstone.)
Soulstones are well-guarded by their bearers, being potent magical
artifacts and essential to their survival. They vary in power by the
Stonekin who carry them, though, like gargoyles, no male Stonekin can or
will touch a soulstone. Legend says that doing so will either shatter
the stone or transform the offender into a female (or simply make them lay
eggs, no less pleasant an option.) Some soulstones have been known to waken
"fresh" stone; that is, bring life to creatures carved by
modern-day artists. Such creatures, strangely, take almost no time at
all to adapt to being Stonekin, knowing just what variety of Stonekin they
are, how to speak, how to move, and all sorts of other things that most
creatures must learn through instinct or teachers.
Other Notes
In some parts of Tirialle, it is common to ask a gargoyle's blessing on
any building before construction begins.
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otherwise, are © TBW
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images may be taken
If you feel you absolutely must have a background or special image, please
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