| Class: | Fabulous Beast |
| Hab: | Sea floor |
| Fre: | Rare |
| Num: | 1 vast or 6-600 smaller |
| Lair: | Sessile; 100% |
| Size: | House to mountain sized; a colony may be miles in length |
| Move: | None; sessile (larvae free-swimming as jellyfish) |
| Def: | Massive, tough skin often armored, many allied "tenants" |
| Att: | Varied organs + "tenants" |
| Int: | None, usually, but, as a major location, may have wisdom of a nature god |
| Spec: | Creates fabulous habitats for others |
| Posns: | Incidental but likely plentiful; depends on "tenants" |
These gelatinous masses form surprisingly sturdy transparent reefs, home to a wide array of inhabitants, from simple sea-beasts quaint or cunning to Sea Folk barbaric or civilized. While sea palaces begin life as polyps only a foot or so across, often mistaken for ordinary jellyfish, the sessile adults may be hundreds of feet thick and miles across.
Clusters of smaller sea palace jellies, only 1-600' across, may be cultivated as lovely houses in undersea villages. Single larger specimens may be used as actual palaces or cities. There are reports of entire seas being lined with sea palace jelly, on alien worlds or in fairy-fantasy settings. The "living space" within a palace jelly can only occupy a fraction of the total volume, up to 25%, as the jelly must be thick for structural support and to house its own transparent internal organs.
Within the mass of the jelly are bizarre organs of pliant gel and diamantine silica, of shell and rubbery muscle. Explorers will also encounter a wide variety of creatures familiar and creatures strange living within the vermiculate passages and cavernous larger spaces permeating the mass of the jelly; SEE Flesh Environments.
The inhabitants of the jelly, both simple beasts and sapient Folk, guide the growth of their gelatinous palace, encouraging growth here and carving out caves there. The jelly grow various organs in response to its environment and treatment. Despite being yielding to the touch, the general mass of the jelly is quite cohesive; it is no easier to break off a piece, or to puncture it, than to break or pierce solid stone. The tough, rubbery skin varies from a foot to several yards in thickness. Excessive traffic may be slowed by the development of hinged, shifting, or sliding door-shells or opercula. Damage in an area will provoke the growth of fused silica armor, usually clear or transparent, lining a passage or cave. For further examples, SEE Flesh Environments entry.
The mass of the jelly is rather varied. Much is as translucent as clearest crystal, but portions are tinted or opaque. Scattered throughout the translucent mass are bioluminescent flecks, like constellations lighting up the sea depths. These may be organs of the jelly itself or symbionts living within its flesh.
Striated throughout the mass are tunnels and chambers filled with air. The jelly generates this from elements it absorbs from the water about it or from the earth below. There is an approximately equal volume of passages and chambers filled with water. Here and there, pressurized valves communicate between these two environments.
| Vladpup Home RPG Home Bestiary Index | Last update Apr 4, 2006 |