Category:Skimmer

Skimmers are highly unusual beholderkin found in Fallaya Basin. A skimmer can grow to the size of a normal beholder. Skimmers superficially resemble beholders in that they move through flight and are spherical with a central eye and a mouth. However, the resemblance ends there. Skimmers have no eyestalks and instead bear four tentacles with two growing out each side of its body.

Skimmers are omnivores though they primarily subsist on plant matter such as grass, fruit, and waterplants. They gather food by flying just above the ground or surface of the water and using their tentacles to gather food and place it in their mouth. This habit of skimming above the water’s surface is what earned them the name skimmer from the fishherders. Skimmers will often gather fish and other small animals on accident while eating, and this makes up most of the meat that they consume though they are known to chew on the corpses of animals they kill.

While beholderkin, skimmers are no more intelligent than a clever dog, and their behavior reflects this. They will gladly spend most of their days grazing contentedly if left to their own devices and mainly concern themselves with their next mouthful of food. However, they are solitary creatures and are prone to aggressive outbursts if animals approach too near to them just like hippopotamuses. As hippos and skimmers share overlapping habitats and equally aggressive dispositions, it is not uncommon for the two animals to fight. Hippos win most of these engagements, and it is not uncommon to see skimmers missing one or more tentacles as a result. They are known to tolerate other skimmers if there is a great abundance of food, but this is rare.

Skimmers have some natural camouflage ability, and a skimmer’s skin will slowly change color over a few hours to match its surroundings. This camouflage will do little to hide it from humans or other intelligent creatures, but it does help protect skimmers from being attacked by predators.

A skimmer’s greatest fear is becoming unable to fly. This is rare though it is known to happen to skimmers that eat heavy objects such as wood, shells, or bones. Skimmers have some instinctual knowledge of this, and indeed this is critical to the skimmer life cycle. A skimmer that dreams of a meal that might make it fall to the earth will dream of having a companion to share this meal with, and it is through this process that a new skimmer will be dreamt into the world. This new skimmer will also be created asleep. The two skimmers will usually drift apart in their sleep though they will attack each other if one awakes with the other nearby.

^[1]

References