Mooncalves were otherworldly flying tentacled aberrations that rarely ventured far from the mountains or hilltops they lived on. These creatures often served uvuudaum of the Far Realm.[5][3]
Description[]
Mooncalves' bodies resembled that of a giant mollusk or a squid with fleshy bat-like wings that held it in the air.[3] Their leathery bodies were a mass of muscle, cartilage, and mucus. The creatures had uneven proportions, the sight quite unnerving to behold.[4] They had six short tentacles that were used as arms and in close combat, and two long ones with the reach of 30 ft. (50 ft., if moonlord[2]). At the base of all the tentacles, the creatures had a beak-like mouth.[3] Mooncalves' had two thing long whip-like tongues coiled inside the beaks.[4]
Abilities[]
Mooncalves could not speak in any other way than telepathically at a 100-ft range.[3]
Their alien flesh was dense and resistant to non-magical strikes.[4]
Occasionally, one in a hundred mooncalves was born with an ability to teleport.[1]
Mooncalves were poor fliers and could not hover in the air, jerking around instead. Still, they were very fast fliers. Even though flying was their main method of movement, their tentacles were powerful enough to drag their fleshy bodies around when grounded.[4]
Behavior[]
The first mooncalves were sentient creatures, a melding of a tool, a child, and a predator.[4] They were born programmed to consume matter and knowledge, often searching for new types of matter to consume and events to witness. They were often spotted before or during catastrophes and terrible events, observing, giving mooncalves a reputation of being harbingers of doom, and bad luck.[6]
Mooncalves rarely talked to creatures they considered to be their meal or an object of observation, they did use their telepathy to manipulate lesser beings for their own goals.[7]
They never build societies and never mated.[6]
They rarely landed, preferring perpetual flight and they never slept.[7]
Combat[]
A typical mooncalf flew high above its opponents attacking with potent spell-like abilities such as call lightning, control weather, control winds, dominate animal, greater magic fang, protection from elements, quench, and resist.[3]
When forced into close combat, a mooncalf attempted to grapple the opponents, crushing them with their tentacles, drag them towards the beak for a bite attack, or use magic to electrocute the grappled creature.[3]
If mooncalf's tentacle was destroyed or chopped off, it could regrow the missing limb within 11 to 20 days.[2]
Ecology[]
Wherever these creatures arrived from, they often stuck around the tops of tall mountains or hills that they called home. Always a desolate place, and mooncalves always could be found in solitude, unless serving an uvuudaum master.[3][5] In the worlds where they could easily fly to floating landmasses or moons, those high places were their preferred home.[7]
Mooncalf strangling its next meal.
It was believed mooncalves were spawned at the full size as no babies were ever encountered. Most mooncalves were the same size with small color and tentacle number variations. With age and enough consumed matter, they grow in size. That variety of the creature was called Moonlord.[7]
Mooncalves' alien physiology did not have similar dietary needs as the creatures of Prime Material Plane. They did not require certain vitamins, proteins, nor minerals to survive. Instead, they consumed any substance, organic, and inorganic. The average amount of matter they consumed roughly was the same as their body weight. Due to the curiosity programmed into them by their creators, mooncalves liked to have a variety of things to consume.[4]
Sages and researches who got a hold of a mooncalf body came to the conclusion that they were basically alchemical laboratories capable of digesting and dissolving virtually anything they were able to eat. Some sages theorized mooncalves were not just eating the matter, but memorized and cataloged every chemical and substance that comprised the thing being eaten.[7]
History[]
There were rumors about these creatures claiming they arrived from the dark side of the moon.[3] These rumors were not far from the truth. Mooncalves' origins were tied to the titanic beings of immense power from space between worlds. These creatures were only known as moongods who might have come from the Far Realm[1]. They discovered Prime Material worlds and were fascinated by the alien life on those planets. The moongods could not survive in Prime Material worlds so they created mooncalves, lesser versions of themselves, able to live, thrive, and explore new worlds for their creators. Mooncalves were "birthed" into Prime Material worlds on the worlds' highest points.[4]
In Year of the Watching Cold, 1320 DR, the Purple Claws mercenary company, during their expedition to Throrgar in the Underdark, entered the lair of an uvuudaum where every member of the company was killed by the uvuudaum's mooncalf minions.[5]
Circa 1479 DR, mooncalves could be found among aberrant creatures that served the Far Realm's Abolethic Sovereignty.[8]
Rumors and Legends[]
- Some sages theorized that "moongods" were nothing but the mooncalves' delusion and their origins were nothing but a creation of illithids or grell.[9]
- Another theory was that "moongods" were just a single evil deity that used mooncalves as its agents across many worlds.[9]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sterling Hershey, Brian R. James, Matt James, Steve Townshend Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. (Wizards of the Coast LLC), p. 79. ISBN 978-0-7869-5838-2.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Owen K.C. Stephens (February 2006). “The Ecology of the Mooncalf”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #340 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 62.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Ed Bonny, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Skip Williams, and Steve Winter (September 2002). Monster Manual II 3rd edition. (TSR, Inc), p. 150. ISBN 07-8692-873-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Owen K.C. Stephens (February 2006). “The Ecology of the Mooncalf”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #340 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), pp. 58–59.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Rich Baker (August 2007). “Realmslore: The Purple Halls”. Dragon #360 (Wizards of the Coast). Archived from the original on 2013-05-31. Retrieved on 2020-03-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Owen K.C. Stephens (February 2006). “The Ecology of the Mooncalf”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #340 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 61.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Owen K.C. Stephens (February 2006). “The Ecology of the Mooncalf”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #340 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 60.
- ↑ Matt Sernett, Erik Scott de Bie, Ari Marmell (August 2011). Neverwinter Campaign Setting. Edited by Tanis O'Connor. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 93. ISBN 0-7869-5814-6.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Owen K.C. Stephens (February 2006). “The Ecology of the Mooncalf”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #340 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 63.