The Strange
Inklings are "ghosts" of the Strange. An absence recalling form and a hunger without a shape, an inkling mimics what it last fed upon and erased from existence. Most inklings encountered in and around the Shoals of Earth are humanoid in silhouette. They may be a form of life bred in an alien fiction, the "psychic memories" of consumed recursions that have taken on a tortured half-life of their own, or something yet to be conceived by recursors.
Despite the rules that fence out Strangers, inklings can sometimes seep into a recursion to feed on natives. Whether in the depths of the dark energy network or in the ruins of a bombed-out basement in Cataclyst, an area of space-black darkness could be a swarm of inklings waiting to feed.
Lesser inklings have as little substance and are as dangerous as regular shadows, but the more inklings that pool together, the greater their combined strength (and the more likely a snatcher will appear). Lesser inklings are drawn to living creatures like moths to light, but only if that life is nearby. Otherwise they collect in dark corners of the Strange, especially around the ruined and lost relics of devoured civilizations.
Motive: Hungers for life, color, and substance
Environment (the Strange): Anywhere undisturbed, usually in swarms of five or ten, but sometimes more
Health 6
Damage Inflicted: Minor wound (2 points)
Movement: Immediate while in combat, long while flying
Combat: The touch of a lesser inkling inflicts 2 points of ambient damage (wounds appear as areas of darkness). An inkling can suck light in immediate range, inflicting 2 points of ambient damage to living creatures, but not on consecutive turns.
Inklings often attack as a swarm. For every multiple of five inklings present (five, ten, fifteen, and so on), the resultant swarm makes an attack as a creature two levels higher that inflicts 2 additional points of ambient damage. The swarm can make both touch and light-draining attacks in immediate range.
Bright light (as bright as direct sunlight or brighter) drives a lesser inkling back. An inkling that cannot escape bright light evaporates in just a few rounds.
An inkling can become fully insubstantial, but when feeding, it retains enough substance to affect (and be affected by) corporeal creatures.
Interaction: Lesser inklings aren't really intelligent. They're drawn to feed and are repelled by light.
Use: A swarm of inklings seep into a recursion through a fissure in existence, and infest a basement, tomb, or closet. Alternatively, a shattered habitat or vessel found in the Strange might contain inklings.
GM Intrusion: All of the bright light sources suddenly go out, allowing the inklings to encroach.
Greater inklings of various terrible visages haunt the Strange. One is the inkling snatcher, which can drain the color and substance from a creature when it feeds, until nothing is left of a victim but formless shadow: a lesser inkling. The more an inkling snatcher consumes of a creature, the more it comes to look like its prey.
Motive: Hungers for life, color, and substance
Environment (the Strange): Anywhere undisturbed, at the center of a large swarm of lesser inklings or wandering alone
Health 42
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (7 points)
Movement: Long
Modifications: Defends as level 3 against melee attacks due to desire to be struck (see combat).
Combat: The touch of an inkling snatcher inflicts 7 points of ambient damage. An inkling snatcher can also suck light in immediate range as an action once every other round, inflicting 4 points of ambient damage to living creatures. Form and color seem to flow from the victim to the inkling with each successful attack. An inkling regains health equal to half the number of points of damage it deals to creatures (or adds the total to its maximum health if already fully healthy).
Each time a foe successfully attacks an inkling snatcher, he suffers 2 points of ambient damage, as shadow substance from the wound splashes the attacker back.
Each time a foe takes 7 or more points of damage from an inkling snatcher attack, he must make a Might defense roll. On a failed roll, the foe descends one step on the damage track. If a foe is killed by an inkling, nothing is left but a shadow (a fledgling lesser inkling). Meanwhile, the inkling snatcher takes on the visage, abilities, and personality of the just-consumed. Indeed, for one day, the snatcher may believe it is the victim, until a strange hunger awakes (and the snatcher's stolen form and color begin to leach away).
Bright light (as bright as direct sunlight or brighter) modifies all tasks, attacks, and defenses of an inkling snatcher by two steps to its detriment.
Interaction: Meaningful interaction with an inkling snatcher is impossible, unless the snatcher still retains most of the form and mind of a previous victim.
Use: Inklings are considered a threat that must be burned out whenever they are confronted, or fled from if too prolific.
Loot: Sometimes an inkling snatcher with a victim's likeness has a couple of cyphers and an artifact from that victim.
GM Intrusion: The inkling snatcher takes on the likeness and form of a previous victim, temporarily convincing the PCs that it isn't a threat.