Tidal Blades
Shellers are small nautilus-like creatures, with hard, chambered shells and dozens of appendages.
They're much sought-after by adventurers, scientists, lorehunters, and others, as they provide michronic energy and other precious building materials needed to manufacture shells in the Citadel. Not only are they rare, they're also difficult to find and capture, thanks to their keen sense of danger and their unique ability to use michronic energy to conceal themselves from predators. Additionally, many shellers are drawn to areas of high michronic energy, such as near the Fold, so they're surrounded by some of the sea's most dangerous monsters.
Those who spend their lives hunting and capturing shellers know to take care, as the michronic energy they radiate can inflict damage and cause a variety of mutations. Most sheller-seekers use special protection and equipment, such as sheller gloves, long catchers called braidsticks, and special sheller traps designed to entice and catch the creatures.
Shellers sometimes live in large groups called nests, but more often are solitary creatures with large territories.
Motive: Hungers for michronic energy, defense
Environment: Everywhere in the sea, but particularly near the Fold and in places like the Inner Reef
Health: 20
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications: Hiding, stealth, and perception as level 5; all tasks involving sensing, disrupting, or using michronic energy (including time travel) as level 6
Combat: Shellers try not to engage in combat, most likely because doing so will give away their location. Instead, they prefer to hide whenever possible. If caught, they use any means of escape at their disposal. They fight only as a last resort.
Shellers can do any one of the following as their action.
Interaction: Although they are clearly intelligent, shellers can't be interacted with in any meaningful way.
Use: While shellers are only supposed to be sold to the Citadel, more than one intrepid explorer has found a way to earn a living by trading them to rogue Engineers, scampers, and others.
Loot: Shellers generate michronic energy, which makes them extremely valuable if captured alive. The Citadel pays 25 shells for living shellers, while the black market might offer as much as 40 shells. In addition, sheller secretions can be mixed with crushed sheller carapace to create flux, a paste that induces a temporary time stasis.
GM Intrusion: The sheller emits a burst of michronic energy so strong, it causes an instant distinctive mutation in all characters within close range who fail a Might defense roll. The GM should roll on the distinctive mutation table to determine which mutation each character receives.
Handling shellers over a period of time can cause a variety of mutations in people of all species except nag'i. Most of the risk comes from touching shellers directly, but those who spend a lot of time in their vicinity might also be affected over time.
To illustrate this risk, you can use a sheller mutation intrusion. These intrusions work just like regular GM Intrusions, except that you hand them out based on a general sense of how much interaction a PC has had with shellers. The first, second, and even third time a character handles a sheller, they're not likely to have enough exposure to worry about mutations. The fourth or fifth time? Maybe. The tenth and eleventh time? For sure. Don't worry too much about keeping track. Exact numbers don't matter. It's more a sense that the PC has been handling an awful lot of shellers lately, and it might be time for them to face the consequences of that.
If a character attempts to resist the mutation, they must make a level 5 Might defense roll.
Being trained in Might defense rolls or resisting michronic energy eases this task, as does using an item, such as sheller gloves.
Roll a d6 to determine what type of mutation(s) the character receives, then roll on the appropriate mutation table.
d6 Effect
1-2 Harmful mutation
3-4 Distinctive mutation
5 Beneficial mutation
6 Distinctive and harmful mutation
Remember that nag'i are immune to mutations, so they're not subject o sheller mutation intrusions. If this means they become the go-to character for handling shellers, that's fine—a PC using their unique strengths to help the group is always something to be celebrated.