Lohrke

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A race of bioluminescent cave salamander people appearing in some quests.

From Journey Quest: Lohrke are a subterranean species of humanoid mammals closely resembling odd animate fungus. They begin their lives as immobile starfish-like decomposers. The parents of a newborn Lohrke place the young atop a compost pile of rotting animal and vegetable matter and keep watch over it to keep it safe as it develops. Over the course of a year, the young Lohrke develops a long stalk sprouting off the initial “foot” with a large bulb on the end, and lined with bioluminescent globes, as it develops its spine and skull. At this point the mother will slowly take over, breast feeding the young weaning it onto taking in food with its newly developed mouth. Over the course of another year, the young Lohrke’s stalk splits at the bottom into a pair of legs and a tail roughly ¾ the length of it’s body, as well as arms. The bottom of their feet and tail is lined with hundreds of tiny fibers that excrete a sticky mucous, allowing Lohrke to walk almost effortlessly along cavern walls and ceilings. When traversing walls or ceilings Lohrke drag their tail, making sure it is in constant contact with the surface they are walking on anchoring them. Lohrke eyes are developed for subterranean existence and as such, can see several feet ahead of them with little to no lighting, however, this vision is fairly simple, not really capable of making out specific details of certain things, thus, they frequently will light a cavern around them using their bioluminescent globes, located on their backs and shoulder/ collar region.

Lohrke society as a whole maintains a social taboo for going to the surface. Most believe that exposure to the sun will kill them; the idea of how this happens tends to vary from Lohrke to Lohrke. The effects of prolonged exposure to sunlight cause a Lohrke’s body to slowly burn. After about an hour, any part of their body exposed exhibits equivalent damage to very bad sunburn, within the next hour, that skin will begin to erupt in terrible blisters. Shortly there after, the blisters will rupture, exposing the lower layer of skin to the harsh sunlight. As this layer of flesh burns, it causes incredible pain to the victim leaving scaring similar to that of a burn victim.

As a species they have an affinity for SCIENCE. Depending on the region they are living in and the power sources that can be found in that region they tend to develop fantastical technological devices known to them as “Technomancy.” As an example, the cities that developed near underground lakes discovered an abundance of a crustacean known as “Shocker Crabs” which produce in their bodies a powerful electric charge. They harnessed this to develop electricity based devises. Another society that developed in a volcano developed a means to harness the heat from the earth to develop steam powered devices and using the chitin from a magma dwelling creature known as “Magma Divers” developed weapons, armor, and other such devices capable of withstanding the extreme heat of molten lava.

Lohrke society is run by a comity consisting of a mayor for each town and a council of his/ her most trusted advisors. Lohrke cities always include a section designated for outside visitors. Unlike the rest of the city, the buildings in these designated areas will be equipped with stairs or ladders, as Lohrke themselves have no need for such things, they are absent from standard structures.

The Lohrke worship Urn’kel, the God of the Depths. He is depicted as a large cloaked figure with a single eyed mask. One hand is visible as a large pincer. From the bottom of his cloak spews a swarm of either Shocker Crabs, Magma Divers, or similar creature, depending on the region. Urn’kel is said to have provided the vast tunnels of the depths for his chosen people, along with the bountiful creatures of the caves to be utilized by his people. He protects the Lohrke from the horrors of the surface world with his dark shroud, which ties in with the societal taboo the Lohrke have regarding the surface.