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Slimes — Description
I find slimes to be fascinating creatures, as they are a species that is both simplistic and complex. One would think that a walking pile of rubbery goo would be an easy specimen to understand, yet there are intricate systems and behaviors hidden beneath it all. I think another thing that drives my interest in them is how quickly others write these creatures off. People take one look at a slime and instantly see it has some mindless garbage eater, as if they were a mobile form of slime mold. Even when dealing with educated slimes, others are quick to dismiss them, how rude! Despite the assumptions and beliefs, slimes are a highly variable and adaptable species that deal with unique abilities and challenges.

Like dryads, slimes can be found in nearly environment. The only places they are absent from are arctic biomes, where their wet forms cannot function. Arid habitats can be a bit difficult for them, but certain variations of them have adapted to even these dry conditions. The places where they really excel are habitats that have damp conditions and frequent rainfall. Vegetation isn't really an issue for them, as they can be found in forests, grasslands, mountains and marshes. One of the things they search for is dark burrows and holes that they can hide in, as it provides the perfect shelter for them. Be it caves, rodent holes, self-dug burrows or thick vegetation, slimes like to compress their bodies into these tight spaces to hide from predators or harsh elements. In areas that experience harsh winters, self-made burrows are crucial. Before the coming cold, slimes will find a damp area (like a marsh or muddy shore) and dig themselves a nice deep hole. They will cram themselves down it and use their slime and the wet dirt to form a cocoon around their "heart." They will go into hibernation during the chilly months, only emerging when warmth and wetness returns to the surrounding soil.

Slimes only have two parts to their anatomy: the "heart" and the gooey pseudo-body. The "heart" is a roundish organ that covers the role of a brain, stomach and heart. It is the center of their consciousness and existence, as it is responsible for the thinking, slime making and slime controlling. From this heart pumps the famous slime that makes up their pseudo-body, creating the substance from the nutrients it gains from meals. All control over the pseudo-body comes from this heart, as it uses some sort of signalling system to shape and move the slime. While the pseudo body can take nearly unlimited damage, the heart is their vulnerable core. Any injury to this organ is debilitating to a slime, and its destruction will cause the slime to collapse and die. To protect this delicate organ, the pseudo-body is created and controlled to surround it in a thick protective layer. While many see slimes as goopy, sticky creatures, they actually have a consistency that fits more with wet rubber, but that isn't a constant. Interestingly enough, slimes are capable of controlling the density and viscosity of their forms, allowing them to go from a sticky, faster flowing substance to a material that is hard and solid like a watermelon's rind. With this level of control, slimes often change their consistencies to fit with the scenario, like solidifying their goo to absorb an incoming hit. Added with this is their ability to morph themselves into nearly any shape. Slimes can range from literal piles of slop and worm-like shapes, to humanoid forms and even multi-limbed entities. The only thing that restricts them is the fact that the slime has to have constant contact with the heart. The heart's signals are sent through the slime, so any bits that are detached or separate will do nothing until they are connected again. This signal system is also the reason why individual slimes never grow to titanic proportions. When they reach too large of a size, it seems that their heart signals start to weaken and fade as they travel to the outer extremities. This makes the slime slow to move and adapt to its surroundings, making it more vulnerable to predation and damage. To avoid this, most slimes will limit their production of the substance, or shed off excess if their pseudo-body is becoming too much to handle. Any time you see slimes of massive size, it is probably the result of several of them connecting together and using the multiple hearts to keep the signals strong and efficient.

In professional terms, slimes are omnivores. In a more cruder translation, slimes literally eat anything that is organic. The image of being trash-eaters unfortunately comes from the fact that slimes will pretty much eat out of the garbage. So much so that entire colonies can be found at dumps and trash heaps, as they happily sift through the junk to find any edible pieces. When a slime wishes to eat, it simply sucks the morsel into its gooey body and uses the surrounding substance to pulverize, mash and digest it. Everything is absorbed into the slime, which is then absorbed by the heart. Due to this strange way of eating, things like rotten meat and poisoned food do not affect slimes nearly as much as others. The slime's way of breaking down matter makes it difficult for diseases, parasites and toxins to survive and take effect. They don't worry about a thing at all when they are rooting through a garbage can and sucking in every scrap they can find. While many slimes are content to search through trash heaps or eat anything they come across, others have come up with ways to hunt down some fresher meals. Those that live near forests or orchards will use their stretching limbs to pick fruits or rob bird nests. These same limbs can be made stretchy and sticky so that they can slide into rodent burrows and grab any morsels hiding with. By burying themselves in a rotting carcass, they can use sticky tendrils to catch insects and scavengers, or just eat the carrion themselves if no one falls for the trick. More predatory slimes can take down larger prey with sneaky tactics. The feared Flayers use adhesive slime and bony remains to trap prey within their forms. Some may harden their fists into rubber clubs and bludgeon animals to death, while others may engulf and suffocate them. Certain slimes use ambush tactics, hiding within the foliage or trash to spring on unwary travelers. Specialized ones have even formed partnerships with other species in order to get an easy meal! Honestly, the ways of hunting are endless for them, as their imagination is the only thing that can hold them back.

While slimes can be crafty hunters, that does not mean they cannot be hunted themselves! Yes, their bodies are almost 95% slime, but there are other species out there that have found ways to get a meal out of it! Since the psuedo-body's slime is used to masticate food and absorb what's left, certain creatures steal and eat this nutrient-laden goo. Some may straight up parasitize their bodies, embedding themselves in the slime to absorb what food they can while using tricks to make sure the heart does not sense their presence. Certain birds and insects have found ways to attack through the slime's pseudo-body and pierce the heart, killing the slime and allowing them to feed on the leftovers. Slimes can respond to these attacks by hardening their forms, but they have to see the attack coming first in order to do that! In truth, slimes have very few predators who wish to eat them, and instead have to deal with way more parasites. Their nutritious slime makes for good food and fertile ground for eggs and larvae, which certain species take advantage of. The Paranima is an example of that, but that is a story for another entry!

An interesting note about slimes is the fact that they need to be careful with their consistencies. The slimy pseudo-body is responsible for gathering and transferring air to the organ. The wetter and gooier their slime is, the easier it is for them to "breath." Something occurs on a tiny level within their slime that allows them to capture air or sift through water so that the heart can "breath." The thicker and harder their consistency is, the less efficient this process is. If a slime remains solidified for long periods of time, it can actually suffocate itself. To get around this, they tend to only harden certain parts of their pseudo-body, so that the rest can easily collect air. This fact explains why it is cruel to capture slimes in bottles or jars, as they cannot breath if they are sealed in an air-tight container. Though they don't have visible noses or mouths, they still need air like the rest of us!

While slimes may seem like solitary creatures on the outside, in truth, they can function as a collective. Wherever a slime colony is found, there is a hidden mass that is buried in the ground. It is a massive blob of slimes that have connected themselves together, creating a "slime network." Whenever a slime makes contact with another of its kind, the signal the hearts produce can travel to one another through the goop. By simply holding hands, they can wordlessly transfer information and knowledge to each other at an astonishing rate. These slime networks take advantage of that, creating a mass that stores and transfers all collected knowledge. Any slime can simply attach itself to the network, dump info or take in new knowledge. Once done, it simply pops free and leaves with its new wisdom. Usually these networks are made of several older slimes, who will remain permanently connected and ready to transfer information to the young ones. With this system, slimes have the chance to learn new skills at a surprising speed. I know some towns have been stunned to wake up one morning to find that their dump mound slimes have suddenly learned how to speak, as one fluent slime had shared the info with the network. This helps them respond to hostility and threats, as they all rapidly learn of the danger and how to repel it. Knowledge of this system has led to efforts by others to educate certain slimes and use them to "update" networks so that the fellow slimes learn things like speech and manners. These efforts have been met with mixed results, as certain colonies do not like outsiders, and slimes can still choose not to obey things like "rules" and "laws."

These same networks are used when it comes to slime reproduction. The connected individuals of this system will slowly create "eggs" within their hearts from gathered nutrients. When slimes come to connect and transfer, the slime network may send an egg or two into the individual before they leave. These tiny developing organs will remain suspended in the slime's pseudo-body, feeding off collected nutrients as they grow. The carrying slime will work to keep these eggs protected until they reach the right age. When they reach the stage where they can create their own pseudo-bodies, the carrying slime will return them to a network and continue on its way. The young will receive a transfer of information, and then be set loose. Quite the efficient system!

On the topic of educating slimes, the reason people are doing this is because the mindset of slimes is something other cultures and societies are not a fan of. Others describe their behavior as "rude," "blunt," "simple" or "crude." This is because a lot of slimes live a simple life and don't think too much about things. For them, what matters is eating food and collecting stuff they like. Each slime has a preference for what form they like and what objects they find pleasant. The reason you often see slimes carrying all sorts of junk in their bodies is because they just happen to like it. One slime may enjoy covering itself in a shell of metal plates, while another may just carry bricks in its body because it likes the feel. If a slime likes something, it will either eat it or wear it, and that is where the problem starts. As super opportunistic omnivores and beings who often live in dumps or abandoned areas, slimes don't really understand the notion of private property. The concept of "ownership" is a bafflement to them as well. To slimes, everything is a free-for-all. If it is sitting there unattended, they can have it. That is why they carry their favorite stuff with them, as slimes believe that you mark what is yours by literally holding it. The second you put it down, it is fair game. So you can imagine the chaos that ensues when a slime wanders into a market, as it just starts grabbing things it likes and eating what it wants, as it sees that no one is holding any of the goods. In these scenarios, arguing with them is difficult, as they don't understand why you are mad that they took something you clearly weren't carrying. You get conversations that go like: "Hey, that was mine!" "No it wasn't, it was just sitting there." "It was still mine! I just put it down!" "Well, if it was yours, then why did you do that?" Needless to say, many slimes are banned from entering settlements and markets, which unfortunately is extended to even those who are educated. During my research, I ran into this problem often. The moment you set something down, the slimes would be grabbing it and inspecting it, before deciding if they wanted it or not. In most scenarios, I had a slime friend who was well learned and she helped me keep my belongings from being stolen. Her help was invaluable, but I imagine it gave the wrong impression to those who wandered by. Nothing like seeing a dryad constantly tell a slime to "hold this for me" or "hand this to me" People would think I was using her like a servant, but that was literally what we had to do to keep my stuff from wandering off. On expeditions where I didn't have her help, I had to fall asleep each night with all my gear in my sleeping bag or arms. Just imagine how tough it would be if you had to go through your everyday routine without putting anything down!

While slimes can come off as a bit rude or simple, they are honestly good creatures that mean no harm. It is a shame that they receive such a poor image due to their preferred habitat and ways. Not only do they populate dumps, but they tend to live in abandoned areas and dungeons as well. The sight of slimes inhabiting a ghost town has given people the impression that they chase off settlers or devour entire populations, which is simply not true. Their simple nature and hardy bodies has also made them the target of amusement for others, as they knock around slimes for fun. Warriors and adventurers tend to see them as "target practice," and may even kill them to gather materials they were carrying. Villages and towns will ban them from entering, seeing them as thieving creatures and rule breakers. Thankfully people are working to help dispel that image, using education and information to help the slimes better understand other cultures. I have helped with this cause from time to time, but I am not sure how much of an impact I made! I am more of a researcher than a teacher! I am better at telling you how trolls digest mineral deposits than I am explaining the concepts of a private property to a group of bored slimes!

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

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Finally getting around to explaining some more dominant, sapient species of this world. Slimes are some oddballs, but they have led to some fun designs!