Gargoyles
The legends of the protectors of stone are well known across the Globe. There are many different tails of stone beasts flying through the night only to disappear when morning came. These beast of the night would find refuge either on building tops, high above the reaches of many or in the darkness of the mountain tops.
No one really knows when or where gargoyles came into existence. Some said it was some weird paring between a fae and demon, others say it was from great wizards of old creating defenders for their homes and castles. There are even talks they are distance relatives to dragons. Yet no one knows where they came from, but the species is well documented within history.
Gargoyles almost went extinct several hundred years ago due to overall interest in various body parts used for potions and spells... So their species generally is small and reclusive.
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Appearance
Gargoyles are beings of the night, their skin ranges from black to hues of browns. The reason for this being that there are two subspecies of gargoyles. There are the well known 'city' protectors, these tend to be smaller in size and be well known on buildings and castles. The other species which tend to be found in the light brown colors are your woodland gargoyles, being found on mountains at night and coming into the forests at night to hunt, these tend to be larger and more reclusive then the city dwelling cousins.
City Gargoyle
Size: 3ft - 6ft
Coloration: Black, dark greys to light grey.
Wing type: More commonly found with Bat like wings though feathered can be found
Average known life span: 500yrs (city living is fun but can be tough!)
Notes: More out going, knows human behaviors and more update on technology.
Forest Gargoyle
Size: 5ft - 8ft
Coloration: Light greys, to variety of browns
Wing type: more commonly feathered but bat like can be found as well.
Average known life span: 600yrs
Notes: Secretive and reclusive, prefers to be observational and keeps distance. Does not understand technology well.
All Gargoyles have two forms, their natural states and a shifted state. This is not like glamor, it is literally the gargoyle shifting its form into a more human state. They tend to keep the same hair, eye color as well as their skin tends to be a grey-ish or brown-ish hue depending on the sub-species of Gargoyle.
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Weaknesses
Gargoyles must find a secure location before the sun rises for as soon as the sun touches their flesh they will revert to their stoned states. They are impossible to be woken till the sun dips below the horizon once more.
Poor eye sight: No one is sure why a gargoyles eye sight is poor but they have similar eye sight to humans during the night time. This does not slow them down though (please see strengths)
Slow: Gargoyles are quick in the air but they are heavy and slow once on the ground. They always prefer to be up high when ever possible.
Iron: As gargoyles seem to have some magical ties they seem repulsed by Iron, they can touch it for brief amounts of time but can cause nausea and dizzy spells. A gargoyle can be magically bound in Iron and will not be able to break the metal.
Territorial: Gargoyles are well know to be protectors, once they find a 'home' they tend to protect it fiercely. There have been cases of diving bombing gargoyle as well as aggressive outbursts if a gargoyle finds someone putting graffiti up on their building
Diamonds: Though gargoyles are not creatures of hoards they are known to collect, one thing are diamonds, they have been know to steal such items from stores or people if they can get their claws on them.
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Strengths
Acute Hearing and echolocation: It is near impossible to sneak up on a gargoyle they will know you are coming before you even think about it! (you know what I mean) They also can produce a high pitched click (above human hearing) to use to find their way around at night when in the true states. Their excellent hearing does transfer over to their human states.
Thick Skin: In both states gargoyles just seem to have thick skin. Yet in their natural states their skin is similar to stone and takes massive amounts of energy and force to damage. If an Iron coated blade or bullet is used this acts the same as if they were made of human flesh.
Enhanced Strength: Yes they are slow but they are strong, x2 as strong in their humans state as the average human and x4 the strength when in their natural states.
Flight and Speed: Yes they are heavy but they have mastered the skies, they are able to dip and weave amazingly well and know how to read their air currents to make sure they are able to use it to the best of their abilities.
Magic: They cannot cast any spells or use it as a weapon but they can briefly call upon an element of their choosing (You must choose x1 element for your gargoyle during apping to use it) to help defend themselves, for two posts. Element defenses: Fire to make their skin too hot to be touched, wind to help them fly away faster, water to make it harder for someone to catch them or earth to help them blend in to their environment.
Healing: If an gargoyle is injured they will heal from most injuries over their day time rest, they cannot though recover a lost limb. This does also include poison, if they gargoyle is affected soon before day break the poison will be destroyed when they turn to stone.
(Text by Lady Phoenix)