World of Terrania - On Masklins

Gilded Masklin (Ziritus dramaticus)

    Masklin are ghostlike beings that inhabit the elder areas of Terrania, those that most embody their elemental affiliation of Spirit. 

        Masklin are something of spirits, or ghosts, but distinct from simple reanimated corpses in the fact they are still fully living. They descend from an aquatic race, yet at this time believed themselves more closely related to the ancient Zela whose homeland they occupy. Their bodies are almost completely incorporeal, and interaction with objects is largely done through a sort of involuntary telepathy that simulates physical touch mostly analogously. Despite this, the mask (diamond-shaped, with golden ridges atop the nose and brow on older males) and core (small, pearl-like adornments near or within the neck and chest) of a Masklin are completely tangible, and within the latter are most of their proper life forces, juices, etc. Their core is what creates most of their ghostly body, and it projects that body outwards to protect itself. They were a very vain race during this time, believing themselves to be something very important and occupying much of Looma in spite of the Zela previously existing there. 

    Their biology is largely incompatible with other species, but sometimes surprises may still happen.

 

    Current studies suggest that Masklin are closest related on some level to Slam-manders. It is believed that, when traveling onto land, these ancestors adapted armored facial plating and crystallized bones that - when a mutation caused their delicate, translucent skin to be replaced with ghoulish "ectoplasm" - simplified into their modern formations. This means that their “cores” are actually highly-specialized crystalline bone structures imbued with their most precious of spiritual life-force.