Difference between revisions of "Chasmfiend"
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{{quote |
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+ | |The beast filled the chasm. Long and narrow, it wasn't bulbous or bulky, like some small cremlings. It was sinuous, sleek, with that arrowlike face and sharp mandibles. |
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+ | |[[Kaladin]] seeing a chasmfiend{{book ref|sa2|70}} |
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| − | The chasmfiend killed by [[Dalinar]] and [[Elhokar]] had violet carapace and uniform green eyes. Like most greatshells, it had violet, moldy-smelling blood. Chasmfiends have a twisted, arrowhead-like face, with a mouth full of barbed mandibles. They are long and narrow, and have a flattened tail, somewhat resembling that of a crayfish. They have four foreclaws set into broad shoulders that are used as primary means of attack, and about fourteen smaller legs used for locomotion. They are capable of vocalization, and usually bellow with four overlapping voices at a time. |
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| + | Chasmfiends are the largest known land animals on [[Roshar]]: at least twenty feet wide, six times the height of an adult man at their peak, and over twice as long.{{book ref|sa2|72}}{{file ref|name="journal"}} They are long and narrow, with a flattened, split tail reminescent of that of a crayfish.{{file ref|name=journal}} Like most of Rosharan fauna, they're crustaceans, with a carapace exoskeleton covering their entire body. The carapace is dark violet (though it's possible that other colors can also occur), and extremely durable, being able to withstand even a hail of arrows.{{book ref|sa1|13}} It covers the beast's back in a series of interlocking, upside-down-V-shaped plates with horn-like protrusions growing on the edges.{{file ref|name=journal}} |
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| − | Each chasmfiend has a large gemstone growing inside of it, called a [[gemheart]]. The gemhearts are the primary reason they are hunted, although meat and carapace are also harvested.{{book ref|sa1|13}} They also have a symbiotic bond with a [[spren]]. This bond is one of the factors allowing the chasmfiends to reach their enormous size.{{wob ref|1227}} This [[Chasmfiend spren|spren]] can be observed when the chasmfiend is dead, leaving the body, looking like tongues of smoke.{{book ref|sa1|13}} |
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| + | Below the armor, a chasmfiend has eighteen legs. Four foreclaws are set into broad shoulders, with two clawed toes on each of them. They serve as the primary means of attack, both smashing and slicing the chasmfiend's prey.{{book ref|sa1|13}} Behind them, fourteen smaller limbs provide locomotion. A chasmfiend can move extremely fast when it so desires, and has the agility to turn around in the narrow corridors of the chasms.{{book ref|sa2|71}} |
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| − | Sometime during the strange life cycle of the chasmfiends, they each seek a large plateau, climb up onto the top of it and form a rocky chrysalis, waiting for the coming of a highstorm. They usually start pupating during the day - rarely in the evening or night - during which time they are extremely vulnerable. It is unknown what emerges from the chrysalis as it is during pupation that they are preferably harvested.{{book ref|sa1|15}} |
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| + | A chasmfiend's head is triangular, narrowing down to a point like an arrowhead.{{book ref|sa2|70}} Inside the long jaw, its mouth is circular, surrounded by several rings of sharp teeth. Flanking it is a pair of smaller mandibles, which the chasmfiend can use to manipulate objects and pick up food.{{file ref|name=journal}} The mouth allows the chasmfiend to vocalize; it makes roars that sounds like four bellowing trumpets playing at the same time. The chasmfiend's eyes, set above the jaw, are glassy and green.{{book ref|sa2|70}} |
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| − | Mathematically speaking chasmfiends fly, as [[Mandras|luckspren]] help make them lighter than they should be. Without them they'd be crushed beneath their own weight.{{book ref|sa3|99}} |
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<gallery caption="Images of chasmfiends"> |
<gallery caption="Images of chasmfiends"> |
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| + | === Gemheart and spren bonds === |
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| − | == Speculation == |
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| + | {{quote |
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| − | {{theory}} |
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| + | |Bavamar did the calculations on Reshi greatshells, and found they should be crushed by their own weight. |
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| + | |[[Shallan]]{{book ref|sa3|99}} |
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| − | It has been speculated that the chasmfiends are somehow related to the [[Voidbringer]]s after [[Jasnah Kholin]] found a picture of a Voidbringer very similar to a chasmfiend. However, as was noted by the participants in this discussion, this may be the result of an artist choosing the most terrifying thing she could think of, not actually having seen a Voidbringer herself. According to [[Adolin]], the drawing lacks a set of foreclaws, and is drawn more menacing compared to the modern version. |
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| + | }} |
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| + | Like every [[greatshell]], chasmfiends have a [[gemheart]] growing inside of them. The chasmfiend gemhearts seem to always be emeralds, and are noted as particularly enormous.{{book ref|sa3|35}}{{book ref|sa1|40}} Those gemhearts are likely what allows the chasmfiends to bond with [[mandra]]s; a type of [[spren]] connected to gravity.{{book ref|sa3|99}} The bond is the crucial factor in allowing the chasmfiend to grow to its enormous size.{{wob ref|1227}} It reduces the chasmfiend's weight, keeping it from crushing itself; as such, from a mathematical standpoint, a chasmfiend flies, or at least floats.{{book ref|sa3|99}} Any creature attempting to mimic a chasmfiend, such as a [[kandra]], would require a way to mimic or substitute that bond to survive.{{wob ref|3794}} |
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| + | The mandras leave the chamsfiend's body in the hours immediately after its death. They look somewhat unlike themselves as they return to [[Shadesmar]], beint often mistaken for tongues of smoke.{{book ref|sa1|13}} |
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| + | == Ecology == |
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| + | === Life cycle === |
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| + | {{quote |
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| + | |They must have an interesting life cycle. They haunt these chasms, but I doubt they actually live here. |
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| + | |[[Shallan]]{{book ref|sa2|49}} |
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| + | }} |
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| + | Very little is known about the early stages of chasmfiend's life. It's highly likely that they don't live on the [[Shattered Plains]] for most of their life, but rather migrate there when the time comes for them to breed. Once there, they eventually climb up to one of the plateaus and pupate, forming an immobile, rock-colored chrysalis around themselves. The pupation typically happens during the night, with the chrysalis already formed come daytime. From then, the chrysalis awaits a [[highstorm]]; what happens once that occurs in unclear, as it is then that people typically harvest them.{{book ref|sa2|49}} |
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| + | === Feeding habits === |
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| + | {{quote |
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| + | |I heard that once an entire bridge crew got eaten by a chasmfiend, one at a time, after it backed them into a dead end. It just sat there, picking them off as they tried to run past. |
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| + | |[[Teft]]{{book ref|sa1|27}} |
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| + | }} |
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| + | Within the natural ecosystem of the Plains, chasmfiends are the apex predators.{{book ref|sa2|49}} Their segmented, narrow body makes it easy for them to move through the chasms; even still, they fill all avaiable space, and their passing is often marked by long scratches and scraped flora as the carapace drags across the chasm wall.{{book ref|sa2|71}} Their massive bulk could also be a form of protection from the [[highstorm]] flooding, as it can lock the chasmfiend in place, stopping the flood water from carrying it off.{{book ref|sa2|74}} |
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| + | Chasmfiends are carnivorous; within their original habitat, they likely hunt wild [[chull]]s, using their massive foreclaws to crush their prey's shells and feed on the meat within.{{book ref|sa2|70}} As they travel to the [[Shattered Plains]], however, they turn to carrion-eating, eating corpses of creatures that fall or are washed down into the chasms from the pleateaus above.{{book ref|sa1|43}} |
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| + | == Hunting == |
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| − | However, in [[The Way of Kings]] prologue, Kalak notices violet blood on the ground. That is the same color blood as the chasmfiend. But, in light of axehounds also having violet blood, the strangely colored blood could be a different animal, maybe similar to the chasmfiend. |
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| + | The gemhearts are the primary reason they are hunted, although meat and carapace are also harvested.{{book ref|sa1|13}} |
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== Notes == |
== Notes == |
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| − | <references |
+ | <references> |
| + | {{file ref|name=journal|Chasmfiend.jpeg|text=Chasmfiend, Shallan's sketchbook}} |
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| + | </references> |
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Revision as of 13:51, 23 May 2020
| Chasmfiend | |
|---|---|
 by Ryan M-W
| |
| Type | Greatshell |
| Native to | The Shattered Plains |
| World of Origin | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
“The beast filled the chasm. Long and narrow, it wasn't bulbous or bulky, like some small cremlings. It was sinuous, sleek, with that arrowlike face and sharp mandibles. ”
Chasmfiends are enormous greatshells native to the chasms of the Shattered Plains on Roshar.
Appearance and Biology
Chasmfiends are the largest known land animals on Roshar: at least twenty feet wide, six times the height of an adult man at their peak, and over twice as long.[2][3] They are long and narrow, with a flattened, split tail reminescent of that of a crayfish.[3] Like most of Rosharan fauna, they're crustaceans, with a carapace exoskeleton covering their entire body. The carapace is dark violet (though it's possible that other colors can also occur), and extremely durable, being able to withstand even a hail of arrows.[4] It covers the beast's back in a series of interlocking, upside-down-V-shaped plates with horn-like protrusions growing on the edges.[3]
Below the armor, a chasmfiend has eighteen legs. Four foreclaws are set into broad shoulders, with two clawed toes on each of them. They serve as the primary means of attack, both smashing and slicing the chasmfiend's prey.[4] Behind them, fourteen smaller limbs provide locomotion. A chasmfiend can move extremely fast when it so desires, and has the agility to turn around in the narrow corridors of the chasms.[5]
A chasmfiend's head is triangular, narrowing down to a point like an arrowhead.[1] Inside the long jaw, its mouth is circular, surrounded by several rings of sharp teeth. Flanking it is a pair of smaller mandibles, which the chasmfiend can use to manipulate objects and pick up food.[3] The mouth allows the chasmfiend to vocalize; it makes roars that sounds like four bellowing trumpets playing at the same time. The chasmfiend's eyes, set above the jaw, are glassy and green.[1]
- Images of chasmfiends
by Ben McSweeney Shallan's sketch
by Randy Vargas Elhokar hunting a chasmfiend
by Ryan M-W A profile of a chasmfiend beside a spearman for scale
by Evan Monteiro Dalinar faces off against a chasmfiend
Gemheart and spren bonds
“Bavamar did the calculations on Reshi greatshells, and found they should be crushed by their own weight. ”
Like every greatshell, chasmfiends have a gemheart growing inside of them. The chasmfiend gemhearts seem to always be emeralds, and are noted as particularly enormous.[7][8] Those gemhearts are likely what allows the chasmfiends to bond with mandras; a type of spren connected to gravity.[6] The bond is the crucial factor in allowing the chasmfiend to grow to its enormous size.[9] It reduces the chasmfiend's weight, keeping it from crushing itself; as such, from a mathematical standpoint, a chasmfiend flies, or at least floats.[6] Any creature attempting to mimic a chasmfiend, such as a kandra, would require a way to mimic or substitute that bond to survive.[10]
The mandras leave the chamsfiend's body in the hours immediately after its death. They look somewhat unlike themselves as they return to Shadesmar, beint often mistaken for tongues of smoke.[4]
Ecology
Life cycle
“They must have an interesting life cycle. They haunt these chasms, but I doubt they actually live here. ”
Very little is known about the early stages of chasmfiend's life. It's highly likely that they don't live on the Shattered Plains for most of their life, but rather migrate there when the time comes for them to breed. Once there, they eventually climb up to one of the plateaus and pupate, forming an immobile, rock-colored chrysalis around themselves. The pupation typically happens during the night, with the chrysalis already formed come daytime. From then, the chrysalis awaits a highstorm; what happens once that occurs in unclear, as it is then that people typically harvest them.[11]
Feeding habits
“I heard that once an entire bridge crew got eaten by a chasmfiend, one at a time, after it backed them into a dead end. It just sat there, picking them off as they tried to run past. ”
Within the natural ecosystem of the Plains, chasmfiends are the apex predators.[11] Their segmented, narrow body makes it easy for them to move through the chasms; even still, they fill all avaiable space, and their passing is often marked by long scratches and scraped flora as the carapace drags across the chasm wall.[5] Their massive bulk could also be a form of protection from the highstorm flooding, as it can lock the chasmfiend in place, stopping the flood water from carrying it off.[13]
Chasmfiends are carnivorous; within their original habitat, they likely hunt wild chulls, using their massive foreclaws to crush their prey's shells and feed on the meat within.[1] As they travel to the Shattered Plains, however, they turn to carrion-eating, eating corpses of creatures that fall or are washed down into the chasms from the pleateaus above.[14]
Hunting
The gemhearts are the primary reason they are hunted, although meat and carapace are also harvested.[4]
Notes
- ↑ a b c d Words of Radiance chapter 70#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 72#
- ↑ a b c d Broken reference - File parameter left empty: {{{1}}} Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "journal" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ a b c d The Way of Kings chapter 13#
- ↑ a b Words of Radiance chapter 71#
- ↑ a b c Oathbringer chapter 99#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 35#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 40#
- ↑ 17th Shard Forum Q&A
— Arcanum - 2012-09-27# - ↑ Stormlight Three Update #4
— Arcanum - 2016-10-05# - ↑ a b c Words of Radiance chapter 49#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 27#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 74#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 43#