Energon, Xost-Yoz

Bestiary > Energons > Xost-Yoz

Energon, Xost-Yoz

DESCRIPTION: The xost-yoz is an eerie, silent creature that is shrouded in a field of stillness which seems to distort reality around its edges. Visually, it appears as a shimmering, translucent ball of force, with radiating spines that somehow seem to grow and shrink without actually moving. The creature looks almost like a ghostly sphere that’s been caught in a moment frozen forever in time. Strange distortions of space-time undulate across its surface slowly, with occasional ripples that pulse out from its nucleus, that feel like breaths of suspended energy. The xost-yoz emits no smell or sound; instead, it exudes a palpable sensation of suspense, like the tense moment of aiming just before an arrow is fired, or when a breath is held. Surrounding it is a subtle glow that seems to dull the urgency off all kinds of movement in the vicinity.

PREFERRED HABITAT: Xost-yoz dwell primarily in the Sparkling Vast, a region of the Inner Planes between Ash and Vacuum where time and motion themselves become lazy and sluggish. These energons prefer vast, open, and unchanging spaces where life and matter has slowed to a halt. The potential energy in stillness attracts them, and xost-yoz will try to avoid anything that moves too rapidly, preferring to inhabit soothing areas of total calm silence if possible. They are occasionally drawn to planar nodes or nexus points where temporal or kinetic energies stagnate, to feed from the stillness. They also seem to haunt planes of silence and enervation like Agathys, Krangath, and Agathion.

PHILOSOPHY / SOCIETY: Xost-yoz embody the paradox of potential—the power inherent in stillness that is not being used for active motion. They ultimately seek to stop all kinds of motion, not by destruction but by preservation through stasis. They aim to halt forces of chaos and entropy by freezing everything in its proper place. Their end goal is not incompatible with that of the xor-yost, who also seek to cease all motion. Although their methods are different, and xost-yoz find even the chilled xor-yost to be unacceptably spry, they are occasionally found working together.

Considering how little they move around, xost-yoz will meet one another only vanishingly rarely. It’s thought that they can communicate over long distances in still places through delicate shifts in kinetic potential, coordinating with one another to maintain order and report on undesirable movement within their remote domains. Xost-yoz see themselves as protectors of a very delicate balance, and guardians of the Moment Before the Action—a unique time where destinies can be chosen or denied.

ECOLOGY: The xost-yoz “feeds” by halting movement: it can stop creatures in their tracks, halt projectiles mid-flight, silence sounds mid-utterance. Their most terrifying ability though is the power to stop the heart of living creatures. They are also able to feed on the kinetic energy they drain from creatures, healing damage or using it to boost their defences. Their reproduction seems tied to creating new regions of stasis. When an area of stillness becomes large enough, a xost-yoz spontaneously manifests in the centre of the zone of silence. Like everything the xost-yoz does, the process is slow and deliberate.

Full Statistics: [ PF2e ]

Source: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. This energon is homebrew, and represents the power of potential energy.