Weird, Lesser — Water

[ Bestiary | Elemental-Kin | Weirds ]
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Weird, Lesser — Water

Lesser elemental weirds appear as strange, snake-like beings. Their bodies are composed entirely of a single element, and while their forms are somewhat malleable, they’re usually around five feet long. They lack the humanoid grace of the mysterious humanoid true weirds though, instead resembling restless spirits that have been perpetually caught between states of being.

DESCRIPTION: Lesser water weirds appear as tight-braided jets of blue or green water that twist and flow into lean, sinuous shapes. Their surfaces shimmer with ripples which bend and scatter the light. Their eyes are pale like moonlight reflected in the surf, and they make splashing, lapping sounds. They carry a clean scent of rain with a musty mineral tang of a well. When agitated, their bodies lengthen into tapering streams that can split into a many-fingered splash, and their torsos can collapse into a low surge that sheets across surfaces before rising again. In stillness they vanish into their element, their body slipping into perfect transparency so only the subtlest current betrays their presence.

HABITAT: Natives of the Elemental Plane of Water, lesser water weirds hunt along thermoclines and pressure lanes where currents mingle, often lurking near borders that with higher concentrations of salt, silt, or icewater. On the Prime Material they favour habitats where the water is deep enough to conceal them: spring-fed wells, fountains, lock-sluices and millraces, tidal caves, cisterns beneath cities, and irrigated terraces, although if they are on the Prime they are usually trapped there, or summoned. Cutters who are able to help them return to the Plane of Water (or at least convince them that they know how to help) might be able to use this to their advantage.

PHILOSOPHY / SOCIETY: Water weirds prize patience and concealment: the surest victory comes from the quiet persistent pull of a hidden current and then the sudden crash of a wave. Weird social structures are fluid and temporary; most are solitary wardens of a chosen pelagic zone. They mark the boundaries with of their territory with subtle shifts in water chemistry and faint, rhythmic wave-patterns that other weirds can “read” over great distances. Brief gatherings of many weirds (called a “confluence”) occasionally occur, where individuals trade information and chant before dissolving back to their domains—or when a hunting ground is particularly rich, although in that case rivalry between weirds is intense.

Weirds can be a xenophobic bunch, and don’t really like any cutters who aren’t water elementals—and this has led many planewalkers to believe all weirds are wicked. The individuals who come to—or are trapped on—the Prime can indeed become more aggressive and predatory in their isolation from Elemental Water. They also become much more aggravated when something is polluting their water source—say, on the border with the Quasi-Elemental Salt, where facet hordes constantly consume the fresh susbstance of the Big Tank. However in locations that are more interconnected, some weirds have learned to put up with solidfolk begrudgingly, or even enjoy their company. These more benevolent creatures sometimes even align themselves with the Princes of Elemental Good. In any case, water weirds have surprisingly changeable opinions. Like the tides, they can also be quite predictable. Depending upon the time of day you meet a water weird, they might come across as glass half empty, or glass half full. At high tide, they are emotionally full on and potentially aggressive. At low ebb, they are more withdrawn and secretive, but generally more benevolent.

ECOLOGY: Weirds feed on dissolved vitality, the faint chemical traces that bleed from bodies, living or dead, into the water. They can survive by consuming the trace elements from any water, but they thrive when they encounter water that is ‘enriched’ by carrion, they can gorge themselves on the nutrients as the essence leaches from the body. This is when they grow.

Little is known about water weird reproduction. It is thought to be seasonal and depends on rain and drought. In hot climates on the Prime as rivers dry and lakes recede, the waters become more polluted with salt and silt. This enriched water feeds the weirds, and should two more more of the creatures find themselves concentrated into a small space with a plentiful food source, this is where they can combine into one larger weird. This is when the water weird is at its most dangerous. When the rains eventually come, the aggregated creature is diluted by the fresh waters, and then re-divides, forming more weirds than originally came together to create it. However, they also retain a share of the combined memories of the weirds who sired them, so while the original weirds effectively cease to exist, part of them lives on in the new weirds too.

Graybeards believe that elemental weirds are the immature form of the true weird, although how long these creatures remains in this larval stage isn’t known. It is also strange how they reproduce as lesser weirds, only occasionally becoming true weirds, who do not themselves seem to spawn lesser weirds—which is partly the reason the question of how the two types of creatures are linked is not settled. As they age, lesser weirds seem to become less ethically fickle, and the current theory is that after many cycles of reproduction they eventually mature and settle down as true weirds.

Lesser water weirds tend to be solitary, unless in the company of a true weird. A cluster of lesser water weirds (called a ‘riptide’) can often be found nearby true weird pools, where they gather to commune with the elder true weird, perhaps to learn from them, perhaps to defend them. They converse with each other through wave patterns and splashes rather than speech, so solidfolk can only communicate with a lesser water weird using magic.

COMBAT: Water weirds fight like an undertow, trying to remaining unseen until the moment a target is snatched. They rear up from invisibility within their pool to strike with a chilling lash, then surge to grapple, and drag their victims into deep water. They rotate between hit-and-run elemental blasts of biting cold and short, brutal constrictions, always retreating to attempt to force their enemies into the water. Terrain is their weapon: they will burst cistern lids, flood steps, and turn narrow channels into drowning traps, herding foes into choke points. In open water, they use all three dimensions to their advantage.

Water weirds hate fire, but they are somewhat resistant to it. They will target cutters who wield flames first, but woe betide a spellcaster who assumes this means they are vulnerable to fire. Their weakness is the spell purify water, which has been known to slay a weird outright. Lesser weirds also have a strange power of control over elementals. In mixed company, weirds will attempt to dominate any elementals present and command them to attack on their behalf.

Sources

Full Statistics For: [ AD&D 2e | D&D 3e ]

Canonical Sources: Monstrous Compendium Volume II (as elemental, water weird); Dragon Magazine #347 p66-69;70-71 ‘the ecology of the elemental weird’ (as lesser elemental weird); Monster Manual II [3e] p91-92 (lore on true weirds)

Source: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: These creatures are based on the elemental weirds from AD&D 2e. They weren’t called “lesser weirds” there, since the oracular weirds weren’t introduced until 3e. Since in other editions and in fandom as a whole elemental weirds are associated with a hiding elemental being rather than with a prophetic lady, we chose to swap some terms around. The 2e and 3e weirds have very different abilities and weaknesses; this writeup uses a mixture of both. I’ve attempted to make the weirds live up to their name by making their life cycle and philosophy strange and hard to explain.