Tzanta

A tzanta (pronounced /ˈʦɑːntə/; plural tzanteii, /ˈʦɑːnteɪ/) is a type of creature in the cosmos of Dverelei that has some features taken from another creature, making it a kind of aneka. The primary creature, the one that the tzanta mostly resembles, is known as its gadjuun (plural gadjana); the secondary creature, the one which only a relatively small part of the tzanta resembles, is its kaptara (plural kaptreii). A tzanta may, for example, be a human with a wolf forelimb in place of one arm, or the head of a squid. The features don't have to be localized in one spot like these examples; it's fairly common for some tzanteii to spread the characteristic of the second feature thinly all over their bodies, so that they appear as a human covered in, for instance, crocodile scales, or oak bark, instead of human skin. Regardless, though, the kaptara part must replace some part of the tzanta's gadjana form, not merely add onto it; a tzanta could not, for example, look like simply a human with a lizard's tail, because even without the lizard's tail no part of the human is missing.

With practice, tzanteii can learn to move their kaptara parts around, choosing which part of their forms are replaced by the features of their kaptara creatures. Not all tzanteii develop this ability, however, and those that do may not develop it to the same extent, varying in how quickly they can alter the position of their kaptara parts, as well as in the number of positions they can alter it to. Some tzanteii that have developed particular skill in this area may be able to move their kaptara parts anywhere on their bodies almost instantly, while others may be confined to two locations—say, an arm and a lower leg—and take an hour to move it from one to ther other—and, of course, many never develop the ability to change it at all, left with their kaptara parts wherever they happened to begin.

Though, like the examples above, tzanteii often have human gadjana, this is not necessarily the case. Such tzanteii do seem to be particularly common, though it may only be that they interact the most with humans and are therefore better known. However, tzanteii with other gadjana do exist, including cuvedins, hovaadi, and griegles, as well as magical creatures such as skeres and ygvral, and, rarely, various sorts of unintelligent animals. Kaptreii vary much more widely; most kaptreii are ordinary, nonmagical animals of various sorts, but tzanteii do certainly exist with kaptreii of plants, fungi, magical beings, or intelligent species. In any case, when a tzanta is referred to simply by one creature type, such as a "wolf tzanta", it's generally to be taken that the named creature is the kaptara, and that the gadjuun is human. Aside from this, there are no widespread conventions for referring to tzanteii by their gadjana and kaptreii, although some common kinds of tzanta do have specific names.

While tzanteii take more of their resemblance from their gadjuun, they do share some characteristics of the kaptara as well. They tend to have some personality traits of the kaptara, if applicable, and even the gadjuun part may have some subtle resemblance to the kaptara creature. Furthermore, if the kaptara creature is significantly more intelligent than the gadjuun part, then the intelligence of the tzanta tends to be comparable with the former rather than the latter. This is less true when the kaptara creature is significantly larger than the gadjuun creature; in general, the larger the kaptara creature relative to the gadjuun creature, the less intelligent the tzanta is relative to it; attempts have been made to describe the relationship more precisely, but the difficulty of quantifying intelligence makes this highly problematic.

The word "kilaan" (pronounced /kɨˈlɑːn/; plural klana, /ˈklɑːnə/) is sometimes used to refer to a creature which is not a tzanta; this word is in more common use among tzanteii than among other individuals.

Darsis

A tzanta's most unusual ability may be that of darsis, which involves the tzanta's splitting off its kaptara parts to exist as separate organisms. When this occurs, the kaptara part detaches from the tzanta and reshapes itself into a full version of the kaptara creature. The main part of the tzanta, meanwhile, remains otherwise intact, and is not inconvenienced by the absence of the kaptara part except as caused by missing organs. If the kaptara part included organs normally necessary for life, the tzanta can sustain itself despite their lack, but the functions of missing organs are not otherwise compensated for.

The dartic process is most straightforward when the kaptara creature is of about the same size as the kaptara parts of the tzanta, which generally means that the kaptara creature has on the order of two or three percent the mass of the gadjuun—for a human gadjuun, this would mean about the size of a cat. In this case, the tzanta's kaptara parts form a single creature. If the kaptara creature is significantly smaller than this, the tzanta's kaptara parts may form into multiple creatures—and in this case, the tzanta does have the option of only detaching partially. On the other hand, if the kaptara creature is significantly larger than the tzanta's kaptara parts, then multiple tzanteii with the same kaptara creature will have to combine their parts to form a single detached organism.

Reproduction

Tzanteii generally reproduce the same way as their gadjuun creature. The offspring of two tzanteii of the same type—that is to say, with the same gadjuun and kaptara—will always be a tzanta of that same type. However, tzanteii can also mate with their gadjuun creatures; the result of such a union will almost always be a tzanta of the parent's type, though sometimes it will take after the kilaan parent. Though it rarely happens, a tzanta can also mate with another tzanta of the same gadjuun but different kaptara. Usually, this results in offspring of the same type as one of the parents, but on rare occasions it may give rise to a tzanta of multiple kaptara, known as a malal.

There, are however, ways of becoming a tzanta other than being born into the state. One method by which a kilaan may become a tzanta is called grafting: the detached kaptara part of another tzanta replaces a missing limb or other part of the kilaan's body. It then becomes the kaptara part of the new tzanta, while the donor tzanta from which it originally came eventually grows a new kaptara part. Another method is that of parathema, which involves the stump of the missing limb or other part being soaked in tzanta blood and then held in contact with another creature, which after sufficient time is then absorbed into the new tzanta, becoming its kaptara part. There are also various spells and other magical effects known that can transform one or more klana into tzanteii.

Other Abilities

Tzanteii have accelerated abilities of regeneration, being able to heal quickly even from major wounds. This is especially true of their kaptara parts; even if a tzanta's kaptara part is destroyed, it will be able to grow it anew in a matter of weeks. Tzanteii can, if they desire, willingly "detach" their kaptara parts, allowing them to exist independently as a separate organism; the effect is the same as if the kaptara part was destroyed, and a new kaptara part will develop.

Tzanteii also have some ability to influence creatures of their kaptara type, and even to communicate with them mentally. This does not mean that all such creatures will unhesitatingly obey the tzanta's every whim, particularly if the kaptara creatures are intelligent, but they will effectively be under some level of thalxis.

Beastbinding

Some tzanteii whose kaptara parts are nonmagical animals strike deals with the Beast Powers, giving them access to additional powers in return for their service. Such tzanteii are said to be beastbound. They lose their usual enticement abilities, and in fact are themselves subject to enticement by the Beast Powers and their agents instead. In return, however, they are granted additional magical abilities, the details varying widely.

Society

Attitudes toward the tzanteii by humans and others vary widely by world and culture, and run the gamut from considering them blessed emissaries of the gods, or even their physical manifestations, to thinking of them as corruptions of nature, or even connected with the demons of the Maelstrom. Most commonly, however, they are either feared as monsters or just thought of with vague discomfort, although there are a few places they are accepted as equals of humans.

Where they are accepted by other species, tzanteii may live openly among them. More often, however, they must either form their own communities or disguise their natures. In the latter case, this may be as simple as, for example, always wearing long pants and boots in public, if the kaptara part is the lower leg. Some tzanteii may have kaptara parts more difficult to hide, if, for instance, their kaptara part is their head or all their skin, but even they may resort to loose cloaks or magical illusions. When they form their own communities, those communities often resemble mostly those of their gadjuun creatures, but with some elements reminiscent of their kaptara creatures. This is not necessarily the case, however; some types of tzanta develop unique societies with no obvious analogues in either their gadjuun or kaptara creature, and there are no constants that can be definitively identified.