ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure none

Built by ancient arcanists and engineers to perform the duties of spies and elite troops, units of mezlans were deployed to engage in extractions, infiltrations, and quick strikes on well-protected locations. Scholars believe that at the height of ancient times, close to 1,500 mezlans were created to save the empire. The difficulty of destroying mezlans leads scholars to believe that at least half of them still exist to this day.

Mezlans blur the lines between constructs and oozes, a mixture made even more strange by their possession of unique, previously human personalities. Each mezlan was once an exemplary living soldier graced with superior skills and intelligence. Upon being chosen for this new duty, these soldiers were given a full explanation of the changes they would undergo and signed a contract to serve them empire as mezlans. Each was then subjected to numerous magical and technological procedures to extract her consciousness, preserve it, and inject it into her new form. Sometimes the process didn’t take as well as others, and resulted in an incomplete and flawed mezlan. Evidence of these flawed specimens didn’t always reveal itself before the creatures were deployed, and many these became rogue mezlans.

Most mezlans were recruited from the ranks of the military, and thus most of them possessed martial-related or skill-related class levels; however, a few of these creatures were once wizards who traded their magical talent for an amorphous form and near immortality.

Ecology

Without the need to eat, sleep, or breathe, mezlans are practically immortal. When they are defeated in battle, they simply discorporate and begin seeping down into the soil or cracks in the ground. If the material making up a mezlan isn’t contained in some way or destroyed by subjecting it to continued energy damage, the creature lies dormant for 10 years before reforming. When a mezlan reincorporates, it is treated as if it had 16 negative levels. These negative levels are removed through time at a rate of 1 per month.

Mezlans retain a portion of their previous memories and experiences, but the extent of those memories varies from individual to individual. Some mezlans slowly regain their memories, some immediately remember everything from their previous incorporation, and others never fully grasp their previous selves.

Habitat & Society

Mezlans seem to get along and work well with other mezlans, but to normal, living creatures, they appear strange and unnatural. They are very observant creatures who study everything they encounter, especially creatures—a frequent use of their skill pool ability. Some mezlans become accustomed to a particular form or body and use that persona as a default. Others enjoy keeping dozens of regular personas and cycle through them for particular duties they need to complete, meshing these personalities into a toolkit they use throughout their day-to-day activities. A few purists keep an amorphous, bloblike form unless they need to resemble something else. Strange mezlans who have gone mad over the years constantly shift their forms, flickering between hundreds of different ones.

Becoming a Mezlan

Though not constructs, mezlans are still created beings, the marriage of transformative magic and a living soul. Only the prohibitive cost of creating mezlans, not any shortage of volunteers, prevented their creators from manufacturing thousands of them. The sheer volume of djezet needed to create a mezlan forced their creators to grant the honor of the transformation to only the best of the best, greatly increasing their worth. The method for creating a mezlan is lost to time, though it is rumored one of them retains the knowledge to produce more of its own kind. In any case, the price of the materials and special processes necessary to create an army of mezlans would likely bankrupt a nation.