Adult Female
Name: unnamed
Species: Stiptica Lichenthrope
Birthday: Saturday, July 27, 2019
Owner: jellyphants
Element: Life 
At the Keep, lichenthropes are considered mysterious, and even well-renowned researchers have trouble understanding just what magic animates them and what motivates their activity. Adult lichenthropes act very similarly to hatchlings, as though growth for a lichenthrope is purely physical and not mental. Adult lichenthropes are content to sit very still, letting moss and fungi grow on their bodies. They give off a musty sickly sweet scent, like rotting flesh and dead leaves, and for this reason few magi enjoy having them around. They are intelligent enough to obey simple commands, and will often follow their magi without prompting, lashing their long tails to keep their heavy bodies balanced as they move along. They do not eat, and need only water to survive. Despite their association with decay, they are beneficial, and many medicines can be made from the mushrooms growing on their bodies. They never protest when the mushrooms are removed, though they will slow down and become listless until more mushrooms grow back. It is unclear if the animal is alive at all, or if it is the fungus that gives it a semblance of life.
Unobservant travelers often walk right past lichenthropes, mistaking them for nothing but normal plant growth and discarded twigs on the forest floor. It is only when they begin to move, revealing their enormous size along with antlers and claws of petrified wood mixed with bone, that their presence becomes obvious. Lichenthropes are imposing to see, and for a long time they were nothing but an old tale that cropped up when the nights grew long, dismissed as the ravings of terrified travelers. They spoke of enormous bears and wolves covered in moss and mushrooms and so old even their bones became wooden. It was only when magi spoke to their lycanthrope allies that the old tales were examined again, and the lichenthropes discovered. Among lycanthropes, legends of lichenthropes were passed down for centuries, telling of stillborn lycanthrope eggs laid to rest who rose again as shepherds for the newly dead. Among lycanthropes, they are well-respected, and if one is seen lurching through the forest, it will be given a wide berth. Even other animals seem to recognize something of themselves in the shambling lichenthropes, and wherever they travel, they are unharmed by predators who may be threatened by them or prey that may want to consume the healthy growth on their bodies. In the wild, lichenthropes are most active during the autumn months, growing strong as dead leaves litter the ground and the beginning of winter marks death for many older creatures. Any fungi that grow on a stiptica lichentrope seems to get a small portion of the creature's power making them glow when no other light is visible.
Sprite art: Xenomorph/Lazuli (adult) | Description: Raneth