Sload

Sload
The Sload are an ancient civilisation deep within the continent of Ekuka; their continuity longer, and their society older, than any other. The Sload have an incredibly high emotional intelligence, often communicating between each other with nothing more than subtle changes in body language. Each Sload - by merit of surviving their spawning - is an asset to the wider Sload society, having developed physical traits or capabilities that allowed them to reach maturity in spite of the immense dangers they faced as Sloadlings.

Appearance
Coming in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, mature Sload have somewhat bulbous bodies that bely their strength and propensity for rapid movement. Their torsos sit close to the ground, held up by thick muscular legs. With a wide brim mouth, protruding eyes, and a significant jowl, the Sload's appearance can be incredibly off-putting to outsiders.

Prior to reaching maturity, the Sload undergo a series of transformative stages, first as Sloadpoles, and then as Sloadlings.

During their Sloadpole phase, they appear as little more than translucent 'blobs' propelled by elongated tails. After this short stage they metamorphise into Sloadling, taking a much more Sload-like form - though still not mature. In this form they have not yet developed the protuberant gut and jowl, with a more slender physique.

History
The Sload were one of many species inhabiting the old savannahs of Ekuka, making their homes close to the deep cavernous lakes upon which they relied for spawning.

As the Oxylo Jungle swept through the Ekuka savannahs, it stripped away surface access to these lakes, covering them in dense thickets grown over with grasses, tree roots, and other vegetation, sealing away access for the Sload. Combined with the dangers brought on by the jungle itself, which grew and spread with a rapidity that took the them by surprise, the Sload soon found themselves on the brink of collapse.

It was in these trying times that the remaining Sload discovered the mangrove oasis; an enclave not just surviving against the Oxylo's advance, but actively thriving. More powerful than even the jungle which had destroyed all others before it, the Sload knew they had found sanctuary, and their new God.

It was in relatively quick succession that they discovered, upriver from the oasis, a lake that seemingly survived the Oxylo where all other lakes had not. This lake would become known to the Sload as the Sha, and it's survival was the result of the active protection afforded it by the massive lobster like being within its depths. Despite being an incredibly dangerous place for Sload and their spawn, it was an open pool deep enough for Sloadlings to mature in, truly the gift of a god. Recognising the power this being must have to resist the Oxylo, and the great gift it had given them in the form of a spawning pool, they declared their second God.

Tolmaic
The Sload have long made the vast mangrove oasis enclave within Oxylo, their home. A breach inside of the vast jungle that is Oxylo, the ancient mangrove forest is in fact a clonal colony worshiped by the Sload as The Shaper God, Huitzilomanu. It is within Huitzilomanu himself that the Sload built their one and only city, the beating heart of their existence, Tolmaic.

Expertly crafted by Shapers, a class of builder-farmer-priests combined, the Sload have spent thousands of years carefully cultivating and shaping the growth of the mangrove forest into all of the buildings, walkways, homes, and defensive walls of the city. Such is the skill and foresight of the Shapers that centuries of growth is carefully planned, enacted through future generations. The result is symbiotic relationship with their God, sustained for many thousands of years.

Spawning
The Sload have a naturally incredibly long lifespan, however their means of reproduction - spawning - results in their death. A Sload spawns only once, giving their life to create a spawn of Sloadpoles that can number as many as 2000.Spawned into the Sha, where many are consumed by the predators within, including by the Sload god of birth and death, these translucent Sloadpoles must survive against overwhelming odds. After this short period of gestation, the Sloadpoles grow into Sloadlings, an immature form of Sload with a near uniform slender figure and unadorned skin. Only the most capable of of the Sloadlings survive, ensuring that the mature Sload emerging from the Sha are some combination of incredibly tough, intelligent, cunning, and resilient; each Sload forging their own path for survival. It is in this phase of their life that their individual physiques develop, alongside the elaborate markings on their bodies.

Those mature Sloadlings that emerge then go on to join Sload society.

All Sload are capable of spawning.

Subspecies
There are two subspecies of the Sload;

Troak
The Troak are a slight people, significantly smaller than the Sload, reaching perhaps only the height of a human waist. In many ways they very much resemble tree frogs, with large bulbous eyes in shades of orange or blue, bright green, almost slimy skin, streaked with brightly coloured accents. This striking colouration is a warning to would be predators, as the surface of their skin secretes an incredibly toxic poison. Their slender frame and agility allows them to traverse the jungle canopy with ease.

Living high up in the tallest jungle trees, their communities are modestly sized familial groups, building their camouflaged huts around water pools that gather in the tree trunks.

Bullywugs
Far stouter, bulkier, and less agile than the Troak from which they were long ago selectively bred by the Sload, the Bullywugs are a servile race, having little intelligence of their own and completely incapable of organising without their Sload masters. With darker, duller green skin, accented by rather austere brown markings.

Their most astonishing feature, however, is their capacity for near infinite growth.

As long as a bullywug is kept alive - no easy task, mind you, given their natural propensity to be preyed upon by the Oxylo’s beasts, as well as often being included on the menu of Sload feasts - and as long as they are fed enough, they grow larger and larger.

The few that become huge, old, bullywugs are known as Slovainn and are employed by the Sload as particularly powerful war beasts.

Religion
The Sload worship a pantheon of 3 major gods;


 * Huitzilomanu, The Shaper God
 * Crawmarupotchli, The Claw God
 * Namazuotl, The

Huitzilomanu
Huitzilomanu is considered the first god of the Sload, revered as the cradle of civilisation, and honoured as the source of their people's enlightenment. Theirs is the cult of the Shapers, the preist-come-horticulturists that build and grow Tolmaic.

Crawmarupotchli
Crawmarupotchli is a humongous lobster-like being said to be even older than Huitzilomanu, who dwells deep within the Sha. Crawmarupotchli serves the jointly as both the god of Birth and of Death. Her's is the cult of the Sload warriors, defending Tolmaic as the Claw god defends the Sha.