THE
EYE
CRAB |
The existence of Eye Crabs was first reported by the Anpagan explorer Bertrand D'Alba in his famous collection of journals entitled "The Extraordinary Journeys of Bertrand D'Alba". This creature, resembling an oversized human eye attached to four pairs of legs and a pair of pincers - hence the name "Eye Crab" - lives only on the far western side of the continent of Nybelmar (although unconfirmed rumours claim that such creatures might live in the northern Venlaken Enclave as well). They are usually solitary beings but at times they congregate in certain places for some reasons. The Eye Crabs themselves are a controversial issue for the Anpagan scholars, and this is actually true for many of Bertrand D'Alba's claims. But as much impossible and beyond reason these creatures' existence would appear, it seems that they are, nevertheless, real.
Appearance.
The Eye Crab is formed
of a huge eye (having a diameter of about two
palmspans), to which four
pairs of walking legs (of a pink-reddish colour) are attached. A pair of red
pincers (and about a palmspan
long) is attached on the front side of the creature - meaning the side on which
the eye has the iris. The bottom of the eye seems to have a thicker texture than
the rest of it. The creature has no apparent mouthpiece and it is yet unknown
exactly how it manages to feed itself. There are two versions of Eye Crabs. The
nocturnal Eye Crab lives in the Kaerath Deserts (and, supposedly, their eyes
shine in darkness). The diurnal Eye Crab lives in the area west of the Nermarein
Mountains, very close to the shores. Except their general behaviour and the fact
that the nocturnal one's eye is shining in darkness, there are no other
significant differences between these two versions.
Special Abilities.
The Ansaran scholars would say that this creature's special ability is the very
"ability" to exist. The fact that a walking eye with pincers may "live" as such,
multiply and feed without having no apparent means for that, may be considered
indeed quite a "performance". Many scholars on the Ansaran Island suggested a
magical origin for this beast, yet none of them
was ever able to reproduce it, nor to provide a consistent theory for such a
reproduction. Nobody knows how much this creature can live, but it is certain
that it can die - melting into a small pool of sticky yellowish goo.
Territory.
Bertrand D'Alba's "Extraordinary Journeys of Bertrand D'Alba" claims that these
Eye Crabs live in the Kaerath Deserts and beyond the Nermarein Mountains on the
far west of Nybelmar. Some rumours,
appeared quite a while after the Ansaran scholars were debating the truth of
D'Alba's claims, tell of such Eye Crabs living in the northern wastelands of the
Venlaken Enclave as well. But, as
D'Alba's accounts do not confirm such rumours, the Ansaran scholars generally
tend to dismiss them, as being exaggerations of
bone tree reports (if the word
"exaggeration" really has a meaning when related to these
bone trees).
Habitat/Behaviour.
The Eye Crabs are small, harmless creatures (if an eye with a two
palmspans diameter may be
considered small). They are solitary, except on certain occasions when they tend
to congregate in certain areas to just stare at each other. Usually this
behavior would be associated with mating, but the total mystery regarding their
feeding and mating habits, leaves a door open to any other explanation. Bertrand
D'Alba recounted how oftentimes an Eye Crab would start following him around
while "staring" continuously at him with its single oversized eye. But one of
D'Alba's even more controversial claims (that was immediately dismissed by the
Anpagan scholars as being simply
preposterous) is that, at times, a solitary Eye Crab would start building small
sand castles for no aparent reason: after finishing the small sand construction,
the Eye Crab stares at it for a while and then leaves never to return.
Diet.
As the Eye Crabs have no mouthpieces nobody knows exactly how they manage to
feed themselves. Bertrand D'Alba also claimed that he never saw any Eye Crab
involved in a process of eating something. More recent (and very complicated)
Ansaran theories suggest that they might have some sort of an original method to
absorb heat - which would keep them living.
Mating.
Nobody managed to multiply these crabs in captivity, and also there are no
reports of smaller Eye Crabs, or anything that would indicate a process of
growth in this creature's life. So this aspect is as mysterious as their "diet",
but Bertrand D'Alba recounted an interesting story that he claimed was told to
him by those strange people that he met beyond the Nermarein Mountains.
Apparently the eyes of the Eye Crabs are indeed
human and not just human-like. Depending
on how they lived their lives, some people's eyes would grow to this size after
their deaths and while buried. Then, after a while, when the rest of their
bodies are already decomposing beyond any recognition, these eyes would emerge
from the ground as Eye Crabs. It is needless to say that the religious flavour
of this story determined the Ansaran mages to dismiss it at once, as a pure
superstition.
Researchers. The Anpagan
explorer Bertrand D'Alba was the first one to report the existence of such
creatures in the fifteenth century a.S. For a while, his accounts were the only
source available, but recently more and more
Anpagan scholars
managed to aquire some of these creatures. In 1582 a.S. the High Mage Ramon
Stralus promised to grant a free contract for arming a Pacifier Galley with a
crew of solid golden golems to anyone who manages to bring him a live Eye Crab.
Unfortunately the High Mage died without having to fulfill his promise, which
caused the beginning of the so-called "Anpagan
Guild Quarrels" (in the seventeenth century a.S.) when
the Sea Companies presented the Mage Guild with the first live Eye Crabs ever
seen in Anis-Anpagan.
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