Nackle: A food web gift

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[Valan Nonesuch]

Basic Overview of the Beast
The Nackle is a familiar coastal sight, especially around docks. The small clusters of white shell-like creatures dot any hard surface that appears near the tide line, to the detriment of whatever they cling to. Nackles or BarNackles (from the gnomish Baverik Nackthle Vernwirkung, Shelled Sea Mushroom in the Tharian, literally Oceanic Shelled Mushroom.)  is also called the hullwrecker due to its penchant for attaching to the hull of ships too long at port.

Appearance
Nackles are small, off-white creatures, contained within an armoured shell similar to that of a spiddleshell. The creature is in two parts. The shell, and the soft fleshy interior, consisting of a mouth and its minuscule internal organs. The shell is made up of several tiny "armoured plates" that grow up and around the fleshy interior. As a Nackle grows older, it adds extra layers to these plates increasing its size and weight. The nackle possesses a series of small, feathery feeding appendages. It uses these to grasp food and bring it to its mouth.

Some Nackles, such as those that grow in the Silvermarshes, actually have stalks which anchor them to their rock. Unlike the more common 'sea' Nackles these BarNackles tend to prefer rivers, and seem to require a current in order to survive.The Silvermarsh Nackles tend to grow on logs, if the log is removed from the current of the river, it can no longer feed. These specimens lack the feeding appendages of  their more common cousins, consisting mostly of a mouth and short "neck".

Special Abilities
The armoured shell of Nackles makes them almost impossible for animals to get at. The sarvonian gull is one of the few creatures that can eat the small creatures owing to its long, hooked beak. Small fish have also been known to nibble on Nackles, as has the butterfly ray of the Scattersand Shoals.
Nackles are also notorious for being near immovable once they’ve taken root. The armour plates can be opened and closed to protect the Nackle, as well as becoming watertight, and allowing the creature, which needs water to survive, to stay alive when the tide goes out.


Territory
Where there is water, there are Nackles. They are exclusively salt water creatures, with the exception of a particular breed which lives in the Silvermarshes.
Nackles will cling to any hard exposed surface, usually above the low tide. Rocks, dock piles, entrenched driftwood and ships are all fair game for these parasites. They can cause considerable damage in large enough groups and are known for being extremely prolific.
Nackles can become incredibly dense, but will not grow on top of each other until the creature below dies. As nackles die off, new nackles will actually sprout on top of their shells, creating towers of nackles built on top of their dead fellows.

Reproduction
Nackles reproduce much like mushrooms, sprouting seemingly at random along the tideline. It is believed that, much like mushrooms, they sprout from minute spores that float through the water. Most colonies of Nackles will only sprout in salt water, those removed from salt water and placed in a pool of freshwater will die.

Habitat/Behaviour
Nackles do very little; because they are rooted to one place, they are rather uninteresting to watch. When threatened by something, a Nackle can close a part of it’s shell on itself in order to make eating it more difficult. Nackles open at the high tide, searching for food with their tendrils, when the water begins to recede they can sense this by some unknown mechanism, and will close their shells.

Diet
Nackles are much like gulls; they are the filters of the aquatic world. Any free-floating material is liable to be consumed by Nackles, including bits of carrion and garbage. Anything that can be found that is smaller than it will be caught by the creature's tiny appendages and eaten by its minuscule mouth.

Usages
Certain species of Nackles are edible, in a pinch, and are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world. In particular the Blackshell Nackle of the Silvermarshes is a unique foodstuff when cooked properly. The mullogs of the Silvermarshes will seed the water with captured insects to coax the shells open and then kill them with small pointed fishbones and scrape out the meat.

Crushed Nackle shell can be used in place of lime to fertilize soil, having a similar property to chalk or limestone, as observed by gnomish alchemists.

An uncommon use of Nackles is keelhauling. A form of punishment in the Erpheronian navy, a sailor is tied up, thrown into the water ahead of a ship, and dragged against the keel of the ship by means of a rope looped under the ship. Nackles and other growths at the bottom of the ship lead to severe cuts and scrapes if the sailor is pulled quickly, and if pulled slowly, the sailor is likely to drown.

Researcher

Friddriv Alav, noted researcher of mollusks, wrote of the Nackle in his Philosophie of the Mollusk Race noting "while seemingly a plant or aquatic fungus, the Nackle is actually a very stationary example of a mollusk, similar to the Gnacker in some ways, content to sit and feed for many years until a rockface may be covered with an abundance of Nackles."

[Jonael Tomeskrift]

Glad to see the Food Web project is taking a hold of people +aura from me just for that, hehe

[Valan Nonesuch]

It's quite an old draft Jonael, no sense in not using it.

[seth ghibta]

brilliant Valan! not only another mollusc, but one that slots so neatly into the silvermarshes! you are a hero. a few suggestions, entirely for you to take or leave:
if you want a researcher, Friddriv Alav is just the sort of person who wouuld find small, immobile things like nackles fascinating. might provide an excuse to add more detail, or just an explanation for why we know so much about what is on the face of it a fairly unnoticed creature.
in usages, any chance the crushed shells might have some value, say as an all-purpose grit, or a calciferous (is that a word?) reagent for magic and alchemy?
in any case, this is fantastic, thank you for filling another gap! aura, of course.

[Bard Judith]

Please add the Gnomic words into the collation thread in the Languages forum....   

[Valan Nonesuch]

Words edited in accordance with a quick trip to the Tabulata, and subsequently added to the vocabulary thread. Will we have a real gnomish dictionary soon?

Also, edits in Seth worthy teal

[Jonael Tomeskrift]

-

that grow up and around the Nackle in layers. As the Nackle grows older, it adds extra layers to these plates increasing its size and weight.

-

their rock. Different to the more common 'sea' Nackle, these BarNackles tend to prefer rivers, and seem to require a current in order to survive.

-

and seem to require a current in order to survive

That's an interesting idea. It has potential to be expanded on, balancing out that paragraph away from just two lonely sentences.
 

white

are they proper 'snow' white? Just that from an aesthetical point of view stating white as its colour is a little confusing, especially in such a dirty environment as the coastline. Maybe balance the pristine white colour by mentioning algae or the likes growing over it? Just something to take away that 'impeccable white' image that comes up when you say 'white creatures'

Small fish have also been known to nibble on Nackles.

If you'd like I'd suggest the Butterfly Ray here. It's got powerful mandibles and is known to already feast on hard prey. Similarly it could lead to a pleasant image of the ray slithering over the hull surface of a boat as it sails along, cleaning away the Nackles? Just an idea (aye, a bias one at that, guilty as charged)

territory

A thought that crossed my mind while reading was: what happens when a lot of nackles amass? Do they fight over surface? Will they attach themselves to the shell of another Nackle, or puncture the other Nackle, let their corpse loose their hold on the surface and take over that spot? that sort of thing..

keelhauling

O.o awesome idea, haha

.. yeah, and that's about it. That's me been as thorough as I could. Couldn't spot any grammar suggestions. All in all I think there's a fair bit of interesting little snippets in your entry to spice up what would otherwise be a very plain, common creature.

[Valan Nonesuch]

Fixed in Green. Are we good for a blarrow here?

[Ta'lia of the Seven Jewels]

Valan, that's a nice little entry, but there are too many repetitions. After three paragraphs I can't see the word nackle anymore. There must be ways to replace it, use a different word, use 'it' or 'they'

Check other words also, which come twice where it is not necessary, look where you started two sentence in a row with the same word (even 'the ' should be avoided where possible).

I wondered about that sentence structure also:

The creature is in two parts

Is? Not 'comes in' or 'has'? Is that correct?  (--> Me  non native speaker  )

[Deklitch Hardin]

regarding the "is in"/"comes in"/"has" query ... I believe that all three are equally valid ... and that it is a personal choice which one is used.

Personally i think "comes in" sounds better, however.

[Ta'lia of the Seven Jewels]

Still too many nackles are in here! (and other places) 

e.g.

Nackles can become incredibly dense, but will not grow on top of each other until the nackle below dies. As nackles die off, new nackles will actually sprout on top of their shells, creating towers of nackles built on top of their dead fellows.

Nackles can become incredibly dense, but will not grow on top of each other until the animal below dies. As they die off, new ones will actually sprout on top of their shells, creating towers of nackles built on top of their dead fellows.

[Deklitch Hardin]

personally, I think 'animal' is too broad a term as a synonym for nackle.

[Ta'lia of the Seven Jewels]

Well, there are  other synonyms - but is it not an animal?

[Deklitch Hardin]

yes ... I'm just suggesting that 'animal' is too broad a term, that's all

[Valan Nonesuch]

You do all know I haven't touched this in a week, right?

I get off exams and look! A whole mess of things!

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