Description: Spoiler Pictured: A Sliding Stone's path across a desert is seen, it has likely taken this creature weeks or even months to move this distance. Sliding Stones appear, outwardly, as if they are a simple mundane stone, their outer shell even being made from heterogeneous mineral amalgamations just like those in rocks. However, if one is to break this thick shell, they will reveal the interior of the being, an odd mass of wet, sponge-like tissue, which makes up the actual living portion of a Sliding Stone. This organic tissue is wet with mineral, nutrient rich water, and can be drunk by those in the desert who find themselves without water or necessary minerals and vitamins. Behavior: Sliding Stones will be dormant at most times in their life due to the lack of energy their diet provides for them, burrowed within the sand around them at varying depths. While buried within the sand, they will absorb trace minerals and water around them by releasing very thin (1/5th the width of a human hair), root-like structures from nearly microscopic pores within their shell, bringing it into their delicate interior to sustain themselves. When they begin to detect that the area around them is losing its mineral content at a rate that cannot keep them alive, they start to use these root-like growths to "push" themselves along the desert sands until they find a place they can leech from again. Tamability: They're similar to sponges, so they cannot really be "tamed" as much as picked up and taken care of. They won't really care or notice your existence. Unrequited love. Where is it found?: This species was discovered within Djarus, and seems to have evolved from a species similar to that of sponge back when Djarus was mostly underwater as a massive subterranean sea, forced to adapt to its new surroundings, it survived where most others failed. Recently, following ties between the ICIF and Purgatory, they have made their way to the desert planets of Maladh and New Makkah, a popular house-pet due to the lack of commitment required, and the oddness of their biology. Rarity: Slightly uncommon, its very easy to confuse them for a normal rock, given that they can form shells made from the same minerals that the rocks around them are made from. Diet/Method of gaining nutrients and energy: See Behavior. Root-like tendrils absorb trace nutrients and water from the sand around them, reaching out about 3 meters. Products?: The rocky shell is interesting, but the water and nutrients stored within can be used to sate a dehydrated wanderer. Reproduction: Asexual, similar to Sponges, they produce small buds within them, these buds appear as small glob-like formations on the surface of the rock, which eventually chip off and roll away. Size: Ranges from a small pebble to the size of small boulders. Weight: A few ounces to several hundred pounds. Lifespan: Sliding Stones can live for over 400 years due to their relatively slow growth, only growing around 2 to 3cm a year. Abilities: Can form a thick mineral shell around their soft, wet living tissue, protecting them from all sorts of predators (camouflage, defense) and keeps the nutrients and moisture from evaporating away or otherwise being lost. Flaws: Are only slightly more mobile than a rock, and only slightly more intelligent than sponges. Can easily be killed, just smash them with a hammer, or cut them open somehow.
