Name: Ashling, Ardor amicus Description: Small, puff-like silicate-based organisms, Ashlings prefer to be nearest to sources of great heat, such as large fires, as they are the most common locations for their preferred food sources. They essentially look like small piles of soot and ash held together into a spherical shape, and have several long, spindly limbs which protrude from their abdomen that allow them to move. The eyes appear as large, white hard lenses, with a dark hole in the middle that acts as the pupil. Behavior: Ashlings are fairly flighty and skittish, but if they become accustomed to a person, such as someone that feeds them regularly, they will begin to stick around them, following them as they associate said person with food. When threatened, they will first attempt to feign death, rolling up into as small a ball as possible. If this doesn't work, however, they will all pop into the air, scuttling off as fast as their legs can carry them, into any nook or crevice that will fit them. Tamability: Fairly easy to tame, you just need to feed them often enough. However, they aren't very intelligent creatures. Where is it found?: Anywhere that large fires are fairly common, as well as in volcanic regions. Rarity: Quite common in places that it thrives in. Diet/Method of gaining nutrients and energy: Ashlings will cluster around large fires and their remains, typically on worlds which have large quantities of silicon in the soil, letting the fire break down more durable silicate molecules which they then feed on afterwards, this is especially common in volcanic regions, where they can be found subsisting on small shards and fragments of volcanic glasses, such as obsidian. From these, they can form silanes within their bodies through a process somewhat similar to photosynthesis, where solar radiation acts as a driving energy behind a reaction put forth by complex organelles within their cells. Products?: N/A Reproduction: Sexual reproduction, courtship is usually brief, and results in both of the Ashlings giving birth to a large amount of Ashers, the term for an immature Ashling. Birth can be quite an interesting spectacle to view, as the pregnant specimen will simply push out its children from various points along its body, shooting out dozens of small, black specks which quickly begin to crawl around as they hit the ground. Size: Fully grown, they are only three inches tall. Weight: 3-5 ounces. Lifespan: An Ashling kept in captivity can live for about 12 years. Abilities: Silicon-based biochemistry, extreme heat resistance. Flaws: Tiny, essentially defenseless against anything that can catch them. Other:
