| Name: | Cremati |
| Element: | Red |
| Type: | Sentient |
| Evolution: | Age of Magic evolved. |
| Population: | 3,000 |
| Lifespan: | 30 years |
| Feeds on: | Feeds on ashes, mostly that of animals. |
| Worlds: | Ashtaron, Stormlands, Yardhon. |
| Size: | 2', spiderlike, 4' extendible legs. |
Cremati are ash-scavengers. While they existed before the Age of Magic, their population swelled and became semi-sentient with the advent of new red magic. Their digestive tracts are too sensitive to gatas to eat either live meat or carrion. The reason is that they have extremely weak inner cells that analyze burned organic matter and are able to rebuild parts of the Cremati's external according to this knowledge. Simply put, they biologically engineer themselves. These inner cells are also the core of their brain.
Cremati have eight thin but strong and swift legs, built from the genomes of thousands of legged creatures. Their shell is covered in sensitory pores, giving them 360 degree percepttion, smell, hearing, etc.
The Cremati brain is made of all of its shell's cells, activated by its highly specialized inner cells. These cells slowly replenish themselves if depleted. These cells are very hard externally, and are difficult to breach.
Cremati are sentient, but neither understand speech nor transmit it. Their knowledge is limited to the genomes their inner cells register, survival skills, and certain introspective facts about themselves.
Cremati have eight legs, like a spider.
Cremati legs have flexible functions. They can be used for walking, swimming, and grasping things. At the bottom of them is a small hole that can expand to create a vacuum that sucks up ashes. Thin fibers around this hole and inside it are used for tasting. Legs also have a sharp retractable claw.
The Cremati mouths are located where their leg joins with their shell, and is partway exposed. While ashes normally enter through the legs, they can also be grasped by a leg and inserted manually into one of these mouths. Seperating the mouth from the digestive tract are a series of filters activated by muscles, to sort ash out from dust and debris. When a leg is shorn off, these filters are sealed off until a new leg can be rebuilt.
The Cremati mouth has a small tongue, which can also be used for grasping smaller things, throwing things out that accidentally (or purposely) went through the legs, and provides minor taste sensations. If a leg is shorn off, the tongue is stimulated by certain hormones, that make it swell and grow into a new leg.
Cremati reproduce asexually. The process is complicated and long, and a Cremati will typically reproduce only a few times throughout its life. In the beginning, a cremati's inner cells will duplicate, typically using two or three of the Cremati's legs for energy. The shell then widens, seperating the different cores, which begin to close off cell communication from the other side, effectively making them seperate brains. Legs will then be torn off, and sliced through the new middle part of the shell, blocking the two pieces off from one another, usually (depends on when the legs shorn off from the first process have regenerated) leaving only two legs per side, which then seperate into two fledgeling Cremati.
Throughout this process, the inner cells change the legs' structure to be stronger, supporting a more limited body and set of legs, until the next legs, tongues, and mouths can grow.
Cremati are solitary creatures that seek attention neither from other creatures or even their own race. If confronted, however, they are usually friendly, and if conflict arises, they can defend themselves with their retractable claws, although more typically will simply flee with their beautifully engineered legs.
They communicate telepathically, through ideas rather than words, and sense speech and song as just background noise. Cremati are sentient, and intelligent about their own condition, but are virtually incapable of learning anything new, although some Cremati have been taught to recognize their teachers and defend them if necessary.