Lucigel

(NEEDS UPDATE)

Lucigel are large, heavily-built amphibians that spend the bulk of Susurrous and Hibernal entombed in riverbed sediment, entering a near-total metabolic suspension. During this period they breathe exclusively through their permeable skin, absorbing dissolved oxygen from water seeping through the mud around them. When the Vernal thaw breaks, they emerge swollen with stored fluid and urgently hungry, consuming almost anything they can swallow for the first several turns of the season. Outside of dormancy periods they inhabit slow rivers, wetland margins, and flooded forest floors, moving with a deceptively quick lunge when prey is in range. Their gelatinous egg clusters are deposited in shallow water and glow with a steady blue-white light from concentrated Eilan within the gel, particularly vivid during the double-fullness lunar alignment.

Arkafelari colonies in wetland territories have a long history of using Lucigel egg clusters as passive light sources along frequently traveled forest paths and river crossings. The clusters are non-toxic to handle and produce consistent low light for several turns before the embryos develop and the glow diminishes. Harvesting them requires care, Lucigel mothers do not guard their eggs directly but will attack anything that disturbs the water near a clutch. Their meat is edible but strongly flavored and typically only eaten in Hibernal when other protein is scarce. Lucigel fat rendered from dormant individuals is a useful waterproofing compound and burns cleanly, making it a practical lamp fuel.

A massive, undulating, freshwater mass resembling a translucent siphonophore. It filters organic ash and micro-flora out of the water, glowing with a soft, moon-triggered bioluminescence to attract nocturnal river insects.