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A Silatic is an amorphous creature from the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]

Overview[]

A silatic is an amorphous creature that floats through wildspace looking for metal to eat. There are three known types of silatics, namely gold, platinum, and iron (though a fourth, silver, is rumored). A silatic's diet consists solely of the metal it is made of; for example, a platinum silatic eats only platinum. Silatics have the innate ability to detect the metal they eat within 100 feet.[1]

Description[]

Silatics are metallic amorphous blobs, 5 to 7-feet in diameter. Continuously shifting and quivering, they use two pseudopods to test substances for edibility.[1]

Behavior[]

Silatics can stretch as thin as 1-inch thick, allowing them to hide in seemingly impossible spaces or glide through space. They do not need air to survive and prefer the freedom of wildspace to the gravity of planets. In wildspace they are almost graceful, undulating their thinned-out bodies to move slowly through the void. However, as soon as they enter a gravity well, their gracefulness disappears and they have to rely on their pseudopods to pull them along the ground.

A silatic consumes metal by attaching a pseudopod to its food source, excreting a corrosive liquid that dissolves metal, and absorbing it through its skin. It takes around three minutes to produce enough liquid to dissolve the metal, and another 3 minutes to absorb it. The liquid is harmless to living beings but can affect other kinds of metal, not only the type that the silatic feeds on.

If a silatic detects metal within a wooden-hulled ship, it will first try to sneak onboard the ship. If this fails, it will batter a hole in the ship's hull near its food source.[1]

Combat[]

Silatics use two pseudopods that can extend up to 50-feet to bludgeon any attackers. They only become aggressive if they are disturbed while eating or prevented from feeding. Usually, one pseudopod will remain attached to its food source while the other is used to fend off an opponent. If injured, a silatic will abandon its food source and use both pseudopods to attack the offender.

Each type of silatic has an advantage in combat unique to themselves:[1]

  • Iron silatics deal more damage in combat and are highly resistant to magic.
  • Gold silatics are faster than other silatics, and are able to attack an opponent more frequently.
  • Platinum silatics deal significantly more damage in combat, and coat their pseudopods with acid.

Society[]

Silatics are solitary wanderers and will avoid other beings by hiding in “uninhabitable” places. Silatics of the same type are instantly hostile towards each other and will fight to the death. Silatics have no spelljamming ability and move from world to world by stowing away on a spelljamming vessel, usually on the outer hull.

When a silatic absorbs enough metal (around 100 pounds), it seeks out an uninhabited area and splits in two. The two new silatics, each about 3 1/2-feet wide, are dazed and instinctively move away from each other. Five hours after splitting, they regain their senses and begin searching for food. If the asexual reproduction occurred in a confined space, the two silatics instinctively fight to the death upon regaining their senses.

Gravs and most other miners will kill silatics on sight, and many cities will hunt down a silatic relentlessly, once they become aware of its presence. Once a gold silatic got into the gold reserves of a major city, reproduced, and soon dozens were oozing around, searching for more gold to devour. The entire city's economy collapsed because gold became too scarce – all because of one hungry silatic.

If a silatic is killed, only the metal eaten in the last week can be recovered. All other material is converted into a jelly-like substance.[1]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Scott Davis, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Silatic entry
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