Editing Crelers

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{{Infobox_character|name = Creler|image = Crelers-by-staugroan.jpg|caption1 = Crelers from Egg to Adult, by [[Fanworks/Staugroan|Staugroan]]|species = Creler|affiliation = Sleeping Demi-god|family = Creler|occupation = Destroying the world|first appearance = [https://wanderinginn.com/2017/08/08/3-02-h/ Chapter 3.02 H]}}'''Crelers, '''also known as''' Tunnel Crawlers''', are a [[Races|race]] of Innworld known generally as highly dangerous monsters that live beneath the earth. Crelers have a single purpose in their existence: consuming everything, which they pursue through eating, growing  and multiplying. 

Crelers have all the characteristics of biological weapons of mass destruction and their usage in war has been declared a war crime by all existing nations. 
== Appearance ==
[[File:Crelers-by-enuryn.png|thumb|300px|Creler Juvenile stages, by [https://enuryn.tumblr.com/ Enuryn]<br />(commissioned by [[Pirateaba]])]]

=== First Stage of Life ===
In their first stage of life, Crelers can shift from two forms, the Larvae form and the Attack form.

==== Larval Form ====
When they are in their larval form, the Crelers sleep inside glistening, translucent, oozing red sacks. In this form, their organs, limbs, and teeth are not exposed. They resemble horrible, fat, red caterpillars, glowing faintly from within. Inside their semi-translucent ‘skins’, yellow lines and discolored organs noticeably move around. Any sudden movement might alert them all, which would result in turning themselves inside out and move into the deadly attack form.<ref name="3.02 H">[https://wanderinginn.com/2017/08/08/3-02-h/ Chapter 3.02 H]</ref>

==== Attack Form ====
Crelers have long, almost spider-like legs covered with armor, and a squat, elongated form. They have ''many'' legs— even more so than [[Shield Spiders]] have— with barbs on them. A red and purple carapace covers their bodies, serving as a protection against damage, with the exception of a small area that leaves their yellowish organs open, making them an easy target. When they open their maws, rows of circular teeth are to be seen.<ref name="3.02 H" /> Additionally, they have pincers that assist them in tearing through their prey.<ref name="5.06 M">[https://wanderinginn.com/2018/07/27/5-06-m/ Chapter 5.06 M]</ref>

==== Juvenile  ====
Juvenile Crelers are four feet high and twice as long, and look like some kind of monstrous pill bug with too many legs, tearing claws, and a glowing, fleshy, transparent underbelly where its organs hang, glowing slightly. The rest is biting jaws and claws. Their main jaws open horizontally, with two smaller maws opening and revealing spitting and gaping mouths.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2018/04/10/4-27-h/ Chapter 4.27 H]</ref>

=== Adult  ===
Adults are considerably larger than juveniles, growing up to the size of a house, and are capable of flying. Their vulnerable underbellies are protected by a "ribcage" of claws. They can launch projectiles at a very high velocity at their enemies, and their armor makes them mostly immune to magic.<ref name="6.67" />

=== Elder ===
Elders are considerably larger than even Adults, growing up to the size of a small castle, capable of flight and possess numerous additional maws. Their chitin is three times as thick and completely coats their body. Their body is more sluglike towards the back, with a long tail drippping venom. They have hundreds of eyes, which contain gestating Crelers that act as their sight until they hatch. Their psychic brains glow, and they have one in the head, one in the abdomen, and one in the midsection.<ref>{{VERef|10.35 - Pt. 2}}</ref> They are rare in the modern world, but not quite extinct. 

=== Ancient ===
Ancient Crelers are presently believed extinct. They are gigantic enough to trample over Adult Crelers.
=== Variants ===
There have also been variants of the Creler species, such as worm-like earthboring Crelers.<ref name=":1">{{VERef|Another Time}}</ref>

== Powers and Abilities ==
Crelers possess a flight-or-fight response that involves them expelling whatever waste or food they possess in order to escape quickly.<ref>[[Interlude – Of Vampires and Fraerlings|Interlude - Of Vampires and Fraerlings]]</ref> They have highly durable and sharp teeth, capable of even biting off bones and chewing on them. In addition to their viciously sharp teeth, they also possess incredibly sharp claws. The most common tactic of the Crelers is to throw themselves at their prey, and use both their claws and maw to tear their way through them. In addition to this incredibly dangerous offensive that the Crelers can unleash, they also have the secondary attack mechanism, which is their poison. Both their claws and teeth are coated with a poison which prevents healing potions from working,<ref name="6.65" /> thus increasing their lethality greatly. When this is combined with their highly resilient and durable bodies, they become a dire threat that even Silver-rank adventurers need to be wary of.

They are adept swimmers and very fast in the water, both using their legs as paddles and moving like fishes.<ref name=":0">[https://wanderinginn.com/2023/06/04/interlude-trade-and-travel/ Interlude - Travel and Trade]</ref> Creler bile can harden into a chitin-like material, which they use to seal their nests.<ref name=":4">{{VERef|10.48 VS}}</ref>

There are also variants with specialized functions, such as breeders, and worm-like diggers.<ref name=":1" />

=== Weaknesses ===
* Crelers seem to be vulnerable to ice based spells. Even a weak ice spell stuns them and makes them unable to move for a time.
* Although most of their bodies are ''very'' hard, making it highly difficult to hurt them with a sword, a small area has their organs exposed, thus making them a very easy target.
* Despite being very strong against piercing- and slashing type weapons, bludgeoning type ones, like maces or rough stones, are effective against them.
* They can’t climb rocks.<ref name="2.30">[https://wanderinginn.com/2017/06/18/2-30/ Chapter 2.30]</ref>
* One good thrust is enough to kill them if they’re in their larval form.
*[[Antinium]] seem to be immune to their poison, as they are even able to eat Crelers without adverse effects.
*Even they will not consume the flesh of [[A’ctelios Salash|A'ctelios Salash]], or those that have eaten it. They will still attempt to kill them, however.

=== Larva ===
At sea, they are able to float by clinging to each other like ants can.<ref name=":0" />

=== Adult  ===
A few months of growing time with enough resources might allow them to turn into adults, the nightmares that even Gold-rank teams are reluctant to fight.<ref name="3.02 H" /> Many Antinium Soldiers are needed to bring down just a single one of them.<ref name="4.27 H">[https://wanderinginn.com/2018/04/10/4-27-h/ Chapter 4.27 H]</ref> Those that have<nowiki> </nowiki>lived for over a decade are threats that may prompt the evacuation of entire towns and cities.<ref name="Glossary">[https://wanderinginn.com/2018/10/19/glossary/ CGlossary]</ref>

Adult Crelers are capable of firing sharp projectiles made from their hardened bile. They are resistant to magic and can withstand a Tier 5 spell without any noticeable injuries.<ref name="6.65">[https://wanderinginn.com/2019/12/22/6-65/ Chapter 6.65]</ref> They are living hatcheries, carrying thousands of their young inside their stomachs, which also acts as another form of defense by spitting them out against their opponents. Adults are intelligent and can communicate telepathically with words, though they only convey their desire to kill and breed. Through telepathy, Crelers can sense people who have killed other Crelers, and will usually seek them out to kill them in retribution.<ref>[[Chapter 8.36 H]]</ref> They can also sense how many Crelers a person has killed. If they believe they are outmatched, they will flee a battle if possible. As such, it is considered crucial to immediately slay an Adult Creler when spotted, lest risk the chance of it fleeing and multiplying. 

Adult Crelers are capable of learning to speak, if they wish to.<ref name=":2">{{VERef|Songs and Wands – Interlude}}</ref> 

=== Elder ===
It takes at least a century for a Creler to be classified as an Elder Creler. Due to the fact that Crelers are hunted down, even more so than Goblins, Elder Crelers haven't been seen in over a thousand years. When an Adult turns into an Elder, it undergoes a metamorphosis process where it is cocooned in a gelatinous orange-white membrane, and consumes magic to fuel the transformation, such as from nearby artifacts and magical items.<ref name=":4" />

Allegedly, they are capable of wiping out armies alone. [[Manus]] even speculated that just two Elder Crelers might be able to destroy [[Oteslia]].<ref name="6.67">[https://wanderinginn.com/2019/12/29/6-67/ Chapter 6.67]</ref> They are even more magic resistant than Adults, upgrading to mana absorption that's strong enough to supress enchantments near it.<ref name=":4" /> They are capable of casting magic despite their magic resistance, but are not considered proficient in it. Elder Crelers and above are fully capable of communication and negotiating with other species.<ref name=":2" />

Elder Crelers can part their rows of razor-sharp mandibles to open up their bodies and expose their brain. In doing so, they can inflict psychic attacks, which can physically affect their target.<ref>{{VERef|10.33 MNK}}</ref>
=== Ancient ===
Historically, there have been only five Ancient Crelers, these having appeared when Crelers first emerged from Rhir. They are able to match Dragons in terms of power, as one was able to successfully kill two Dragons, though another Dragon was able to kill an Ancient Creler in turn.<ref name="6.67">[https://wanderinginn.com/2019/12/29/6-67/ Chapter 6.67]</ref>

== Behavior ==
Crelers are hyperaggressive towards all other forms of existance. They are loyal to their demigoddess creator. If any Creler deviates from a mindset of hatred and malice, they are consumed by the others.<ref>{{VERef|10.35 - Pt. 3}}</ref>

Crelers hoard treasures and inedible valuables to deny it from non-Crelers, and to help gestate Elder Crelers in the case of enchanted items.<ref name=":4" />

== History ==
Crelers were created by the sleeping demigoddess under Rhir. They worshipped her and built temples for her, which were all destroyed by the Antinium.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2023/01/22/9-33/ Chapter 9.33]</ref> Six thousand years ago, they migrated out of Rhir and were unleashed upon the world, in an event called the [[Creler Wars]] that lasted eight hundred years. They infest the world to this day. 

Of the five Ancients who emerged during the Creler Wars, one was killed by an unknown Dragon, and one was killed by the true [[Dwarves]] of [[Deríthal-Vel]], and one was killed by a Dragon. 

Crelers were able to complete the [[Trials of Levelling]], and reached the judgement phase, though they failed to qualify.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2023/10/17/9-61-g/ Chapter 9.61 G]</ref> 

The [[Blighted Kingdom]] awards the title of Hell's Warden to those who kill an Adult Creler. The [[Demon Kingdom]] uses them as weapons, such as seeding the land with their eggs, or teleporting within vicinity of the walls.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2020/07/19/7-36-c/ Chapter 7.36 C]</ref>

== Trivia ==
* Crelers are considered the worst and most universally ''detested'' monsters, and are instinctively targeted by all forms of life that can fight them.
* Normally one gets a bounty for reporting a Creler nest, and a big bounty for exterminating a nest.
* Crelers are extremely aggressive, as they attack monsters and undead as well.
* Crelers are considered too intelligent and predatory for [Beast Tamers] to handle. The rare attempts to tame them have either ended in disaster or been halted before the Creler grew too powerful.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2019/04/16/6-08/ Chapter 6.08]</ref>
* Scars caused by Creler toxin may slightly change color.<ref>[[Huntsong]]</ref>
* Over the last six thousand years since the Creler Wars began, only twelve hundred Silver-rank teams have ever killed an adult Creler,<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2019/12/29/6-67/ Chapter 6.67]</ref> with over eight hundred of those teams being from the eight hundred year span of the Creler Wars.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2020/01/01/6-68/ Chapter 6.68]</ref>
*[[Rhisveri Zessoprical|Rhisveri]] theorized that the foundation of Crelers was one of his siblings who went to Rhir, as Crelers and Wyrms share many abiltities.<ref>[[Chapter 8.56]]</ref>
*There is a children's game called Creler Escape, in which one child dresses up in a costume and chases other screaming kids. The last child to be caught wins a prize.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2021/07/13/8-30/ Chapter 8.30]</ref>
*Jexishe the Friendly Creler is a recurring joke introduced by [[Niers Astoragon|Niers]].
*The Fraerlings of Dretonamis call them ''orangebugs''.<ref>{{VERef|10.24 E}}</ref>
*The first Elder Creler seen in the present day was on Rhir, someplace missed by both the Blighted and Demon Kingdoms, and it was sent against [[Kasigna]] by the Sleeper.<ref>{{VERef|9.66}}</ref> The First Ancient Creler seen was from a simulation in the [Palace of Fates].
*Some Elder Crelers once attempted to copy the Spellcasting of enemy [Archmages], who often deliberately sabotaged their own mana flow. Leading to many Crelers accidentally blowing themselves up.

==References==
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[[Category:Monsters]]