The Star-Beast

See might have been a bit of an oversimplification. It was more like you could detect images regardless of the ambient light level. A skill that came in handy living in a pitch black cave. You're still not sure how you knew the difference between light and dark; likely something to do with whatever kind of mob you respawned as several minutes ago. Which brought you to the question at hand.

'What in the hells am I?'

You can't remember anything of substance about your past lives; Though you're fairly certain the above is something that's never required asking. Goblin, Kobold, Drakling, Animated armor, Sprite. Many different monsters and critters ran through your mind; all with a picture and some basic information. None of them match the reflected figure in the puddle. A closer examination of your face only made things worse.

'I can see I have no eyes. Yet the only way I have determined that is by looking at a reflection. I have no eyes which means I'm blind, so I can't see. However I can tell I'm eyeless because I can see that I don't have any with which I can see?!'

You dunked your head in the cold water in hopes of distracting yourself from the logical paradox that threatened to melt your brain. Even below the surface your 'Not-really-vision' vision still worked. The puddle was more of a well; going down a good six or seven feet. You gave a sigh in comfort then another in confusion a moment later as you wonder if you could close your 'not-eyes' to sleep.

Then it hit you like falling rocks. You haven't been holding your breath this whole time. Clearly if you had spawned as almost any other creature you would have drowned yourself on accident. Perhaps that's why you felt so self aware today. The Gods probably took pity on a suicidality incompetent program and changed something in your base code. Knowing the Gods rarely give second chances you decide to make the most of this opportunity. With that thought you stand and start to examine yourself.

You had a thin body with long limbs and a tail. Segmented plates of chitin the color of tar broken up by deep dark blueish-green cords of flesh. Four tube-like structures jutted from your upper back that released a thin stream of mist whenever you exhaled. Evidently these snorkels were what you breathed through. Both hands and feet had digits ending in sharp spikes. Even your tail terminated in a three pronged grasping claw.

Last was your head. Elongated and gently bowed it reached about two feet long. Behind your head the lower hemisphere of the carapace was suspended by a number of bony ridges that grew up and back to the top of your skull. There they merged with a narrow line of plates running along the top. It looked like the spine and ribs of a large snake enveloped your braincase.

The strangest portion by far are the smooth glassy panels in between each of the widely spaced ribs. The largest one beginning just above your strong jaw and sharp chin where the nose would be on a human. It curved upwards to meet the first 'vertebrae' of your skull. Much like your silvery fangs each panel had a glow to it. Whether this was from the reflection of light or its absorption was a mystery.

After you've calmed down a pulsing orange ( i ) symbol made itself known in your field-of-views upper right corner. When you looked at it for a moment a larger version popped up at arm length. It floated at chest height enlarging and shrinking in time with the slow pulses. Tentatively you reached a hand out just enough to blur the hologram's shape. Another text box popped up showing the whole expansion speech that was already hardcoded into your memory. Waving a claw through a [X] at the corner closed the box only for another to take its place.

[Congratulations monster#LV-7.42!]
[You have been selected by Ecadnac as the hive-member-alpha for Shattered Land Shard #79! This prestigious rank was hard won by your many victories over creatures, NPCs, adventurers and fellow monsters leaving all #0 other competitors in the dust! As a hive-member-alpha you will be watched closely by Ecadnac during this time of soft-launch. Your actions will help determine the goals, methods and tactics for all following members of LV-7 that will soon spawn on Shard #79. Set a good example for them by slaughtering, looting, terrorizing and (if they're explicit) molesting all those whom you deem enemies. Now go out there and be the best monster you can!]

This was HUGE. You're sure if you had eyes they would have been bulging out of your head. Ecadnac: Goddess of darkness, Mistress of shivers and Queen-mother of all that goes bump in the night chose you to be the first. You've heard legends of Alpha creatures. Monsters, critters and even villagers gifted by the gods during expansion updates. Many of whom went on to earn extraordinary achievements.

Avazeron All-biter: first hydra of the 12 Labors quest pack to have one hundred heads.

Chancellor Kilbash Ink-blood: an orc villager Law-Knight who won a case of soul ownership against a devil from the Pen is Mightier job DLC.

Dread Rot-iron: first golem to ever become undead from The Dungeon of the Gnomish Gnecromancer.

Squishy Spark-butt: a static-slug that destroyed an adventurer guild Leviathan class warship on the Nautical Armada coastal swamp map.

You had been given the chance to join the greats and Goddess willing this would only be the start of your story. However that would require skills, powers and abilities. None of which you know as you still have no idea what you are. You racked your brain searching for a solution but continued to come up with nothing. Stressed and discouraged you resorted to shouting commands to the empty cave. Unfortunately they all came out as hissing noises of variable length. Then you hit upon one that worked.

'Show me my stuff!'
"Hisss~Ahhh"

The equipment tab popped open. It showed a vague silhouette of your body with a bunch of empty boxes on either side, and a picture of a backpack with about thirty more boxes below. Not quite what you wanted but it was nice to know you had a good sized inventory.

'Stuff, powers, level, stats. Stats! Show me my stats!'
"(Lots of hissing.)"

[Character Sheet]
[lvl 1, unnamed, Lesser Star-Beast
Aberration/Monster, explicit
Xp 0/100

Attributes
Strength 15/100. Dexterity 20/100. Endurance 15/100.
Charisma 10/100. Manipulation 15/100. Appearance 20/100.
Perception 30/100. Intelligence 25/100. Wits 25/100.

Skills
Athletics 25/100 Awareness 30/100 Craft (Sculpting) 25/100
Dodge 30/100 Lore 24/100 Presence 15/100
Resistance 25/100 Stealth 30/100 Survival 15/100

Feats
Monstrous Appearance: When attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.

Natural Weapons: You are in possession of a set of Natural Weapons. You are immune to Disarm attacks. However, crippling effects have a chance to disarm you instead.

Blindsight 60/120ft: A creature with Blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius.

Sting Like a Bee: The damage of your unarmed melee attacks are based off Dexterity instead of Strength.

Hive-builder: You can produce a fast curing tar-like resin to reshape your environment. Based on Craft (Sculpting)

In Plain Sight: Stealth gains an additional 30% increase while on hive terrain.

Tough Little S.O.B: 50% bonus to resist acid damage and 20% to all other elements

Caustic Blood: When spilled your blood deals 1 point of damage per second over an area of 1 square inch per point of health. Damage is doubled for inanimate objects.]

You had to admit those were some pretty good stats for level one. Melee attacks on you would be dangerous for the attacker, so focusing on ranged combatants be best. That resistance trait made spellcasters less of a worry. You were labeled as a Lesser monster. Perhaps that meant your kind have a group hierarchy; you definitely read like a monster that sneaks around the enemy and attacks from behind.

Now that your existential crisis has been temporarily quelled it was probably best to get a lay of the land. Aside from a few stalactites and a well the cave was bare. It was rectangular about medium size you would say 40x50x12 with an opening at one of the corners. A bit chilly but nothing some furs or a small fire couldn't fix. Now for the outside, unless you wanted to search around a bit more closely.