The Grand OC! [CONTEST XXX: HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEN]

Name: Melanie Cetidae
Gender: Female
Race: Lurebeast
Text Color: #00868B
Biography:
The so-called Age of Adventure was long past. Gone were the days of exploring a long-lost tomb, fighting hordes of goblins, and hunting treasure. Indeed, the assorted "monsters" themselves had left the caverns, abandoned keeps, and wizard's towers behind, gradually joining civilization.

Not that the transition had been easy, of course. Humans distrusted most of them, and the feeling was mutual. Too much blood had been spilled on both sides to be forgotten quickly.

But over the years, even that tension passed, for the most part. It was still far from perfect, but at least a beholder could float into a bar without immediately starting a fight.

The Lurebeasts were among the last to integrate. These were large, rotund creatures with gaping maws filled with sharp teeth. They were named for the unusual crystal hanging from a growth on their forehead; its warm glow seemed to draw in living creatures, which the Lurebeast would then devour. They ate everything from rats to orcs to unwary adventurers, and as such they faced distrust from all sides when they sought to leave the dungeons - most thought they'd only done so because all the decent food was leaving.

But in time, they found a niche - advertising. Rather than using their lurecrystals to attract prey, they used them to draw in customers instead. After a while, every business wanted to hire one, just to make sure they didn't fall behind the competition. A few enterprising beasts even started their own stores.

Most Lurebeasts were satisfied with this - it didn't require moving very often, and they could be paid directly in food.

Melanie Cetidae was not one of them. She didn't like sitting still, and felt she could aspire to greater things than sitting in a bookstore window. Plus, she couldn't help but notice, nobody ever talked to her. They just saw her crystal and came in, to be ensnared by the bookseller.

She couldn't even read the books. She wanted to learn, but the old golem who ran the place didn't know how to teach her - he'd simply had the knowledge engraved on his brain, and that didn't seem like a method that would work well for organics. On top of that, her fins weren't very conducive to holding the books in the first place.

Ultimately, though, what Melanie wanted most was to see the world - or at least more of it than this one corner of one city. But there were few opportunities for a Lurebeast, and their relative lack of mobility didn't help matters.

Still, she might get her wish - after a fashion.

Description:
Melanie is a Lurebeast. As mentioned, they're large and rotund fishlike creatures with enormous mouths and a crystal dangling from a growth on their foreheads. Melanie's fairly lean for a Lurebeast, only weighing about 200 kilograms.

Melanie likes to talk, but hasn't had much opportunity and so she doesn't have strong conversational skills. Mostly she's interested in hearing about other people's experiences, seeing as her own haven't been so great.

Weapons and Abilities:
Melanie's most obvious ability is the lurecrystal. It's actually a part of her body, which channels magic passively. When Melanie concentrates, living creatures are drawn towards her.

In theory, the magic stored in the crystal could be used to cast other spells, but Melanie lacks the knowledge. If the crystal were removed from her body, it would lose its potency and Melanie would grow a new crystal over time.

Melanie also has a strong stomach, another Lurebeast specialty. She can even devour poisonous creatures without suffering ill effects. It's even possible for her to eat creatures larger than she is in one gulp.

She's somewhat lacking in mobility, though. Lurebeasts were originally aquatic, but they weren't strong swimmers and they're even slower on land. To help with this, she sits in a wheelbarrow, which requires someone else to push her; she'd like something better, but it was all she could afford.

She's also not particularly good at fine manipulation, having only fins in place of hands or feet. Again, if she wants a door opened or to put salt on her food, she needs to ask someone else to do it. At least she doesn't have a problem getting their attention.

The only things Melanie has with her are the wheelbarrow itself and a pile of books in it that she doesn't know how to read. It's unlikely she'll have time to learn while fighting for her life, but who knows.