Volcanic Eustean

Volcanic eusteans are a subgroup of eusteans that live in the harshest conditions of the oceans, within an underwater volcanic island chain. They feed on sea slugs and few plants, one of the only surviving organisms in this boiling environment.
Volcanic eusteans have giant rock armour on their bodies, on each segment. These rock armour protects them from magma that could leak from the volcanoes, and can protect the people from the high pressure environments. They are generally slow moving, conserving the little amount of energy they can get from their few and scarce food sources.

We cook the vines and plants we find 'ere, and cook the lil slugs we find scurrying 'bout.

— Eustean interviewed for a documentary about their struggles

Culture

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Just as the egg of a eustean is about to hatch, it is placed in a ring of pre-prepared volcanic rocks. These rocks warm up the egg, hatching it faster. The eustean, when hatched, is brought round the entire village to show off the newborn to everybody they can.

Coming of Age Rites

When a eustean turns 30 years old, an official adult, they stand within the same ring of volcanic rocks they were hatched in, to show how much they have grown during those 30 years.

Funerary and Memorial customs

When a volcanic eustean dies, the armour is broken off, which symbolises shedding of the sins they committed while they were alive. The body is then thrown into an underwater volcano.

Major organizations

The only settlement they live in is Volcara, a small town within Half Ocean surrounded by underwater volcanoes, a few hundred metres under sea level. There is a population of a few hundred, roughly 250.

Volcano Eruptions

Volcanic Eusteans often have to deal with the eruptions of the underwater volcanoes they built their town next to. So, they used Weepingstone, a type of rock found underwater, and created these barricades that could be pushed up when volcanoes occured, all around the village, creating a small wall. They also dug a big moat around the village that catches magma, and the moats travel underground and can be used to heat houses and their kitchen appliances, such as their ovens. Volcanic Eusteans are one of the most useful creatures on the planet, they managed to take one of the most dangerous natural disasters and made it useful in many ways to themselves.

Encompassed species

• Ember Sea Slug

History

Volcanic eusteans evolved roughly a hundred thousand years ago, when a group of them moved into the waters near the underwater volcanoes. They struggled to find food during the first few years, but then established crop gardens where they could grow a small amount of moonvines and other plants to barely live. They also found sea slugs, another creature living in this harsh climate, tasted delicious. They could cook them from the heat of the underwater volcanoes, which provided a large amount of nutrients compared to their plant based diet.