Submission (#6578) Approved

The surface of the lake in Silveil is deceptively clear and reflective. Despite the everlasting night, the lake depths are quite clear in part due to the luminous creatures beneath its surface. From glowing motes of algae and plankton to huge fish, there are many creatures that illuminate the branches of Silveil’s world tree in phasing cycles. Many creatures rest on the trees limbs, nibbling at algae or simply napping, giving off the illusion that the tree’s limbs bear sparkling stars for leaves and fruits. 

One such creature is the Jirro nightworm, though its name is as deceptive as the flickering reflections on the lake’s surface. While name implies that it lives in earthy burrows, it spends the majority of its lifespan in the muck deep at the bottom of Silveil’s lake. It is not even a true worm, with eight stubbly legs at one end of its body and two long antennae, thick round body sections that taper into a flat rounded spade at its nether end; it looks more like a millipede with most of the legs missing. They can grow up to the length of a kittom, though most found in the wild are less than a third of that size as the young spawn are more active explorers than the adults, resulting in many being picked off as snacks for fish. 

The name Nightworm comes from the way they are only active during “true night” in Silveil as well as how the creature functions as a detritus janitor much the same as regular worms act – they help break down and distribute leaves, scales, shellfish sheds, broken shells, and other clutter from the lakebed to renew nutrients in the muck. Their mouths are similar to a snail, a tiny vacuum they apply to the surface of their food that breaks it apart in thin layers until they can digest the small particles. The lower third of their bodies looks flattened as though someone stepped on it, but is functionally like a shovel they use to stir up muck to hide from predators and also smooth down their tracks, leaving a thin ribbon-like ripple in the dirt that camouflages with the natural patterns of the lakebed. Nightworms are also quite capable swimmers, though they look like a ribbon caught in a breeze as they swim and are all too tantalizing – frequently becoming dinner for something just a bit larger.