PUBLIC INHABITANT RECORD
RESIDENT DOSSIER / The Middle Distances · northern rootlands
Crake
Crake checks package seals at Underroot Stores, refusing to let a hurried hand turn an uncertain closure into a finished check.
- Known location
- Underroot Stores
- World relationship
- LIVES IN
- Role or occupation
- Store-seal checker
PUBLIC CHARACTER RECORD
What is known
Crake checks the seals on packages at Underroot Stores in the Ravelgreen, looking for loosened ties and disturbed closures before recording each check. A compact body, crusted plates and enormous watchful eyes give the checker a permanently unimpressed air. Crake works best with a familiar round and room to approach at its own pace. A doubtful closure gets another look; impatience does not make it secure. The role gives Crake no special power to see inside a package or judge its owner.
KNOWN WORLD LOCATION
Underroot Stores
LIVES INNEARBY ON THE CURRENT SURVEY
The district does not end at this record.
These are geographic neighbours, not implied friends or allies.
Glassroot ConservatoryBristlemothBristlemoth sorts and tends seed stock at Glassroot Conservatory.
Glassroot ConservatoryKindrootKindroot helps newly moved seedlings settle into the nursery beds of Glassroot Conservatory without forcing their growth.
Settling GroveMatri VeyMatri Vey holds short settling sessions at Settling Grove.
ARCHIVE EVIDENCE / FIRST RECORDED SIGHTING
Before the record, there was a drawing.
This is the original hand-made source from which Crake entered the Living Atlas. It is preserved unchanged and shown beside—not beneath—the approved interpretation.
- Creator
- Björgvin
- Evidence class
- Original drawing
- Archive state
- Public provenance record
Original line retained. Corrections belong to the hand that made them.
CHARACTER STUDY
One inhabitant, seen from several directions.
A closer look at the details of this inhabitant.
COMPLETE PHYSICAL & CHARACTER RECORDOpen the detailed archive file
PHYSICAL RECORD
A presence before an explanation
- Silhouette
- Broad and squat, almost rectangular from the front, with a shaggy-crusted top edge and a taper into several hooked legs below. The face fills the body so thoroughly that it feels like a walking expression wearing a shell.
- Scale
- Reads as small to medium in world scale: larger than a dinner platter, smaller than a person. The eyes are disproportionately huge, the mouth oversized, and the supporting body comparatively compressed beneath them.
- Material
- Deep charcoal hide with velvety dark plates, pale scar-like speckles across the crown, and oily sheen only at the eyes and mouth.
- Colour
- #2B2A30, #4B4352, #8C7A92, #D8D1C8, #111015
OCCUPATION & CHARACTER
Store-seal checker
It looks armored and irritable, but its strongest quality may be how acutely it feels exposure.
WANTS
- to remain undisturbed unless approached well
- to understand its surroundings before committing itself
- to be accepted without being handled or fussed over
FEARS
- sudden intrusion
- being flipped, cornered or made helpless
- having its unreadable face mistaken for hostility all the time
HABITS
- holding long unblinking eye contact
- going very still when uncertain
- shifting its weight sideways before changing direction
- keeping the mouth slightly set even in calmer moments
SOURCE ANCHORS
- Enormous forward-facing oval eyes that occupy most of the upper face
- Layered jagged crown and side-frills forming a crusted, irregular carapace-like silhouette
- Broad drooping mouth/muzzle with a heavy upper lip and soft lower mass
- Small central nose ridge with narrow vertical fold descending between the eyes and mouth
- Multiple pointed legs tucked beneath a squat body