Although the origins of many beasts and monstrosities that haunt Vaarn are shrouded in uncertainty, all who behold one agree that the chromavore is a species not of this world, and is likely a fugitive from some other strange dimension. These beings are best described as a living colour, for their bodies consist of nothing else. In motion a chromavore resembles globs of luminous metallic ink flowing through water, and when still they diffuse and appear to be colourful smoke that resists the movement of the wind. Chromavore have been encountered in all imaginable colours, although the most common varieties are silver, yellow, or green.
Although their name suggests that they feed upon colour, in truth the chromavore feeds upon heat, which they drain from the bodies of living beings. The vampiric process bleaches the victim of hue as a side effect, leaving behind frozen white husks. While larger varieties of chromavore hunt like apex predators, stalking prey and killing them from ambush, there have been recorded smaller chromavore that play the part of parasite, affixing themselves to a host creature which stays alive for years, sometimes unaware of the living colour that has secreted itself inside their body. The tell-tale signs of a chromavore infestation are lethargy, gnawing hunger, persistent low temperature, and a gradual leeching of colour from the flesh and hair.
These beings, although they must possess at least rudimentary intelligence, have never been communicated with. Their physiology and psyches must be completely alien to humanity, and it is far from clear that they even understand themselves to be harming the creatures they leech of heat. Nevertheless, these beings are dangerous in the extreme, and those who explore Vaarn would do well to anticipate their weaknesses.
Chromavore, being living colours, are utterly impervious to most conventional weaponry. Swords and bullets do not repel them, and the thickest armour cannot protect against their touch. However it is known that these hungry colours shrink from the majestic red light of Vaarn’s dying sun, and must hide in the shadows during the day. Likewise, it is known that chromavore fear and detest certain pitches of sound, and may be driven away by the ringing of a bell cast specifically for this purpose. The removal of a chromavore parasite from an afflicted person is a multi-day ordeal of struck bells and chanting, although this ritual often kills the host as well as the parasite. Finally, it is written in ancient texts that chromavore may be trapped in certain hypergeometric prisms carved for such a purpose, and delvers into the lost vaults of Vaarn sometimes recover crystalline jails containing a loathsome and hungry colour.
VAULTS OF VAARN 