Zurmaxis: The Otherdimensional Tickle Monster

Of all the strange and unusual creatures in existence, there are some who are especially odd. Sequestered away in different planes of existence and little pocket dimensions that dot the fabric of reality, they are known by few, and understood by none. These beings have many names and words used to describe them: Otherdimensional, Lovecraftian, Elderitch, not of this world...

Most are almost impossible to look at, their true forms unable to be perceived by the minds of mortals. These beings may sometimes assume a corporeal form to interact with our world, be it for benevolent or destructive reasons. Others still may have forms that they have a certain fondness for, either because the shape pleases them, or because they feel that it is a form that mortals are "comfortable" with. And yet, there are some who share perhaps just one trait with lesser beings. They have but one form. No more, no less. They have always looked as they do, and always will. This is one such creature.


In its dimension of infinite nothingness, the being floated in place, alone,unaware of anything that existed outside of the vortex of darkness and silence that it called its home. Its single eye grew heavy, its tentacles going limp and the large pincers that floated before it lay on the solid invisible plane that made the bottom of this realm. It really had nothing better to do. There was nothing here. It might as well take a quick nap for a few millennia...


Its sleep was interrupted by something. A sound. It knew what sound was, of course. It occasionally made one as a part of itself brushed against another. Its great eye opened, and it beheld two things in the darkness. The first was a great gash of color. A portal of some sort. But its eye was more focused on the second of the two things...

It was another being, smaller than it, laying flat. With four thin appendages and a head, atop of which was a bright golden material not unlike the kind that his own appendages were covered with. Its pale body was covered in some sort of cloak, made of a thin white material. A tunic. The being was mesmerized by this newfound creature. Had it come through the tear? What was it? The being was curious. It floated over and looked the creature over, before staying in place and waiting. It understood the creature was asleep, as it only just was, and knew it would awaken eventually. Soon enough, the creature stirred, making noises as it did, before opening its eyes. It beheld the being and let out a strangled scream, leaping back. The being heard this and shut its own eye in pain. It understood that it was not a good sound, as it once made a similar noise when it accidentally jabbed itself in the eye with a pincer. When it opened its eye, is saw the other creature curled up, eyes shut tight and leaking some sort of liquid. It was making some sort of quiet, unpleasant noise. The being didn't like this noise, as it sounded bad. And it knew that the noise meant something was wrong. Perhaps the creature had hurt one of its eyes? It remembered that when it had hurt its own eye, it had rubbed it while closed and that seemed to help. It also understood the sensitivity of the area, and knew that it must be touched gently, else more pain was to follow.


It chose then to use one of the striped tentacles lining its lower body. The furry appendage reached down and gently brushed across the creature 's face, wiping away the moisture. To the being 's surprise, this actually seems to make the creature calm down, the unpleasant noise diminishing. It tried this again, gently brushing the tentacle over the side of its head this time. The noise it made lessened even more so ! It repeated this, gently rubbing the area with the tentacle. The creature's expression soon changed to that of contentment, letting out a soft sigh. The being liked this sound. It sounded...good. Its eye closed halfway in contentment as well.


It then grew curious again. It noticed that the creature was wearing the strange covering over its body, but also began to wonder if it enjoyed being rubbed elsewhere. The only part of it that was uncovered was the creature's lower extremities, which had very unusual ends, to the being at least. It reached down and gently brushed the furry tip of its tentacle over the area. The creature pulled its extremity away and made a very interesting noise, catching the being off guard. It sounded almost similar to the bad noise, but instead, it sounded....incredibly pleasant. It enjoyed this sound very, very much. It reached down and touched the other appendages with an identical response. Its eye closed fully, and it began to make a low, deep, rumbling noise, literally purring in contentment. It wanted to hear this noise more...


It reached down and took hold of the space below the end of one extremity with one of its pincers, holding it there painlessly with the soft, rubbery claw. It began to brush its tentacle back and forth over the spot, causing the creature to make the noise constantly, even louder than before. It continued for several minutes, before eventually stopping, not wishing to overdo it and accidentally hurt the small creature. It let the creature calm down for several minutes before taking hold of the other appendage and holding them there in front of the being. It reached forward towards them using its two longest tentacles, brushing the white, feathery tufts over them. The creature squirmed about, making that oh-so pleasant noise even louder than before...

Eventually, it stopped and let the creature go, prompting it to stand up and look at the creature once calmed down. It reached forward and gently touched one of the being's tentacles, before slowly pulling its arm back and smiling. It turned and stepped through the portal, vanishing. The being was quite curious, and looked through the gash. What it saw completely froze him in place.


It was another place, brightly lit by a huge light floating far above in a sheet of endless blue. Large, soft white shapes floated through the blueness slowly. A field of the brightest, greenest green stretched in all directions, dotted by strange white structures of domes and columns. It was so beautiful. The being's eye began to water from the sight, after spending it's entire existence in In nothing but darkness...it was almost tempted to pass through, but stopped itself. It knew they would be afraid of it. They might try to hurt it... So it just watched...

It watched and watched, learning all that it could. Customs, language, behavior...Occasionally. The portal's scene would change, and it would watch some more, learning and watching... Even more occasionally, another of these creatures would pass through. And the being would delight itself with comforting them,too. Earning their trust before playing with them for some time, making them produce that delightful sound before releasing them and letting them back through the rift. It would eventually learn that these creatures called themselves "Humans," and that the noise they made was called "laughter." One day, whilst watching two younger humans at play, it saw one of them doing something very similar to what itself did to the other, causing it to laugh and squirm. It heard the first child saying something, and suddenly, it understood. It was called "tickling." It had been tickling those who came to its realm... It understood now. And began to actively tickle those who stumbled into the plane it was in, enjoying their sweet, happy laughter.

And then, on another day, it saw two humans wrap their "arms" around one another, pulling each other close and smiling. This action attracted its curiosity. And the next human to enter its realm, it tried this out on, gently pressing the broad sides of its pincers to their back and draping its two soft, furry, pink-striped tentacles over their shoulders, gently bringing the person close enough to rest against the soft, shadowy substance that comprised the being's body. To the being's delight, the human seemed to enjoy this action Immensely, returning the embrace and gently nuzzling the being. The youth soon found itself wrapped up comfortably in all eight of its blue-striped tendrils...

The being would later learn that this act was known as a "hug," or "cuddling," or at times, "snuggling." And it soon became the being's favorite thing to do, next to tickling, of course.


And so, the being spent many, many centuries learning all it could about the world beyond its own. It saw many, many creatures, but none quite as interesting as the humans. Soon enough, it learned to speak their language, and began to grow quite close to them. But even still, understood that he would best stay there in his own realm...

...that is, until one day, when a certain monster king visited him in his realm, attracted by the rumors that there was another creature like him that shared many interests as him, to offer him a new home, and a new opportunity to interact with the humans he delighted in tickling and showing affection to...

Appearance:
Zurmaxis's main body comprises of a solid shadowy substance, not unlike that of the Dragonwraith. However, unlike the Dragonwraith, this substance, as well as the whisps and tendrils of it that trail behind itself at all times, is surrounded by a strange purple aura that despite being visible in total darkness, casts no light on its surroundings. His sole facial feature is a large, expressive eye in the center of its body, with a blue sclera and a large, watery pupil that is a deep, soothing green.

It has been known to occasionally grow a mouth below this eye, which will appear as a white line when closed, and when opened, has a single, small fang in one corner of the mouth. The throat seems to stop abruptly at the back of the mouth, and really, seems to be more of a pocket than anything. Zurmaxis's tongue is somewhat large, thick, and flat, and will often hang out of its mouth when extended. The tongue is said to be slightly rough, and seems to only exist as a manner of it showing affection, as well as an additional tickling implement.

In front of Zurmaxis's main body float two large cyan pincers with magenta colored tips. These can be extended up to thirty feet from its main body, and can be controlled separately. Despite their imposing appearance, they actually feel soft and rubbery, and don't cause any sort of pain when clamped down. Zurmaxis uses these to hold its "victims" steady when it tickles.


Zurmaxis's other most defining features are its tentacles, of which it has
Eight normal ones, as well as two longer ones that act as its primary arms, brining the total to ten, not unlike most species of squid. The normal tentacles are lined up along the lower area of its body, with four on each side. Each tentacle is striped in In a light teal color with bands of jet black, and covered in a thick layer of long, soft fur. These tentacles are each nine feet in length, with a diameter at the base of one and a half feet. The two "arm" tentacles are a faded pink with the same black stripes. These reach up to fifteen feet in length, and have a diameter of one foot at the base.

The defining feature of these arm-tentacles are the very thick clusters of feathers at the tips. These pure white feathers are very soft, and seem to tickle exponentially more than the feathers. Some of them reach a staggering three feet long, and combined with their softness and tickling properties, as well as the sheer volume of them packed into these tufts, means that they very well may be perhaps the most effective method Zurmaxis has for tickling.


-About-

So I recently got my hands on this cool app for the iPad called Sketchbook Express. And, I'm not gonna lie, it's better than BOTH the digital drawing programs I've been using COMBINED. And the best part? It's completely FREE. (I missed you so much, paint bucket! >u<

After a couple of half-assed doodles, I just started scribbling on the canvas, and ended up making the shape of a claw. I tried duplicating it and moving it to the side, and ended up with a pair of pincers. Then, after coloring them in, I tried using the airbrush tool and attempt some basic shading. And,well... It just sort of spiraled from there. I ended up experimenting using a bunch of different techniques for this pic and mixing them in with my new style, and ended up absolutely LOVING the end result. I think my favorite part was doing the tentacles and figuring out a somewhat good looking technique for making a fur texture. :3

Funny, usually creatures like this are the result of FAILED experiments. X3

Anyways, this description has gone on for long enough. Hope you all like him/it!