Pet Facts



Gourix Facts

Gourix eggs are laid in open water at night and dropped into the dark of the ocean. Like luminescent balloons, they are large, soft, gel-like spheres in which the young Gourix is cocooned among folds of life-sustaining nutrients. These otherworldly eggs drift through the undercurrents on a dangerous journey, sinking through the depths until they at last fall to the ocean floor where their gel-like substance moors them permanently to rocks or whale-falls. There the young Gourix lies dormant for five months and it is there, with the pressure of the silence and the crush of the inky water weighting on them, that they dream.

The five months a young Gourix spends in its egg dreaming are crucial to its development as a personality. During this time, the young Gourix is a fully formed as an individual but must remain in its protective cocoon until its lungs are large enough to bring it all the way to the surface safely. It is hypothesized but unproven whether Gouran dreams evolved as a way to keep the growing young eager for life occupied until their bodies were fully ready to sustain them.

Though every Gourix has a natal dream, not all of them may remember it after being born. If they do remember it, it is how they choose to interpret that dream that defines their personality, temperament, and overall soul. Gouran dreams come in many different flavors and sizes. Some may dream of simply picking up a pebble on a grey beach, while others may dream of running along the skin of the earth with forest fires crackling in their veins. While the dream itself is important in its imagery, what is most important is how that young Gourix chooses to remember its dream. A Gourix who dreams of forest fires and decides it means she shall become a great destroyer, will grow up with a different personality than a Gourix who experiences the same dream but believes it means he will bring a change for the better to the world. While it is the dream itself, that chooses what the young Gourix sees, it is only the Gourix himself who decides how to shape what he sees. In essence, a Gourix's dream is his soul, and it will affect the way he interacts with the world.

Those who don't remember their natal dream are called 'The Lost', and it can be both a great advantage and a great burden. A lost Gourix doesn't remember his dream, which leaves his personality far more mutable. The lost are affected by circumstances outside of their unremembered dreams and so can end up possessing traits and perceptions which are unusual for most Gouran. However, not remembering the dream can also weigh heavily on the psyche. Many lost have succumbed to the numbing terror of not knowing who they are or who they were meant to be and live out their lives in fear and uncertainty, never finding that grounding force off of which to base their existence.

Those who become lost don't seem to have any connection or underlying trend. Every Gourix, healthy or unhealthy, strong or weak, of good parentage or not, has the same chance of not remembering their natal dream. One of the greatest challenges facing Gourix researchers and enthusiasts today is discovering the reason for why some Gouran forget their dream and others do not. Some experts believe that the effect of the lost is one way for nature to enhance the capabilities of Gouran. Others of a more philosophical nature say that the existence of the lost is proof against idea of destiny and the inability to control the paths laid out for us in life.

After those first five months of continual sleep, Gouran rarely ever dream again. Of course there have been exceptions, but they are incredibly rare and not very well documented. It is unknown whether this second dream (should a Gourix have one) completely usurps the natal dream, modifies it, or simply supplements it. It is possible that the effects of a second dream vary from Gourix to Gourix as per its nature, but there's no evidence to prove or disprove this.

Because of these grounding natal dreams, Gouran carry a strong conviction of self. They are comfortable in their place and at peace with themselves and who they are: their spirits are firm. Many refer to Gouran as 'The Watchers' because of their inability to dream (beyond the first dream) and the solemn, patient assurance they possess. Very intelligent beings, Gouran observe carefully and learn from all that they see. They are steadfast, brave and noble, and their unshakable nature derives not only from the absolute assurance of who they are, but also from their center - the dark, unchanging, silent depths of the ocean itself.

No adult Gourix is able to achieve the depth at which they were born, for unprotected by the singular nature of their jelly eggs they would be crushed by the weight of the water, but all Gouran have an innate longing to dive into the silence and remember the womb of the ocean that cradled them as they dreamed. Despite their affinity for the ocean, however, they are land creatures and they live there well. Their plates, spines and strong legs make them a heavily guarded species and predators which they cannot fend off with size and vocal threatening, they can often outwit.

Gouran are omnivores and subsist on a mix of small land creatures, medium to small aquatic creatures and green forage such as kelp, seaweed or long-stemmed grasses. Their jaws are filled with sharp cutting teeth and back molars, but their bite is too weak to bring down large prey animals. Some troops of Gouran have a unique hunting style wherein they chase down larger prey with their incredibly strong back legs and literally trample the victim to death, but this has been seen in isolated cases and cannot be taken as a uniform hunting method for the species as a whole.


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