The Red Claws Ring is an underground fighting ring in the Entertainment District. It operates in the underground of a broken down building that used to be an Entertainment House. Although there are a few resident fighters, most of the house members take care of organizing the place, gathering bet money and such, without actually getting involved in the tournaments. 

The fights take place in an underground room, in a fighting arena surrounded by bars, mainly meant to separate the spectators from the fighters and prevent outside interference. The fighters are mostly outsiders and residents of the Empire Underground going in to make a quick buck. Anybody can join in the fight.

The Circus Maximus is technically a separate house from the House of Olympus, yet it exists right besides it and they are strongly connected.
You can enter the Circus Maximus through a passage that leads underground. Inside you will find ruins from previous structures of the inhabitants of the early Empire, which have been built upon and convergent into the shape of an amphitheatre. Inside the amphitheatre are held fights and other shows which can be observed from the sides. You must pay for a ticket but you can also bet… so bring plenty!

Profits from the fights usually go to the mother of House of Olympus.

Once a year the house is engulfed by magic, the old ruins taking a pearly white shine and the members of the House of Olympus attend a tournament that decides the headmaster of the Circus Maximus and representant of Ares. Ever since the Founder died in the finale of this tournament, the current Headmaster has never been defeated.

After the death of the Founder, the new headmaster introduced rules surrounding the fights, including forbidding killing. Sometimes however, fights may still be taken too far and entertainers pass away after much too intense matches.

Story:

The story behind the Circus Maximus speaks of two soldiers that grew up fighting and training side by side. When the Frozen Empire was attacked by hostile creatures, the two soldiers bravely led the others into battle, yet at the end of the fight they were found at each other’s throats.

“In the front of the enemy, all personal grudges must be set aside. What you have done gravely endangered the Empire, and for that I can no longer proudly call you my soldiers.” The Headmaster of the Soldiers Guild spoke.

With the anger still lingering between them, the two walked away, guildless. Together they wandered the streets for days, until one day they saw a grifix emerging from the sewers, dressed in a coat that was obviously hiding something dangerous underneath. They decided to follow, and coon, as they approached the Entertainment Guild they started seeing more such grifix emerging. They followed them to the broken down entrance of an abandoned Entertainment House, and inside they went. Stairs took them deep underground, where in a much too crowded room they found themselves in front of an arena, iron bars surrounding it up to the ceiling. Before they were able to figure out what was happening, some grifix’s voice announced the beginning of the tournament, and two grifix started fighting in the arena. Blood was spattered and one of them lay on the ground. The other was pronounced the winner, and so the next two grifix entered.

By the end of the tournament, the two former soldiers knew that they would be back. And on the other side of the bars next time…

When the spectators saw the first one in the arena, wearing the armor of the Soldier’s Guild, whispers arose… What was a soldier doing here? Did they finally come to shut down the whole thing?
But when he started fighting it became clear there was no such thing, and they started cheating on. And so, in their applause, he rose all the way to the finale, and so did the other. And now the two were facing each other once again.
They fought and they fought but they were even. And soon, the spectators grew bored. Yawns filled the room. 
One of the fighters felt himself growing tired, and he knew he would not hold for much longer. So against his better judgement he pulled a hidden dagger out and stabbed the other, emerging as the winner.

Barely holding on to life, the other was taken to a medic on the side of the room. They injected him with numbing drugs and under his own eyes they stitched and cleaned the wounds. 

“Your friend fits well in here” the medic spoke. “He has no honor. But you fought lawfully, like a soldier, this is no place for you.”

“But where else should I go?”

The medic gave him a flier, with an address on it, and so he left. 
He found himself in front of the Mother of the House of Olympus, and so he spoke of his vision…
A grand underground fighting amphitheatre, greater than anything any grifix has seen before, the one and only, Circus Maximus!!!

This house is moderated by CrystalIzzy77

Intelligent species distinction:

As of now, I do not plan to allow any new original species in the Grifixverse so most suggestions for such will be handled with other variants such as Extra Species or Yokai Manifestation Entity original species which are explained below.

Grifix subspecies options:

Grifix subspecies = highly regulated, they come with their own lore, settlements, traits etc. There's very few of them.

Freckles Organ Anatomy

The freckles are an organ part of the "magic apparatus". They are placed at the endings of some magic veins

The freckles themselves are a magic organ that produces a certain fluid magic ingredient - its function being stabilizing the magic and ensuring it functions as intended, which is why it’s called “magic stabilizer”. The magic stabilizer is then transported through some veins to the main gems, where it mixes with the magic that is produced in them.

The magic stabilizer is ALWAYS YELLOW, which gives the freckles the yellow color (similar to how blood is always red).

Divided grifix with no visible freckles still have them - except they aren't on the surface like for usual grifix.

The magic usually flows both ways from the gems, they sometimes absorb magic from the environment as well, it's almost as if the magic apparatus "breathes" magic. So the gems can technically "inhale" substances from the environment - such as drugs - to produce various magic effects. 

Magic stabilizer can be produced entirely by a grifix alone, but they evolved to use environmental magic absorbed through the gems in order to create it quicker and more efficiently. Magic is absorbed through the gems and transported to the freckles where it is converted to stabilizer (similar to how the lungs extract oxygen from air). The freckles filter the magic so they don’t absorb harmful parts of the magic. If a grifix is alone in a place without any grifix close by they won’t have any environmental magic to absorb so the stabilizer is produced at a slower rate, from their own magic, which leads to a smaller amount of magic available for them to use.

Divided grifix have such harmful magic that usually it can’t be properly filtered perpetuating their issues and making them ill. If a regular grifix were to spend too much time in a place with high divided magic concentration they may develop such issues as well. (Their sphirix may even get split or develop mutations like the divided ones, and even corruption may occur).

Clots can be produced in these magic veins which causes malfunctions of magic. Sometimes certain drugs have that effect. Magic doesn't act as intended if the veins or the freckles are damaged. But similar to how humans have two of certain organs - and can still function with only one - grifix can still function if only one of the freckle organs is damaged.

Grifix have three such organs: one on each cheek and one on the muzzle. Additional freckles are simply ramifications of the main veins that surface. The muzzle organ is not surfaced most of the time, and for most grifix it is inactive but when the other main cheek ones are damaged this one might start being active and sometimes it will surface as well. Grifix that have visible muzzle freckles have all three organs active all of the time. 

Visually, the freckles have the appearance of slightly raised markings on the skin. They are slightly harder than usual skin. Under special circumstances, they might glow.

Additional gems anatomy

Regular magic veins coming from the gems are spread throughout the grifix’s body - these do not transport magic stabilizer, just regular magic. These sometimes come up close to the surface of the skin and start pushing magic out, which solidifies into additional gems, which act as seals to prevent the magic leaking. The main magic arteries in a grifix body go from the chest gems to the head and to the back. If those reach the surface, magic gems will be formed that can have magic flow and sometimes form orbs.

Freckle Organ Failure can occur because of harmful substances getting deposed on the magic stabilizer veins or inside the freckles. A common cause is high consumption of magic drugs that are absorbed through the gems and boost magic (solaris can be used like that for example). It only occurs after years of regular consumption, similar to how smoking can cause severe issues to lungs.

When the freckles fail, magic absorbed through the gems is no longer filtered properly, and it destabilizes the magic. The magic stabilizer becomes less effective. Magic impurities stick inside the magic stabilizer veins forming clots and preventing proper flow.

Symptoms of magic stabilizer vein clots:

The magic stabilizer can no longer flow properly so it starts leaking through the freckles. This goes through 4 stages as the disease progresses:

1st stage:

The freckles start glowing and sparkly magic flows out of them. The cheeks become sparkly and beautiful magic smoke surrounds the grifix’s face. No pain is present. At this point the veins are restricted and the surplus is pushed out through the freckles.

2nd stage:

The freckles expand and they start hurting. More magic smoke is present. At this point the veins are almost entirely blocked and the freckles expand in order to be able to hold the increased amount of magic inside of them.

3rd stage:

Freckles fail to contain the big amount of magic and magic stabilizer because the veins are fully blocked. The skin on top breaks off and the organ breaks open, being exposed to the outside. Magic smoke and stabilizer liquid constantly flows out. This is very hurtful, and from this stage it is unlikely that the grifix will ever heal completely.

4th stage:

The stabilizer fluid and smoke start corroding the skin. Open wounds appear everywhere on the face to the point that the whole face can have its skin peel off. From this point the freckle organ is impossible to fully heal.

5th stage:

The grifix rarely survives this far but the magic may start to rot inside the stabilizer veins because it can not flow out. The rot may spread to the gems through the veins, and the gems may start to rot from the inside. Eventually they can even fall off.

Art by WrittenDreams

Symptoms of unstable magic caused by lack of stabilizer:

1st stage:

In the first stage the magic is just slightly misbehaving, but most grifix don’t realize there’s an issue. Sphirix may become barely noticeably wavy.

2nd stage:

Magic is almost unusable and constantly fails to behave as usual. Sphirix becomes wavy and glitchy and the shape starts to be unclear. The sphirix’s voice starts to be very hard to understand.

3rd stage forward:

Magic can no longer be used. It just flows uncontrollably out of the gem and can be harmful to others around. Sphirix becomes an indistinguishable form of magic and they become unable to speak properly, noise just comes out but it is impossible to understand what they are saying. Sphirix may become visible to others as the magic can no longer conceal itself. Most magic functions fail, such as hiding the grifix from other creatures.

Magic flowing through the regular magic veins starts attacking the veins which leads to very high levels of pain throughout the body. Skin corrosion may occur around additional gems and magic gems (those on the forehead and butt). As the disease progresses corrosion may start to spread around the main gems as well. Additional gems may fall off if the magic veins around them are damaged too much (magic gems will be the last to be affected because their connection through the magic arteries is stronger).

Treatment:

Stages 1 to 2 can be treated to some extent, but from stage 3 on the freckle organ is unsavageable. Sometimes the doctors will sever the connections to the freckles surgically, hoping that the gems will be able to resurface the third organ on the muzzle and use it instead. 

If that option is not possible the only way to keep the grifix alive is to completely block the magic flow altogether, using special lotions on the gems or surgically altering the magic apparatus. The grifix will have to live the rest of their life without magic or sphirix.

Solaris drug usage:

Solaris can be smashed into a paste that when applied over the gems causes a tingling electric sensation and boosts magic abilities. It also causes a very pleasant sensation as it enters the magic veins, which can be addictive. Using it regularly will lead to the magic system being much weaker without, which causes addiction. Extensive usage of it in this way will cause Freckle Organ Failure. Amongst the withdrawal symptoms are: low magic flow, lack of sparkles in the mane, fading sphirix that can even go fully invisible (can cause severe panic attacks), feeling very weak.

The Frozen Empire script is the alphabet used in the Frozen Empire. It is only used in the Frozen Empire, other grifix settlements don't use it and don't know of it.

Usage Guide:

Feel free to include it in art/character designs/whatever you need in the grifixverse.

Add the following in the text editor source code in order to write with it:

style="font-family: Empire Script;"

Example of where you have to add it: 

Wanna use it? You can download the font on Discord or by clicking here.

How it works:

First let me mention that you can copy any text written in that font and paste it elsewhere and it will become regular text. IT IS NOT A SEPARATE SET OF SYMBOLS it's just a font so the computer will still read it as regular text it just looks different. 

Now, here's now the symbols work: there is a symbol for every letter in the alphabet, but there's also a different symbol for every 2-letter group where the first is a consonant and the second is a vowel (for example: BA, BE, BI, BO, BU, CA, CE CI, CO, CU etc.).

This is illustrated in the following image:

History:

In the Entertainment District there is an intense spot of concentrated magic that has been gathering there for hundreds of years, ever since the founding of the Frozen Empire. That causes the high density of magical manifestations in the District.

Sometimes, the old corrupted magic can act in erratic ways. Similar to the magic shield protecting grifix settlements, it will create an area that can get grifix lost. If a grifix walks through the Entertainment District and they get lost or they don’t know where they are going, they might get stuck in a pocket of magic that loops them around through a parallel space of the Entertainment District - they call it the Yokai Realm. The parallel space feels much much bigger than the actual Entertainment District, and the grifix will be transported from place to place. The real space is being stretched out longer the more they walk. Entertainment Houses are still present in this space, and they are links to the real space. However they will become more and more scarce the more they walk. The rest of the space is filled with empty, abandoned houses.

Grifix can not end up there if they know where they are going. If the grifix lost in there finds an entertainment house and enters it, they must ask for directions, and then they will be back to the real space when they come out.

Scholars don’t fully understand that space yet, and they speculate that it is the source of all yokai manifestations because of their high density there. It seems that when a yokai vanishes from the real space it is in the yokai space.

In reality, the yokai space is by no means the source of the yokai, it’s just another yokai itself.

Also called the The Watershower Tree, the Rainshower Tree can be found in the Kelpie Keep region in the Forest of Leota. It is one of the main set places that the Lost Tribe visits through their migration. In their stories, this place is linked to Small Pebble, one of the first Warriors. 
This tree’s leaves are formed of water, as they are affected by Kelpie’s magic. It's a magnificent view as you can see streams of crystal water flowing down the tree. The tree leaves colors absorb magic, changing color when influenced by it. Lost Tribe grifix sometimes use that to mark major events in their history by coloring leaves in certain colors.

This tree is over 1000 years old, being enormous with roots spreading far and wide. There is a legend in the form of a poem for this tree:

Once there was a mare who cried
Her tears flowed
Until it falls onto the ground
Her love reaches deep down
Hoping it reaches his soul
That she misses dearly 

In the ground
A seed roared to life
Fueled by fire
Nurtured with her woe
It grows.

Years go by
The tree grew large
And without warning
Blue replaced Greens
Rain replaced Breeze
As if
Mourning
Weeping
Longing
Reminiscing

All emotions rained down
Showering the land
The Rainshower Tree.

The poem is written on a stone right beside the tree. It is unknown who left and wrote it there. The legend of this tree is told through the Lost Tribe and used as a lesson to “love and spend time with the ones you love”.

Yuki Bats live in the Frozen North, feeding on magic sources such as Glowing Pinecones, Glowslugs and Elysium Mushrooms. They only come out at night when magic sources stand out because of their glowing. They started inhabiting the Frozen Empire pretty quickly but they are considered pests because they like to eat light beans that are used to light the streets, or they might even start eating them off of grifix which is very bothersome.

They are attracted to lights and anything that glows.

Their fur is very soft and they use the tuffs on their ears to communicate as well as screeching.

They are the main prey of the Magana bird, being attracted by its glowing “light beans”. The birds stand unmoving waiting for the bats to come before snatching the little creature.

Glowing Pinecones come from a special type of pines that grow in the Frozen North outside of the Frozen Empire. The trees have very deep roots that go all the way to the magic ley lines underground. The pinecones are full of magic and they are ingredients to many potions of the grifix. Hunters are often asked to seek them out for the Medics Guild.

The Crystal Fruit Tree (called “Thorn Fruit Tree” by the Everfree Grifix)  has a rather old and knobby appearance. It has more branches than regular trees, and very few leaves. Its branches are covered in thorns, spines, and small sharp branches.

The few leaves it has grow in bulks, having a similar aspect to sick regular trees. The leaves are a rather muddy green and blend in perfectly with the rest of the Everfree Forest. Most of the branches, however, are barren of leaves, but are not dead, despite looking so. In fact, the less leaves these trees have, the healthier they are.

The tree seems to be dependent on the chaotic magic of the Everfree Forest - it does not grow elsewhere. However, it seems to thrive more than anything in the Ghastly Gorge - the environment is perfect, and the little Everfree Magic that reaches there is enough to keep them thriving.

The tree seems to have an unusual relationship to the magic of grifix: it seems to be repelled by the Everfree Grifix, only growing far from the Everfree Village, but it seems to be attracted to the Divided Grifix, growing a lot in the surroundings of their camp. The Divided Grifix enjoy their presence, as the thick thorny branches act as a great form of protection for the Camp.

The fruit of the Crystal Fruit Tree are shaped like crystals, with a crisp paring and soft, delicious pulp. The fruit form out of the magic the plant absorbs from the environment - so they can have a different taste depending on the magic present in the environment. The fruit in the Ghastly Gorge are sweet and delicious, but those in the Everfree Forest, especially the ones closer to the Everfree Village, are bitter and hard.

For the Divided Grifix, consuming the fruit will temporarily strengthen their magic. This effect can be stacked, but this is to be taken with caution, as the stacked effect also increases a Grifix's recklessness. For regular grifix, the fruits have a similar effect - without the positives. They just become reckless and have quite dangerous behavior.

The leaves can be mashed and turned into a paste that can ease any pain if applied to where it hurts on the body. The leaves are not recommended for consumption, because the tree grows them to get rid of any negative substances in its system. They taste incredibly bitter.

The wood of the tree seems to react to grifix magic, especially that of the divided. If it  absorbs a lot of magic from one grifix, it will change color to that grifix’s magic. Such wood is sometimes used in treating various sphirix diseases in the Divided Grifix: the sick grifix is asked to hold a piece of such wood with their magic until it changes color. That piece of wood can be grinded after and used as ingredients for specific cures.

For divided grifix, this process is not harmful at all, but if Everfree Grifix try to feed their magic to this tree they will feel horribly drained.

It is rumored amongst Divided Grifix that if a Grifix with crystals growing on them would constantly share their magic with this tree, the tree would grow crystal fruits in the shape of the Grifix's crystals. They generally think that the fruit forms after the magic is consumed.

The tree is covered in thorns that make it almost impossible to pick the fruit from the air. The only  chance to pick them is if the tree is shaken - then they will fall down. However, the Everfree trees’ fruits are much too hard and won’t fall unless they go bad. When an Everfree tree is shaked, only bits of wood, thorns and spikes will fall down. Those bits are sometimes used to burn as an incense that relieves fatigue.

The Weeping Mare is a hostile entity that lingers in the House of Yurei Entertainment House. No one is quite sure where she came from, everyone agrees it is best to leave it alone. 

She will manifest in an empty room and cry endlessly until she is disturbed, then she will let out a loud shriek before disappearing. The shriek can cause temporary tinnitus. No one knows why she is crying, but they assume it is because she lost her wings in some way.

Her fur is as black as tar and almost nothing is discernible except for her pupils, tears, horns and gems. Her pupils and gems glow a striking red, her horns fade from grey to tar black and her tears are normal.

The Faceless One is the second yokai that can be found in the House of Yurei. It is a harmless yokai with the appearance of a grifix, completely grey with a dark void for its face. It sits at one of the tables of the house, it never moves or speaks, but if someone sits next to this yokai its face will slowly morph to whoever is next to it. This freaks out guests a lot so entertainers steer them away from that specific table. 

It only moves when something is wrong or has startled it and will walk through walls until it comes across another grifix causing its face to morph again. Entertainers will lead it back to its spot so that it doesn't frighten the guests.

When you enter the stone garden of the house of gold you may find a large sakura blossom tree in the middle of it. It appears so..alive..'but how?' you wonder. How can there be a real tree here and not a copy? You approach the tree to get a better look but just as your paw is about to touch the bark you get pulled back by an entertainer. 

"Do not touch the sacred tree of Sakura, lest you wish to never be found again"

The Sacred Sakura Tree is a neutral yokai formed from the memory of a beloved entertainer. She was beautiful and extremely popular until one day a great dragon besieged her house and killed her. 

The tree looks like a normal sakura tree except that it has a strange aura, as if it is not really a tree. That there is something else beneath the bark. 

It is seen in the middle of Fafnir's inner garden and it reaches across the expanse. Small pink flowers will continuously drift down and cover the ground below it.

Kaonashi is a hostile yokai that often bothers the Oogama Sento house. It is a greedy thing that will demand all attention for itself and a great amount of food. If its demands are not met it will attempt to eat the nearest entertainer or guest. This doesn't work except for leaving the grifix with some mental scars and causing them to feel sick for a few days.

It loves to bother the house mother the most, it seems to have an obsession with her. Sometimes it might visit other houses and do the same but it seems less strong there.

The Kage Ryū is a hostile yokai that appears in less explored/occupied corners of the Entertainment district. It is quite big and appears to be made of shadows. You can only distinguish its head and neck, while its body seems to be gone and the neck stretches on endlessly. Its eyes glow a striking white and it has a mane of shadows around its head. When a grifix encounters it it will blow a chilling mist onto them and disappear, the mist will cause the grifix to have nightmares of the dragon destroying their home and killing their loved ones.  The affected grifix will spot the yokai in the corner of their eyes, the being always seeming to grow bigger and more defined. Legends say that the dreams are visions, and once the dragon in the corner of the eye will catch up to them the visions will come true. Usually, however, the effects of the mist fade before the  dragon “catches up”, or the grifix manage to cleanse the mist away using various magic cleansing methods. 

There are, however, reports of grifix developing serious mental disorders because of the repeating nightmares and fear of them coming true. There are some reports of severe psychosis where the grifix is convinced the events in the dreams already happened and their home and loved ones are dead. Some continue to have the nightmares even after the mist is cleansed, because of the mental trauma.

Kage Ryū is most often found in the Yokai Space, or in dark, unvisited areas of the Entertainment District. It doesn't appear often, for it to manifest a grifix mustn't have stepped foot in the area it is for a while and the area must be very poorly lit.

If you roam the streets of the Entertainment District alone you might encounter this spirit. You may think it is a normal grifix, but then you notice his eyes are a little bit too narrow and his smile a little bit too wide. A shiver runs down your spine, best to ignore the strange grifix. You walk past it, but its eyes never leave you. As you walk you hear quiet footsteps behind you - it's following you. You walk a little faster but you can't shake the feeling that it is keeping up with you. The lanterns flicker and the streets seem to grow a little bit darker. A sickening crack echoes behind you, you steal  a glance and your heart drops. The "grifix"'s upper half has split open, and it lunges at you.

The spirit cannot physically harm anyone, but it is still a terrifying sight, and if it ends up “consuming” some grifix they will fall unconscious and might end up having terrible nightmares of the event. Its body can morph and change in ways that are monstrous, its body splitting open with rows of serrated teeth or many eyes forming on its skin. It never stops smiling. Its fur is as black as the night with red fluffs and its hair is a deep maroon. It has bright orange eyes and scarlet red gems that shift to a sparkling deep red. It has no sparkles in its mane, and sometimes its skeleton glows through its flesh.

Sinjua is a massive water serpent that soars the skies of the entertainment district. It prefers to hang out near the Watasumi House because it’s attracted to water. The creature flies above the huge water tank, sometimes flying through it. Entertainers sometimes find its shiny scales at the bottom of the pool - some say that they bring good luck.

An entertainer once brought a big catfish to the pond in their Entertainment House. They fed it well and it kept growing. Nobody ever found its dead body, but it’s likely that at some point it died and was replaced by a magic manifestation of its memory. It kept growing and now it’s bigger than a grifix.

It stays in the pond and likes to surface for a chat or to beg for food. It has a boisterous personality even if it can be frightening to see such a big fish. It can talk for hours on end and will not really get the hint when grifix are done talking or are uncomfortable. Grifix could leave in the middle of the conversation and it won't notice for a good minute. It doesn't care if they do this, it enjoys any company it can get.

On the facade of an entertainment house you can find a strange flower - in the middle of its petals it has an icy blue eye, and it whispers at the passing grifix. If you stop to talk to it, it will share its vast wisdom with you, and it might warn you of harm to come, telling you about how to prevent it.

Stories say it grew from the place where a very wise scholar was murdered, and the scholar’s spirit wants to prevent harm from coming to other grifix like it did to them.

It is now placed on a shelf on the facade of an entertainment house. They tried to take the flower inside and profit off its ability, but the flower refused to speak and would only make predictions of harm to happen to the Entertainment House, and those always came true. They concluded that it was best to leave it free for grifix to talk to the flower so they could escape its terrible prophecies.However, the house is still thematically based on the flower and they maintain it, watering it, changing its soil and ensuring its well being. Grifix that come to talk to the flower often stop inside the entertainment house as well, so it is great for their business regardless.

Chopirako is the main spirit of the House of the Yurei. Chopirako is the ghost of a grifix which tends to whine all the time but most entertainers just ignore her. If a customer misbehaves and the entertainer cries or is hurt, she will attack the customer, because other grifix’s whines bother her very much, but she may also attack the entertainer for the same reason. It is very important that nobody cries or whines in the house for she will get upset and wreak havoc around the house. She doesn’t like hearing grifix talk, but she can’t stand at all hearing the sound of distress.

Magic Mites are small microscopic mites that feed of gems and magic. They slowly consume parts of the gems and can  completely destroy very important magic organs inside the gems. They are contageous.

The Magic Mites are consumed by Glowslugs, so the best way to remove them is placing glowslugs on the gems.

Magic Mites are common in less sanitary spaces. Outbreaks of them happen often in the Forsaken's Cave and in the Frozen Empire Catacombs, but Glowslugs are common in both places so they rarely progress over the 1st stage. The Mites are easy to treat so usually they are not a big threat, but if left untreated they will progress as such:

1st stage

If the mites only make it to the surface of the gems, the gems can heal and grow back.

In this stage the gems start losing their shine and the grifix might notice small holes appearing in them but no other effects are noticeable, except the magic is slightly weaker.

It is important that the magic mites are removed in this stage, otherwise they might cause permanent effects.

2nd stage

Once the mites start feeding into the gem magic organs, the grifix's magic will start to act herratically. 

The sphirix will start losing its features, such as limbs, bits of fur, patterns etc. The grifix will start heaving memory gaps. As the corruption advances, they might forget what their sphirix looked like and the sphirix might turn into different animals - usually after sleeping or being unconscious. 

The grifix might have trouble recognising their sphirix.

The effects can not be reversed at this stage, but it is important to remove the mites or it will get worse. If the mites are removed at this stage, the sphirix willr retain its last shape. The grifix's personality will be affected by the lost memories and new sphirix shape. 

In this stage the gems start having deep holes that will never cover up.

3rd stage

The gems continue producing magic, but essential parts of them are missing so the magic is chaotic and inconsistent.

In this stage the grifix has severe memory gaps and the sphirix can rarely retain shape for a consistent time. It shanges shape every time the grifix looks away, as the grifix forgets how it used to look like.

The sphirix can even end up taking non-animal shapes, such as plants or objects. The grifix won't be able to recognise it, and sometimes walks away from the sphirix, ending up in terrible pain (because grifix can't be too far from their sphirix).

At the end of this stage the grifix becomes capable of seeing other sphirix cause their body becomes unable of recognising their own magic and they start thinking other sphirix are theirs.

4th stage

At the last stage, the gems are entirely hollowed out, left only with a thin shell. They stop producing magic and the grifix is left with no sphirix or memories. The grifix is entirely brain dead. They will not die but they are unable to act on their own. They can't eat and have troubke moving their body even when awake. 

They must be fed and taken care of otherwise they will die of starvation.

Glow slugs are strange creatures that live deep in cave systems close to water sources, often in large colonies. They are sometimes used as light sources by Divided grifix and Catacomb inhabitants in the Frozen Empire.

Due to them living deep inside caves, they can be found anywhere and have survived after the great cataclysm.

The slugs are atracted to burnt skin and their slime has minor healing properties., which makes them very useful for treating burn wounds. 

They are also atracted to magic sources and like to consume plants, fungi and other things that contain magic such as Elysium Fungi or Magic Mites. Because of this they are atracted to grifix and you can always find them around catacomb camps. They are the best treatment for Magic Mites, so its a good thing they are easy to find in the catacombs where outbreaks are common.

Diet: Moss, Algae, Dead skin cells, Elysium Fungi, Magic Mites, other magic sources.

Mating behaviour: Glowing different shades of blues and greens, the brightest will usually attract the mate. The species are hermaphrodites. Egg clusters will also glow.

Tomatoes are a fright for the grifix. Such terrifying, evil fruit!!! How could one ever trust them - 😤. Good thing you don’t find too many tomatoes in the middle of the Forest.

But there is one fruit that grifix are particularly fond of - lemons!

The Flame Bloom is a climbing plant that can be found wrapped around trees in the Everfree Forest and other forests around Equestria. 

It has burning stamens and it gives off warmth the whole year. Its pollen is hot, but not enough to burn bees - in fact, bees love this plant’s pollen. The honey produced using it remains always warm. Trifix use that honey as cures for the common cold and other illnesses, especially during winter.

The flower’s petals are fireproof. Trifix use them as candle mats or for other things that must be protected from fire.

While very rare after the Great Cataclysm, greenseekers did bring some of its seeds to the Frozen Empire. The few fire flowers they managed to grow are carefully pollinated and the pollen is used as ingredients for cures instead of honey - which can’t be found in the Empire.

Ahuizotl are rare creatures from the south and west of Equestria. The Lost Tribe interacts with them sometimes in their journey. Unless they are bothered, they are usually not a threat to grifix.

They are not intelligent creatures, with the exception of one Ahuizotl who interracted with an ancient artifact and gained pony-like intelligence. 

Grifix babies require their own special kind of food, like milk for mammals. So while the parents are nurturing the egg, as the hatching date approaches, their bodies will start to grow a special kind of light beans. Unlike the usual light beans, these are soft, juicy on the inside and covered in a soft membrane. When babies hatch, they will be given these light beans to suck on. The membrane dissolves in the baby’s mouth and the juice will slowly flow into their mouth like from a milk bottle. The membrane isn’t dangerous for the baby, as it quickly dissolves into their mouth so it’s completely fine for them to eat it, and if they accidentally get it into their mouth before the contents are dissolved it will quickly dissolve before the baby could choke - so there is no choking hazard.

These light beans are full of magic and nutrients that help the baby grow, but they can only be consumed for the first 1 to 2 years of the baby’s life. After 12 months, the parents should introduce different other things to the diet, as after 2 years old the high magic concentrate of the light beans can become harmful to the body. A newly hatched baby has no problem consuming magic, as that is what is consumed inside the egg, but after 12 months the body is ready to take in actual food.

For the same reason, adults can get sick if they consume those light beans, they're not quite edible for adult grifix. Sometimes they can be used as ingredients in dishes but only in very small quantities.

The bodies of the parents instinctively know when to start growing the light beans. Generally the light beans will start to grow back the moment they are plucked, and if they are plucked quite often they will start to grow faster. But if there’s many cubs in the egg it can become a problem. It might take a few days for the body to adapt to the right growing speed for multiple babies. If the Healer realises there’’s many cubs in the egg and she is worried about it, she might ask the parents to start plucking their light beans before the babies hatch. That way, they’ll be able to speed up their light bean growing speed and also have a few spares in case they don’t have enough to make it through the first days, until their body adapts to it.

The soft light beans produced for feeding babies are not the same as the hard ones grifix produce every year, or those some have permanently. The hard light beans are actually a way for gems to cleanse by removing all bad or dirty magic from them, which condenses and falls off. It also gathers any old, “dirty” magic particles from the air of the grifix settlement. This happens at the same time for all the grifix - during the spring equinox, because the grifix’s bodies follow a magic cycle dictated by the Earth’s rotation around the Sun.

The hard light beans are not edible for anybody. They are made of dirty magic, unlike those made for feeding babies, that are the purest form of magic.