Mandervillian
The Mandervillians were a race of parasitic creatures of unknown appearance that originated from a distant planet from Etheirys. In order to survive, they bonded with other (usually non-intelligent) organisms, taking over the host's mind and providing extraordinary resilience to the body. They reproduced by mating with other compatible host bodies. The Mandervillians had an advanced civilization and were capable of interplanetary travel, where they spread to other planets. However, the race was obliterated by the Final Days.
To escape the Final Days, one Mandervillian, Godbrand Manderville, and his companion escaped in a starship but later crashed into Hydaelyn. The badly injured Godbrand bonded with a unknown man with his consent, started a new life as a blacksmith, and eventually founded House Manderville. Members of this family were not pureblood Mandervillian but exhibited the same physiological enhancements, a trait that persisted over multiple generations. However, some time later, the Manderville surname was passed on to an adopted child, meaning that modern-day House Manderville members are not descendants of the Mandervillian species.
Associated Content
Quests
- Main article: Hildibrand Adventures
Lore
“Godbert-like Gentleman: I am Godbrand, wanderer of stars and weaponsmith extraordinaire!
Godbert: First lord of House Manderville...
Hildibrand: This is the Godbrand? Our founding father!?
Godbrand: I record this message that my descendants may know the truth of their cosmic origins. The tale is long, but I bid you watch until the very end!
Godbrand: Heirs of mine, I am not a man born of this star...or even a man at all. I am of the Mandervillians, a race which hails from the far side of the great expanse.
Godbrand: Mandervillians are parasitic symbionts─we can only survive by bonding with other life-forms.
Godbrand: Once our essence has taken root, we supplant the host's mind and strengthen its physical structures, imbuing our new form with a steel-like resilience.
Delion: I knew there was something alien about that impossible imperviousness...
Godbrand: Then, through the conjoining of compatible host bodies, we produce offspring which harbor the next generation of Mandervillians.
Godbrand: This symbiotic variant eventually takes to the stars in search of potential new vessels, adapting and multiplying. So it was that our race proliferated and spread throughout the cosmos...
Godbrand: Until, tragically, our flourishing civilization was brought to an abrupt end.
Godbrand: Every planet upon which we Mandervillians resided was visited by an inexplicable calamity. Our societies were brought to ruin by life-forms suddenly twisted into horrific nightmares.
Godbert: That sounds rather familiar. So even stars far removed in time and space were ravaged by the Final Days...
Godbrand: Desperate to avoid the same fate, a comrade and I boarded a ship, and fled upwards into the starry night.
Godbrand: We flew and flew until we found a planet─your planet─untouched by the phenomenon, but the rigors of the journey had so damaged our craft that we were forced to make an uncontrolled descent.
Godbrand: I alone crawled from the wreckage, badly injured and near death. But even as I resigned myself to perishing on this unfamiliar world, I was found by a man who had come looking for the “falling star.”
Godbrand: As a rule, Mandervillians do not take intelligent life-forms for hosts. After hearing my story, however, this sympathetic gentleman offered to become my vessel of his own accord.
Godbrand: He was himself afflicted by an incurable malady, and with little time left to live, seemed content to know that his ailing body could provide safe haven for another.
Godbrand: With his blessing I set about transferring my essence. The man's form was revitalized and purged of its fatal frailty, yet the mind which dwelled within was now my own.
Godbrand: I went on to build a new home for myself here, making use of my people's technology to ply the blacksmith's trade. I wed a local lass, and together we had a child.
Godbrand: Although not pure Mandervillian, our offspring exhibits the same enhanced physiology─a boon I suspect shall be passed down for generations through the bloodline of “House Manderville.”
Godbrand: My dear descendants, the folk of this star are most fragile. Yet as the first man I encountered did demonstrate, they are nevertheless capable of surpassing love and generosity.
Godbrand: As the last of the Mandervillians, I have but one request to make of you.
Godbrand: Pray employ your superlative attributes─and my armory of Manderville armaments─for the benefit of these wonderful peoples whom I hold in the highest regard.
Brandihild: What an astounding development...
Hildibrand: I, Hildibrand Helidor Maximilian Manderville, shall heed the passionate plea of my illustrious forebear!
Hildibrand: No case is too big nor too small should it be in service to my fellow man!
Delion: He learns he's descended from an extraterrestrial being and it's still business as usual...
Nashu Mhakaracca: But...wait a minute. Then why is Lady Julyan so monstrously strong? Is she a descendant of aliens, too?
Godbert: Well, well, this is most unexpected. Never did it cross my mind that our esteemed ancestor might hail from beyond the heavens.
Godbert: But I do wonder if that selfsame blood still runs thick in our veins. The family tree I glanced over some years ago suggests that─ah, but 'tis unimportant.
Godbert: My present purpose remains unchanged.
Godbert: I will bring our Manderville weaponry to the peak of perfection! For Godbrand! And for the good of our star!
The silhouettes of the original Mandervillian hosts and symbiotes were of a Coblyn and a tiny Catastrophe, respectively.