Spectrolichts are a half-canine and half-deerlike Species, with a lantern on their chest and another hanging from their tail. They also have an element, which is what makes up most of their body mass, and it is usually visible on around 10% of their body. They also have flowers growing from their body, which is influenced by where they were born.
Lore
Details of the Spectrolichts' world and history, discovered by historians or documented by Amos himself.
A Spectrolicht's element is core to its identity. Spectrolichts will have a ceremony during their adolescence that reveals the nature of their element. While not common, their element can turn out to be Unspecified, which means they do not have a specific affinity for anything... or perhaps that they have not discovered their identity for themselves just yet.
Spectrolichts' element will be exposed by injuries, and they will "leak" element from larger wounds. Whispers of their thoughts and memories can also be heard in this state.
Their element is made out of their own memories. This means that, if injured heavily, they may lose a chunk of their memories.
A Spectrolicht's heart lantern is like their soul, and their tail lantern is like their sanctuary. If a Spectrolicht has taken heavy damage, it can retreat into its tail lantern to recover safely, and recover faster than if they were to stay in their physical form.
Both of a Spectrolicht's lanterns are important, and should be kept out of harms way if at all possible. A Spectrolicht may have small faults, scratches, marks or cracks on their lanterns without suffering any negative effects, but more damage than that could have serious consequences- such as corruption.
Spectrolichts are capable of floating without the need for wings! Corrupted Ones lack this ability, and needs wings to be able to fly.
Spectrolichts' lanterns and elemental spots can glow, and they can control this once they are past a certain age!
Spectrolichts are capable of turning into corrupted versions of themselves- this is an event caused by immense physical or emotional trauma. Their element will change to reflect this, and the memories within will become corrupted. They will gain a more big-cat-like build with mushrooms and/or thorns in place of their flower growth. Their fur colour will also darken and/or desaturate. Their lanterns also lose their light, and are usually damaged.
Corrupted Spectrolichts are not evil. They can be anything from lost and confused, to volatile and dangerous. Their element seems to be constantly leaking from their body in the form of a smoke-like substance, and eerie, unintelligible whispers of their corrupted memories can be heard if you are close enough to them.
A Spectrolicht may recover from corruption in multiple scenarios.
-Crying tears of joy. This is one of the more commonly observed scenarios. This is usually just the trigger for the reversion, after the Corrupted Spectro going through several months of emotional healing- they have to be at a point where they can cry tears of joy, after all.
-Corrupted and Normal tears coming into contact. Similar to the above, but rather than extreme happiness being the trigger for reversion, it is a shared emotion with another Spectrolicht.
-A shocking event helping them come back to their senses or remember who they are. This is less commonly observed, as it is highly situational and dependent on the Corrupted Spectrolicht involved.
The revival of a Corrupted One's lantern heart is so powerful that it will cause countless flowers to bloom in the surrounding area. Because of this, Spectrolichts have an emotional connection to flower fields.
Back in the days of ORIGIN Spectrolichts, there was a friend group: Elaina, Penelope, Ellipse, Dante, and Amos.
Elaina had a little sister named Avera. As opposed to the successful, charismatic and proud Elaina, Avera was seen as a mutt and had always been compared to he sister. The jealousy and self-loathing was slowly consuming her from the inside and eventually, she became corrupted and ran away as a result. After days of searching, Elaina and her friends still could not find Avera - so in a moment of despair and grief, Elaina shattered her lantern and separated her flame into millions of pieces in hopes that one of the creatures who will be born from those flames will eventually find Avera. Hence the very similar form that Spectrolicht take.
The Impact ("Meteor Shower") of the separation had been so powerful that it ravaged everything. Amos was the sole survivor of his group.
The flowers that bloomed after the Meteor Shower seem to take after Amos' friends. Their origin is unknown, but is widely theorised to be connected to the remains of Amos' friends in some way.
A few centuries after the Meteor Shower, Amos met two orphaned twins: Ashen and Waning. Amos learned that their mother had become corrupted and slaughtered their dad. In the process, Waning had lost his arm.
Ashen always held it against himself. Despite being the "stronger" one and the "braver" one, it was Waning who jumped in to protect him.
As Amos took them in, he realized that he saw Elaina and Avera in those two. He wanted to raise them right. He wanted to make sure that they would grow up right so that they would not have to suffer the fate that his late friends had.
Please be mindful of the TWs at the beginning of the document!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QH8nSLgc1bLWZDpyLmRw4JgBdS2O5TEUgRNr9cwvnig/edit
Elaina
Elaina is the ancestor of all Spectrolichts, having shattered her lantern and separated her flame into millions of pieces, which would then become today's Spectrolichts. This separation was the cause of the Meteor Shower, which devastated the land, yet resulted in the appearance of the Blooms we see today.
[Further research is being compiled]
Amos
Amos is an Origin Spectrolicht who was present for the Meteor Shower. He is a researcher, documenting everything about this world. He was close with Elaina.
[Further research is being compiled]
Ellipse
Pictured above: An approximate sketch of Ellipse by a historian. May not be 100% accurate.
Ellipse was an ORIGIN Spectrolicht, born centuries ago. They were part of Elaina's friend group, and were one of the many victims of the Meteor Shower. According to Amos, before they were blinded, their favourite time of day was twilight. Ellipse's Twilight Bloom seems to bear resemblance to them.
They were originally thought to be named Argo, due to a mistranslation. Some material may still refer to them as such.