Shadow lurkers. terrifying nightmarish beasts seemingly borne from the deepest pits of our subconsciousness.
their appearances are so varied and more horrific than the next, but what ARE they???

Lurkers are very intelligent. far moreso than your average human, their lifespans depend entirely on how much and how often they feed, so in theory a lurker could remain immortal under the right circumstances. many often knowing a wide variety of languages they would pick up overtime. Their diets consist of a mixture of meat and souls, meaning their victims are fed on in a number of ways before finally meeting death most painfully

their origin is far older than man. they were the dominant lifeform before humans even walked on two feet. their appearances were also more uniform as a species. a far difference from how they are today.
originally they fed on animals. chasing them down and savoring their fear before devouring the creatures. they fed their lantern fires during the night and slept in the day, they would form groups only occasionally, if hunting was sparse and they needed team effort.

Lurkers dont have any inherent genders as gendered genitals are not needed for the way they procreate but they can choose to display their genitalia in ways recognizable as male or female. but biologically their genders are neutral.

a Lurkers lantern is entirely unique to them, and they are born from it. the way lurkers reproduce is by two lurkers bloating their lanterns with soulfire. often gorging themselves far beyond normal feedings and the lurkers will take their flames and join them. the joined fires will create a third seperate fire orb that will form the childs lantern on the spot. one of the lurkers will choose to carry the lanternling and feed its tiny fire for anywhere between 3-7 weeks. once the fire has reached proper strength the lantern will manifest the young lurker. whom will appear to be aged to the equivilant of a 7 year old. the parent lurkers will then spend the next 10 years continuing to share their kills with the young lurker, and teaching them how to stalk and hunt on their own. at around 10-15 years old, the parents will stop caring for their young and will often abandon the young lurker to now survive on its own. sometimes the parents dont even stay together after the young one is parted ways with.
the child will take on the appearance of what the parents would be like. its lantern will also reflect the parents.

the way lurkers hunt is typicaly stalking in nature. terrorize and feed off their fear for sometimes days before actualy killing their prey. lurkers will usualy trick a unsuspecting human into taking their lantern, and once taken they cannot surrender the lantern until the lurker takes it back. the lurker will terrify its prey for days, the fear feeding the lantern their soul. and once there isnt anything more to take, the lurker will take out the exhausted scared human. they will use tactics like shadow leaping, where they will travel through shadows like portals. and scare them from the darkness.

they have been hunting human kind since before the stone wheel. origionaly lurkers did not bother humans, as humans tended to congregate in packs making for difficult hunts. but one day, far back in our ancient history. one brave caveman stole a lurkers lantern for the mysterious fire inside. at first the lurker was angry at its stolen lantern, the man having taken it whom is now known as the origins of where man first attained fire. when trying to take it back the lurker found that the fear coming from the man went straight into feeding the fire..and that is the moment lurkers changed their hunting methods. that lurker told other lurkers that they could trick the man beasts into taking the fire, and that they could feed deeply upon their souls that way. it quickly caught on and from then on Lurkers stalked the night for unsuspecting humans to trick into a long game of cat and mouse.

lurkers today are now almost entirely loners, seeing as though hunting alone is now far more easy. though from this, lurkers are not as plentiful as they used to be. they do not sleep unless theyve feasted on a enormous meal, and when they do they sleep for a whole day. they are typicaly out at night merely for the fact that humans are much more jumpy in the dark. they can wander in the day but the light hurts their sensitive eyes and skin. shadows are portals for them, as well as a place to retreat to and will usualy go into the shadows when they need to sleep or if they are hurt. their lanterns are indestructable, so if a lurker is mortaly wounded they will retreat to their lantern to regain themselves.
fire is a lurkers enemy, and is one of the most tried and true methods of killing a lurker. those with the knowledge can use the lurkers lantern to ressurect it, and bind it to their bloodline. it must obey all future kin in eternal servitude.

(will ad more as i think of it. ask questions!! ill answer)