Translations:Codex: Lurelings/8/en
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Marions
The primary purpose of a marion seems to be twofold: marions provide visual information to their masters, acting as eyes above the water and helping to find food, shelter, and other resources their masters may desire. Beyond mere visual data, it seems that a lureling’s mental feedback from its marion is so strong that it can feel sensation and emotion back through its psychic connection. This leads to the second, and more curious purpose: lurelings frequently have their marions wander the frigid wastes, where they inevitably come across other humanoids: usually enessa or korgonne, but ausar colonists or human adventurers seem to suit them just as well. Upon encounter, the marion will offer herself sexually to the target, eagerly pursuing intercourse until the mark eventually gives in or flees. Lurelings appear to command their marions to do this entirely for pleasure, and some unsuspecting ausar have reported hearing orgasmic roars and tremors in the ice after causing a(n unbeknownst to them) marion to climax.
This behavior certainly explains the tendency of lurelings to breed their puppets for beauty and sex appeal, making them more likely to secure the affections of unwary colonists.
Uvetan natives have a complex relationship to marions. Most marions today appear to be descendants of purpose-bred creatures, rather than kidnapped villagers, and thus other surfacers show markedly less aggression towards lurelings and marions than was anticipated by researchers. Marions (and thus, the lurelings following them under the ice) are even allowed to wander freely in some villages, and find shelter there during harsh weather. Some natives, particularly milodan males, find it a great honor to be chosen to breed with a marion, as they believe this proves they are of exceptional strength and charisma. Other natives, particularly enessa, shun marions, and sometimes even assault them if the puppet proves too amorous for the huntress’s liking.
This more aggressive behavior is likely because the vast majority of modern-day lureling marions are of enessa descent, though many have been altered considerably after many thousands of years of careful crossbreeding. These modified enessa usually follow the same physical form of their parent race, though different lurelings seem to prefer different sexual characteristics: some marions have been bred into pure, phallus-less females; others into masculine creatures in stark contrast to the enessa norm. Others share traits and characteristics of other races such as a fur coat like a milodan or korgonne, while others (especially recently) display ausar-like traits such as patchwork fur, heavier body fat, and seasonal heats and ruts.
Despite all of this, the lureling-marion relationship does seem at least somewhat symbiotic (especially among those marions purpose-bred for their role). In exchange for pleasure and scouting, the lureling usually provides its marion with an abundance of food the creature hunts below the waters, and can be counted on to find good shelter and necessary clothing and other supplies its marion needs. Some have even been recorded providing gemstones and other precious substances from the in-world sea for their marions to trade for what they need. More importantly, the lureling provides extremely effective protection for its puppet, and few if any marions ever need fear for their safety.
A few marions have been separated from their lureling masters (including one specimen “rescued” by the authors of this codex, who broke the psychic connection by taking the marion - a young adult enessa female - off planet, out of her master’s mental reach). Those who were psychically dominated during adulthood generally only remember bits and pieces of their captivity, and after some rehabilitation, can be reintegrated into society. Purpose-bred marions, such as the descendant enessa species, have a much more difficult time, as they have never been forced to think for themselves. These marions, however, seem to remember most if not all of their lives, and once trained to speak, do so with fond remembrance of their “papas” or “mommas.” Throughout post-separation adulthood, ex-marions remain extraordinarily weak-willed, easy to influence, and remarkably trusting. They are also, however, eager to please and hard working, and do indeed possess exceptional physical traits including strength and charisma, which may prove advantageous. For their own sake, most must be cared for by a village of their native species (or a responsible, caring researcher, as the case may be).