Now this is a soul to get stuck with.

Cnidaria-types are delicate things, if possessed of an otherworldly beauty. Including a wide group of potential sources of inspiration, Cnidarias can be corals, jellyfish, anemone, parasites, and more—and what they have in common is a jelly-like layer to their bodies, as well as the ability to inject toxins of varying intensities. These Wild Souls can be just as alien as they look, distant from moral dilemmas. They're goal- and surivival-driven to the last.

Patho-Gen is officially unfamiliar with these type of souls, and while they would appreciate all chance to study it, they're disturbed at not knowing where it came from, or how it got into you.

How these traits interact with a character's existing Natural Soul is up to you. You may choose one trait over another (a Cnidaria's weakness to poison over a Golem-type's resistance to it), or you may blend them.

• A drastic change in their bodily structure to something... simpler. Cnidaria-types become disconcertingly gelatinous in composition (surely a delight to the Karterian eye, given their culinary preferences!), and may lose their skeletal structure completely. In the case of corals, a hard exoskeleton will form over this layer of tender jelly, and much like Golem-types, they'll find their dexterity reduced in favor of a craggy, rough exterior.

• The development of, well, cnidocytes. These are single-use cells that explosively inject toxins into others, often triggered by touch, and they may be along the body or concentrated upon certain appendages like tentacles. For characters with more of a basis in sea anemones or corals, the cnidocysts are passively 'sticky' rather than ejected, rubbed off on anyone who gets too close. These cells are replaced when used, and may contain variable levels of toxins. Don't get too close to anyone you don't want to sting...

  While potent (and their delivery exceedingly fast), Cnidarias will need a day or two to regrow any used cnidocysts.

• Fragility, and a weakness to poison, or other pollutants. Though Cnidaria-types are resistant to their own poison, the same doesn't apply to the toxins of anything else (including other Cnidarias). This is particularly true of corals, who are similar to Terras in being sensitive (and particular) about their environment.
  • This extends to arcane radiation as well, unfortunately. Characters with a Cnidaria-type soul will be more greatly swayed or impacted by the effects of arcane radiation... though only of the physical sort. Mental and emotional effects caused by arcane radiation may be reduced for all Cnidaria-types! It's not completely gone, but it might make things easier.
• Some sort of size change may occur, depending on the sort of Cnidaria involved. Apart from a few outliers, they tend towards the small. And while their bodies may be overall modest, their tentacles may reach significantly grander lengths.
• Like Cephalopoda-types, Cnidaria-types strongly benefit from regular access to water. While they are still able to get about on land, on their remaining legs or developed tentacles, they will dry out rather quickly, which is an uncomfortable state to be in. Spend too long out of water and they'll desiccate completely.

• Limited regenerative abilities. With enough time, Terra-types can regenerate quite a bit of their body, even if a greater chunk of them has been decimated. Cnidaria-types, on the other hand, have some limited regenerative abilities, especially if the part they're regenerating is Cnidarian in origin. A tentacle, a coral protrusion, a chunk of jelly-like flesh... Those are a walk in the park.

  But things like a missing finger or an entire leg cannot be accurately replaced by a Cnidaria-type. They may get replaced with some rudimentary limb, functional enough to work but far more Cnidarian in structure: coral-like, gelatinous... weak. Do try not to test this power too much, but it's there if you need it. Any regenerated parts take a while to grow in, potentially even months.

• Bioluminesence. Many Cnidaria-types can emit light from their uncomfortably translucent bodies to attract prey (though characters can light up for whatever reason they like, or maybe it's triggered by specific stimuli).
• The ability to interface with other souls. This can be done benevolently, or at least neutrally, to more directly understand what a person is feeling or thinking. But even this application can come across as callous, as the Cnidaria-type is not likely to think twice about whether the other person would actually appreciate having their hearts—their feelings, traumas, sensitivities, et cetra—unwound before them.
  • This interfacing is done through touch (as being a Cnidaria-type doesn't grant "soul sight"), and a more 'harmless' injection of their cnidocysts. Even Golem- and Spectral-types are susceptible to it, as no circulation is required for the soul to be reached.
  • When interfacing with souls in general, Cnidaria-types can divine a few things: whether the soul belongs to the dead or the living; whether the soul has been corrupted by some external force; a roughshod idea of the kind of being the soul belonged to, if detached from a body... Feel free to get creative, particularly when used in threads between characters.
  • Cnidaria-types are able to gently tweak traits of a person's soul. Think of it as a mild sort of mind control... but it's a sort of bias that runs soul-deep. Injecting others with a feeling towards something is possible, just like offering forth copied traits of their own soul is. For example, why not cause a friend to innately favor eating the same meals as you? Victims of this treatment are likely to be very aware of this change, if unable to fend against it.
  • Of course, it is just as likely for a Cnidaria-type to use this interfacing selfishly, grasping onto other souls, and manipulating them to its own ends.
• Parasitism. Some Cnidaria-types are expressly parasites, and rely on a connection to a host to survive. Characters of this sort thankfully do not need to reside entirely within the bodies of others, but will need to feed upon living entities in some way in order to survive.

• As noted above, a certain degree of callousness. Cnidaria-types are likely to think nothing of hurting others if it benefits them. Though similar to Cephalopoda-types and their loss of empathy (except as an intellectual curiosity), Cnidaria-types are more base in their indifference. Cephalopodas may still be swayed by debate, and are quite social critters at the end of the day; a Cnidaria's reasoning is applied through the sting of their tentacles.

  They're not the problem. They're not the one who needs to be persuaded—and nor do they have to do the persuading, when they can pilot your soul instead, direct you into behaving.

• Machiavellian. Cnidaria-types are big-picture oriented and driven to boot. If a goal lays before them, the sacrifices necessary to reach it may hold less and less weight. They must be reminded to think about the little things along the way.

• Similar to Fungi-types, Cnidaria-types may also come to view themselves as a collective, rather than an individual. Taking advantage of their ability to manipulate souls, they will think nothing of injecting parts of themselves into others, who will then become part of the Cnidaria's 'colony'. Even on their own, the Cnidaria may look at themselves as a collective of parts with different tasks, rather than a person.

• ✦NSFW✦ — as is true for all soul types, you may choose to develop your character's sex characteristics based on their soul type of choice.