Chromeleons

''“I really thought for sure we finally found a rogue who was going to disarm traps without trying to fleece us of all the loot when he was done. You always call it early, how do you do it?” ''

''The questioned druid looked down giving a sly smile to the small glistening reptile in his hands, a fingertip run along its smooth back “Pet hates I suppose.”''

Colourful Crafted Creatures
In the Cathedral Cities Star, stained glass decoration is a trend that never died. Ornate patterned and depicting windows could be found everywhere in places both assumed and unexpected from churches, town square wells, statues and toilet blocks. Adding a gaudy sense of calm to most areas one would explore within city walls, these rainbow casters held secrets never revealed to those passing them every day. When Fragmenterra lifted the Two Unspoken Cities from their foundation in the Deserts of Light, while almost all did, not all entities that came to life this way marched on a warpath. Many windows hid secrets buried by artists inside the lead lining, the cleverest of these artists belonging to secret artisan guilds that would exchange between themselves techniques in deep appreciation for the craft.

All manner of wonderful methods could be utilized in stained glass work such as animation, colour shifting and auditory embellishments. One of the simplest and light-hearted was the work of Gregorius Gechs who found great desire among powerful people for his work. An expert in creating lifelike depictions of small reptiles, he said that they were adept at warding off the presence of evil and ill-doers in one’s life. While this was a cute story, the selling point came from Gregorius’s strong conviction in declining commissions from anyone who he deemed was of corrupt heart. As soon as the circles of high society heard that there was a service that could not be bought, the rush was on as all lined up to see who this humble glass worker deemed as pure enough for his work.

Once the cities became animate, all of these little lizards and skinks popped from their windows, rejecting the evil that was shifting the surroundings. Escaping in droves, these lizards, no thicker than an average pane of glass from belly to back and consistently so from head to tail, made a spectrum of a glass carpet, crawling out into the glittering sands in the opposite direction of the marauding city.

These chromeleons are a rare sight now across the sands with fewer and fewer seen as the years find and break these beings with a fragile yet indefinite lifespan. Although they do not contain the inner workings that other animals do, their behavior is remarkably similar as if the template for enchantment was directly ripped from a living creature. When observed, chromeleons can be noted shuffling through sand with their noses for reasons still in debate. Some scholars argue that the creature is simply doing actions of its mortal design while others feel that it is absorbing silicates from the sand to repair itself.

Little Lenses of Character
The strangest utility of a chameleon is that it allows anyone who possesses one to perform a pseudo-detection of good and evil. As the novelty of looking through stained glass is seeing the world in another shade, it is understandable that some have caught chromeleons and done this very same thing. Holding the magical creature up by its tail to observe surroundings, one grave robber noticed that when held between himself and his college, his friend did not turn the vivid shade of pink that the rest of the dunes did, but instead appeared as a pitch-black silhouette. Spinning around, the captor held the poor chromeleon up between himself and a local priest who was leading them to an ancient grave site under duress. The priest completely disappeared from sight when viewed through the transparent pink animal, a soul decidedly so as pure by the tiny glass creature.