Editing Gnor (section)

==S. Petersen Fluff==
[[File:Gnor FG Dreamlands.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands'']]

Depicted in earlier books as literally resembling bearded (or coral-bearded) mermen, gnorri were redesigned in "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos" with a smoother, more "aquatic alien" appearance. Their "beards" are in fact complex arrays of tentacle-like gills, which absorb oxygen from the water around them. Gnorri consist of three sexes, which are visually indistinguishable from each other by human eyes; males, females, and sterile "builders" who possess an innate affinity for earth [[elementalism]] - builders contribute to reproduction by constructing nurseries where males and females go to spawn; females expel masses of tiny eggs from their bodies once or twice per month, and males react to the presence of gnor eggs in the water around them by excreting sperm in a manner likened to sweating. The millions of plankton-sized larvae are consumed in wide abundance by other natural predators, but sheer density ensures a steady stream of them survive the 2-4 months it takes to grow into a creature resembling a man-sized eel; this "juvenile" gnor will spend the next three years eating voraciously before finally molting and emerging as a fully adult gnor in its own right. Because of this, gnorri have no concept of "family"; there's no way to biologically link any one gnor to any two others.

Gnor anatomy is strangely malleable, allowing them to manipulate their own musculature, nervous systems and skeletons to exude or absorb arms as they need them - a gnor only has enough "spare mass" to create up to four arms, and that's a strain.

Despite looking kind of like a multi-eyed, multi-armed anthro eel, gnorri are a peaceful and friendly race, so long as you don't screw with them.

Gnorri are divided into various subraces, distinguished by their colors. Black gnorri hail from the deepest depths of the oceans, whilst the blue gnorri are the most commonly encountered strain, as they favor the high water column and the continental shelf, building amongst the coral reefs and shallows. Mottled gnorri are found in [[swamp]]s, estuaries and river mouths, red gnorri dwell in between the black and blue gnorri in terms of ocean depth, and white gnorri hail from arctic waters.