Editing Psurlon (section)

==AD&D==
In AD&D, psurlons are literally worm-like humanoids; they have a vaguely humanoid form, but their limbs are writhing, boneless tentacles, essentially smaller worms - complete with beak-like fanged "mouths" for digits - grafted to the main body, where the "head" is a giant, round-mouthed, eyeless hump reminiscent of a lamprey - they "see" with other senses. Psurlons in this edition have adapted to life in the [[Astral Plane]]; they actually prefer it to the [[Prime Material]], as this realm of thought is more naturally conducive to most of their psionic experiments. They have built large fortified cities, where they pursue their research, and maintain no real desire to return to the material world. Indeed, they only bother to maintain any connection to the realms of their ancestors for three reasons.

The first reason? To steal psionic lore from mortal cultures and individuals that catch their attention - they hunger for knowledge, and they are not ashamed of profiting off of the works of others.

The second reason? Food. Like all denizens of the Astral Plane, psurlons don't need to eat, so this is the least important reason, but they do relish the taste of meat. ''Especially'' the meat of sapient creatures, with [[human]] and [[halfling]] flesh being a particular delicacy.

Finally, the psurlons still haven't given up on their plan to one day unite their race into a psionic gestalt. But, the Astral Plane apparently isn't a compatible environment for it. If they want to try the mind melding again, they need to find a material plane world that can stand up to the psionic energy! This is the reason why [[Athas]] has caught their attention; the planet's prolonged history of psionics use and strongly psionic ecosystem suggests it just might be the compatible world they're looking for.

Still, despite this, psurlons are rarely encountered on Athas; usually, they only show up when Athasian [[psion]]icists or [[wizard]]s summon them from the Astral Plane in hopes of learning from what they know. This is a risky gambit indeed, as the psurlons hate servitude and demand high prices, usually resulting in death for their summoner - if not at the maw of the summoned psurlon, than at the claws of its companions, who are quite willing to forcibly draw psurlon-summoners into the Astral Plane to deal with them personally.

Psurlons can live about 1500 years, but their tendency to dwell in the timelessness of the Astral Plane extends that lifespan significantly.

The psurlons are led by specially reared and educated psionicists known as "Psurlon Adepts", who not only serve as protectors and leaders of the psurlon settlements, but also sometimes serve as the race's scouts, exploring the Astral Plane and into other realms in pursuit of knowledge, power, food and slaves. The race also possesses a small number of unique mutants, simply called "Giant Psurlons", who grew to immense size and gained formidable powers, surpassing even that of many adepts. These creatures are shunned by their kin, however, who consider them to be cursed monsters; most giant psurlons establish lonely dens in the Astral Plane, but a few have taken over psurlon cities and rule them as vicious tyrants.