Drifters

Drifters are a species of canine critter that inhabit every location of Flox.

Originally created as malware, the drifters have since settled in everywhere, both inside flox and along the outer realm of the islands.

Taming

Shadow drifters inside of the islands have the chance at being redeemed. This act of redemption, happens when a Floxian shows kindness, compassion, care, and love to the drifter.

This is due to the fact that there is another source of life for these creatures other then the souls of living beings. This source of life is "emotion".

Once a drifter has come around they will be given a new form, usually of a less shadowy presence.
A tame drifter will also be given a communications collar. This item allows a drifter to talk through the speaker that is built in to neckpeice.

The act of collaring is considered a very special experience between the drfiter and the floxian who bonded with it.
These collars can be customized with different colors, trinkets, and tags, among other things.

The Original Drifters

Due to their origin being a malicious program, once they came to life the original set of drifters were incredibly dangerous and incredibly hostile.

They ravaged the world, tearing it apart and destroying the life within it.
These drifters have no control over their hunger for souls, and will devour any living being they come across

This orginal set of drifters were also how the species got their name.
They had no purpose other then to aimlessly "drift" from place to place, until prey was spotted.

Some of them still lurk in the outer realms, alongside the new generation of "Shadow drifters". Luckily, Flox is built off a system that has the ability to surpress the power of these creatures, making them much more docile once inside the islands.

Shadow Drifters

Shadow drifters are the sister species to the original set, they operate under the same voracious natures, and have very similar abilities.

When ousitde flox, shadows are able to clip through walls to hunt down prey, and have the energy levels to continue to chase until the targeted being has been captured or gives up.
Once their hunt is over they will take their meals and slowly consume or fully take over the soul of the captured being.
They do this either by draping their body over their prey and absorbing it, or for smaller drifters, crawling inside the captive and absorbing them from the inside out.

These souls can be taken back if a drifter is slain.

Shadows don't have nearly this level of power inside of Flox.
In fact once inside the border of Flox, the shadows have a chance at redemption.
This process is what floxians like to call "taming".

The Wild Drifters

Drifters that live in the wild zones of each island are usually classed under the subspecies of "wild drifters".
These creatures can differ in varying degrees of hostility between aggresive to totally passive.
The fact that some of these drifters are completely docile by nature makes wild drfiters a much much easier tame then the shadow drifters"

Even the hostile wilds arent as big of a threat as the shadow drifters,as they dont have the powers to do widespread damage.
If a floxian is defeated by a wild, they will respawn as normal making the wilds much less deadly, the only exception of this is the pale drifters... which should be avoided at all costs.

Even though theyre personalities are very very different from shadows, they can still be tamed, fed emotions, and collared.
Despite the fact that these drifters can also be given a new form upon tamed, it is much less likely as most floxians dont feel nearly as threatened by them, as opposed to their shadowy counterparts.

Soulbounds

If a drifter is classified as "soulbonded" means it has been through the act of "soulsplitting".

A floxian going through a rough times such as, intensively questioning ones self worth, their existance, or their meaning in life, will sometimes create an anomaly where the confused soul breaks a small peice off of itself.
This small part of oneself will become a drifter of a special variety, a soulbound.

Soulbonded drifters have a deep connection to their source floxian, and dont need taming. While they can be collared and cared for like any drifter... their presence in the floxians life goes much deeper, due to them being built off a little peice of themselves, making way for a serious and deep connectiontion between drifter and floxian.

A soulbonded will have the memories and experiences of the source floxian, but ususally take on an entirely new personality and sense of self.

Pale Drifters

Pale drfiters are one of the few types of wild drifter that is considered as dangerous as the shadows.
They are only found above ground in the Monochrome Dessert.
These creatures "hunt" by flying high in the sky away from veiw, and swooping down to blanket their prey in their sheet-like bodies, and carrying them into the sky past the respawn point.

Once a pale drifter has collected its prey, it will combine its body with the now host, making them into a single being, living out its life with this parasitic connection, part drifter and part host.

Pale drfiters will hunt any living being, including other drifters, floxians, and humans.

Lighthouse Drifters

A lighthouse drifter, is a kind of shadow drifter.
These creatures are incredibly large, their long legs allowing them to tower far past buildings, and the outer walls of flox.
Although their veiwpoint can be rather shallow they're able to see things at incredible distances.
The best way to avoid a lighthouse is to avoid the lights they shine onto the surface below them, as they are unable to see anything outside that area.

Just like other shadows, they will not stop until their prey is captured.

If you look above the walls that surround each town and city of flox you will probably see a few of these creatures wandering around outside.
Blu has personally positioned tamed lighthouse drifters on each island, to keep hostiles from wandering into the bounds of the floxians safe space.

Mushroom Drifters

Another species of wild drifter is a "mushroom drifter". These drifters are very low energy and very slow paced, making them the perfect companion for floxians who don't have alot of energy to spare.
Mushroom drifters also have the ability to grow mushroom spores on their body, meaning you can use one as a walking garden, they dont mind, but please share you bounty with them as thanks for their hard work!