Origin

Slimes are an ancient form of life and have existed since the Age of Mana. As naturally formed constructs, they can't go extinct unless the very concept of magic and energy ceases to exist. Slimes can form anywhere as long as there's stray mana. They also appear in the aftermath of battles, around training grounds, and even inside settlements of all sizes. The types of slimes that form depend mostly on the environment, but other unknown factors occasionally produce an atypical variety.

History

Slimes have always played an important part in societies of all kinds. Their gel can have a wide variety of properties that react with each other and/or other materials when mixed, which gave birth to the profession of gel mixing. It's an ingrained part of life, and many products come from that process. Anything from food, materials, potions, and devices such as light sources. Many consider slimes as the foundations of modern life, which isn't entirely wrong. This dependence makes slime ranches valuable assets and prime targets for sabotage, but at least they're great as pets.

Anatomy

Slime anatomy is very straightforward. A slime's only organ is its core; a crystalline sphere in the center of its body that makes up roughly 7% of its total body mass(at any size). Newborn slimes have cores the size of a small marble while full-grown slimes have cores that, on average, range between 3-6 inches in diameter depending on the variety of slime. The core is a three-layered structure:

Outer layer: A hard, impact-resistant crystal that protects the more sensitive parts.

Inner layer: The center of mana processing and gel production.

True core: Where the slime's consciousness is contained.

A slime's core can handle some damage to the outer two layers, but the slime dies if the true core is even slightly cracked. Damage can be repaired, but it either takes an absurdly long time or a man-made salve specifically for construct cores.

Slime gel is a magically produced substance with a consistency like honey and texture like mashed potatoes. The inner layer of the core uses a similar process to any magic-user when casting spells of any kind; stray mana is absorbed and the slime "casts a spell" that creates gels specific to the variety of slime. The gel can be removed without physical harm to them. It maintains consistent properties that the slime can alter in strength or intensity(if applicable), but it reverts to a default value when separated from the core. A slime can only maintain a certain amount of gel, which is when the mass ratio meets the 7% core to 93% gel limit. Gel production will cease and the slime will just... exist. And do slime things or whatever.

Behavior

Slimes are social by nature, often sticking together in groups, regardless of any variety differences. They usually exhibit group preservation behaviors as opposed to individual preservation, occasionally sacrificing themselves for the 'greater good, so to speak. They show basic teamwork strategies when provoked or straight-up attacked, otherwise, they're rather passive and can usually be approached without issue. Coexisting with other passive creatures is quite common for slimes.

They have at least basic levels of intelligence on all fronts, but they cannot understand overall contexts and implications, such as being bought, sold, or held in a cage. However, their emotional intelligence is much higher than other, similar lifeforms. Slimes understand immediate actions with immediate consequences and will protect each other when they feel one of their own is in danger.

From the moment they crystallize, they can communicate to a surprisingly competent degree with each other as well as other intelligent life, though understanding them is an acquired skill. Slime body language is quite simple; they can compress and decompress their gel and wiggle around plenty. Speech is more nuanced because they make various noises that can be slightly different based on the variety. Squeaking, chirping, and humming are universal noises, but there are others like buzzing for electric slimes and bubbling for any liquid slimes.

Some general guidelines can be referenced for people who haven’t quite grasped how slimes communicate. When a slime condenses itself to appear smaller, it’s typically a low energy negative response, and a relaxed state is more neutral. Slimes will wiggle more with higher energy responses, both positive and negative, which can be very hard to differentiate between without any extra cues.

While slimes do make a variety of noises, most of their meaning comes from a tone. Lower tones usually indicate a negative response while higher tones usually indicate a positive response, much like a person’s tone of voice. Slimes also utilize patterns and pacing with the noises they make. These can mimic the way people talk faster or slower, stuttering, pausing, and any other things specific to voices. Volume can also play a very key role in figuring out the nuances between the emotions and ideas being conveyed. However, despite these general rules of thumb, only other slimes seem to fully understand this crude, ingrained language.

Care

Slime care and domestication are quite easy as long as you're not a jerk about it. Tone and body language are crucial with wild slimes, but slimes that have spent significant periods exposed to a language will start to pick up on the said language and understand you with more clarity. Since slimes are rather social, befriending them on a basic level is the best, and most viable, method of domestication. Maintaining your relationship with your slime(s) is key. They can get attached and will be more forgiving, but they're still capable of semi-intelligent thought and won't want to stick around with someone who treats them terribly. To put it simply, be nice to them.

Since slimes are magical constructs, they have no actual food intake. They absorb stray mana from the surroundings to grow and create gel; it's a slow, natural process that can be artificially accelerated through the use of mana marbles. Nearly every slime ranch utilizes the little marbles of condensed mana as a type of food pellet that the slimes will absorb once inside their body. They will only absorb as much as they can naturally take to maintain full body mass, and anything left over will spit out with no consequence to them.

Keeping slimes contained is fairly easy since they are non-destructive unless provoked, generally speaking. Some varieties may float or hop over low fences, warp through walls, or simply accidentally break through an unsuitable containment setup. Most ranches specialize in certain types or separate certain types into their habitats. A few varieties of slimes are seldom kept due to the sheer difficulty involved with containing them, however.

Atypicals

Every so often when the vaguely understood conditions are right, an atypical slime will crystallize in place of a typical variety. Most of the circumstances necessary for an atypical slime to appear to depend on a highly specific environment. Beyond this, some varieties are still complete enigmas due to how inconsistent or unbelievably rare they are. There are likely undocumented atypical varieties.

Many atypical slimes don't deviate too far from their respective typical varieties in their general attitudes, but the properties of their gels can vary significantly. Sometimes it's difficult to pin what an atypical slime is related to without knowing where it crystallized.

Atypical gels have various uses depending on the variety, just like typical gels, but many have niche uses due to the specific nature of their properties.

Atypical slimes are highly coveted by the wealthy as a type of trophy and sign of affluence, especially the rarer elemental varieties. Ranches seldom keep any unless they're at the top of the slime ranching business. This makes atypical gels quite pricey, of course. The average person isn't going to have access to atypical gel, let alone the slimes themselves.

Deviants

Deviant slimes are the result of incessant research by scientists working in secret at a facility located in the capital city, Galium. Through decades of cruel experiments and countless destroyed slimes, they've managed to fuse parts of slime cores to create artificial atypical slimes, aptly labeled 'deviants'.

Trial and error have allowed them to measure individual varieties' core sizes precisely enough to cut through the first two layers, the outer and inner core layers while leaving the true core intact. Using a carefully crafted device, the scientists can carve half of those layers off and separate them from the still-living slime. These halves can be swapped with a different slime’s core, then reconnected by using a special paste designed specifically for repairing cores. The pieces may have to be ground down or the cuts altered to fit slimes of different core sizes together.

For this to be at all possible, slimes have to be rendered immobile. They’re kept submerged in an extremely acidic solution that strips them of their gel while leaving the cores undamaged. Everything up to sealing the core pieces together has to be done while the slime is submerged in acid. Once that’s done, they have to be moved into a holding cell as soon as possible. They’re observed for 24-48 hours to confirm if the slime can produce gel or if it’s a failure. 9 times out of 10, it’s considered unsuccessful.

This process destabilizes the slime’s personality and often makes them highly aggressive until they adjust to the changes and can be rehabilitated for safe interactions. A small percentage of slimes suffer from a minor loss of cognitive functions, and an even smaller percentage become catatonic after a week or two, losing all cognitive functions. It can take up to a few months for the deviant slime’s personality to settle.

Deviant gels remain relatively untested due to their abnormally high potency and violent reactions. They can possess a variety of properties that defy conventional logic and bend existing knowledge of gel mixing as a whole. The point of deviant slimes is to provide significant military and economic advantages, but that’ll take many, many more years of testing and research to truly accomplish.

Creating deviant slimes is a process that’s far from perfect.