History Characters / TheEternalCylinder

* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The Trebhum seem to believe this, as eating a grollusc pearl results in Trebhum getting "shiny and sparky and very attractive, as all Trebhum should be", according to the in-game description of said mutation and Glickbols tamed by Trebhum with the [[TheHypnotoad Hypnotic]] [[MindControlMusic trunk]] mutation will emit sparkles from their shells.

* TheHypnotoad: They can mind control creatures via grappling with them.

* NothingIsScarier: There are zero hints as to The Eternal Cylinder's origin. We don't know if it's a machine or weapon that went rogue or an EldritchAbomination from the deepest parts of space. [[spoiler:Even after it's revealed to be sentient and on a crusade to eliminate difference and separation because it believes it's the root of all conflict]], we still don't know the Eternal Cylinder's ''is'', let alone where it came from.

* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: [[spoiler:While the beginning of Chapter 2 indicates that the Mathematician is the true power behind the Cylinder (complete with a shot where it appears that the Mathematician is pushing the Cylinder), ultimately their relationship is ''exactly'' what the Trebhum believed it to be - master and servant. Even after he Mathematician appears to be destroyed, the Cylinder proves to be capable of moving on its own.]]

* {{Foil}}: To the Servants of the Eternal Cylinder - the Trebhum are small, adorable critters while the Trebhum are (usually) large {{Mechanical Abomination}}s. The Trebhum are wholly organic while the Servants are {{Cyborg}}s. Servants have a uniform color scheme shared across all forms alongside unified body types for each variety of Servant, while the Trebhum come in a literal rainbow of different colors and can have massively varying forms depending one which mutations they possess. The Trebhum created the ruins that dot the landscape while the Servants work to destroy those same ruins. Finally, while the Servants are UnskilledButStrong entities that rely on their innate abilities to overwhelm opponents, the Trebhum are a WeakButSkilled race that rely on creative usage of their mutations to outsmart, outmaneuver, and ultimately defeat their foes.

** Trebhum ruins, shrines, and towers often have sections that glow light-blyue/cyan, which acts as a signifier of safe havens - ruins provide a place to learn from elders, shrines have plenty of food and water to eat while providing the ability to raise skills, while towers can temporarily halt the cylinder.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:The Trebhum accidentally brought the Eternal Cylinder to their world]]. [[spoiler:Long ago, when the Trebhum was an advanced civilization, they used their sky palaces to sing to the stars. One of these songs brought the Trewhaala to the Trebhum's world, and the two races lived in harmony. Unfortunately, the Trebhum's song also brought the Cylinder to their world when it heard them, offended by it. The Eternal Cylinder proceeded to steamroll the Trebhum's world, killing and assimilating countless Trebhum and Trewhaala, leading to both races on the brink of extinction]].

* KillItWithWater: They won't die from it, but shooting them with water will short circuit them, leaving them temporarily stuck on the ground and this vulnerable to attacks from other creatures or Trebhum. Submerging them in lakes, though, ''will'' eventually kill them, as the take damage while in the lake and can't regenerate from it.

* FlunkyBoss: [[spoiler:With the exception of the final Unifier faced in Chapter 2, all Unifiers the player fights are rely on controlling wildlife via parasites. Killing all of the parasites will destroy the Unifier.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:The Trebhum accidentally brought the Eternal Cylinder to their world]]. [[spoiler:Long ago, when the Trebhum was an advanced civilization, they used their sky palaces to sing to the stars. One of these songs brought the Trewhaala to the Trebhum's world, and the two races lived in harmony. Unfortunately, the Trebhum's song also brought the Cylinder to their world when it heard them, offended by their song. The Eternal Cylinder proceeded to steamroll the Trebhum's world, killing and assimilating countless Trebhum and Trewhaala, leading to both races on the brink of extinction]].

* VictoryByEndurance: [[spoiler:This is ultimately how the Trebhum manage to defeat the Mathmatician for good - they avoid all of its attacks until the Trewhaala they are with finally manage to defeat the Servant.]]

* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Trebhum with the Mixer Body mutation can convert edible items into explosives. There are three types of bombs: [[RecursiveAmmunition bombs that explode into additional bombs]] (created from items that primarily restore food), gas bombs (created from items that primarily restore water), and high-explosive bombs (created from items that primarily restore health).

* KnowWhebToFoldEm: The Trebhum figure out very early on that defeating the Cylinder is more or less impossible, so they don't even try, instead attempting to figure out ways to escape it. Initially, they try going overtop the Cylinder, only to find the area behind the Cylinder to be an inhospitable wasteland. The younger Trebhum have no idea what to do at first, but eventually are advised of a new plan by the surviving elders: [[spoiler:activate a floating palace in the desert and flee to the heavens. Hey actually manage to accomplish this, only for the Mathematician to interfere. Despite the Trebhum managing to ''kill the Mathematician'', the Servant's actions leave the palace out of reach, and it disappears completely after the Trebhum finish their third journey into the Mathematician's mind. The final portion of the game involves the Trebhum attempting to salvage their escape plan by contacting a Celestial Trewhaala to ferry them up to the palace.]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:The Infant Gaaahrling]]

* PhlebotinumBreakdown: A non-fatal exampe, but if they try to expand themselves too much, they'll eventually be unable to produce new protuberances to hunt with.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Celestial Trewhaala -- the reason Grashtuub are shaped so bizarrely is so that they can eat Trewhaala whole (or at least do so rapidly). [[spoiler:This is why the Trebhum have to fight one - they need to get a Trewhaala Crystal from the Grashtuub's heart so that they can call a Trewhaala and use it to reach their Sky Fortress and finally give the Cylinder the slip.]] [[AllThereInTheManual That being said, the compendium states that they will either other large animals (namely Great Gaaahr)]], they just aren't encountered anywhere where this can be observed.

* KillItWithWater: They won't die from it, but shooting them with water will short circuit them, leaving them temporarily stuck on the ground and this vulnerable to attacks from other creatures or Trebhum.

* MisplacedWildlife: Some show up in the final biome, despite the Gargadend being a Tundra creature. {{Justified|Trope}}, though -- [[spoiler:it's implied they were released from the Cylinder after the Mathematician was incapacitated, and may have absorbed traits allowing them to survive in the new, ??? Biome.]]

!!??

* MisplacedWildlife: Some show up in the final biome, despite the Gargadend being a Tundra creature. {{Justified|Trope||, thouhg -- [[spoiler:it's implied they were released from the Cylinder after the Mathematician was incapacitated, and may have absorbed traits allowing them to survive in the new, ??? Biome.]]

!!!Note: The desert can only be accessed via glitching in the beta. Thus this section may not reflect on the final game.

* HelpfulMook: If you're under attack from certain enemies, you could lure a hungry Klaborok to said enemies to dispatch them. Feeding them anything will also result in the Klaborok spitting out a pearl, which can be used to obtain the Turtle mutation.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Celestial Trewhaala -- the reason Grashtuub are shaped so bizarrely is so that they can eat Trewhaala whole (or at least do so rapidly). [[spoiler:This is why the Trebhum have to fight one - they need to get a Trewhaala Crystal from the Grashtuub's heart so that they can call a Trewhaala and use it to reach their Sky Fortress and finally give the Cylinder the slip.]]

* ButNowIMjstGo: [[spoiler:While he somehow manages to survive sacrificing his body to destroy the Eternal Cylinder, but his consciousness fades away at the end of the and appears to go dormant until sometime in the future when he retells the tale of the Trebhum.]]

[[folder:The Hand of Fate('''Unamrked Spoilers''')]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Ultimately k
defeated when the empty desert Trebhum home it was using to try and crush the Trebhum smashes its fingers in, resulting in it being crushed by the lens it was holding.

* ShockAndAwe: The Cylinder has the ability to fire off lightning from its body, though this appears to be a sort of DesperationAttack, as it only demonstrates this power (in the beta, at least) when it forces itself to power through a set of activated towers in an attempt to kill the Trebhum.
* SinisterGeometry: It's a giant, world-destroying cylinder.