The Secret Lives of Endermen 1

Year XXXX day 12.

Thirteenth journal in the second year of the Enderman Study

By Notch, this study has turned out more fruitful if no less dangerous than I had first thought it to be.  My expectation was that I would finish within a year but I can now see that this will take much longer than that to compile all my final notes.  This journal entry and all that came before it  are written in the furtive moments when they are not looking, usually at dawn or dusk.  Since the Enderman do not see me with a pumpkin on my head, I have managed to become a part of their group if only as a tolerated straggler with a wolf.  They are smart, much smarter than previously thought so the less human I act the less likely I'll be attacked in my sleep, which is fortunate since necessity, dictates that I observe their sleeping patterns.

Also be aware, what you read here is not my complete findings only my rough notes.  Once the study is finished, I will compile a complete report to submit to the council for their consideration.  All I can say is that what has been learned by the miners from observation is generally wrong; they haven't seen even half of what these nocturnal monsters do.  I consider myself privileged to have witnessed what I have; I have seen the secret lives of these lanky, black skinned giants.

From a genetic perspective, all Endermen and their females are of the same mold but since they are relatively new the average person assumes them to be the same in every aspect, I'll go into the details of the genders in a later report once I can accurately identify males from females.

Each individual of a generation has the potential to pass on mutations through each generation.  Due to environmental and mechanical pressure along with natural selection and some of the differences I am seeing suggest that they are in an experimental stage of evolution.  What is unknown however is if Genetic drift or flow is the operative factor among the nocturnal beings.  To be sure they are filing into our lands in a way that suggest they're radiating from a unknown point (Perhaps the Far Lands) through observations alone I would wager that the populations are at a standstill.

Speaking of Gene drift I have noticed some very interesting traits among the family group I have been shadowing for the past few months, not the easiest task with a pumpkin over one's head but it is the price you have to pay for science sometimes.  All Enders will ignore you when you don't look at them directly or cover your eyes in a large squash but there are always a few from each of the groups I have been studying that seem somewhat aware of me on some level.  Most notable the children seem aware on an intuitive level while some of the adults seem to be aware on an unconscious manner and are able to avoid brushing against you by accident.

Those that are aware of my presence have not turned out to be hostile and they do not look like they can quite focus their glowing eyes on me but watching them move in relation to me when I get close is somewhat unnerving.  If I had to wager there is a mutation among the species that allows them to notice humanity in a general way.  The aggression with them becoming fully aware of us could very well be instinct driven or an acquired adaptation since they are expanding their territory into our own.  Some force is making them expand unless they are filling niches that were previously occupied by something we are unaware of.  These Endermen may simply doing what is natural and filling in the gaps to which end I fear natural selection may not be on our side given their abilities to outrun and out maneuver us when we make an individual aggressive toward us.

Now to my direct observations.  These Endermen travel in large groups ranging anywhere from fifteen individuals to at most forty-five each group is organized in some fashion and I'll figure that out later.  While impossible to tell currently, I believe there are several breeding pairs in each group and, like with wolves there must be a ranking system for status and organization.  On some nights I have witnessed an entire group (they are more like family clans than anything else as tightly knit as wolves but fluid like with sheep) pitch together to build a large structure in the night that a single pair will enter.

The structure has a convoluted entrance to block out the light and it is so dark even the extremely light sensitive monsters can spawn in it during the day.  I can only guess as to what the structures are for since on the nights they are made an entire group gathers around it so closely it is impossible to approach without touching one of them.  This behavior and the results of such a building lead me to believe that this is a mating ritual where a pair will conceive a child.

After perhaps two or three weeks the pair that entered the crafted building chooses a suitable dark cave (again I must guess since the cave chosen always has a monster spawner in the tunnels leading to the deeper chambers) and stay there while the rest of their group travel the area.  The end result is something precious, an Enderchild smaller than a man is though they grow quickly enough to match the adults within a year.  The children have white eyes and it is not until they are two months old that their eyes turn green.

In larger groups, I have noticed up to five of these small Enderman near the center of each traveling troupe.  Whenever the far-flung members spot a miner or armed human (I have come to call them the Sentries), the children are picked up and carried away to a safer location.  The strategy works well since to my knowledge no one has reported killing pygmy Endermen.

Twilight is on the horizon so I must finish this before they wake up and step out of the cave for their nightly work.  I have finally established a work schedule so I can make entries regularly and to feed Kefka and myself my wolf without losing sight of my specimens.  I do feel a need to apologize to the miners and builders who feel they have been victimized by the traveling Enderman; I have had to sample their fields when my rations run short.  I hope that leaving redstone and lapis lazuli in the place of the lost crops makes up for their losses.

As I organize my thoughts, I'll write more.

                                                      Henri Lemark