Fauna

All of these creatures are physical beings, but some of them, particularly the Four Beasts of the Apocalypse, are legendary and of course will only appear under the most extreme circumstances.

• Banshee - large terrifying flying creatures with spindly bodies and a very long wingspan, which ride the air currents in remote areas, feeding off small birds, mammals and insects. They are seen mainly at dawn and dusk, as they dislike direct sunlight and prefer calm conditions. They seldom attack humans except when injured or in defence, but their appearance induces fear and often Terror.
• Basilisk - species of small red serpent with a white streak, found in southern Anásthiasplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnásthias
  
  Anásthias [a-NAS-thee-ass / ænæsθiːæs], or [an-ass-THEE-as] is an equatorial island continent, heart of the Civilised World. The north straddles the equator and is hot and humid, while most of the equatorial centre is an upland plateau with fertile river valleys, and stretches of arid plains and desert in the shadow of the mountains. The south is temperate but more wild, separated from the civilisations of the north by the almost impassable HartheraOrorr, hatched from eggs resembling frog-spawn. The head has a sharp beak and fans resembling a cockerel, and emmitts a noxious carrion smell, close proximity to which can induce infection. The creature is found in the foundations of buildings and rocky grasslands, and is a scourge of southern lands.
• Black Oppressor - an ancient being who in legend lives with his three beautiful sons and three beautiful daughters in a cavernous hall under the earth. He is a mythic figure, held captive in time until a human comes near. He is reputed to have lost an eye battling the Black Wyrm, and will kill anyone who slightly offends him by mentioning or noticing his difigurement. In fact he is one of the Four Creatures of the Apocalypse.
• Black Wyrm - huge black creature with a tough, black keratinous skin, long poisonous fangs and many powerful legs, which ravaged and eventually destroyed the Kingdom of Derailad in northwest Besoa, in about the 12th century of the Hornum Calendar. It was found to be virtually impossible to kill, but was finally cornered on the Field of Maiúnla Dielmés by four armies, and imprisoned by the four Royal Sorcerors of the isle, beneath a mound. It still sleeps there. The Wyrm is one of the Four Beasts of the Apocalypse.
• Boreyne - a lithe, leopard-like creature with white-yellow fur, with heavy, muscular shoulders and jaws, large teeth and taloned bird-like feet for mercilessly gripping prey. It also has a cruel whipcord tail, but its most dangerous feature is its caustic breath, which will disintegrate flesh, cloth and metal. It is a desert-upland dweller, found in the Dun Trisan mountains of southern Anásthias.
• Calopus - feline woodland creature with razor-sharp horns and a characteristic whining screech. Its fur is ideally evolved for woodland camouflage, but its horns often hinder it by becoming entangled in undergrowth. It is found in Hartheraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera
  
  The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridviridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr, Otekahré and Antioch principally.
• Caretyne - large, pointed-nosed, cloven-hoofed creature with large tusks and shaggy fur with golden tufts, which is highly prized. It has long, straight, back-pointing horns which are virtually useless in battle, but its greatest danger is the chemical fire which it generates from glands in its mouth, used as a defence at short range.
• Crisofilax - these are large, ungainly native saurians with short, soft fur, ranging in colour from a reddish brown to scarlet. They have massive jaws and large teeth, and long powerful tails which can smash trees. They are found in the warm temperate zones, particularly the isles of the southern Natorn Sea, the Eastern Isles and Vulimé, but have been exterminated elsewhere due to their savage and destructive nature. They are very long-lived, to the extent that their offspring are called
• Wyverns, and believed to be an entirely separate creature.
• Dreikmen - creatures of legendary horror, these are commonly men killed in battle, their souls bound to their decaying bodies for eternity. In reality these are the creations of corrupt sorcerors, who once cast spells in battle to mobilise dead soldiers of both sides against their enemies by binding imprinted elementals onto the corpses. It is the elementals that preserve and animate the corpse. According to legend they are said to guard treasures and secret chambers.
• Efelax - not truly a creature but the generic term for three types of carnivorous native plant found in different areas across the world. All are surrounded by a mossy-appearing bed many metres wide. Unwitting creatures who step onto it quickly find that it in fact their their digestive organ. Each variety however uses a different method of enticing and capturing prey. The first (efelax cobine) is a shrub with glossy greenplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigGreen
  
  The Green Kingdom of flora and fauna includes humans, mammals, birds, whales, greenfish, and most green plants and crops cultivated by humankind. leaves, with red stripes and mottling down the centre. They have long mobile tendrils which undulate in the breeze, some tipped with organs resembling insects but bearing a powerful toxin, to lure birds. They emmit a sedative vapour (see ‘Herblore’) which with the undulation of the tendrils is known to entrance some creatures into coma and death. The second type (efelax vanene) is a mainly tropical forest plant, having the appearance of flowering vines over a mossy bed saturated in poison. The third (efelax salix) is a temperate-zone plant, resembling a curious limbed tree with trailing white branches, which periodically drop thin threadlike organs, containing a powerful alkaloid poison.
• Elamma - terrible night creature with the body and blue-black fur of a panther, but a seemingly human face. These creatures have the ability to beguile unwary travellers, enticing them away from the fire with cooing and calling. In fact the face is merely the top of their head. When they make their attack they leap up to reveal wide jaws with needle-sharp teeth, its body covered with tough leathery scales beneath the fur.
• Esiek - a small form of mountain deer, valued for its rich soft white fur used in clothing.
• Felahk - these native creatures are similar to Banshees but more closely related Wights, with long matted hair and ragged wings which they use for gliding, soaring and hovering on the air currents. Like Banshees they prefer dim and calm conditions, but are less timid even than Wights and have been known to attack humans particularly when hungry or threatened.
• Fenris Wolf - the greatest of the mythical Four Beasts of the Apocalypse, created as a last defence should the forces of destruction threaten to seize the world. It is a vast weapon of metal and energy, stored in a deep cavern beneath the far reaches of Bararr, slowly feeding on power, ready to be unleashed when the time comes. Once released it has the appearance of a storm of energy, forming an indistinct metallic body, and a vast-jawed head with terrifying eyes, destroying all not protected by elementals.
• Ghosts - these are not creatures as such, but sylphs that have been traumatised, forcibly imprinted by the mental echoes of appallingly violent and tragic events. They are incapable of comprehending the imprinting, and dumbly relay images and sounds of the event. Although they do no physical damage, they can inspire terror. Sorcerors always do their best to alleviate such creates, but their only release is in their dissolution.
• Kraken - colossal creature of the deep oceans, particularly the Great Urash Ocean. It has never been witnessed whole, having massive writhing tentacles and an encrusted body, but is sometimes mistaken for a small rocky island when close to the surface. The creature has a vast and ancient intelligence far beyond the mind of humans, but it may aid voyagers who encounter it, although such small creatures are usually beneath its notice. It has several large blowholes which it vents occasionally, and when surfaced, it turns every hour or so to prevent drying out. The creature is one of the Four Beasts of the Apocalypse.
• Larcat - mountain and desert feline occasionally found in Anrelplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnrel Isles
  
  Anrel [ANN-rel], or the Anrel Isles, is the most northerly island group in the Natorn Archipelago. It consists of three major islands and numerous smaller ones. The largest, colloquially if infrequently called Mainland, is divided between the kingdoms of Trésard and Narette. The island as far north as Béan. They have sleek, dun-coloured fur and long claws, generally hunting singly or in pairs.
• Lycanthrope - these are not truly creatures but persons suffering from the hereditary Lupine Convulsive Disorder Syndrome, a primarily neurological condition which causes the subject to lose all conscious control and engage in bouts of bloody animal violence, often not remembered. Lycanthropes are strongly influenced by the lunar-metabolic cycle, and are subject to these attacks at least once every month. During this time, metabolic rate increases dramatically, increasing speed and strength, as well as growth of nails and hair, accompanied by extreme hunger. During an attack, Physique is increased by 5, and strength to a maximum of 5 above normal. Controlled may be gained by [Command/Restraint] successes: 6 to induce an attack, 5 for control.
• Manticore - male counterpart of the Elamma, the creatures have a muscular lion’s body, but a head resembling a man’s, capable of making a cry like a man in pain. They have three rows of razor-sharp teeth in a mouth which though human in appearance can open extremely wide, with massively powerful jaws. It is extraordinarily strong, and its tail has a sting which can cause paralysis and death. Fortunately however the creatures are quite rare, although they are found throughout the forests and uplands of Munatanplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMunatan
  
  Munatan [Moo-Nah-Tahn] is the southernmost region of Anásthias, south of the Dun Trisan mountains. The name possibly derives from a ancient Thalsic, meaning “Land of One Sun”, since the daystar is not visible in the southern hemisphere. Or it may be a reference to the Manthi people who were once the majority population of western Munatan. The term is an OrorrOrorrOrorrHartheraHartheraOrorrOrorrOrorrHartheraHartheraHartheran.
• Nesƒérs - these are related to wights, but generally taller and slimmer, with unusually jointed movements, large domed heads and dull grey skins, having large dextrous hands and feet. Their strange, barely perceptable low chanting lulls travellers to sleep, when the creatures attack in large groups, binding their captives and suspending them from the roofs of their cave dwellings encased in a sticky mucus, until they are devoured, piece by piece.
• Nicor - amphibious creature found in seas, lake and rivers. It is elusively fast, with long tentacles for dragging prey from river banks. When hunting it is always surrounded by a cold, dense mist which enshrouds it as it crawls from its wet lairs, to drown prey beneath the waters and storing food in caves, particularly along rivers. They are usually only found in wild, cool temperate areas with deep water.
• Nightmare - not a true beast, this is in fact an ethereal creature, a sylph imprinted specifically with the Krevoste spell for attacking and controlling minds. They are often controlled by sorcerors, who direct them to attack an individual and to implant suggestions in the minds of their victims. If not under control, they trap the sleeper in unconsciousness and slowly suffocate them. They may only be cast out by sorcery, or by the victim if they become conscious of their invasion.
• Ovorn - a common stock-herd beast found in across the northern archipelagoes, and in mountain regions of Anásthias. They have a thick brown wooly coat, with sharp goat-like horns.
• Parandrus - timid, stag-like creature with a shimmering, chameleon-like coat which is particularly effective when the beast is frightened, when it has the ability to remain perfectly motionless for long periods. Its hide retains some of these properties even after the creature has died, and so hides of this rare creature are very highly prized.
• Shrikemen - an alternative name for Dreikmen, coming from the name of the carrion bird renowned for their flocks which fill the air after battles, and which in mythology strip bare the soul of its corruptions so that it may finally enter the Fields of Bliss.
• Troll - large, human-like creature with a thick, ugly body and face, varying in size. They have some rudimentary intelligence, and some live in small family groups, which are very aggressively protected, especially in the spring months. The creatures mate with one partner, raise two or three offspring to maturity, then part. Despite a mythic reputation, trolls are timid creatures except in uttermost need, and are fearful of humans who have made them almost extinct except in the most remote regions, particularly forests and mountains.
• Tunnel-Worms - large grey and red-streaked subterranean worm, inhabiting caves throughout the upland regions of Anásthias, feeding on rotting detritus and debris. They are generally placid and mindless but have little regard for their surroundings as little can damage them, and so are a scourge to miners, ploughing through supports and miners with impunity. Large worms can only be perturbed by intense fire and heat.
• Undines – common name for near-mythic native creatures of the cold southern oceans. They drift near the surface on ocean currents, having a hard dark armoured skin above. Their mouths have an extensive network of delicate fronds for trapping small fish and plants, which they retract every so often to feed. They are slow-breeding, and extinct in the northern hemisphere.
• Warg - see Wolves.
• Wights - these are small, spindly pale native simians with ragged hair and clothing, weak in appearance but in fact very strong, with a multi-jointed inhuman skeletal structure. Wights are mainly nocturnal, with large reflective eyes and small sharp teeth. Naturally they dwell on forest margins, but they were driven back by humanity aeons ago, and today are mostly found in desolate areas: ruins, caves, and the depths of forests. They avoid humans, and are terrified of fire. Wights and those creatures related to them are regarded in mythology as the failed first attempts at life by the Creators, which were perfected in Humanity. They are semi-intelligent, but have no understanding of languageplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigLanguages
  
  List of human languages and dialects, contemporary and extinct.
  
  Language
  
  language
  
  This is in a series of articles about Languages and Communication.
  
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• Wolves - these are large canines, generally having brown, grey and white coats and vicious teeth. They sometimes attack travellers, particularly during winter, attacking in packs led by a dominant male. Legend has it they were once bred as guard creatures, aeons ago, but they have long lost any affinity with humanity.
• Wyrdan - hairy mammalian primate, a semi-bipedal nocturnal predator. The creature is notable for its body cycle, which takes it to extremes of ferocity and docility in lunar one month. Physically they are short and covered with rank dark hair, with large feet, needle-sharp teeth, and large eyes giving excellent night vision. Their humanoid appearance has led to their being attributed supernatural powers, but they have no paranormal abilities.
• Wyvern - these are immature Crisofilax, and are much smaller, hairless and most often brown or beige in colour. Between their forelegs and ribcage are membraneous vestigial wings. They cannot fly but use them to turn quickly, making them extremely agile, and the roofs of their mouths have poison glands. Both of these are lost by the time they grow to adults, who are about ten times the size of an average adolescent.