Difference between revisions of "Fauna"

Revision as of 13:41, 2 June 2007

The Felayan fauna is composed by many species from many worlds which make it very varied and unpredictable.

Note about the threat ranking :

It's based on the threat that represent the creature for a normal human. It's not necessarily linked to the strength of the creature. For example the dryad Cypress would rank very low because she is very friendly to humans, yet she is a powerful being.

Rank :

• Minimal : A totally harmless being such as a mouse or a rabbit.
• Very Low : Mostly herbivores but who can still strike back if attacked.
• Low : Various animals such as felines.
• Moderate : A moderately dangerous Felaryan creature can still be very dangerous in another world. For example a tiger would rank between Low and Moderate here...
• Medium : A predatory, dangerous and often man-eater creature.
• High : A great predator. Crisis would be in this category.
• Very High : A top predator. This creature could take on a small army.
• Critical : In Felaryan scales, Very few creatures reach this rank.
• Extreme : A guardian or a mythical creature, often a leader of a race. Only a god can hope to survive a confrontation with one of these.

Common forest creatures

Kensha Beast

Size: Males 29” Females 27”
Threat : Medium

Kensha beasts are one of the dominant animal predators in Felarya forests. Essentially enormous wolves, they hunt in packs of 4 to 12 beasts, of which ¾ are female. Females will hunt alone on occasion, especially if their pack has fought off a territorial challenge, which usually injures many pack members. Attacks typically involve two beasts chasing their prey into the waiting jaws of the others. Single attacks are fast and depend heavily on surprise when stalking larger prey. Their claws contain a paralyzing poison that can kill in large doses, as well as large fangs which can crush the tough exoskeletons of some of their prey.

Spine Beetle

Size: Males 10” Females 9”
Threat : Moderate alone - High in group

Spine beetles typically dwell in dark, wet places such as caves and tunnels. They live in mobile swarms sometime reaching into the thousands. They can digest anything they find, from grass to the flesh of other creatures. If attacked they will band together and strike back, using the spines on their backs which they can launch with great accuracy and are coated with deadly poison. Their large mandibles can crush even reinforced steel. Their tough shells can withstand most physical attacks, though sharp objects can cut through it if it hits a joint.

Arboreal Frog

Carnivorous plants

In great marshes

Silvers Scorpion

Size: 6 inches
Threat : Medium

Small but venomous scorpions who dig themselves into the mud. They live in huge swarms and are able to suddenly appear in great synchronization, surround a prey and overwhelm it with their number and paralyzing venom. These creatures are absolutely terrifying because the more numerous they are, the more clever they become. Large groups of them seem to acquire a elaborated sense of tactic involving hit-and-run, ambush, diversion, lure, sacrifice, surrounding and so...

Giant Mud Slug

Size: from 60-80”
Threat : Medium

Like scorpions they lurk in the mud but they dig whole networks of tunnels in it. Their tunnels don't collapse behind them because of a substance they secrete which solidifies the mud for hours. They have very developed senses that allow them to emerge with a great precision, swallow a prey, and go back into hiding in an instant. Because of their monstrous size, they would have no problems swallowing a vehicle whole.

Saurotauran

Size: 10”
Threat : Low

A sort of scaled spiked centaur with a crocodile head and lizard tail. They are amphibious creatures who lives in tribes. They use primitive weapons and tools like swords, bows, lances and shields. They are known for their love of traps, such as holes in the ground etc.. Most of them are linked to dryads. They worship them and offer them prisoners as sacrifices.

Stormseeker

Size: 13 inches
Threat : Very Low - High for vehicles.

Strangely shaped red birds. During a storm they attract lightning with their beaks and "store" it into them. Later they can blast it at targets with a great precision. They are quite rare in swamps but they are one of the most potent threats for any vehicles... They are small, agile, attacks in pack and their blast will cause great damage to machines. They would not destroy their target but totally disable and immobilize it which is very dangerous in Felarya swamps.

Fog Butterfly

Size: 40”
Threat : Minimal

A huge but totally harmless creatures for humans. They feed on birds. They are still scary if you have never encountered them before.

Titan Frog

In mountains

Snow Tiger

Size: 7” - 15” on their hind legs
Threat : Moderate

White fur covered tigers found in the frigged Felaryan mountains. These intelligent beasts generally live in clans of 3-7, and are very loyal to one another, but are equally distrusting of other clans. The Intrepid human explorer has much to fear from them as they are not easily tricked and posses superior strength.

Lermenin

Size: 1”
Threat : Minimal

Small, white, furry ,and the cutest things on or off the mountain. Somewhat cranky though… They are intelligent and devious little creatures. They are small, about the size of a large cat and resemble a earth ferret in some ways. Needless to say they are at the bottom of the food chain and depend on cunning to survive. They live in the small crevices in the rock too small for other creatures. It's worth noting that they love to rob travelers of interesting things such as round tiny shiny objects..

In lake of illusions

Thaniathan

Size: 47”
Threat : Medium

The Thaniathan is apparently a one of a kind beast that lives in the Lake of Illusion, waiting for prey to be drawn by the Lake's power. It usual form of attack is to wait until the creature is as deep as they can go, then to swim up rapidly under them, hitting them with all it's strength, usually stunning them and knocking them high into the air. It then catches and swallows them whole. If the Thanatian's saliva gets into a creatures bloodstream, say via a bite, the creature is almost instantly paralyzed until the saliva has run it's course. It's impossible to tell how long this takes, because the creatures are soon eaten afterward. The Thaniathan will eat anything that's alive and meaty, and it's hard scales protect it from most any form of normal attack.

This creature is capable of staying completely still for months at a time, and it's digestion is slow enough that it can survive that long with no food.

Rainbow Mantis

Demi-Chimera

Azure Frog

Size: 15-20”
Threat : Moderate

A large, shiny blue frog. These creatures can be found only near the lake of illusions. They are voracious and swallow anything that they catch with their long sticky tongue and that can fit in their large mouth. What make them especially dangerous is the basic spells they use. They can throw a sort of mind blast that makes the target dizzy and confused, and they can use short range instant teleport.

In deeper Felarya

Dimension Hopping Dragon

Size: 90-110”
Threat : Moderate

Dimension Hopping Dragons or D.H. Dragons come from their homeworld Sandrag. They are able to hop in and out of dimensions at will and some of them warped themselves to Felarya and set up residence in the Deeper Region. They're quite intelligent and will attack anything that they think can put up a decent fight...and sometimes try to eat it. In fact, they'll pretty much eat anything that is alive. However they are rather friendly to humans, mainly because their homeworld has them too, but that doesn't mean that they won't eat one every now and then.

D.H. Dragons have a spiked back, sharp claws, razor teeth and strong tails. Males have dark blue scales while females have a lighter shade of blue scales, smaller spikes and a spike on the tip of their tails. They are endowed with some magic, though rarely used, and most of them have some magic resistance. Unlike most dragons they don't have wings, but some of them can use levitation magic to help them fly.

D.H. dragons can breath a white flame with strange particularities to it. One of them is to hurt both the body and the soul of the victim and sometimes temporarily paralyze it.

These great beasts are though opponents, hard to kill, though they seem particularly vulnerable to ice magic.

Dimensional Trapper

Size: Unknown
Threat : Low

Think angler fish. Suddenly you see a landscape like paradise. It's not an illusion but a real gate opened to this world. You step in the gate but by doing so you are eaten by the creature that opened the gate and waited in dimensions between Felarya and the "paradise" world. Trappers are dangerous because the creature isn't physically here : it lurks between dimensions. However if you are careful and you know their existence they are easy to detect : they are not very clever and show you always part of the same world which is abnormally fantastic and would looks odd even in the most beautiful parts of Felarya.

Vortex Tiger

Size: 7” but varies a lot
Threat : Medium

They seem like a big but normal tiger, save they are white and have a curious pattern on their fur and have antennas. When they attack they somewhat become a sort of black hole shaped in a form of a tiger. They powerfully vacuum and suck everything that is nearby into them. Then they become normal again. They are very dangerous creatures because when they are in black hole form they can still move, change their size and they are not solid : shooting at them is useless.

Flying Squid

Size: 400-500”
Threat : High

They are rare immense squid-like creature that slowly float in the air next to the summit of the trees and capture and eat any creatures beneath them with their long tentacles.

Archmantis

In jungle of perils

Land Urchin

Carnivorous Ape

Blood Hornet

In forest of whispers

Tonorion

In great rocky fields

Storm Manticore

Greater Stormseeker

In evernight forest

Abyssal Slug

Size: 30-40”
Threat : Medium

These creatures lives usually in very dark places such as caverns. They glows lightly and wears a beautiful pattern of vivid colored lights on them. However when you see them it's probably already too late. Abyssal slugs can locate their preys far away with a sort of natural sonar. When the slug knows the exact location of its prey and is in range, it powerfuly vacuum it in its large mouth. The range of capture can reach the 300 feet for the greater specimens.

Shadow Fish

Size: 1-40”
Threat : Very Low to Medium

The size of shadow fishes vary a lot and this name comprise many sub species. Shadow fishes have this unique particularity to breath shadow. They can live both in air or water, as long as the place is dark. Exposing them to ligh would suffocate them, much like a fish out of water. They float in air and can move quickly if needed. Because they have no teeths, shadow fishes swallows anything that is the right size. Greater specimens can pose a serious threat to adventurers.

Glophorbia

Flash Medusa

Size: 20-30”
Threat : Moderate

In such a dark place as evernight forest, light can become a weapon. These jellyfish-like creature use a powerful flash to dazzle and blind their preys.. or suffocate it in the case of shadow fishes. Then they move rapidly in range to swallow their meal.

Lightseeker

Night Anemone

Size: 50”
Threat : High

Night anemones are one of the most dangerous inhabitant of evernight forest. They feed mainly on shadow fishes by using a rather unique ability : they make the air glows faintly in a large area around them. Shadow fishes don't like to navigate in light so the anemone has just to create a corridor of non-glowing air leading to its mouth and the fish will literally jumps in it. But while shadow fishes are the common anemones's prey, an human would also fit quite well in such a big stomach.

What make night anemones really dangerous is their tentacles. They are strong but most of all, They are semi-immaterial and can stretch to frighteningly long distance and can't be harmed in any way.

Solar Serpent

Others

Umbra

Size: Varies
Threat : Medium

Long thought extinct in the Felaryan jungle. They are still only relatively few in number ( About several dozen are suspected to exist currently), but even one Umbra is enough to decimate an entire village if the idea ever gripped it.

However, Umbras are relatively without conscious thought. The majority of their limited intelligence is focused into a very sharp cunning. Because of their unique physiology, like the jungle itself, their form is never completely fixed. Continually phasing in and out of the dimensions of Felarya has had the effect of essentially making these beasts shape shifters to a limited degree. In their true form, you could describe them as a sort of shadowy fog. Although unable to change their colors, Umbras are able to briefly imitate any prey they have recently absorbed. However, due to their extremely rapid digestive system, the imitation often appears rotten and degenerated. Thus the most common tactic an Umbra will employ for luring its prey will be to conceal its dark shadowy form in the roots of a tree, or on the ceiling of a cave, and wait for a living creature to approach before surrounding and enveloping it.

Umbras can stretch to remarkably long lengths, and because of their weightlessness they are able to travel with blinding speed through the air like a cloud. Strangely, their semi-corporeal form is as equally a drawback as it is an advantage. For example a strong wind can be very annoying for them. Also they are encumbered by having only a very small tolerance for injury. Though able to withstand blows from anything human sized and below, larger creatures like nagas or even the magically gifted fairies will give the simple minded Umbras cause to flee.

That said, if an Umbra does find suitable prey, they will pursue them relentlessly over the course of almost a year, feeling an unnatural instinct to remove all evidence of their existence by destroying any who have seen them. Those who have claimed to have seen an Umbra are usually cast out from society due to the bad luck that the more superstitious people will see as surrounding them.

• Credits to Wolf98456, Rythmear, Randomdude, Wowandwas, Tifalover88 who came with various ideas for the fauna.