… Sam at first took them for bears, but then he saw their gruesome heads. Their matted brown fur ended abruptly at the neckline, their faces not only hairless but completely skinless, all bloody red muscle and bone. Without eyelids, their eyeballs swivelled madly in their sockets, and their long tongues continually lashed about, occasionally darting up to moisten the exposed flesh of their faces.
- Chapter 20, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
~~~
Zoological Name: Caput Cruentum
Habitat: Plains and grasslands
Diet: Carnivore
Average Lifespan: 20-25 years
Species Density: Uncommon
Range: Central and southern Dalloran
A terror to night-time travellers across much of Dalloran, the rettamilne makes for a fearsome sight. Their large, furry bodies are powerfully built with vicious claws and speed not suggested by their dense frame. Most striking of all is the rettamilne’s head - devoid of fur or indeed skin of any kind, leaving only muscle and bone to be seen.
A common question is how rettamilnes - with such exposed flesh - avoid infection or the attention of insects. The answer is in their remarkable saliva, which is extremely adept at fighting bacteria. For centuries physicians have prized this hard to obtain substance in their medicines, so powerful are its effects. Using their extremely long tongue - which folds down their throat when not in use - the rettamilne spreads their saliva all over their head and eyes, creating a thin yet protective film.
Yet still the head may appear to be a vulnerable area on the rettamilne’s body and this is true, up to a point. Whilst most assaults against the head will inflict significant harm to the rettamilne, they retain a dangerous counter-move. When a sufficient amount of the rettamilne’s blood mixes with their saliva, the two combine in a fiery chemical reaction, sending streamers of flame bursting from various points across the dying rettamilne's head.
Nocturnal by nature, rettamilnes travel in packs, hunting across open plains and fields in search of prey which they will descend upon without mercy. The tenacious monsters have even been known to hunt lone travellers on the empty roads or else lay waste to the flocks of unwary farmers.
The seedug clutched in the Trisworn’s arms did indeed look like a bright blue puppy, but with a tail nearly twice as long as its whole body.
- Chapter 2, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
~~~
Zoological Name: Canis Animadverto
Habitat: Warm or urban environments
Diet: Multivore (Carnivore + Herbivore)
Average Lifespan: 18-23 years
Species Density: Uncommon
Range: West and Northern Dalloran. Throughout Reot.
Standing apart from other canines, the seedug is distinct with its blue coat and long, prehensile tail - but most notable of all for its prowess as a messenger. Once a seedug comes into contact with water, they project their memories in visual form, within the liquid.
With the mass exodus of magicians during the Age of War, seedugs were imported from Reot - where they had been in use for centuries - and became the main form of sending messages across the various war zones. Even to this day, in some places where magicians are less common, seedug messenger services continue to thrive.
The clarity and complexity of the viewable memories depends upon how well the seedug has been trained. For example, a seedug pup may only be able to show still images within water, with little clear indication as to the order or importance of their memories. However, a well-trained adult seedug can project seamless moving images, picking and choosing precisely which memories they have been trained to divulge. In either case, the seedug cannot avoid projecting when they come into contact with water. For this reason they cannot always be relied upon to carry secret messages. A well-trained seedug may be able to resist revealing a given memory, but it will be physically impossible to not project something. A seedug trudging through deep snow will leave images behind in its paw-prints. Likewise, one caught out in the rain will unintentionally send up streamers of memory all around them.
Whilst male and female seedugs show no discernible difference in their projecting abilities, hale seedugs are born completely colour-blind and likewise project their memories in shades of grey.
She cocked her head at the treeline. “A blood ape or a skinnster could come out of there any minute….” -
Chapter 22, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
~~~
Zoological Name: Esurientem Pellem
Habitat: Jungle floor
Diet: Carnivore
Average Lifespan: 5-8 years
Species Density: Rare
Range: Exclusive to the Stratigent Jep
Once considered merely a bedtime story the tengu of the Stratigent Jep told their children to keep them safely amongst the trees, skinnsters are now recognised as all too real.
Resembling a large sheet of flat, pale skin, tipped at their edges with jagged spines, these masters of camouflage hide beneath the foliage of the jungle floor. When suitable prey then steps upon the surface of the skinnster, the monster snaps itself around them, moulding to fit their shape. Where a moment before there might have been a man, now there would be only a fleshy silhouette. Naturally, the prey swiftly dies of suffocation and from here the skinnster proceeds to feast upon the body across days or weeks, dissolving it with acidic compounds lining its underside.
The hide of the skinnster is remarkably durable, making dead specimens much-prized by leather-workers. However this too means that once a skinnster has attached itself to someone, nothing short of fire or magical intervention can remove them.
The skinnster reproduces asexually, once they have eaten sufficient food, leaving a patchwork of babies - each one approximately 4x4 inches across - upon their last corpse once they move on. The juvenile skinnsters are far more active and swift than their elder counterparts, with most zoologists concluding that as skinnsters age their muscles become weaker at a rapid rate. With their increased mobility the younger skinnsters have no need to lie in wait, instead being content to spring out of bushes or from the sides of trees. Their smaller size means an attack from one is less likely to be fatal (unless they wrap across their prey’s head / chest) but any that moulds itself around an arm or leg would almost certainly lead to the loss of said limb without timely intervention.
“Well, Your Majesty,” Grim said, “in the interests of openness and honesty on all sides, I’d greatly appreciate it if your tengu friends would join us. I don’t like people who skulk.”
The Queen motioned with one hand and from the darkness on her left and right there came a pair of humanoid crows. Both stood taller than the average man and whilst they were covered all over by smooth black feathers, their bodies were lithe and slender, with hooked talons in place of fingers and toes. The tengu, as Grim had called them, both had long curved yellow beaks and small dark eyes that shone in the lamplight.
- Chapter 9, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
~~~
Zoological Name: Avis Sapiens
Habitat: Jungles
Diet: Multivore (Carnivore + Herbivore)
Average Lifespan: 80-100 years
Species Density: Rare
Range: East and Northern Dalloran. Southern Reot
From atop the seclusion of the highest trees, the tengu have ruled the jungles of Paralex for as long as anyone can remember. Whilst featuring parts commonly seen with avian creatures - beak, feathers, talons - the tengu are flightless. Their ancient legends attest that they once had wings and warred with a fellow cloud-bound race known as the quilians, to determine who would rule the skies. When the tengu lost this great war, their wings were taken and they made their homes in Paralex’s jungles instead. Winged or not, the tengu are swift and athletic hunters, capable of great leaps between the mighty jungle trees where they build their hanging villages. Well-honed talons allow them to climb the towering trees without issue and deal savage sharp blows to any foe.
Sometimes called the ‘Ninth Great Race’, the tengu were, as with the other founders of the Great Races, an instrumental part of King Newton Magnovalis’ force which united Paralex and ended the Age of War. However when it came time to formally declare the legendary alliance and rebuild the world, the tengu declined the invitation to join and instead returned to their jungles. Whilst they assent to their lands falling within the laws and protections of the Great Races, the tengu otherwise take no part in the politics of the world. Common understanding is that the tengu are fiercely territorial, even amongst their own kind, with villages in the same jungle often meeting in open conflict for reasons and customs difficult to discern by other races. Over the centuries envoys and invitations have been sent again, but each time either too few tengu wish to take up the offer, or it is declined outright.
Seldom do they leave their jungles to treat with the rest of Paralex with as much as a century between such appearances. When tengu do arrive, it is usually in search of some resource not found in their jungles, or as outcasts. Whatever the cause, wandering tengu frequently find themselves brought into the highest courts and circles of nobility, if not for their notable stamina and agility, then simply as a curiosity.
“What’s a werren?” Sam asked. “I don’t think I’ve met one before.”
“You never will,” Grim said, briefly casting her eyes at the canine portraits. “They were one of the first races; their entire people lived and died Before History. Each werren was a natural-born genius, capable of building mechanical wonders that rivalled even the Lost Arts. When the Creators took away the Lost Arts, they wanted the werren to submit too. They ordered them to give up their mightiest technologies. The werren refused — so the Creators wiped them out.”
- Chapter 11, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
~~~
Zoological Name: Lupus Sapiens
Habitat: [UNKNOWN]
Diet: [UNKNOWN]
Average Lifespan: [UNKNOWN]
Species Density: EXTINCT
Range: (Reputedly, formerly) Throughout Paralex
The enigmatic werren remain one of the most enduring mysteries from Before History. Countless legends speak of flying cities and a people who could create wondrous miracles from devices that could fit in a man’s hand. The most fanciful stories paint the werren as masters of time, working seconds and centuries as easily as a builder does clay and mortar.
This too was their downfall, for it is said that once the Creators took the Lost Arts from the magicians, they commanded the werren put aside their most miraculous machines as well. Yet the werren refused and we’re wiped from Paralex. So complete was their destruction, that few believed they existed at all, until the first of their mighty - and often unknowable - machines was found. Even the legendary Malogen the Wise, reputedly the only werren to be spared, can give no answers. No records of his appearance exist. But by unknown means, he survived into the dawn of the Imperial Era and when he died his remains were interred in the Final Hollows of Giin. Yet of course Giin was sacked and the Final Hollows razed to the ground during the Turncoat War.
All to the point that practically nothing is known of the physical makeup of the werren. Even legends cannot agree as to their precise appearance. Some say they could stand amongst magicians and humans, indistinguishable from either. Others call them more bestial, with a shaggy coat, jagged claws, and a canine head. The only plausible biological suggestion is that their brains may have been formed in a more complex manner than others seen in the world. This is to account for the natural genius they patently possessed when it came to building their mysterious devices and machines.