New Creature Descriptions

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-17 02:31:20

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I am writing lots of descs for those animals that seem to be missing in Majik's food chain, so, here is my first one:

Wynx Description:

OVERVIEW:

Standing just over a meter tall (when fully grown), and up to 1.5 long (tip of the nose to the tip of the tail), the wynx ranges in color, from a rust brown to almost pure white. With a flat, stubby face, they almost have the appearence as if their snouts are squashed against their faces, (rather like a bulldog's),and have two eyes sitting above this snout, which are generally brown or black in color. Above the face sit two pointed ears, which can be swiveled almost 360 degrees and are excellent at hearing. From its sturdy, musscular neck, which is at about a 45 degree angle from the abdomen, and about 30 cm long. It abdomen is large for such a squat animal and oval shaped if looking from above, and is where the best meat can be found. Walking on black-grey hooves and four legs, they move very little, generally, and simply stand around and graze whatever they can find, although they are bred little in marshlands, as the fitho reed is a deadly poison to them. Most are found fenced-in in pastures where farmers tend to them for a variety of reasons. Predominantly, this is the meat they give, which is considered delicious, although rather common. In addition, their hides can be tanned with a mixture of Wynx urine and Dinaluc bark. This strong yet soft material is used for a veriety of uses, from clothes and armor, to roofs and sword hilts.

Usually docile and harmless, if severely irritated, they can kick with their hooves, which are rather sharp, and have been the cause of many a school boy's concussions and bruises.

ORIGINS:

Wynxes have long been part of human culture, and even some elves and dwarves keep them for food. In addition, they are a favorite feast of any orc or ogre lucky enough to get near enough to one to catch it. They came from the of , and, since their first domestication have spread all over the world. Generally, the are not found wild, as the wild ones were long ago captured or eaten.

SUMMARY:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Grasslands, rural areas on farms

FREQUENCY: Common around people/ VERY rare wild

ORGANIZATION: Herd

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Day

DIET: Grass, shrubs

INTELLIGENCE: Rather low, but won't stand annoyances like rock throwing, etc.

WORLD VIEW: Docile Farm Animal

PREDATORS/COMPETITORS: All larger predators love them. Compete with most grazers, but humans have generally given them priority because of their good tasting meat.

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-17 02:43:45
In-Reply-To: 254

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Well, if its good enough, maybe some one could add it to the worldbook, and maybe tell me what i need to change if not :)

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-17 06:19:05
In-Reply-To: 254

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Another one... that's it for today :) tell me if you think it's better than the other one.

Wicirard Description:

by sweatshop

With its ears perked up in alertness, the small rodent nibbled on a grass seed, swiftly snapping the stalk with its sharp incisors, and furtively glancing around all the time. Without warning, a giant paw clamps down on it, snuffing out its life instantly. The Wicirard had come. Lifting its paw to above its mouth, the jaws clamped shut on the lifeless carcass, and slid off into the darkness, the "Stalker of the Night", the unrivaled hunter.

Wicirard, meaning "Stalker of the Night" in the ancient tongue, is one of the swiftest and stealthiest predators in all of Majik. Purely nocturnal and solitary except for mating time, this mammalian hunter stands about 50 cm tall, and almost 2 m long, fully grown. It has shaggy, grey to black fur over its body, which is on average 4 cm long. Besides its huge teeth, one of the most noticable features is its paws, which are almost 20 cm across, the size of a dinner plate. Its snout is rather short and "U" shaped, with a large black nose at the end and long, thick whiskers. When this wicirard walks, its 'elbows' (or knees) are constantly bent, much like a Komodo Dragon's. Otherwise, it has many features of a Cougar or Panther, with muscular hind legs and swift frontpaws. This predator's senses are truly fine-tuned. It has large, disc-shaped ears, which can detect the smallest grass-seed nibbling rodent from up to 40 m away, and its vision is so accustomed to the night that some believe it can even make its own light, due to the fact that it has very light yellow-green eyes with constantly shine with star and moonlight, although this has been disproven.

Mostly, it feeds on other nocturnal animals, but has been known to take down a sleeping Wynx from its pen, making it a bane to farmers. In addition, as it is rather allusive, there are many myths surrounding this noble creature, and some believe the species to be half-daemon. Parents tell their children horror stories in some forest areas, and use the animal's name for disciplinary practices, saying, "Eat your peas, or the Wicirard's gonna get you!" Most people living in areas where wicirards are prowling have an extreme fear of bing outside alone in the dark.

The Wicirard's origins are, at best, unclear. It was long assumed that at one time the Wicirard was a deamon, but that, as it fell out of favor with the gods, and as it spread itself out through out the world, its powers grew less, until it only had its acute senses left.

With these powerful hunting skills, the Wicirard could easily overpower all the prey in the land, save for one fact: a Wicirard needs to eat many times its own wait per day, so that its territory may cover up to 100 square km.

SUMMARY:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Forests

FREQUENCY: Rare

ORGANIZATION: Solitary

ACTIVITY CYCLE: 100% Nocturnal

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: High level for an animal, but certainly far sub-human.

WORLD VIEW: King of the Forest once night falls.

Additional note: If two male wicicarns see each other, they will definitely fight, and the victor will take over the loser's territory.

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-18 02:14:54
In-Reply-To: 254

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The Eru

Perhaps one of the oddest creatures in Majik, this small reptile is more like a beach ball with a head than anything else. It is about that size -- about 30 cm in diameter at the abdomen, almost a perfect sphere. Scaly and brown, are the words most often used to describe it, and this is true, as its entire is body is covered with brown scales. From the round abdomen come four rather long, flexible legs (30 cm), which are extremely strong with a sticky foot at the end of each leg, with which they can climb vertical surfaces if they are rough enough (wood for instance). However, it is notoriously slow. The small (5 cm) head is also round shaped and has two large eyes, which are adept for looking in many directions at once. Like most reptiles, they have no ears but have holes, which allow some basic hearing. One note is that they have no genders, but instead are both male and female at the same time. Another Eru fertilizes the eggs outside the body.

With this rather unshapely body and slow movement, the Eru might long have been extinct, save for one thing: the fact that all Erus lay large eggs which, if harvested early (before fertilization) they can be eaten and taste “like poached chicken eggs and crab cakes” and are extremely nutritious. For this reason, they are bred by farmers everywhere, and can be quite profitable as the eggs are often in high demand.

The Eru, with its sluggish speed, is rather sedentary, and may move very little for days on end. When it does move, it is only to eat or lay an egg, and the most common food is grain and seeds.

Erus were once much smaller and quicker before they were captured and domesticated, and, although rare, can still be at times seen in the wild, scampering up trees. The eggs of these wild Erus are difficult to find, yet are considered far superior to those of the domesticated kind.

SUMMARY:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Forests wild, farms domesticated

FREQUENCY: rare in the wild, common on farms

ORGANIZATION: flocks

ACTIVITY CYCLE: diurnal

WORLD VIEW: the prey

COMPETITORS/ PREDATORS: not much competition domesticated, in the wild any berry or seed eating animal

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-18 06:47:25
In-Reply-To: 254

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Thanks, Hook, for putting those in the world book. Here's the last one for today. A fish for a change!

Elitsch:

Swift and small; these two words would describe the success of the Elitsch fish throughout lakes and streams and near the shore in the sea. Colored beige as the sand, they can easily camouflage when threatened by predators. Like most fish, their size is relative to the size of their surroundings, and the continue growing all their lives. Thus, the sizes vary greatly, but the average is about 10 cm, weighing about 200 g (a specimen once caught in the ocean was recorded as 63 cm long, at the weight of 5.9 kg). With a dorsal fin that stretches almost the entire length of the back and two rather large pectoral fins and a fan-like pelvic, or tail fin, this small fish can easily propel itself through the water.

Mostly, the Elitsch feeds on algae and plants found in the water, although they also gobble up any insect that might fall into their lake or river.

An Elitsch rarely strays too far from its place of birth, often staying all its life in the same lake or same bend of the river. They spawn their eggs on plants or under rocks, from which young are born within three weeks. However, as they can live in both salt and freshwater, they have spread to every corner of the world.

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Elitsch in summary:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Rivers, lakes, streams, oceans (near the shore)

FREQUENCY: common

ORGANIZATION: loosely organized by association (coexist with other elitsches in the same area)

ACTIVITY CYCLE: diurnal

DIET: algae, insects, other underwater plants

INTELLIGENCE: low

WORLD VIEW: lowly prey: reproduces fast so genes survive

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From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-27 21:13:05
In-Reply-To: 267

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Timial Cat

\tKnown for its speed and dexterous climbing skills, this tree-loving feline populates forests all over Nemen. With its gray, black spotted fur, this cat’s appearance and body is fine-tuned for effective hunting. It has rather short, stubby tail, and a body size of about 85 cm in length and 45 cm in height. Pointed ears and white tufts of fur above these ears along with the slanted eyes create a sinister look, which has created a number of myths about this elusive forest cat.
\tIts most predominant feature is the powerful hind-legs, which the Timial Cat uses to pounce at its prey, and is able to jump up to 5 m. The bane of all smaller creatures, this feline has few predators. The most noted of these are the formidable Wicirard, and there are documentations of the large swamp hawk stealing the Timial’s young, which creates a low survival rate for Timial infants. In general, this cat is known to show little fear, and often, when in a fight with a larger creature, it will fight to its own and commonly the opponent’s death.
\tAs the Timial is purely carnivorous, it, like most large predators, needs quite a large territory to adequately satisfy its hunger. Thus, it generally lives in very small (3 or 4) groups, which usually are similar to the nuclear families of the modern world, with a mother, a father, and usually only one or two offspring. As the children rarely survive past infancy, with death arising from a variety of causes, from predators like the swamp hawk to a sudden famine or such, the female has a litter of about 5 young, and the number who usually perish can be discerned from the end size of a Timial cat ‘family’ (3 or 4 usually die). As food is so scarce in many places, the adults may die if more then one or two of the children live, so at times the mother cat has been known to cull the young if there are too many.
\t



\tSUMMARY:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: forests
FREQUENCY: medium
ORGANIZATION: nuclear family
ACTIVITY CYCLE: whenever they are hungry
DIET: carnivorous
INTELLIGENCE: high for non-sentient being.
WORLD VIEW: aggressive predator



Tell me if I left anything out...

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-28 01:07:27
In-Reply-To: 369

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A tree now:


Refarre Tree

A distant cousin of the Rafet tree, this salt marsh and coastal dwelling tree is truly adapted to life in salt water. Its roots go deep and spread apart in all direction, to counteract the constant pounding of the waves upon its trunk. Refarre trees are often clustered in thick bunches which are almost impenetrable, as this tree has dangerous spikes which can tear flesh. With fan-like leaves and branches that stretch vertically up to 5 m, this tree is able to catch the sunlight in the often misty and foggy marshlands.

The tree has beige-colored bark and dark green leaves. It can be up to 15 m high but generally grows to about 10. Unlike the Rafet tree, the Refarre can release its accumulated salt through the porous leaves, and it does not need to lose its branches to reproduce. Instead, the tree drops, every late summer, up to a hundred little pods, which contain from 5-10 seeds each. When not eaten by animals or people, the pods eventually pop open from the salt water. The seeds can germinate in up to 2 m depth of water.

Role Playing Notes:

-Secretes salt

-Seeds can be eaten (nutritious)

A little short, but if someone could make a Plant Template, it would help a lot.

From: sweatshop
Date: 2002-01-28 04:50:30
In-Reply-To: 371

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Almost done with all the creatures in my food chain.

Gamela

Knobby kneed and squat, this wild dwarf horse is one of the most easily frightened of creatures. Despite its rather peculiar look, the Gamela is in fact quite nimble, and can outrun many of the predators. It stands only 50 cm tall and at most 1 m long. Besides its large knees, the Gamela is almost an exact replica of the horse. Although, they range in color from white to black, the most common color is a bronze-brown. Feeding purely on grass, herds of Gamela have been known to jump over fences of farms and chew the pastureland down to barren earth. For this reason, farmers usually regard them as pests. Gamelas live in large herds, which are organized in an almost egalitarian society; there is no leader, but they simply each do what the others do or what they want to do themselves, which can, depending on the situation, cause either beneficial effects, or a complete mess. For example, if one Gamela finds a patch of green, juicy grass, the others will notice and come too, but, on the other hand, if they are attacked either by people or by predators, the Gamela will run off wildly, and not gain anything by it, as most likely other predators are lurking near by.

The Gamela has not been domesticated because of its shy nature, and thus it is hard to capture alive.

SUMMARY:

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Plains
FREQUENCY: Common
ORGANIZATION: Herd
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Dirunal
DIET: Grass
INTELLIGENCE: Medium
WORLD VIEW: Prey



---sweatshop