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.
	
	
	--sweatshop