Beasts of Dakhoma

Beasts of Burden

Swayback: Swaybacks are bipedal scaly raptors, commonly domesticated in Skyreach for their speed, stamina, and ability to maneuver rough and difficult terrain. Their diet is omnivorous and a swayback can take you most places in the mountains - it just won't be a comfortable ride.

Flydragon: Huge dragonflies capable of carrying a child or small adult, these winged insects are commonly used by couriers for swift transport over mountainous terrain. Unlike a swayback, riding a flydragon in inclement weather is difficult to impossible, and they are usually not large enough to carry more than 200 pounds effectively. Thus, smaller, leaner individuals are usually selected as messengers. See Meganeura

Enkida: Armored herbivorous reptilian tetrapods. Domesticated enkidu females are docile and able to carry heavy loads. See Pareiasaur.

Predators

Gorgons: large sabertooth lizards with powerful axe-shaped jaws, possessing extreme speed and strength. Compare to Gorgonopsids of the late Permian

Bofu: Croc-like amphibian ambush predators. Compare to Uranocentrodon

Not-Deer: Apparently an ordinary deer at first glance, this beast has a sharp set of teeth like a jackal. Capable of running at impressive speeds, a pack of not-deer can easily overpower a human warrior.

Dragons

Drake: Large, fast climbing lizards able to vomit a flaming liquid when threatened.

Land wyrm: Huge burrowing serpents that spit corrosive acid.

Sea wyrm: Huge eel-like serpents that can release electric shocks.

Sky wyrm: Flying, many-legged serpents with multiple throats that can release a sonic blast.

Elsewhales

Elsewhales are massive creatures that can dwarf entire villages, who fly through the skies by unknown means. They are primarily native to the lowlands west of the Skyreach mountains, which are subject to heavy rains that leave the environment wet and muddy. The Elsewhales spend much of their lives in these vast marshlands, but will often journey westward where they will mate at the lower sections of the mountains. The males leave back to the marshlands while the females remain in the vicinity of the mountains, returning to give birth to their young. The babies are born unable to fly and spend their first couple weeks at the base of the mountains where the land is more agreeable and predators are less numerous. When the young have learned to fly, the mothers depart with them back to the western marshes.

It is believed that the whales communicate with each other, since many who witness the creatures claim that deep and melodic humming originates from them.

Carrion Raptor

Carrion raptors are not unlike the world's dragons, only much smaller, bearing legs, and unable to spew. Carrion raptors can grow to the size of a human, and can fly for many miles before having to land. They are the primary form of carrion creatures in the Skyreach Mountains and are not very dangerous. They are lizard-like in appearance, with a broad and pointed head with sharp teeth in order to rip flesh and gnash bones, but their nature as scavengers means that few encounters with them have ever posed any danger. Only as long as one is not cornered or challenged for food, they are relatively docile, especially to humans.

Poly Pods

Poly pods are isopods with segmented back armor often kept as household pets. They are friendly and docile creatures who feed on moss and plant rot, useful in keeping homesteads clean of decay. They are known for often assuming the shape of a ball, made possible by their segmented backsides. They are not large, only about two feet long and less than a foot tall.

Backhoppers

Backhoppers are large insects, often several feet in length and up to five feet in height, which are efficient and ravenous predators in Skyreach. They tend to hunt by jumping down from trees or ambushing from behind to land on the back of their prey. With their mandibles and raptorial legs, they aim to break the neck of their quarry. Wild Backhoppers are not often known to attack humans, but it has happened, often to deadly effects.

In the present day, backhoppers have been domesticated and serve as hunting pets, not very efficient at tracking, but fully capable of killing prey much larger than them, especially when they work in numbers. They are considered temperamental and dangerous companions, and only the most experienced hunters and herdsmen keep them.

Axe-head Salamanders

Axe-head Salamanders are large and lumbering ambush predators found in the creeks and rivers of the Skyreach mountains. They spend their first years as juveniles within the caves of the mountains, before venturing out and living in the surrounding water-ways. They rarely leave the water unless two males fight for territory or the right to mate. They are slow-moving on land, but relatively fast in the water.

They hunt by lying still near river banks, waiting for prey to approach. Their broad heads and powerful jaws ensure that they find their mark and do not lose it, where they then drag their catch down to the deep ends of the river, drowning it if they aren't already dead. They do not go out of their way to hunt humans, but have been known to kill them.

#setting #dakhoma