Budding Cattle

Budding cattle (also known as "Kensley Cattle") are a rather peaceful Retribution Beast. The first budding cattle were discovered as a herd of identical (but otherwise normal) cows moving out of the Retribution Wastes. The mercenary warriors that found them were unsure if the Retribution had affected the cattle, and there was disagreement over whether the cattle should be slain just in case.
The mercenaries noted that the cattle had an unnatural stillness about them, and could be lead with surprising ease. Yet, it was one of the few Retribution beasts that hadn't tried to eat them, so they decided to bring the cattle to From Pennies to Penance Foundation for the outstanding bounty on living retribution beasts. During the week of travel to Crossroads Proper, the mercenaries found that the cattle refused to eat, but were quick to drink, and were difficult to dislodge from water sources once they started drinking. The mercenaries kept strict control of the cattle's access to water to prevent them from over-drinking.
After the cattle's arrival at From Pennies to Penance Foundation, and a long night of research and experimentation, the researchers discovered that the cattle were extremely docile, not responding to any stimulus short of being lead by rope. The exception to this was if a water source was in sight, at which point the cattle would move to the water source and continually drink. After a few hours, a lump would develop on the cattle, and eventually that lump would form a head and progressively form a body. Eventually that lump would be cattle-sized, and would detach from its host, and both would continue drinking from the water source.
Seeing the potential of such a miraculous source of food, John Kensley ordered testing to see if the meat of the cattle was edible. After a month-long study by two dozen volunteers who ate a meal of steak every day (half getting regular steak, another getting budding cattle steak), the two groups were found to be in identical health (and quite eager to continue the experiment).
The experiment was considered a success, and now From Pennies to Penance Foundation is heavily advertising Budding Cattle as a solution to the food woes of the Crossroads region, with the cattle being found in an increasing number of From Pennies to Penance Foundation-partnered farms.
Kensley had hoped that the cattle's unique traits could be inherited to more breeds of cattle, but results with introducing various bulls all failed to produce a pregnancy, and the cattle were declared sterile.

Scientific Name

Bos Taurus Propullans