Hadje Sabertooth

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Racial Magic

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First Ability

Shil's Movement

Able to walk, step on or move through Shil materials freely like smoke, ash, soot, tar and oil and cannot be harmed by these materials, immune to ash magic. They can also briefly turn into these materials, move as they do or travel along similar materials that are present before reforming elsewhere. This allows most hadje to make their dens within tar pits and leaves them right at home in their ashen habitat.

Shill's Shield

Immune to negative effects and/or damage from all ash magic and naturally occurring Shil materials (smoke, ash, char, oil, tar) regardless of temperature or pressure. They can easily breath in or despite these materials as well, unbothered and unimpeded.

Shil's Step

Can enter and exit Shil's Plane via portals and travel the plane freely, without injury. These portals are Shil materials (smoke, ash, char, soot, oil, tar) large enough to fit through. Can bring another with them while maintaining contact. Tar pits and smoke are the most frequent portals for hadje, those with this ability making their lair within Shil's Plane.

Second Ability

Rithaldis's Eye

Able to see radiant energy (sunlight, solar plasma, ionizing radiation) and able to see using radiant energy, even through barriers. Most often used by hadje to identify or locate prey, as many creatures of Shamsi have radiant magic. They also might use this to evade radioactive regions of Shamsi and to avoid drinking irradiated water.

Rithaldis's Form

Can convert parts of their body into a kind of radiant energy (photons, solar plasma, sunlight, ionizing radiation) or has these incorporated into their form. For most hadje, this manifests in their infamous fangs and in their claws but there are those whose fur or entire limbs can transform instead. Each individual is different. They are also immune to damage from radiant energy while in their form, including radiation.

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The hadje sabertooth is a rare feline species found within Emi Toubou of the Shamsi Desert, right at home amid these volcanic highlands and canyons. These are one of the largest felines in Emynea, larger than a lion with a short tail, a mane and infamously long fangs. While the hadje is native only to these ashen mountains, it has cousin species in both the Frozen Wastes and the Continent Beyond, such as the Arctic Sabertooth. These massive, stocky cats strike awe in those that encounter them, for those both lucky and unlucky enough to cross their path! They make their home within either the tar pits of Emi Toubou or within ashen caves, their dens called lairs much like the Manid Hyena, and they prefer to hunt by ambushing their prey.

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Anatomy

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Original Ancestor

Smilodon populator
Sabertooth Tiger

Coloration

The hadje sabertooth has a reddish coat with black stripes. In their magic form their fur will take on a dark orange shade, rust orange or burnt umber, and its white stripes or eyes may sear white like the sun itself.

Size

Weight: 490-1,040 lbs (220-470 kg)
Height: 4 ft (120 cm)
Fangs: 11 in (28 cm)

In the distant past, the hadje would be recognized as a saber tooth tiger, or smilodon, though it has no actual relation to tigers or any other feline. According to local legend, this sabertooth survived only within northern Kanem but whether this was the case or it was one of many extinct species Lunil revived remains uncertain. Now, they are subject of myth, awe and urban legend, some outsiders doubting they exist at all. But such a beast seems fantastical, even apart from their sheer size, as similar species are only found in either the Continent Beyond and Frozen Wastes which are both outide of the Kingdom of Accia's long reach. Locals even claim they are trailed after by Solar Moth, perhaps attracted to their radiant magic.

Hadje are larger than most lions with a short, hyena-like tail, a mane and infamously long fangs. These cats are large and strong enough to carry any prey, occasionally hoisting their kills onto their backs to eat within the privacy of their lair. While they have a sharp intelligence, their senses aren't quite as developped as other cats, their eyes small and unsophisticated. Their tail is also extremelely short, not useful for balance while running or climbing. Because of this and their sheer weight, they only climb trees or scale rocky enscarpments in order to ambush prey. Like other cats, their claws are retractable and their long heel bones grant them incredible jumping capablilities. In fact, their bodies are built for lunging at, pulling down and holding still even the largest of prey, surpassing lions and tigers in this regard. While most cats enact long, suffocating bites to kill, the bite of the hadje is quick and precise so as sto avoid breaking their long teeth. They specifically aim to sever the spinal cord or jugular, relying on their sensitive whiskers when aiming. Even its incisors (teeth between canines) are curved and arched in order to stabilize its bite while its canines penetrate deeper.

The hadje sabertooth is the most muscular and robustly built cat in Emynea, particularly its front legs. Their jaws have a much larger gape than other felines as well, necessary for making full use of their long fangs. It's mouth can open to an astonishing 110 degrees! Its infamous fangs are actually slender and fragile with serrations along the front and back. Their bite is designed for precise and deadly punctures but sacrifices bite force to support them. Their skulls are as robust as their body and well proportioned while their muzzles are short and broad. It's cheeks are deepset and wide to support its large canines and its jaws has indentions to both accomodate and support them. Once prey is dead, they use mainly their back teeth for shearing open skin, neither their teeth nor bite suitable for crushing bones, their bite force only a third as strong as a lions. Because they eat very slowly, hadje will often transport their kills to their lairs, leaving the bones outside for manid hyena to finish off or even sharing a carcass with a trusted individual. It isn't uncommon for manid hyena to make their lair nearby, some going so far as to alert the hadje sabertooth when it perceives intruders!

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Habitat

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These feline are found exclusively within the mountain ranges of the Shamsi Desert, especially Emi Toubou. They are infamous within Aznag, Idraren Draren and Kanem for their powerful and bold nature though there are those who claim these beasts are only myth--rarely spotted or those who do rarely suriviving. Because they prefer to hunt by ambush, they are confined within mountainous and forested biomes and they have a particular preference for habitats influenced by Shil. This is because they prefer to make their lairs within tar pits, some going so far as to hunt using them. Bones littering the edges of tar pits and watering holes is usually a sure sign you've wandered into hadje territory!

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Diet

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The sheer bulk of their body comes with a cost: they rely heavily on the presence of large herbivores to sustain themselves. This is perhaps why they make their home within the winding and dissected canyons and mountains of Emi Toubou and why they are so rare, their numbers few. Herbivores make their way into Emi Toubou from the surrounding desert in search of water, these mountains one of very few habitats in central Shamsi with an ample supply of water. Hadje sabertooths lurk within scrub, between rocky structures or even from branches of trees and within tarr pits in order to ambush unwary prey. They most frequently hunt large herbivores, only hunting smaller prey when other food is scarce and opportunistically, not particularly fast or agile. The main strategy of these solitary, nocturnal predators is to grasp prey with their powerful front claws and finish them off with their precise bite in order to sever nerves and puncture veins. Their bite itself isn't partucilarly strong, a sacrific made in order to support their elongated fangs. As a result, their bodies have grown to be more robust in order to immobilize prey more easily. They also aren't adverse to scavenging but their stomachs and bite aren't quite as powerful as that of the Manid Hyena, often leaving behind plenty for these hynea to finish off or even sharing a carcass so the hynea can crack open the bones in exchange for their share. In fact, these two have an almost symbiotic relationship.

Hadje are apex predators of Emi Toubou, the largest predator of Shamsi by far. Only the meek Manid Hyena even comes close.

Raqs Gazelle, Azru Aoudad, Garkuwa Tortoise, Mefkaht Ostritch and Abu Qarn Oryx but are also known to target domesticated animals like Tamadla Goat, Shamsi Camel, Impangele Hen and Aa-hemet Donkey if not targetting their human shepherds. While they will often ambush prey within vegetation, winding canyons and near watering holes, they have one additional technique unique to the hadje sabertooth--they lay in wait within tar pits! Herbivores enjoy grazing the plants growing around these pits and it isin't uncommon for specimens to fall in or become trapped in this tar. Rather than gobbling these up immediately, the hadje will reposition these along the edges of these pits to attract other predators! As beasts like the Ayyur Fox, ǁKo Wild Dog, Wata Jackal and Hangkok Lizard draw closer to feed on these corpses, the hadje will ambush them and pull them into the pits before consuming both carcasses at its liesure. There are even accounts which claim these felines will consume al-Nil Crocodile! Overall, hadje will eat any prey they can catch without pursuit as they are opportunistic ambushers, highly adaptable to even new and unfamiliar prey.

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Reproduction

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This species is relatively solitary and nocturnal, living in monogomous pairs and with offpsring of which they have very few thanks to limited resources. They actually spend the majority of their day liesurely, relying on large meals and ambush tactics. Thanks to this low population, competition for mates is also minimal and fights are infrequent but lethal. When they do breed, the care they provide for their offspring is long lasting and meticulous. They carefully protect, feed and teach their children complex hunting techniques, usually siring several cubs at once. These cubs grow quite slowly, taking several years to mature. Their infamous teeth begin to emerge between 12-19 months, growing alongside their baby teeth up until this point. The muscles used to enact their infamous bite don't develop until they are a year and a half old, finally losing all of their baby teeth at 23-30 months old. Young hadje reach their full adult size at three years old, living almost exclusively within their parents' lair up until this point. It is once their teeth are fully grown that their parents teach them how to hunt. They communicate with each other via deep, sonorous vocalizations and even purring, a sound which can be heard over long distances within Emi Toubou.