Bugadillo
The Stoutman Adventuring Party made their first expedition during the Founding Year, investigating the landing site of a meteor that was seen a few weeks before the Fey Fall. Upon their return, they explained how they had found the meteor crashed through the roof of a large open cavern. In that cavern had been the ruins of a dwarven city, dubbed the Comet's Rest by the adventurers. No sentients lived there anymore, but the homes and streets were infested with large insectoid creatures. Stoutman and his two colleagues had brought a few of these with them as they shared their tale. These were the first bugadillos to be brought into society.
Bugadillos are about the size of small pigs, with segmented bodies that can roll up tightly to form a defensive wheel. The greyish blue armor plates are thick enough to protect them from bludgeoning impacts, such as would be common with cave-ins, and on the surface have proven to be a proper protection against the sun. They have three pairs of legs outfitted with blunt hooks that help them to dig through any kind of packed dirt or even pick through stone. Their faces are not particularly pleasant to behold for many people, with five beady eyes, four sensory antennae, and several sets of mandibles capable of breaking apart nearly anything edible.
Since their first discovery, bugadillos have been tamed and bred into livestock by the Concordian community. They are very docile and curious creatures subsisting on an opportunistic omnivorous diet. With no natural predators in the cavern, they had grown to large numbers and lived in large social groups, but they are just as content with a solitary life. As long as they have ample food, they can be loyal and even seem to form friendships with sentients. Therefor Bugadillos have been kept in households for many centuries. They function basically as the family's waste disposal, while also being a food reserve. Bugadillo flesh is not only edible, but nutritious and delicious.
Nowadays bugadillos are mostly only found in rural homes or places with enough ground to dig in. The hardest part about their care is that they prefer to create a nest underground, and don't always take comfort with the concrete lining of a cellar. Anyone still wanting to keep a bugadillo would need to provide it with a proper dig box to allow for its need to burrow, without jeopardizing the stability of the entire house.
Bugadillos are about the size of small pigs, with segmented bodies that can roll up tightly to form a defensive wheel. The greyish blue armor plates are thick enough to protect them from bludgeoning impacts, such as would be common with cave-ins, and on the surface have proven to be a proper protection against the sun. They have three pairs of legs outfitted with blunt hooks that help them to dig through any kind of packed dirt or even pick through stone. Their faces are not particularly pleasant to behold for many people, with five beady eyes, four sensory antennae, and several sets of mandibles capable of breaking apart nearly anything edible.
Since their first discovery, bugadillos have been tamed and bred into livestock by the Concordian community. They are very docile and curious creatures subsisting on an opportunistic omnivorous diet. With no natural predators in the cavern, they had grown to large numbers and lived in large social groups, but they are just as content with a solitary life. As long as they have ample food, they can be loyal and even seem to form friendships with sentients. Therefor Bugadillos have been kept in households for many centuries. They function basically as the family's waste disposal, while also being a food reserve. Bugadillo flesh is not only edible, but nutritious and delicious.
Nowadays bugadillos are mostly only found in rural homes or places with enough ground to dig in. The hardest part about their care is that they prefer to create a nest underground, and don't always take comfort with the concrete lining of a cellar. Anyone still wanting to keep a bugadillo would need to provide it with a proper dig box to allow for its need to burrow, without jeopardizing the stability of the entire house.
