Cap-Back

Cattle and Caps

Cap-Backs are magical creature descended from ancient magic-imbued Monitor lizards who once roamed the swamps and rivers of Folkvangr. Over hundreds of years their magics and bodies began to erode and evolve with their world and their river banks, until one particular sub-species arose; the Cap-Back.
Named by their Gnome keepers. They consume vegetation, stray mushrooms and detritus like rotting bark and wood. Mushroom spores on their back digest the nutrients the lizard consumes and the mushrooms grow. The mushrooms can range from completely mundane to poisonous to magical.
Domestication has advanced to the point where a Cap-Back that is not properly "groomed" and doesn't have their mushrooms harvested regularly can grow out of hand. The shrooms can grow so fast and large the lizard has trouble moving around the swamps. They are now symbiotic with their Gnome caretakers and friends.
Some Gnome historians speculate the first village to live alongside the Cap-Back was Greentop and some believe even Always-Blue-Toes was the first to domesticate them.

Tip

Although they look slow, Cap-Backs are capable of great bursts of speed and can cause serious, sometimes fatal slashes with their claws. Clean any would caused by a Cap-Back thoroughly to avoid fungal infection.