Isynx

Anatomy & Morphology

Feline creatures that (when shaved) are about the size of an ox. Their fur covers their entire body and nearly doubles their size. Their fur is thick and hollow, keeping them warm from the harsh cold. The fur on their face is much shorter, allowing their facial features to be recognizable (their ohbz braid their fur out of the way for them to see and smell more easily). Underneath their fur and lumbering appearance, they are extremely muscular.

Their broad tail is just as wide as their body, and half as long. Their paws are the largest, relative to their body, of nearly all other creatures with “paws”. They have terrible eyesight, relying on their sense of aura and smell to hunt and communicate.

Habits

Dietary Needs and Patterns

Carnivores
Usually hunting in packs of three or four, the designated hunters of the clan set off daily to bring back food for the young, old, and sick. Any more in the hunters unit would have them alerted sooner, letting the prey escape. It comes to the most fit adults to be designated as hunters, not discriminating by gender or rank. For the most part, the can hunt by themselves, only having bands to catch more than one could do alone, or having others bring back food quickly while they catch more. Watching an Isynx hunt will seem chaotic at first, only learning of complex strategies each clan forms from their stories or watching them for weeks.

Their thick fur coats and slow approach camouflage in the snow as stones or snow-crusted plants. They slowly approach their prey until they are noticed, them then sprinting faster than one might think possible. Their weight can pin most to the ground, but for larger prey the use their thick claws rend flesh and let their prey bleed out, them only needing to follow the trail of color along the white snow to their meal.

Their jaws are not the strongest,only using their serrated teath for tearing apart an already dead creature. They can also not open their mouths too wide, as their jaws do not extend far from their face. Their faces look like they had run into a solid wall. This is so they retain heat better on the one part of their body more exposed to the cold -due to the fur on their face being shorter-.

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Mating Rituals & Family

Isynx live with their families, or clans, and only mingle with other clans to diversify their members such as sending a male to another clan.
This sharing of members also creates alliances and power plays, so it is usually the head female who chooses who goes and who is brought in.

Every clan’s territory, through no fault of their own, differ in terrain, bounty, and many aspects. This leads to some clans having easier time hunting, easier travel, or more pleasant weather conditions. The best area, deemed by all, are the Prime Hunting Grounds or Fjakarker (fyak-ar-ker) outside of Oak , owned by the . With the ease of bringing up their young and living in general, the Kvisvir. The Kvisvir have built a strong city and are the clan to send one’s males to. Over the years, many clans who call themselves Kvisvir have fallen, their territory and name taken by the conquerors.

Their territory, too, is large enough to hold several clans comfortably. They let a chosen few use their territory. To alleviate the contempt others felt towards them, they change what clans they allow in their territory every seven Noinkuz/years. On the seventh year, during the dead season, many clans either send envoys or take a pilgrimage to the holy Fjakarker for the festivities of Tahgaeti.

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Original Ecology & Habitat

Living in the lowest of lands, further west than most, the Isynx have made their home in the coldest parts of Kald. Their territories span acres, hunting grounds taken by different clans. Outcropping of rocks, caves, thickets, or under floating land, the Isynx find areas to sleep wherever they can. They migrate with the seasons, chasing prey wherever they roam in the clan’s territory. If they prey where to enter another clans territory, they stop their hunt, seeing it safer to find new food than to challenge another clan. The harsh cold has some areas barren of larger plants, but massive herds of Bouka has them claiming tundras and boreal forests alike.

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Hygiene

Bathing: Their ohbz are given the duty of cleaning their host Isynx. The ohbz keep them free of parasites, keep their fur from tangling, and tend to wounds. If the host isynx is excessively dirty, they might venture to bathe in a body of running water. But this runs the risk of them harming their ohbz. If the ohbz stay in their fur, they can drown. And it's always dangerous for any ohbz to not be with their isynx.

Etc

When Isynx travel from the cold homes, they shave their fur down considerably to tolerate the increase in heat, unable to shave completely lest their ohbz lose their home.

Heavy sense of honor, not willing to step in another's territory even if it means a meal gets away.
Isynx are the reason polar bears are extinct.

Their major Reln is Jyk.

Subspecies

Keit

Forest Dwellers
Average Lifespan
30-120 years

Appearance

Their color is usually white to light blue, some having a little bit of brown in their fur.
Size
4-6 meters from snout to tail tip
1.5-2.3 meters in height [gr]

Fham

Tundra Roavers
Average Lifespan
30-120 years

Appearance

Black to dark brown and dark gray fur
Size
3.8-5.7 meters from snout to tail tip
1.3-2 meters in height

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Eskas