Vermin

Emerald green eyes shine from the shadows, a dozen pairs of them. Muscle toned hides deflect the light from a traveller's lantern. Teeth are bared and blood splatters.
Vermin are terrifying hunters that roam the lands day and night. To the people of Snowgulch they are just undomesticated livestock. They are ceaselessly run through with spears, singed with flame, and skinned alive as game; for they cannot fight an intelligent race that possesses not only tactics but immense brawn.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Sharp teeth rest beneath a long snout with nostrils that look suspiciously like puncture wounds. Moving down, the main body is somewhere between a giant rat and a grandiose wolf with four robust legs keeping it from the ground. Extending from the face are two knife-like ears and at their intermediacy are two glistening emerald lamps known as eyeballs. At their behinds, a foot-long tail leaves the bulk as the end branch of the backbone.

Biological Traits

Male and female brains are wired differently for vermin. A male will hunt in a pack of a least a dozen, ambushing big game at a high risk, all in the name of their colony. On the other hand females will go on tamer expeditions, often on their own, for the sake of themselves and their pups. Colonies would find it impossible to survive relying on only the male hunts, considering a few failings in a row would risk starvation.

Genetics and Reproduction

Vermin sexually reproduce at an astounding rate and reach sexual maturity at only four-to-five months. The gestation period is between 20 and 25 days, the most terse of any large creature, and litters range from five pups to fifteen. It is thanks to this fantastical routine that the gulch have no qualms hunting vermin relentlessly.

Growth Rate & Stages

Similarly to behemons, vermin develop much more hastily than they have any right to. They are considered pups for five months as they mature to an adult size where they then promptly leave their burrows to go hunting. Later at the age of just two years, the decline of physical ability begins, old age crashes down upon them and they become both infertile and inept at hunting. If a vermin ever reaches this stage of life, it is likely to be reduced to a feast for its peers.

Ecology and Habitats

Vermin are fierce predators whether on a mountain ridge or in a forested grassland, but they are inclined to have their burrows in the former at Flourim mountain. The alp has been ripped through and almost hollowed out by extensive cave systems, wholly filled with vermin dens.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

A vermin is trivial to distinguish from any other four-legged beast on the grounds of their jade beacons of irises. Their glares kindle darkness in a nauseating manner, leading to their chilling perception as shadows in gloom, only glimpsed as pairs of green lights.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

A vermin's sight is worse than a humanoid's but still serviceable. They see everything as either grey, green, or red, unable to distinguish from the rest of the spectrum. In terms of auditory ability they are slightly above an elf, capable of hearing sounds up to 60,000Hz in frequency and from five times the distance a human can. While not the best sniffers on the planet vermin are certainly exceptional, because being able to smell certain items even when buried 50 feet underground is no trifling feat.

Lifespan

6 months

Conservation Status

The gulch know what they are doing and carefully track the vermin population. Excursions into the vermin breeding grounds of Flourim mountain are rare occasions that only take place when the population is far too high to be sustainable. Vermin are cultivated with great care and cut down precisely, all in the name of maintaining a good food source.

Average Weight

Male: 60-100kg Female: 55-90kg

Average Length

Male: 1.9-2.5m Female: 1.7-2.2m

Average Physique

Even when pups are infantile and feeble they are forced into brutal and constant infighting with siblings or adults. After five entire months of it any weakling is long dead and those that remain are intimidating walls of might. To see a weak vermin is to a failing of nature.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

A vermin's hide is sleek and muscled, except for the innumerable crimson scars that rupture through the natural onyx pigment. Lacerations are everywhere and ears are often missing. Beyond that, there may be hollows in the neck or legs maimed by claws. As a result, it is no surprise that vermin no longer respect pain - and they will claw through it at any cost.