The magical fallout from the Dematalyst caused many changes; changes not only to the people of Sonnerand but to every member of its many ecosystems as well. Many animals were mutated to take on new aspects and features, others were warped as a result of the magic experiments, and others still are strange corruptions of former people. Some are a great boon to Sonnerand and its people, yet others are terrifying to face and behold. Below are a few short descriptions of some of the unique creatures from various areas of Sonnerand.
Wings - Flying Frog
Frogs with membrane like meshes between their legs. Responsible for >50% decrease in Sonnerand's mosquito population post-Dematalyst. They glide moreso than fly, however in the jungles of Iuan some varieties of poisonous frog have developed stronger flapping wings. These varieties also tend to be extremely poisonous, with some flying frogs being kept by other Iuanian species as 'deterant pets.'
Stripes - Northern Moroamian Jelly Bee
A fat little insect the size of a human thumb. Harvests tree pollen to produce a thick gelatinous goop for its larva to feed upon. Unlike normal bees they can sting more than once-- but they are just as useful to the environment. Bee jelly, like honey, has many uses in a wide variety of areas-- most notably being a main ingredient in standard health potions.
Horn - Rakarile
A water-dwelling predator of southern Aomia. The Rakarile is a low-to-the-ground reptile with a single unicorn-like portrusion jutting from its elongated snout. Preys on animals who come to drink beside the water, and is a natural competitor of the crocodile. Rakarile horns are said to enhance fertility and are often found in southern Trade State marketplaces being advertised as such.
Shell - Locknock
Locknocks are huge mollusks that live in the shallow waters of atolls and archipelagos. They communicate through click-like vibrations amplified through their shells. Aquatic creatures, like mermaids and Ixichitl, use Locknocks as storage devices.
Colorful - Lunar Mosaic
The Lunar Mosaic moth is a flying insect with specialized pigments within the wings. These pigments catch and reflect moonlight. In a fluttering group, many moths can reflect the moonlight in such a way that it can cause disorientation or burns.
Nocturnal - Roppling
These small primates hide in the burrows, hollows, and knuckerholes of the Gild Wald. Ropplings are just one of many different animals that utilize the Gild Wald's huge interconnected network of tunnel-like roots. During the day, they stay underground, and at night they venture out to both tend to the trees and forage for fruits and mushrooms.
Mythical - Altar Scamp
Scamps are quasi-fiendish entities born from the jaded malevolence of lost faith. They appear at altars, barrows, or ruins where the worshipped deity or interred individual has been forgotten. Scamps exist only to protect the idea or corpse of whatever they're based around. Scamps also usually have some inherent connection to an energy or elemental plane, this connection is their "power source" so to say.
Prey - Jhidalien
These soft-spoken and reclusive apes hide away in faraway woodlands and jungles. They build covered shelters of leaves and logs to camouflage themselves. Jhidalien lack an amygdala, which means they are incapable of feelings like danger, anger, fear, anxiety, etc. However, Jhidaliens have a hyper-developed hippocampus that gives them impeccable memory and emotional responsiveness. They are pacifist by nature.
Monstrous - Broodkeeper Spider
The central Aldus Plains are where Broodkeeper Spiders hold a comfortable position at the top of the food chain. Broodkeepers are semi-eusocial arachnids that create and maintain vast colonies. Like other eusocial species, the colony is spawned from a king and queen Broodkeeper. These mating pairs are complex, as the king spider embeds itself into the nervous system of the queen. The king becomes solely responsible for the defense, movement, and actions of the queen; the queen, meanwhile, becomes the brain of the colony and directs orders across the entire brood. Broodspider "wars" have wiped out entire human villages.
Danger - Grenadier Rudderwing
Rudderwings are species of butterfly that have an additional wing extending from the bottom of their abdomen. As the name would suggest, this acts as a stabilizer during flight. Grenadier Rudderwings produce nitroglycerin from their abdomen, and their stabilizer wing is coated in a mixture of coarse dust that, when flicked, sparks like a flint and steel. This results in a burst as the nitroglycerin explodes and releases an attack pheromone. Grenadiers can reach top speeds of 150 MPH because of this. It is also used as a weapon, with swarms of grenadiers clinging to enemies and continually subjecting their victims to point-blank explosions. They are natural enemies of Bladewings.
Purr - Ruby-Eyed Gemcat
These felines of the Underdark come in a variety of subspecies. This one, the Ruby-Eyed Gemcat, is known for its eponymous dazzling scarlet eyes. They are highly valued among sapient Underdark species for their regal beauty and calm demeanor. Unlike other Gemcats, rubies prefer to make their clusters in illuminated areas. Typically this means Ruby-Eyed Gemcats make their homes around areas of high magical potency. Interestingly, Ruby-Eyed Gemcats aren't adverse to sunlight and seem to exhibit exaggerated behavioral patterns under the sun and moon.
Roar - Paislbren
Paislbren are natives of the jungle island of Iuan. Though only three-feet tall, the Paislbren appears like a humanoid T-rex with a falcon-like beak and curled sharpened horns that frame the creature's jawline. Paislbren are extremely vicious and territorial, using ambush tactics and hunting gangs to carve out vast swaths of jungle as their turf. Genecan explorers have had no shortage of harassment from the Paislbren who grow increasingly annoyed at the human's attempts to master the jungle. Paislbren often fight Pacliquees in short, explosively brutal combats.
Shriek - Arborbanes
The scornful spirits of animals killed due to unnatural forest fires, pollution, or deforestation may be reanimated by Glistor as Arborbanes. An Arborbane keeps the same appearance it had in its first life, such as a raccoon, squirrel, or mouse, but hides its true form-- a semifathomable shadow-entity with over 500 needle-sharp teeth and a mouth that acts as a portal to the plane of Pandemonium. The Arborbane reveals this form to those who would kill more denizens of the forest.
Howl - Fogrunner Hyena
The Savannah of Horsh is one of the most competitive hunting grounds in Sonnerand. Among the top competitors is the magically-enhanced Fogrunner Hyena. When a species of opportunistic hyenas wandered into the Arcanist-Seared Badlands after the Wen they were infused with necrotic energy. This actually turned out great for the Hyenas, who gained the ability to cloak their movements and partially turn invisible. Their descendants are the Fogrunners, who still hold a modicum of this power and use their silent footfalls to reap plenty of bounty from the Savannah.
Tame - Orunjay
These distant cousins of Peryton serve as the official animal of Dellwind where they are beloved for their loyalty, companionship, and role in defending the city. The famed Orunjay Riders of Dellwind maintain a sky cavalry that, when effectively utilized, can repel dragons. The standard Orunjay has a face that's a mixture between a deer and a hound with long droopy ears and antlers, a long body with tall slender legs and paws, and a set of appropriately large heron-like wings with which it can use to remain aloft for hours at a time.
Pack - Dream Locusts
Feared in the folklore of Malomus, Dream Locusts are psychic insects that devour subconscious thought. Many cases of delusion, amnesia, and mass hysteria can be linked back to a passing group of Dream Locusts. In rare cases the locusts create swarms with tens of thousands of members that take to the night sky and devour the dreams and thoughts of entire cities. These cities go on just as normal, except every member of the population may have synchronized visions of buzzing insects, or thoughts of fleeing from nearby birds.
Burrow - Pitfall Snail
Snails with drill-like elongated conical shells. By slowly twisting their bodies into the earth, they revert into the top of their shells (which becomes the 'bottom' when it pushes itself into the ground) and wait. From there, they await passing insects, rodents, or reptiles to fall into the opening of their shells. The adhesive and mildly acidic body of the snail devours and dissolves its prey. When outside of the ground, pitfall snails are obvious targets and even slower than their round-shelled cousins.
Bond - Tassel Snake
Named for their plush tassel-shaped tails, these pale pinkened snakes are extremely friendly to gnomes for some unknown reason. Entire sects of gnomish rangers and druids use Tassel Snakes as stalwart companions. Bonded Tassel Snakes enjoy draping themselves across the back of the neck. The snake has marvelous hearing, and often alerts its partner to oncoming danger.
Stinky - Isotogrel
These foul canine beasts are one the few native species of Deciland. They are said to be the result of Tnnilian housepets who have undergone drastic mutation due to the devastation of the Blue Thunder Cabal. Isotogrels are hideous creatures of detestable hygiene with matted fur and cauliflowery ears. They lay eggs in standing water like mosquitos, and their saliva and bodily excretions are like sulfuric acid. Isotogrels are mildly radioactive and their bites can inflect radiation sickness. Recently they have appeared on Moroam following an Tnnilian ship wrecking off the Quartz Coast with a bilge that was filled with their eggs.
Gentle - Bodentier
The easy-going Bodentier has a physically intimidating form: large as a moose, stocky as a grizzly, and with the bounding grace of an ibex. These creatures are typically found in wooded mountainsides where they keep dens in tree-shrouded caves. Bodentiers have dryad-like affinities to their environments and powerful Bodentiers (called "
shamans") are able to exert their will upon the dirt and stone. This power is used altruistically and conservatively. However, Bodentiers have been reported to take great pleasure in denying a predator the thrill of the hunt by creating rockslides between the hunter and their prey.
Messenger - Relayroot Ants
One of Sonnerand's many magically altered species of ants. Relayroots have antenna and pheromones that can exchange far more complex messages than other ant species. They are primarily found in the Gild Wald, where they exhibit an even stranger characteristic: peace among ants. Relayroots are capable of establishing and even respecting colony borders, typically confining a unique colony to the roots of a single tree. Once borders are established, specialized "radars" and "transmitters" are established. Radars detect threats and transmit a detailed warning message to its colony, from there a transmitter will relay the message to the next colony. This can lead to massive coordinated movements. Swarm druids sometimes use these ants to maintain total surveillance on their groves.
Food - Voma
Voma are a livestock animal used in the Assembled Trade States and regularly eaten across Northern Moroam. Voma are three-and-a-half foot long mammals with large bounding back legs. A full foot of this length is attributed to their sizeable tails. In the wild, Voma swing their tails to bash and stun potential predators, the tails are filled with muscle and fat. In farms around Dellwind, Voma have been bred to have nearly three-foot-long tails-- with the most exquisite of Voma being pampered with daily tail massages and berry-rich feed. Braised Voma-Tail is a cultural dish of Dellwind typically eaten in the cold winter months, especially in the celebratory year-end gap of Middim.
Vicious - Riles
A Rile is the typically used term for a man (though this is
not exclusive to men) who has been corrupted by Ragnorra, Mother of Monsters. Riles can be made in many ways; cultists can become them through intensive prayer, hags can create them in foul rituals, Ragnorra Progeny monsters can transform someone, etc. The best comparison for a Rile would be the male-equivalent of a hag. Unlike hags, who have many different varieties, currently a Rile just appears in one variety though their appearances can vastly deviate form one another. Riles exist only to create more Riles; they also have unstable planar abilities which let them open gates to random planes of existence.
Silent - Quartz Bladewing
This variety of seabird can be found around the Glittering Gulf. Bladewings are white as snow and are between the size of a seagull and pelican. The ends of the Bladewing's wings are steely gray, and the feathers are reinforced with a lightweight aluminum-adjacent biometal that the bird produces. Using its wings, the Bladewing will take impressive dives into the ocean and slice fish apart. They are natural enemies of Rudderwings.
Parasite - Word-Eater Worm
These curious little worms are strange in the way that they eat printed text. Like a reverse-printer, Word-Eater Worms will lift and erase entire sentences off a document. This is because the worm has an unexplained affinity to the Wall of Names, and uses the Wall's power to make its stomach capable of digesting ink. In the wild, these worms can be found clinging onto the underside of squid tentacles to feed off ink jets. Some organizations, like The Linkage, will use these worms in espionage missions.
Predator - Pacliquee
The agile and deadly Pacliquee is one of Iuan's most dangerous creatures. Pacliquees are bipedal insects that stand roughly 6 feet tall at the head. A further 2 feet of height is due to their horns, anchor-shaped chitinous battering rams. Pacliquee's have two spindly grippy arms that extend from the mid-torso. Above these arms they wield two scythe arms like that of a preying mantis. Pacliquee's are social animals with intelligence equal to that of dolphins or crows. Despite their superior size they are often harried by groups Paislbren, always needing to move in order to avoid constant harassments.
Stalk - Gromile
Gromiles are the reptilian equivalent of a cheetah. Quadrupedal with long legs that bare humanoid feet, Gromiles are made for movement and distance running. They are the only reptile that can sweat to regulate body heat, and their blood is far closer to warm than cold (though they still do not fair well in cold climates). Their sweat is also scent-masking, letting them gain an important stealth advantage over other predators. In the Savannah of Horsh these animals are known for following close by prides of lions or elephants for days at a time. When night falls, or the moment is right, the Gromile makes it attack and uses venomous fangs to quickly paralyze prey.
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