Hellhounds

Tell me, mister "Black Hound", as you seem so very knowledgeable and have surely delved deeper than the 'mediocre' labyrinth divers do. What does it mean when you hear the sound of stone grinding echo through a tunnel? Or the low barks filling the air around you while beneath the earth? What do you do when you are surrounded by the very hounds of the depths, by the Hellhounds?
— Grand Scholar of Conlis, Magnus Everlight

Basic Information

Anatomy

Hellhounds are fairly simple creatures when it comes to their general shape. They are, effectively a corrupted hybrid of a massive rodent of some sort that has gone through intense mutation due to the taint and thousands of years of evolution. They now possess a variety of physical traits that make them terrifying hunters. The first being their incredibly powerful jaws, tusks, and claws designed to tear through stone as if it were nothing sand. They are massive, quadrupedal beasts lacking fur and instead are covered in a thick, leathery fur that is incredibly tough to the touch. Similar to hardened leather in texture with iron-like muscles found beneath. Their heads are blunted, with thick skull bones that extend out into large blunted horns used to smash through large rock their claws cannot shred. Their upper bodies are much larger than their lower, as their back legs are built less for digging and more for high-speed movements to remove the loose soul and push it out behind them. Due to this their back legs also double as powerful springboards, allowing them to hold immense jumping distances well beyond what would be normal for their great size. Females hold six to eight breasts on their underbelly.

Biological Traits

Hellhound's claws and tusks are one of their greatest traits, being that they are capable of instinctually channeling their mana into them to cause high-speed vibrations both in battle and for travel. This causes their claws to hold devastating effects when they make contact with anything mineral-based, but in return have surprisingly minimal effect on non-solid structures. Tearing through metal armor, weapons, buildings, and the like with ease. Yet, though they are incredibly damaging to flesh they are no more dangerous than anything else their size in such a way. That is, until they make contact with bone using their blows, in which case entire bone structures can be instantly shattered by their claws or tusks. The secondary ability of the Hellhounds, which granted them their name, was their ability to coat their bodies in heatwaves using the same vibrations that cloak their claws and tusks. As these vibrations pick up in speed and pitch based on how threatened the Hellhound becomes, they will eventually compress their mana to the point that it causes heatwaves to radiate off their bodies. This, in turn, will cause ignition in the atmosphere. Causing brilliant, incredibly hot white flames to begin pouring off the bodies of the creatures. Thus, the source of their name. Just like most creatures from the Labyrinth, due to their focused specialization and corrupted blood they hold excessive weakness to natural sunlight. However, they lack the common weakness of other forms of heat. Sunlight will however cause burns on their skin, and can eventually lead to their death if enough contact is made leading to serious third-degree burns. They are especially susceptible to potent spicey smells, though rancid odors have no effect on them. Loud noises are also quite effective.

Genetics and Reproduction

Hellhound hold a single matriarch who leads the pack. She holds the primary mating rights, gating the choice of the strongest alpha male for her own, the rest of the pack are then free to mate as they wish. It's not uncommon at all for the female to hold several 'favored males' that she allows none of the others to breed with. Female Hellhounds will generally have a litter of two to six pups. They will generally need to be nursed for up to a week off their mother's milk before being able to begin consuming meats and roots, but will continue to nurse off their mother, or any other females in the pack for the next month of their lives. Around this point they will begin making full transitions to being proper omnivores. Hellhound are considered proper adults by the time they reach six months of age and are capable of breeding by this point.

Growth Rate & Stages

Hellhounds grow at an exceptionally high rate matching their ravenous appetites, and relatively short life spans. Generally incubating in their mother's womb for three months before birth. At this point they are considered nursing pups for the first month of their lives, and then standard younglings until they are around six months of age. At this point, they are capable of breeding and are considered adults of their species. They will then be able to live for an additional ten years on average, before beginning to degrade and dying at around the age of twelve of natural causes. Despite these facts, Hellhounds never actually stop physically growing. Starting out the size of a small dog when born, and then rapidly growing the size comparable roughly to a black bear once they are adults. After this point, they will then continue growing slowly until the day they die. The amount they grow based on the amount of food they are able to access. The largest Hellhound's have been found to be even larger than polar bears, capable of standing on their hind legs to reach well over twelve feet in height.

Ecology and Habitats

Hellhounds live within the dark tunnels of the The Labyrinth, hunting the The Pale, and Swarmers primarily as well as any other unwary travelers that wander into the depths of the world. They tend to form large dens within the stone that they burrow themselves, forming elaborate tunnel networks between the various floors of the Labyrinth itself.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Like many of the creatures found beneath the earth, Hellhound are omnivores with advanced digestive systems. Though they aren't capable of eating nearly anything like the Pale, they are well known for eating plantlife considered poisonous by most. Ingesting practically anything organic to fuel their growth.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The Hellhound follows a Matriarchal rule, where the strongest female chooses one to three alpha males as her own breeding partners. These males are considered the next in charge, followed by all females, and then all other males depending on the ranking of their own females. This structure will rarely change unless the Matriarch herself changes. Though the lower-ranks can fluctuate on occasion. Beyond this they have a highly functional social communication, working together in and out of hunts to help goom and care for one another. Rarely fighting amongst themselves and instead proving their superiority during hunts. Generally, there is an entire colony of Hellhounds that number from twenty to fifty total. Each separated into packs of around four to ten individual Helllhounds that will share all food gathered. Pups will even nurse from multiple females, not just their own mothers. Raising and guarding the pups and young as well as teaching them falls on all adults in the colony, and all are treated akin to family whether truly related or not. They communicate through noises and pheromones to express basic emotions, orders and desires. Generally through barks, each with a different pitch, length, and meaning that the colony knows as a form of basic language.

Domestication

Though few have tried, there seems to be some possibility due to their high intellect, and social capabilities. However, studies into this have led to failure due to the colony's hunger combined with their inability to go out into sunlight. It is still theoretically possible to domesticate them, however.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Hellhound claws, tusks and bone are all worth tremendous amounts of money due to their incredibly sturdy material. However, their leather is useless for armor due to it turning to ash in the sunlight along with their flesh. Their organs, especially their digestive system, eyes, and brains however are well known for their alchemical uses.

Average Intelligence

Though Hellhounds are not highly sapient, they are fairly intelligent. Capable of communicate during hunts and advanced social behavior as well as basic learning capabilities for shapes, colors, etc.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Unlike many species within the Labyrinth, the Hellhounds have not completely lost their eyes. However, they most assuredly have lost much of their ability to see. Lacking the ability to see color, and most shapes being simple blurs and shapes at most the hounds instead rely on their keen sense of smell, hearing, and surprisingly--touch. The long, thin whiskers extending from their jaws allowing for an incredible level of sensory for anything that they brush against.