Post by Head Moderator on Jan 31, 2012 4:08:34 GMT -5
Avilon Whistler
The low, barking calls mixed with the whistling sounds of this bird is seen as an ill omen. It is a tuftless, mottled gray-brown bird of the barren highlands. The bird is quite frightening to behold. It is only seen at night when it's eyes are like lanterns in the pitch black wilderness. They seem attracted to fire and often gather in vast numbers to behold campfires. This is probably what has caused their bad reputation as a bird of ill omens. Unknown to most they actually retreat into camouflaged holes in the ground at day. Their calls seems to lure animals into their maze-like tunnels where they are eaten. The glow in their eyes is in reality neither sinister nor magic. It is caused by a plankton in their eyes that glows red in the dark.
Blood Angel Butterfly
The blood angel butterfly is a shimmering white butterfly with light red patterns on it's wings that look much like feathers. They are parasites that feed off the blood of mammals including humanoids. They land on a sleeping or resting host and pierce the skin with their strong, sharp tongue and drink their blood. As they drink, their wings become redder as they feed. Their saliva contains a light narcotic agent to help the host sleep longer and often leaves the host feeling relaxed for a short time after feeding. Because of the narcotic, many cultures feel it is good luck to feel a blood angel butterfly and frown on those who kill them.
Chillwood Ospreg
The Chillwood Ospreg is a black and white water-owl longer than the arm of a big man. It's wild, laughing calls are often regarded as the voice of the northern lakes. Ospregs are found on wooded lakes and rivers in deep forests of fir. The Ospreg feed by catching fish and eel under water. It swims well under and can hold it's breath for longer periods of time. This strange owl lays it's silver green eggs in shallow waters along the shores of lakes. Scholar's discuss the strange amphibian qualities of this bird, but has yet to reveal the true nature of this secretive species of owl.
Chumba Chickens
This hearty wild breed of chicken is small & stout. Its coloration is dirt brown. When defending its nest, the chumba puffs its feathers, making it look like an angry little ball, and attacks ferociously. They're mean. Away from the nest it is more likely to run away than fight. Its eggs are small & notably harder than chicken eggs, but the chumba is easier to tend & resistant to disease & environmental stress.
Cleaner Flies
Most insects, if they land on a wound, will infect it or worse. Cleaner Flies are the opposite. They eat infected flesh, fungus/fungal spores, and parasites, but leave undamaged flesh and uninfected wounds alone. They are three inches long and covered wih red and white stripes, and are seen next to often highly dangerous creatures,even going into their jaws to clean their teeth without fear. One was once seen hovering beside a large spider, eating grubs that had burrowed into the spider's back. It is said that spiders will set a Cleaner Fly loose from their webs instead of eating it.
Dawn Darters
These unusual pigeons have feathers that appear golden in hue when sunlight fall on them but otherwise they are not much different from normal pigeons. They nest in cliffs and have the unusual habit of diving towards surrounding canyons in flocks at dawn.
Glass Bay Dove
The Glass Bay Dove has a dark bluish-gray head, neck, and chest with glossy yellowish, greenish, and reddish-purple iridescence along its neck and wing feathers. The soft, drawn-out "hooo-hooo, hooo-hoooooo" identifies it. This pigeon is carnivorous and has a poisoned beak, they attack animals in large numbers flapping their wings to confuse their prey. Their beaks leaking an ink-like poison as they cut into the unfortunate beast. They dwell on cliffs and rock ledges where they also roost and breed. They are excellent flyers, gliding frequently, holding its wings in a very pronounced V shape as it does.
Guidebirds
Guidebirds are light grey birds that have dark grey marking around their eyes and at the very edge of their wings. These birds have such a strong flocking instinct that they always seem to be flying in formation (of 6-30). Their instinct is so strong, they follow large things on the ground. Thus they will follow buffalo on the plains, a large beast as it lumbers forward, an army, or a carriage, at least for a while. Then they will fly forward, as if they were guiding their "slow flockmate on the ground" to their destination. Their feathers are commonly used for pathfinding charms.
Jewel Wraith
Jewel Wraiths are shiny & ornamental insects with a wide variety of coloration & patterns. They are considered quite beautiful. The insect is highly poisonous, but is a very docile & slow plant eater, quite content to stay attached to a warm body as jewelry, provided it is kept sated on leafy vegetables each day--usually eaten nocturnally & sleeping attached to clothing during the day.
Moonbirds
There are some Guidebirds, called Moonbirds, that are nocturnal. They are dark grey to near black in coloration, but with white markings near their eyes. These Guidebirds have the same whistling songs as regular Guidebirds, only louder. Their larger eyes let them function in night as they eat berries, grasses, and the occasional insect. These rarer birds are coveted for charms and magics.
Needle Egret
A needle egret is an egret whose plumes are lavender in colour. It is found in the swamps of Madder where it nests in colonies, often with other herons, on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. While many desire its plumes for decorating hats, the hunting of needle egrets are extremely dangerous as it can excrete a poisonous chemical that hardens its feathers at will and often shoots out some of these hardened feathers in defense when hunted.
Ruyaccron
A truly imperial avian, the Ruyaccron is distinctive for it's crown of golden yellow feathers, red chased wings, and black spotted white chest. A coastal fish raptor and relative to eagles and osprey, they can grow to impressive size. As a rule, they are nasty, territorial, and often have a few smaller birds that follow them around, usually blackbirds, coastal gulls, and the rare pelican.
Scourcone Owl
The Scourcone Owl is known for it's bright red and gold plumage. this odd coloration allows the noctural bird to go unnoticed in the daytime. The Scourcone Forest is thick with Redleaf Elm, Golden-spruce, and other bright, sometimes metallic colored trees. At night, darkness hides it, in the day it's coloration hides it in the foliage. In all respects it is a regular owl of large size.
Skimmers
Similar in appearance to a stretched-out woodpecker, but more like an albatross in habit, skimmers travel far and wide. Rarely seen, these immense birds (nearly 3 meter wingspan) lazily drift just above the waves searching for fish near the surface. When hunting, they keep their feet forward & splayed. Upon sighting their prey, the skimmer jabs its talons under the water, scooping up the fish behind it. This capture does not interrupt their forward motion, and older ones do not even need to flap their wings to stay steady.
Silverspider
This spider is the size of a man’s hand and has a beautiful (as far as that word can be applied to a spider) body covered in soft silver hairs. They live in groups of up to ten on large orb webs that can be up to forty feet long and five feet high. Their normal diet is insects. If they bite a human the effect is to give the human a sense of total happiness that lasts for an hour. Many humans will end up getting bitten on purpose after getting addicted to the venom. A small amount of venom just makes a person a bit slow-witted. Too much will lead to brain damage or even death.
Sun Cricket
These small, bright yellow crickets sing to each other. Their mate song consists of short high and low chirps and long, high chirps. If you count the number of long chirps one cricket sings to the other and subtract 5, you will be able to tell what hour it is. These crickets mate for life, however, and if one dies, the other cricket will only sing it's lonely song, a collection of short and long low chirps.
Starbirds
These birds are related to Guidebirds, but have some slight aquatic adaptions like a Gull. You can tell they are related because they have the same darker grey ovals of tiny feathers around their eyes and wing tips that land based Guidebirds do. Unlike Guidebirds, these are mostly nocturnal creatures.
They are strong flyers, able to go long distances. Starbirds fly at night between the islands at sea. Navigators will use them as guides to find land while at sea. Legend has it that they uses the stars as their guides, but nobody has yet to determine if this is actually how they navigate.
Swordbiters
Swordbiters are parasites. They are long, thin and silver, and digest metal, somewhat like rust monsters, but smaller and more insidious. They resemble stick insects, but when they cling to metal they are very well camouflaged, and one can be biting your sword for a week before you notice it. They cannot be removed by hand, as they are very strong, but if the blade is inserted into fire they will leap off to escape the flames. Sometimes, old treasure hoards are infested with them, and the first glimpse you get of the "glittering" weapons is a pile of rusted swords encrusted with these thin silvery insects.
Virgins Bane Beetle
The Virgins Bane Beetle is a creature of the tundra plains of the north kingdoms and is large, the size of two human fists, violet in color and a voracious hunter of other insects and the smaller spiders. For much of the summer it is not only safe but advisable to live next to one of these colonies, as they eat nearly all of the dangerous mosquitos in the area and only attack humans if they or their nests are bothered.
In September things can turn very nasty indeed, for that is the month when the Beetles spawn, and the female beetle lays it’s egg sac in another creature’s womb. Whilst it has plenty of other prey for this, such as cows and sheep, it is not scared of attacking humans. Despite it’s name it prefers to attack those who are allready pregnant. When attacking humans, it waits until it sees a lone adult female and then comes in from behind and stings her in the back.
The venom causes the victim to fall asleep for a short time, long enough for the Virgins Bane to land on her womb and implant an egg sac through her clothing.. Unlike the bite of other insects which itch, the wounds of the Virgins Bane heal up very quickly. Whilst in the slumber the woman often has very sexual dreams that are so vivid that they are often confused with reality later on. The beetle soon flies off and the victim awakes confused about what happened.
If she is pregnant at the time, the egg sac grows along with the baby, taking it’s nourishment from the mother like the baby is also doing, until in a few months the egg sac and baby come into contact with each other, when the egg sac engulfs the baby, killing it, digesting it and growing in it’s place. When the mother delivers what she thinks is her baby, the egg sac ruptures and the baby beetles fly out of her womb. Those that are not prey for other insects and spiders will be fully grown within a month and live with others in nests that they make out of twigs. Most do not survive until adulthood.
If she is not pregnant the egg sac grows in her stomach like a baby does, making her appear pregnant. Should she be murdered by her outraged family it will continue to grow inside her decomposing body, after which the beetles chew through the egg sac, strip the body of flesh within hours and then chew and burrow their way to the surface of the soil.
If her family do not murder her she will often be forced to marry the person that she thought impregnated her. When she gives birth it will be a swarm of beetles that fly out of her and not a baby.
Yawningale
This breed of exotic birds is not remotely related to the nightingales, being substantially larger in size (at around 25-30cm in length), greyish-blue in color and having a fan-like tail. However, it shares the tendency of nightingales of frequently singing, with its song being particularly noticeable at night, hence the locals have named it “Yawningale”. As its name indicates, the song this bird makes very closely resembles the sound of humans yawning. According to local belief, these birds are the messengers of the deities, sent out to help children sleep better at night and have pleasant dreams.
The low, barking calls mixed with the whistling sounds of this bird is seen as an ill omen. It is a tuftless, mottled gray-brown bird of the barren highlands. The bird is quite frightening to behold. It is only seen at night when it's eyes are like lanterns in the pitch black wilderness. They seem attracted to fire and often gather in vast numbers to behold campfires. This is probably what has caused their bad reputation as a bird of ill omens. Unknown to most they actually retreat into camouflaged holes in the ground at day. Their calls seems to lure animals into their maze-like tunnels where they are eaten. The glow in their eyes is in reality neither sinister nor magic. It is caused by a plankton in their eyes that glows red in the dark.
Blood Angel Butterfly
The blood angel butterfly is a shimmering white butterfly with light red patterns on it's wings that look much like feathers. They are parasites that feed off the blood of mammals including humanoids. They land on a sleeping or resting host and pierce the skin with their strong, sharp tongue and drink their blood. As they drink, their wings become redder as they feed. Their saliva contains a light narcotic agent to help the host sleep longer and often leaves the host feeling relaxed for a short time after feeding. Because of the narcotic, many cultures feel it is good luck to feel a blood angel butterfly and frown on those who kill them.
Chillwood Ospreg
The Chillwood Ospreg is a black and white water-owl longer than the arm of a big man. It's wild, laughing calls are often regarded as the voice of the northern lakes. Ospregs are found on wooded lakes and rivers in deep forests of fir. The Ospreg feed by catching fish and eel under water. It swims well under and can hold it's breath for longer periods of time. This strange owl lays it's silver green eggs in shallow waters along the shores of lakes. Scholar's discuss the strange amphibian qualities of this bird, but has yet to reveal the true nature of this secretive species of owl.
Chumba Chickens
This hearty wild breed of chicken is small & stout. Its coloration is dirt brown. When defending its nest, the chumba puffs its feathers, making it look like an angry little ball, and attacks ferociously. They're mean. Away from the nest it is more likely to run away than fight. Its eggs are small & notably harder than chicken eggs, but the chumba is easier to tend & resistant to disease & environmental stress.
Cleaner Flies
Most insects, if they land on a wound, will infect it or worse. Cleaner Flies are the opposite. They eat infected flesh, fungus/fungal spores, and parasites, but leave undamaged flesh and uninfected wounds alone. They are three inches long and covered wih red and white stripes, and are seen next to often highly dangerous creatures,even going into their jaws to clean their teeth without fear. One was once seen hovering beside a large spider, eating grubs that had burrowed into the spider's back. It is said that spiders will set a Cleaner Fly loose from their webs instead of eating it.
Dawn Darters
These unusual pigeons have feathers that appear golden in hue when sunlight fall on them but otherwise they are not much different from normal pigeons. They nest in cliffs and have the unusual habit of diving towards surrounding canyons in flocks at dawn.
Glass Bay Dove
The Glass Bay Dove has a dark bluish-gray head, neck, and chest with glossy yellowish, greenish, and reddish-purple iridescence along its neck and wing feathers. The soft, drawn-out "hooo-hooo, hooo-hoooooo" identifies it. This pigeon is carnivorous and has a poisoned beak, they attack animals in large numbers flapping their wings to confuse their prey. Their beaks leaking an ink-like poison as they cut into the unfortunate beast. They dwell on cliffs and rock ledges where they also roost and breed. They are excellent flyers, gliding frequently, holding its wings in a very pronounced V shape as it does.
Guidebirds
Guidebirds are light grey birds that have dark grey marking around their eyes and at the very edge of their wings. These birds have such a strong flocking instinct that they always seem to be flying in formation (of 6-30). Their instinct is so strong, they follow large things on the ground. Thus they will follow buffalo on the plains, a large beast as it lumbers forward, an army, or a carriage, at least for a while. Then they will fly forward, as if they were guiding their "slow flockmate on the ground" to their destination. Their feathers are commonly used for pathfinding charms.
Jewel Wraith
Jewel Wraiths are shiny & ornamental insects with a wide variety of coloration & patterns. They are considered quite beautiful. The insect is highly poisonous, but is a very docile & slow plant eater, quite content to stay attached to a warm body as jewelry, provided it is kept sated on leafy vegetables each day--usually eaten nocturnally & sleeping attached to clothing during the day.
Moonbirds
There are some Guidebirds, called Moonbirds, that are nocturnal. They are dark grey to near black in coloration, but with white markings near their eyes. These Guidebirds have the same whistling songs as regular Guidebirds, only louder. Their larger eyes let them function in night as they eat berries, grasses, and the occasional insect. These rarer birds are coveted for charms and magics.
Needle Egret
A needle egret is an egret whose plumes are lavender in colour. It is found in the swamps of Madder where it nests in colonies, often with other herons, on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. While many desire its plumes for decorating hats, the hunting of needle egrets are extremely dangerous as it can excrete a poisonous chemical that hardens its feathers at will and often shoots out some of these hardened feathers in defense when hunted.
Ruyaccron
A truly imperial avian, the Ruyaccron is distinctive for it's crown of golden yellow feathers, red chased wings, and black spotted white chest. A coastal fish raptor and relative to eagles and osprey, they can grow to impressive size. As a rule, they are nasty, territorial, and often have a few smaller birds that follow them around, usually blackbirds, coastal gulls, and the rare pelican.
Scourcone Owl
The Scourcone Owl is known for it's bright red and gold plumage. this odd coloration allows the noctural bird to go unnoticed in the daytime. The Scourcone Forest is thick with Redleaf Elm, Golden-spruce, and other bright, sometimes metallic colored trees. At night, darkness hides it, in the day it's coloration hides it in the foliage. In all respects it is a regular owl of large size.
Skimmers
Similar in appearance to a stretched-out woodpecker, but more like an albatross in habit, skimmers travel far and wide. Rarely seen, these immense birds (nearly 3 meter wingspan) lazily drift just above the waves searching for fish near the surface. When hunting, they keep their feet forward & splayed. Upon sighting their prey, the skimmer jabs its talons under the water, scooping up the fish behind it. This capture does not interrupt their forward motion, and older ones do not even need to flap their wings to stay steady.
Silverspider
This spider is the size of a man’s hand and has a beautiful (as far as that word can be applied to a spider) body covered in soft silver hairs. They live in groups of up to ten on large orb webs that can be up to forty feet long and five feet high. Their normal diet is insects. If they bite a human the effect is to give the human a sense of total happiness that lasts for an hour. Many humans will end up getting bitten on purpose after getting addicted to the venom. A small amount of venom just makes a person a bit slow-witted. Too much will lead to brain damage or even death.
Sun Cricket
These small, bright yellow crickets sing to each other. Their mate song consists of short high and low chirps and long, high chirps. If you count the number of long chirps one cricket sings to the other and subtract 5, you will be able to tell what hour it is. These crickets mate for life, however, and if one dies, the other cricket will only sing it's lonely song, a collection of short and long low chirps.
Starbirds
These birds are related to Guidebirds, but have some slight aquatic adaptions like a Gull. You can tell they are related because they have the same darker grey ovals of tiny feathers around their eyes and wing tips that land based Guidebirds do. Unlike Guidebirds, these are mostly nocturnal creatures.
They are strong flyers, able to go long distances. Starbirds fly at night between the islands at sea. Navigators will use them as guides to find land while at sea. Legend has it that they uses the stars as their guides, but nobody has yet to determine if this is actually how they navigate.
Swordbiters
Swordbiters are parasites. They are long, thin and silver, and digest metal, somewhat like rust monsters, but smaller and more insidious. They resemble stick insects, but when they cling to metal they are very well camouflaged, and one can be biting your sword for a week before you notice it. They cannot be removed by hand, as they are very strong, but if the blade is inserted into fire they will leap off to escape the flames. Sometimes, old treasure hoards are infested with them, and the first glimpse you get of the "glittering" weapons is a pile of rusted swords encrusted with these thin silvery insects.
Virgins Bane Beetle
The Virgins Bane Beetle is a creature of the tundra plains of the north kingdoms and is large, the size of two human fists, violet in color and a voracious hunter of other insects and the smaller spiders. For much of the summer it is not only safe but advisable to live next to one of these colonies, as they eat nearly all of the dangerous mosquitos in the area and only attack humans if they or their nests are bothered.
In September things can turn very nasty indeed, for that is the month when the Beetles spawn, and the female beetle lays it’s egg sac in another creature’s womb. Whilst it has plenty of other prey for this, such as cows and sheep, it is not scared of attacking humans. Despite it’s name it prefers to attack those who are allready pregnant. When attacking humans, it waits until it sees a lone adult female and then comes in from behind and stings her in the back.
The venom causes the victim to fall asleep for a short time, long enough for the Virgins Bane to land on her womb and implant an egg sac through her clothing.. Unlike the bite of other insects which itch, the wounds of the Virgins Bane heal up very quickly. Whilst in the slumber the woman often has very sexual dreams that are so vivid that they are often confused with reality later on. The beetle soon flies off and the victim awakes confused about what happened.
If she is pregnant at the time, the egg sac grows along with the baby, taking it’s nourishment from the mother like the baby is also doing, until in a few months the egg sac and baby come into contact with each other, when the egg sac engulfs the baby, killing it, digesting it and growing in it’s place. When the mother delivers what she thinks is her baby, the egg sac ruptures and the baby beetles fly out of her womb. Those that are not prey for other insects and spiders will be fully grown within a month and live with others in nests that they make out of twigs. Most do not survive until adulthood.
If she is not pregnant the egg sac grows in her stomach like a baby does, making her appear pregnant. Should she be murdered by her outraged family it will continue to grow inside her decomposing body, after which the beetles chew through the egg sac, strip the body of flesh within hours and then chew and burrow their way to the surface of the soil.
If her family do not murder her she will often be forced to marry the person that she thought impregnated her. When she gives birth it will be a swarm of beetles that fly out of her and not a baby.
Yawningale
This breed of exotic birds is not remotely related to the nightingales, being substantially larger in size (at around 25-30cm in length), greyish-blue in color and having a fan-like tail. However, it shares the tendency of nightingales of frequently singing, with its song being particularly noticeable at night, hence the locals have named it “Yawningale”. As its name indicates, the song this bird makes very closely resembles the sound of humans yawning. According to local belief, these birds are the messengers of the deities, sent out to help children sleep better at night and have pleasant dreams.