Wurkenko and Co.

• Jimpawcle: Constituting the most prominent and severe domestic menace regularly faced and commonly feared by the native Favredian population of Olsuclund, Jimpawcles are exclusively-carnivorous, and accordingly vicious, mammalian predators that live and hunt in packs of up to several dozen individuals. Such groups and their activities are generally centralized around self-designated local areas - relatively flat/even stretches of terrain seem to be preferred - over which the beasts are fiercely territorial, responding with violence toward all intruding entities, including others belonging to their own kind but different packs thereof. Indeed, Jimpawcles are quite prone to infighting within their species based on arbitrary group affiliation, and are able to tell trusted brethren apart from "outsiders", in spite of there being no visible differences between their race's various sub-populations, by sense of smell, with the members of each pack carrying a very subtly unique scent, detectable only by other Jimpawcles, based on the specific features and environmental conditions of their respective territories. Unlike most predatory, pack-dwelling animal varieties found elsewhere, Jimpawcles lack any kind of hierarchy within their packs, where all individuals hold equal standing; this is most evident in their polygamous reproductive habits, where any/all males of a group are liable to mate with any/all of its females.

 

Although Jimpawcles may occasionally make primitive bids to expand the alleged "borders" of their groups' dominions, any resultant spreading of their population(s) is close-to-negligible as far as any other beings are concerned, and despite generally not posing an active, direct threat to major Favredian settlements, the beasts nonetheless end up causing more than their fair share of humanoid casualties as "field hazards" to hunting parties and others traversing the Olsuclundan environment beyond the confines of their communities. Upon one's stumbling into the unmarked boundaries of a pack's territory, multiple Jimpawcles will frequently show up to attack in rapid order, without warning and seemingly out of nowhere at times, and the creatures are exceptionally adept at ruthlessly ganging up on their targets.

 

The physiology of the Jimpawcle is that of a posteriorly four-legged, horizontally-postured organism with a fully-upright torso bearing two long, clawed additional arms and a headpiece that possesses certain reptile-resembling features, as does the flesh covering the length of its dorsal starting from the back of said head's neck. Furthermore in terms of reptilian attributes, the characteristic noise of which the Jimpawcle's unintelligible vocalizations all consist resembles not a roar, a growl or even a howl, as one might expect based on the creature's behavior and overall ecosystem role, but rather what can only be described as a distinct hiss. Given how much more distantly-audible and conspicuous a more obvious, louder sound would be as an indicator of Jimpawcles' presence, the hissing nature of their vocals, if anything, enhances the danger they pose to many a traveler, and non-native humanoid explorers in particular, since it is much more difficult for the uninitiated/unprepared to discern it from a safe distance, with the beasts often already being in the process of actively closing in by the time one is close enough to readily hear it.

 

Like most other organisms present on Olsuclund, the Jimpawcle possesses very tough skin on most areas of its body and even some built-in light protective plating upon certain spots, but conspicuously, its bare feet are among its few parts to bear no such resilience-enhancing features, which is easily the creature's most glaring specific weakness, and makes tactful footing a necessary skill for it to quickly develop during its life. On average, Jimpawcles are marginally greater in total mass than Favredians, but tend to be just slightly shorter in height as well as inferior in their durability, which is valued at 800-950 for the animals compared to the burly avian humanoids' range of 1,000-1,300.

 

 

• Metzilume: Arguably the most distinctive-formed of Poulbrimian organisms - having the most unique appearance and build - as well as often being considered some of the Qendsewn homeworld's least-repugnant animals, Metzilumes are peaceful, omnivorous - but primarily plant-eating, with Hatiginiffs being the only other significant beings they consume with any regularity - beasts found, usually living among several others of their kind, within and around various stretches of swampy terrain and marshy alcoves across the planet's map, and very seldom in any other biomes (not that Poulbrim boasts much of a variety thereof). Capable of reaching body lengths of ten feet or more, they are the largest of their desolate home planet's naturally-occurring inhabitants, and among the only ones to be largely left alone by the vicious Ulirooh swarms that have dominated much of the planet's wilds throughout all of recorded history, with their size being instinctually perceived as intimidating by, and thus deterring most potential attacks on them by, the monstrous flying insectoids. This effectively protects Metzilumes from what might otherwise be a threat to their very survival as a species, with the creatures having very little combative capacity in reality and usually ending up getting slaughtered in the rare event that they actually are attacked, whether by Uliroohs or otherwise.

 

The Metzilume's lengthy, partially-segmented body is horizontally-oriented for the back half of its length, but anteriorly curves into a more upright position starting just past where the frontmost of three pairs of legs meet its lower-belly. The most notable facial feature of the beast is what may appear to be a set of as many as seven eyes, but consists in actuality of three eyes surrounded by a number of physically-functionless embossed markings seemingly designed to superficially resemble true outlets of vision, ultimately contributing to the Metzilume's perceived imposing appearance which is, again, a key asset for its survival. Other points of visual interest on the headpiece include an upward-extending set of three cartilage-based horns as well as fleshy orbs, bearing multiple protrusions, which constitute the Metzilume's ears and are, in fact, the most vulnerably sensitive external parts of its body. Tentacle-esque twin tails extending from the creature's posterior and bearing hard, moderately sharp-edged end-pieces, meanwhile, provide the Metzilume with the closest it has to an adequate method of actively defending itself through attacking, in this case by means of haphazard lashing.

 

Metzilume flesh is squishier and consequently less resistant to puncturing, burning and the like than most, but what bones the beasts - whose simple skeletal systems consist of little more than what is strictly necessary to support their basic body shape - do have are, in sharp contrast, exceptionally dense and sturdy, being the strongest bones found in any Poulbrimian organism. While this does somewhat offset the relative weakness of the rest of the Metzilume form, the benefit is, in practice, less substantial than one might expect: the majority of feasible injuries to the animal that would even pierce deeply enough to be directly resisted by any of its bones (especially the ones in the main torso length), would, in most cases, be fatal anyway due to the grievous, blood-loss-entailing damage sustained by its flesh prior to its bones even becoming a factor in shock-absorption. All things considered, the Metzilume's overall durability value, on average, is about 900, while the most significant practical function ultimately served by the solidity of its bones lies not so much in protection from outright trauma, but more-so in casual leg-and-foot support during sustained manual locomotion. During the early phases of the humanoid race's long history of experimental, unorthodox scientific endeavoring, Metzilume bones were commonly harvested by Qendsewn, who otherwise have no use for the creatures, for use in various projects as a high-strength organic constructive material. Fortunately for both the animals and the humanoids, this has since become obsolete as the Qendsewn have gained ready access to equally (and later still, superiorly) sturdy materials that can be used nigh-identically in their experiments.

 

 

• Doilerbaum: A rather diminutive and ostensibly, yet quite deceptively, harmless-looking winged mammal native to Meilbatsy, the Doilerbaum primarily makes its home amid the same network of elevated landmasses that also provides the foundation for Rabbyphune civilization's centers, dwelling there in large family units. Collectively, these often-rapidly-produced families constitute an exceptionally massive total population for the animal's species: there are, in fact, more Doilerbaums than there are Rabbyphunes on Meilbatsy, though the same cannot be said in regard to the whole of the Prime Galaxy, where Rabbyphunes have proliferated and colonized elsewhere while Doilerbaums, like most non-humanoid animals in general, remain strictly confined to their home planet. In addition to their main areas of habitation, Doilerbaums can also be encountered on occasion all throughout the various lowland regions comprising the rest of Meilbatsy's surface, though never in the same large numbers.

 

With their largest specimens standing just short of one full meter in height (even with their tall, antenna-like ears accounted for) and their durability values rarely surpassing 500, Doilerbaums possess neither an imposing form nor anything even remotely resembling superior physical strength, yet arguably benefit in other ways from their size more than they ultimately suffer from it. Limited mass and correspondingly low energy intake requirements for sustaining their petite bodies allow the Doilerbaums' great numbers to be sustainable without the matter of having enough space and food to go around becoming exacerbated as a result of their huge population. Additionally and rather more interestingly, at least as the average reader of this will likely be concerned, their small build strongly compliments that of their wings, which, in relation to the rest of the Doilerbaum form, are just sizable and strong enough to adequately carry the nimble bodies from which they protrude through the air, granting the ability of free flight, while not being so substantial and heavy as to prove burdensome for their bearers while not in use. Being able to fly, in turn, gives the Doilerbaum, already a fleet-footed and craftily evasive creature on the ground and even able to perform a special sprint powered by all four pairs of its arms and legs, a tremendous extra advantage in terms of escaping from predators and other hazards. However, it is only in the rare event that it is confronted by a foe from which it, and any of its brethren who happen to be present and likewise-threatened, cannot flee that the tiny beast's most impressive ability of all comes into play.

 

Upon the end of every Doilerbaum's insectoid-esque tail rests a bulbous, dark-red stinger, via which the animal is able to deliver among the most potent of all venoms to be produced by any mortal organism: a poison that will quickly - yet no-less-painfully for the swiftness - kill any living thing found on Meilbatsy as well as virtually all visitors/explorers from elsewhere in the galaxy, with very few beings out there standing any chance of survival. Fortunately for Rabbyphunes and any others of benign disposition who would otherwise face a severe natural hazard in them, Doilerbaums are not aggressive or reckless with this most frightening and drastic of their abilities, and for good reason, for its use comes with major drawbacks and limitations stemming from the fact that each of the creatures' supply of the pernicious venom involved being both extremely limited and utterly unable to be replenished. As such, a Doilerbaum can only ever deliver two proper stings, the second of which will deplete and destroy its tail - a critical structural supporter of multiple internal organs - and lead to its own excruciating death. Despite this, Doilerbaums that have already stung once before rarely experience any hesitation over what will amount to a suicide attack, for whenever one of them is threatened by an inescapable foe, which usually comes in the form of a den-intruder, multiple others in its family unit are generally at risk as well, and per the small beasts' instinctive mentality, sacrificing oneself for the good of one's group is considered an unquestionably worthy cause.

 

 

• Etchfulber: Simple-minded organisms of largely passive disposition, Etchfulbers are a semi-common sight on Alfriiden, where their naturally-designated role is as prey animals to multiple other Alfriidenizen varieties. Small-to-average in body volume but considerably greater in effective mass by virtue of being extremely dense by the standards of most organic beings, the core frames of Etchfulbers are flat-faced and nearly rectangular in shape, and have been likened on numerous occasions to fleshy, slimy, icy "bricks". Given how the creatures' bodies have come to be commonly harnessed post-mortem (read below), such a comparison's rise to prominent recognition was all-but-inevitable in hindsight.

 

An Etchfulber's main set of arms can accurately be considered as one-and-the-same with its legs, in the sense that the beast does not, in fact, have any limbs of the latter variety, and relies on the former both to carry the bulk of its own considerable weight and for the usual purposes assigned to arms that accompany actual legs. To elaborate: the Etchfulber walks upon four muscular, fuzzy-haired primary arms, protruding from each upper-corner of its torso and ending in five-fingered, typically fist-clenched hands of multicolored crystalline composition (which are actually the creature's most densely-compacted body parts of all), while also boasting pairs of smaller, more flexible four-fingered claw-bearing arms positioned just below its faces and used primarily for scooping things into its mouths. Regarding the use of plurals in the preceding sentence, the Etchfulber does indeed possess two identical faces at opposite ends of its body, with the anus mutually led to by both mouths' digestive tracts existing as a gaping hole located on its underside halfway across the length between them. This also conveniently allows excrement to be deposited downward at a straight angle, falling directly onto the ground while seldom leaving any residue stuck to the Etchfulber's body due it lacking buttocks as well as having very moistly slippery flesh in general. Note that, like other mortal beings with multiple visible heads and/or faces, the Etchfulber still possesses only one consciousness between them, with its singular brain residing at the top-center of its overall main body, more-or-less vertically-opposite (directly above) the animal's previously (and rather-gratuitously; we hereby apologize for any disgusting images brought to anyone's mind there) described anus. The entirety of an Etchfulber's body is of extremely low (by standards of living organic matter) natural temperature, even compared to other Alfriidenizens, giving much of its form an ice-like, "frozen" quality which increases its effective resilience in some respects but also renders it weak against heat-force and certain applications of physical trauma that may lead to shattering. All in all, the beast's durability value is close to an even 800, with little variation in this statistic between specimens.

 

A slow-moving as well as slow-witted organism that does little more than eat and sleep, the Etchfulber is ultimately most notable not for any facet of its own behavior or even for its inherent physiology (which is admittedly very peculiar), but rather for the extremely unique way in which its bodily matter has come to be utilized by others, namely the humanoid Spepescuos, as a long-lasting preserving and cooling material superior to purified ice. The specific form of tissue harvested to this end comes mainly from the skeletal muscle found in the upper-flanks of the Etchfulber's bulky torso, and must be specially prepared and treated via a process that only Shepescuos know the secret to before it can be properly used in such a way. Over the last few centuries, the Shepescuos, whose people once reserved this resource for their own use exclusively, have increasingly recognized, and taken advantage of, the profitability of selling it to interplanetary traders as an "exotic" or even "collectible" commodity, a business that stands as their mostly-isolated and somewhat ill-reputed race's most prominent venue of interaction with others in the greater Prime Galaxy today. The Etchfulber population, meanwhile, has declined significantly as of late as a clear result of this practice's growing lucrativeness, although as of yet, the species itself has not reached the point of depletion necessary for it to become officially classified as endangered and accordingly protected from further destructive exploitation.

 

 

• Quottynorb: A semi-amphibious (that is, capable of underwater respiration but physically unfit for adequately traversing submerged terrains and having no need to ever do so), quasi-reptilian and otherwise unclassified creature, the Quottynorb is one of the larger, yet functionally less prominent, predatory animals of the Virslaglish ecosystem, being found most commonly in areas of lower elevation relative to sea level. It is most readily recognizable by its vertically-elongated (read: tall) cranium whose face bears four large eyeballs and a nasal system externally manifested as what amounts to three visible noses, as well as by the set of five legs - a very rare specific number of such limbs for any organism to have - by which the rest of its body is supported. Quottynorbs are asocial and generally unfriendly beings, with each specimen living and hunting on its own and the beasts' mating rituals and periods of active parenthood both being relatively short-term commitments; their disposition towards Hexpultis and most other humanoids, meanwhile, is such that they will give warning in the form of a low-pitched, gurgling growling at the sight of one or more in their vicinity before attacking if approached any further. Intelligence-wise, the Quottynorb is competently-coordinated but uninspired, displaying surprisingly above-average situational judgment and cunning throughout its constant endeavors to fulfill its own basic needs as an animal, yet lacking any drive to utilize that intuition toward more sophisticated (even by wildlife standards) ends such as teamwork with other specimens, construction of more substantial shelter for itself and the use of objects in its surroundings as tools. This self-limiting mentality is demonstrated most evidently through the less-than-optimal capacity in which the most unique built-in asset of the Quottynorb organism, that being the presence of long osseous rods holstered within the lengths of either of its arms that can be partly or wholly unsheathed from beneath the wrists at will, and likewise-discretionarily charged with deadly (to all but their own user) heat energy of nearly molten intensity, is used for purposes of violent aggression alone. The Quottynorb simply never thinks, or doesn't care, to utilize this remarkable mechanism for anything more creative or ambitious, such as using its rods to reach high-placed objects or cooking its food via fire manually generated by their heat. Quottynorbs never live for more than fifty years, with this limit to their lifespan being far stricter than for most other mortal beings, to the point of natural death from age occurring extremely abruptly, with no externally-discernible warning signs or "slowing down" of the animal's apparent functioning beforehand. Some have even been witnessed to stop literally dead in their tracks, slumping over in place after having appeared to be moving around healthily mere moments prior.

 

Grown Quottynorbs measure up to a median height of roughly two meters, therefore standing close-to-evenly with most of the Hexpultis warriors who are, naturally, the humanoids they come into contact with most commonly by far, and are comparably sturdy as well, with their durability values typically ranging between 900 and 1,100. The meat of the beasts is edible to the humanoids but not considered a delicacy by them, and as such the former are hunted for food resources by the latter occasionally but not regularly. Somewhat conversely, while neither Quottynorbs nor the insectoid Zinnktoses - Virslagly's most infamous predators - can actually gain nourishment from the other's flesh, the two creatures are innately hostile to one another all the same, with the former being vastly more powerful individually but the latter possessing strength in just-as-vastly greater numbers whenever they fight. Although all attempts by other beings to directly salvage and harness the Quottynorb's heated polearms have proven fruitless, Hexpultis engineers have nevertheless managed to construct their own high-temperature, retractable melee armaments inspired by and bearing decent physical and functional semblance to them, which have in turn been imitated by other weapon-crafters in galactic society.

 

 

• Wurkenko: Known as the largest of all beast-hominid varieties, the Wurkenko is a sparsely-populated (per natural status quo) species indigenous and exclusive to Barserinv, among whose resident creatures it is the most massive by a considerable margin. Standing up to eight meters when fully-upright (but more often than not encountered in hunched-over, crouching or even fully-doubled-down posture, frequently out of necessity so as not to bump its head into ceilings), it is a reclusive woodland-dwelling mammal with a habitual affinity for making its home in and around large naturally-formed caves found amid such environments, which seem, quite conveniently for it, to be rather inexplicably plentiful throughout most of Barserinv's regions. Wurkenkos are, furthermore, highly resourceful and creative - insomuch as unenlightened, wild creatures of their nature can be - when it comes to their living arrangements and the "furbishing" thereof, commonly clearing out trees and such from the areas surrounding their lairs so as to give them selves more room to comfortably roam around in, as well as building rudimentary structures from boulders, tree trunks, etc. to exteriorly supplement their dens. Predictably given these tendencies, they are also fiercely and selfishly territorial, leading to many a lesser animal being driven from its home when one of them decides to move into the area, but somewhat paradoxically in spite of this, they never maintain a single residence for the whole duration of their generous natural lifespan of approximately eighty years. Rather, the average Wurkenko voluntarily resettles itself at least three or four times, entirely abandoning everything of its previous home on each such occasion, over the course of its existence, providing it does not die prematurely, which is rare thanks to its species' innately great physical strength and durability (valued at 3,500-4,000). It is also during these periods of searching for new dwellings that most of the mating between Wurkenkos occurs, with the males involved resuming on their solitary ways shortly after the act of procreation and the mothers alone being responsible thereafter for the raising of their young, which generally lasts for the first four-to-six years of young specimens' lives. Though being strictly herbivorous, and one of the largest and most formidable animals in the whole of the galaxy to exhibit this dietary attribute, the Wurkenko is (to some extent justifiably, given its great size and proportionately high needs for sustenance) a very greedy beast whose thriving presence in an area can end up posing a threat to other, competing smaller local life-forms all the same, namely by monopolizing the territory and resources of a local area as mentioned above.

 

As far as physical attributes go, Wurkenkos bear thick and heavy hair, most of it greenish in coloration, upon the majority of their bodies' surfaces, but unlike most other prominently hairy organisms, they ultimately do not rely on it for any sort of major protection, having consistently tough and strong leathery skin that would be more-than-sufficient for them to withstand any and all harsh elements occurring in their natural habitats even if they were completely bald. Of particular visual strikingness, albeit equally-superfluous in practice, are the deep-blue tufts of extra-coarse fur that cover the dorsal surfaces of the Wurkenko's forearms, from the elbows to the knuckles of its four-fingered paws; if anything, this feature could be considered to serve as an aesthetic "accentuation" of sorts to the gangly-armed beast's punching ability, which is indeed massively powerful and its primary asset in terms of attacking. Easily the Wurkenko form's most distinctive feature of all, though, is what Kierraplips and other humanoid witnesses to the animal have popularly labelled as its "crown", consisting of six tall, straight-standing and nigh-unbreakably sturdy horns surrounding a large fleshy "bump" in encircling formation upon the otherwise-flat top-surface of its noggin. This is seen, as one might already guess based on the aforementioned "crown" terminology alone, to physically symbolize the Wurkenko's dominant role as "king" of Barserinv's wilds.

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