Nihyri

Food is often scarce on Kahursa island. The land is less than desirable to most crops and the beasts of the island make cattle rearing difficult. Still, the locals pull through to sustain their small communities- most of the time. On occasion they have little to show for days of labor. A death sentence if not for others when the winter comes. Under their Kahursa Federation overlords, the natives were simply deemed to be lazy or incompetent to not survive on their own. The natives have a different story. They know of a beast so very prevalent and gluttonous that it presents a clear challenge and threat to their small townies. The Nihyri, or as it is called ‘Great Maw’ by Umbusan surveyors, has garnered a reputation for its biting advances against the natives’ ability to sustain themselves.

#### Physiology and Anatomy

A great marsupial predator endemic to the Kahursa Islands, the Nihyri stands as its one and only nocturnal predator. It shares much in common with many other carnivorous marsupials at a far grander size. Their eyes are keenly adapted to see and low light levels and their sense of smell is strong enough to track food items from across the island or detect them whilst they’re buried. Nihyri make for excellent trackers of their favorite foods; processed meats becoming one of their core choices with the arrival of sapient races. Naturally, Nihyri feed on buried caches from other predators or track the new families in the dark to feast upon their sleeping joeys and hatchlings. Their ability to take otherwise diurnal prey by surprise makes cattle rearing on the island a day and night job, protecting your herd from nightly interlopers.

Nihyri are by no means fast but certainly robust predators. They can persistently trot along at speeds that wouldn’t catch a Human sprint but certainly close the distance between a Dwarf. Once they’ve found their chosen food item there’s little that can deter them. Their muscular forelimbs make Nihyri exceptional diggers, unearthing caches or destroying a fence to get to their bounty. Nihyri have the widest jaw gape of any animal on Ludwag, able to encompass a whole human head and perhaps torso with their great maw of teeth. They’re by no means picky with how rancid flesh is as they feel little of its effects. Oftentimes Nihyri found around settlements have septic bites on account of the food waste they frequently consume.

Having a single joey each year, Nihyri are as quick to foster another within their pouch as they are to chase them out. Nihyri joeys have to gorge themselves in their first year to build muscle so that they’re strong enough when their mother throws them out. Nihyri joeys are capable climbers while their parents are not so that they may escape the cannibalistic tendencies of their mature counterparts. This in turn weeds out weaker animals and strengthens the adult population without depleting its ranks. By the time a Nihyri becomes too heavy to climb they should be capable of wrestling away a rival attempting to eat them.

#### Psychology

Territorial and mostly solitary predators, if they’re found in groups they never exceed four individuals. Nihyri lack the time nor patience to tolerate each other save for their youngest joeys. Both males and females mark their territories with scent and claw marks, bleating horrific cries at anything they deem an intruder. They dig burrows to reside in and collect food within, attacking anything that dare attempt entering them. Nihyri naturally hoard large quantities of food to stave out the colder months and to sate their gluttonous appetites. They have little fear of any sapient race but will not enter large settlements directly, invading the orbiting farms for potential livestock. This newfound food source has emboldened Nihyri to be far more confident and brazen with the food they collect with attacks on livestock like cows and horses becoming more common.