Plants & Animals

#### Dancing Monkey Fruit

This small bumpy red magical fruit grows on tall trees with roots that burst out of the ground at its base and spiral up around its trunk for about three feet mainly across Janmier and some orchards in norther Mer-Rein. The fruit produces far more juice than you would expect from its size enough to fill a small bottle which is widely renowned as a delicious refreshing drink known as Jungle Juice.

#### Strands of Yaku

These massive plants grow wild in the Janmier Sea reaching up to 300m long their thick stems float just below the surface fowling even massive ships unlucky enough to get caught in them. They have a hardy outer skin which keeps most smaller aquatic animals from eating them, but if they are damaged enough to expose their fleshly centre they either heal fast or are quickly devoured by schools of smaller fish. Some costal tribes on the Janmier gather Yaku in order to supplement their diets especially if they have been having difficulty catching fish.

### Animals

#### Dovlim

Dovlim are small, furless, quadrupedal mammals that grow to be about 40cm tall and 60cm long, snout to rump. They have two distinctive, bright yellow lines that run down either side of their backs. They live in colonies of between twenty and forty members in underground burrows mainly along the Southwestern edge of Cad'Lear and the Eastern foot hills of Rexthen. The Dovlim secrete a viscous, poisonous liquid from the yellow stripes on their back, which sticks to and coats the walls and ceilings of their burrows. This makes the burrows' interiors quite toxic for any other creatures. If the Dovlim are eaten raw, their poison can cause burning of the mouth and gullet. However, cooking the meat diminishes the potency of the poison and makes it safer to eat, though people can also develop resistance to this type of poison. The Dovlim are bred in Jasarius in large, fake burrows made of ceramics; from here they are sold across Cad'Lear for creation of a delicacy known as Oppilon.

#### Caracka

These dark blue, nocturnal birds tend to live high in the canopies of dense forests across Cad'Lear, Zilcan, and southern Carthorka. They weigh between 800g-1kg and measure up to 75cm in length. Their diet consists mainly of large nuts and seeds. To gain access to these nuts they have sharp-hooked beaks which they jam into the shells to rip them open. They generally are quite quiet animals, except during the full moon at the end of every month, when they can be heard making long, fluctuating songs. As long as the nest is empty, the female Caracka lay about three eggs per clutch every other month; once hatched, the fledglings take about three months before leaving the nest. Much of the mythology around these birds considers them to be connected to / born of / in sync with The Moon which is why traditional Naeg-o Mel Pies are created using their eggs.

#### Orcritor

Orcritors (Ore rick tors) are a species of large lizard native to The Endless Expanse big enough to be ridden which The Qasoinae do and have even tamed a number of them to use as both mounts and pack animals. The lizards have long tongues which they use to feed on Cerbrailes and thick tightly interlocking scales for defense, they are commonly rather slow moving but can dash short distances when necessary, their front feet boast large claws for opening the Cerbrailes nests.

#### Cerbrailes

Cerbrailes (Sir-Brillies) are by far the most common animals within the mostly baron Expanse they're a species of termite like creatures that feed off of fungus farms cultivated within they're nests which appear as small rock hard mounds poking out of the sand concealing deep mazes of tunnels that draw water up from below for the fungus. These creatures have a sharp bite and a spray that stinks which they use in defense of their colonies they're know to viciously swarm anything that breaks their mounds making it a viable option as a source of nutrients within the desert but their defenses make the task a dangerous one.