Galiana

**The Galiana** is a medium size critter with a reptilian style body.

## History

The Galiana was a collaborative effort between Atlas and Core, with Core wanting a trainable critter that could be arboreal and able to climb, run, swim, and burrow. They were very proud of their work.

#### **Uses**

They are used as hunting critters, working in bonded pairs. They are a favourite of Freelancers due to their intelligence and cooperation, making them useful for hunting down Synths and Humans.

## Description

The Galiana is a nearly 5 meter long carnivore Synthasaurid critter with a long stiff tail that is used for balance when running and climbing. The Galiana has very supple soft leathery-scaled skin, that is quite stretchy with some more keratinous plates along the back of its neck and between its shoulderblades. They have 44 conical teeth, large eyes, a narrow crest that runs down their skull between a pair of hard scales that create 'horns' either side of its head. Their back feet have long toes with sharp claws used for climbing, and their front legs can grab with a dewclaw-like structure.

**Biology**

The Galiana can digest almost every part of any animal or critter, excluding the teeth and some reinforced bones, although they will smash bones for marrow.

#### **Senses**

The Galiana's primary sense is its sense of smell and sight.

## Behaviour

The Galiana is a surprisingly calm creature for what it was designed to be. It is hyper intelligent by design, and has high cognition skills, able to problem solve and even understand puzzles once they have had the opportunity to test out what they can do. It understands that brute force is not a solution to everything, and will be patient, stealthy, and organised. Because of this intelligence they are playful when young and affectionate when it comes to their partner or mate, but to any stranger they are aloof and wary. When not trained they are timid and will shy away from human and Synth contact, although this will not stop them from 'taste testing' humans, synths, and other critters and animals to learn what is good to hunt and what is bad to eat.

As they pair bond, they work best when they are together with a partner or mate, and will mirror each others behaviour, bring one another gifts, and preen each other when relaxed. They make a lot of varied vocalisations and will even develop their own language with one another. When trained, they will respond to commands as part of their language even if they cannot replicate the word completely and as accurately as a Katari-Amaru can, but can mimic the cadence, tone, and syllables with grunts, hisses, and chitters. It has been seen that they will teach offspring how to hunt through playing until they are mature enough then they will be allowed to wander off into the wilderness on their own.

## Ecological Purpose

The Galiana can survive in the wild, preferring arid climates. They can climb, sprint, and swim, can hunt both large and small prey, and will eat carrion. They will even burrow if the ground permits it.

## Subspecies and Variants

### Marbled

The marbled variants of Galiana are the most common, ranging from rusty red to olive green, with browns, yellows, and even some teal colourations in between.

### Skink Striped

With patterns like a king cheetah or skink, they have lateral lines down their bodies and a lightly coloured tail that is purple or yellow in colouration.

## See More

* Synths
* ARCDA
* Critters
* **Galiana**

## Trivia

* Galiana's name is originally derived from Megalania, a prehistoric giant monitor lizard, with a few of the letters mixed around. The binomial name *fulgucursor* means "lightning runner".

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