Avernite Wildlife (not researched) Part Two: Aquatic, City Dwellers, Common, Rocks and Other

There are countless strange and terrifying species native to Avernus, and a few strangely harmless ones (totally untrustworthy). Many of these species have not yet been fully investigated by the Adeptus Mechancius. Part One can be found Here.

## Aquatic

### Sargasso kelp

Sargasso kelp forms dark green strands that vary in length from one to ten meters. The strands are lined with hard and sharp hooks that connect with other strands to form enormous tangles. These clusters constrict and tear anything caught within. Somehow a Sargasso kelp tangle knows when any prey is within it and can constrict around the prey, tearing it apart with the razor sharp hooks. Sargasso kelp is a common plant in the Azure Isles.

### Avernite Carp

Avernite Carps are a genus of several closely related fish species with minor differences between them. They are common to freshwater lakes and rivers in the temperate and tropical regions. They have an oval-shaped body, silvery scale and protruding mouths, similar to carps of Terra albeit bigger. Adult Avernite Carps weights about 40 kg and reaches a meter in length.

Avernite Carps seem telekinetic, demonstrating unnaturally high speed while holding prey bigger than them and can pull power-armored humans into the water at a distance of 2-3 meters, then break or tear away limbs of their victims. Their unnatural resistance to physical force and great bite strength may be telekinetic or biomatic. They can induce a sense of dread.

Avernite Carps eats water plants and small water creatures, mostly invertebrates. They are unable to eat humans or animals their size, and seem to attack humans only when they feel threatened, with the high frequency of such attacks indicating a territorial behavior. Avernite Carps have normal fish intelligence, making trapping possible via durable and fixed fish traps.

### Ocean Dragon

Ocean Dragons range from the size of a Fellblade tank to the size of Reaver Battle Titan. They have a more snake-like bodyplan with wings seeming to serve as stabilizers.

They have several attraction lights which fire incredibly pressurized water at targets, capable of doing minor damage to the hide of a Kraken, but is estimated to kill most unarmored humans. In combat Ocean Dragon draw in, close and coil around their victims so that they can discharge. Their breath is a type of lightning with which a bolt could stun and kill a Kraken. They can release constant high voltage shock similar to tazer eels onto coiled victims. This breath seems to take minutes to recharge.

Ocean Dragons hold a place in Siren culture for their Pearls, who according to Sirens are incredibly dangerous and not to fight them unless needed, hypothesized to be because of ocean environments making them more dangerous. Genetic analysis has shown that the Confluence Hydra is the Everglades variation of the Ocean Dragon species.

### Great Puff

Great Puffs are silly-looking aquatic organisms who contain a amalgamate of poisons and venom drawn from other species in its territory. It uses a unique colorless solvent it produces as well as extensive biomancy to achieve this. The can rapidly expand themselves, becoming akin to dangerous naval mines when threatened. Coloration of Puffs varies from white to red to black based on the toxicity of their poison.

### Animosity Gigacrab

Animosity Gigacrabs are one of several species of very large crabs that can be found in a number of coastal regions. They're extremely well armored with no exposed weak points on their exterior, save their mouths when they open them and their eyes which include armored optic nerves to the brain that prevent killing them through the eye socket. While very well protected against kinetic attacks, they're somewhat vulnerable to energy weapons and especially vulnerable to cryo weapons. Their limbs are also fairly easy to pull apart, but only relative to their size.

Animosity Gigacrabs have a powerful telepathic ability that targets two subjects and induces an extreme hatred of each other in them. The two creatures will immediately begin fighting to the death, heedless of anything else. As they fight, the gigacrab will approach and grab the two creatures in its claws, a process that may take multiple attempts. Once secure, the gigacrab kills them. This psychic power only works in pairs, necessitating the Animosity Gigacrabs to kill them.

### Dragon Carp

Dragon Carp are a prey species that have no natural defenses, are rather nutritious, spawn in excessive numbers and are relatively slow swimmers. Dragon Carp are the child form of sea dragons. Every fifty years Dragon Carp begin a mass migration to the middle of the ocean in order to reach a vast waterfall with seemingly no source, during which many will be killed. The fish will then attempt to jump the waterfall, a process that kills many of those survivors. Successful fish are transformed into a vast serpentine dragon of incredible power.

### Radiant Fish

Radiant Fish ares mall gold fish sized creatures illusionists found in the coastal areas. They project entrancing illusions capable of swaying even strong-willed Avernites. They use these illusions to drive their prey into a frenzy to kill each other, allowing the fish to sample the remains. The Radiant Fish protects itself by stunning via blinding flashes of light and entrancing illusions.

### Nemesis squid

Nemesis Squid has a startling ability for self-biomancy that leads to no set appearance. That are able to create entirely new structures and forms, appearing able to even adjust its size by detaching flesh for later reabsorption within its nest. They favor a rounded body with a varying number of trailing tentacles, but have been seen as piscine, quadrupeds, bipeds, serpents and other forms. They range from 50 to 240 pounds.

In combat it wields a dizzying array of specialized organic weapons. A non-exhaustive list includes blades, pincers, a wide array of toxins, bioelectric tendrils, crushing tentacles, crude pneumatic harpoons and countless other stranger weapons. They are also able to make use of tools by creating organic mounting points for crude tools fashioned from other wildlife or stone.

Nemesis squids can extract their prey's memories by ingesting its brain, leading to a hunting strategy based on picking of members of communal species and reshaping itself to then attack the group. Nemesis squids that scavenge human corpses apply the same tactic, and are able to make use of scavenged human equipment albeit with difficulty (unable to maintain or reload weapons). Nemesis Squids hunt rarely due to the large resources gained from each hunt. Nemesis Squid nests are easily detect via thermal imaging.

Sirens see the squid as a desirable prey animal due to its fat stores. According to them, Nemesis Squids are unable to affect the flesh of others with it's biomancy. How they are able to extract memories from the grey matter of other creatures despite this is a mystery.

### Cyclone sharks

Cyclone sharks are a species of shark-like creatures, approximately 3 to 4 meters in length. They are pack hunters, forming groups of 15 to 20 individuals, though much larger groups have been observed. Together Cyclone Sharks are though unknown means are able to create extremely violent cyclones, producing both typical tornadoes and waterspouts. It is not known if this is a form of telekinesis or weather control. These artificial tornados are somehow be able to easily lift and propel the sharks at great speeds, enabling them to hunt both air and land born prey.

While they have fairly high degrees of maneuverability while airborne, they are limited to moving in a circular pattern around the center point of the Sharknados\* center, though distance can be adjusted. Typically most sharks will stay near the Sharknados center, with groups detaching for rapid attacks on potential prey. The range they may move from the central effect, as well as the violence of the accompanying weather phenomenon, scales with the number of animals within the Sharknado. Should the number fall too far below 10, the Sharknado will collapse, leaving any cyclone sharks over land helplessly beached. Sharknados hunting in water will create a whirlpool, using the currents for a speed advantage as well as attempting to air drown seaborn prey. There have also been cases where a Sharknado used their whirlpool to draw seaborn ships underneath the waves.

There are unverified reports of a pyromancy variant, who somehow induce a pillar of fire into the core of the sharknado to fuel pyromantic attacks. It is unclear if this is an actual sub-breed, or a case of a sharknado simply pulling in and igniting a large amount of a flammable substance.

### Deathfog Turtle

The Deathfog Turtle is an evolution of the Dragon Turtle. The breath weapon of the Deathfog is both thicker and heavier than their baseline kin and they are able to exert a degree of psychic control over the gas. This combination of these factors allows the Deathfog to actually create a persistent cloud of gas that follows them, generally in the form of a billowing fogbank that lashes out at surface prey without the turtle ever needing to surface itself. A turtle's cloud tends to grow as the turtle does. At this time, all Deathfog Tutles that have been encountered have been infants or young adolescents. Deathfog Turtles are generally more brightly colored than their baseline cousins.

### Flurry Eel

Fast moving eels that appear as two eels conjoined in the middle. Excellent for attack and defences. On the attack two mouths make short work of opponents, at the same time one head is always awake and active, as the other sleeps. The final result is a remarkably lethal predator.

### Death Song

Found in forests all around the azure islands the Death Song is a large brightly coloured variation to the well known Psyrodactyl, it’s scales are bright orange with patterns of blue and yellow. From head to tail the Death Song is 55 feet long with a wingspan of 65 feet. It also has 2 long horns jutting from its head with colorful frills on the side of its head.

The Death Song has the ability to mimic any sound it hears which it uses in its hunts, often keeping trapped prey stored in areas to eat at a later date. The Death song has 2 main abilities it uses to hunt and very rarely relies on its physical strength. The first ability is its own version of the psychic Sirens song which it uses to draw prey to its hunting ground. This song has an increased range compared to the version the sirens have, and that it stops working as the prey is drawn close and they begin to realize it is a threat. This is when it uses its second ability, firing shots of liquid Amber which hardens on impact trapping it’s prey. This seems to be the Death Song’s main offensive tool as even a single hit can immobilize most targets by trapping them in an amber prison.

### Charybdis Urchin

Typically found only near the sea floor, these monstrous sea-urchins are so large that they are islands unto themselves. When found underwater, they are roughly hemispherical in shape and bristle with electrified spines which are able to stun or kill all but the most durable of prey. Occasionally, these massive urchins will extend their bodies towards the surface, resembling in some ways spine-encrusted towers that stretch up from the sea floor. After breaching the water’s surface, they will immediately enter into a feeding frenzy, devouring anything and everything that they are able to draw into their hungry maws. They do this by generating massive whirlpools and localized storms, pulling in everything in the local area, regardless of whether they’re on land, sky, or sea. Once filled with brine and food, the urchin will return to the sea floor to digest and grow. In addition to their powerful electrokinetic, pneumokinetic, and hydrokinetic abilities, the urchins are highly intelligent and possess a particularly long memory. They are also capable of limited telepathic ability, which they use to draw prey towards their feeding grounds prior to their emergence, suggesting that communication may be possible -- albeit probably ill-advised.

### Anchor Worm

Several meters in length, these hard-shelled polychaetes are potent ambush-predators. Found hidden in sand-pits, the Anchor Worm emerges only to strike at prey with its powerful jaws. Rather than relying solely on the material properties of their mandibles, the Anchor Worm is able to prime its jaws with layers of twisted, tortured space. When they bite down upon prey, the vortices of churning space-time grind through even the thickest hide and hardest armor. Once the prey is seized, the Anchor Worm will deploy a secondary space-time vortex which crushes and then draws captured prey into its maw. While theoretically vulnerable when extended from the sea-floor to strike, the Anchor Worm is able to massively increase its strike-range by bending space between itself and its prey, such that it hardly needs to emerge at all to hunt. This allows the creatures to strike even at prey on shore, which often simply vanish as the worm pulls them under.

In addition to these abilities, it’s theorized that the worm is also able to bend space-time in order to travel from place to place, and may also possess a limited capacity for divination, which it uses to identify and track prey. Its body may also be significantly more voluminous than it seems, as the creature is able to consume prey that is considerably larger than its size would normally allow. Perhaps it hides a pocket of warped space within its shell?

### Translocation Crab

An amphibious crustation, the Translocation Crab is born about a meter long, and will grow throughout its life, with specimens the size of Knight Titans being comparatively common, and rare sightings of behemoths the size of Titans. Translocation Crabs benefit from a strange defensive power, where interactions with other creatures appear to be reduced. Any action taken by another living thing will affect the Crab less than it should. Combined with an especially strong shell, this makes Translocation Crabs some of the most durable creatures on Avernus. However, the power is two-way, rending it near impotent against almost any creature. Its hunting strategy, however, gets around this.

Translocation Crabs can essentially swap two environments, transporting a cube of water onto the shore, without moving the wildlife within it. On the shore this appears as a cube of shimmering water, in the sea it appraises as a sudden void in the sea, shing walls of water on all sides. It can not transport living creatures, and in fact, the power fails in sections inhabited by living things, resulting in a chunk of water in the outline of living beings being left behind when it translocates. Once the unfortunate seaborn life expires, the crab will simply scavenge it as its leisure, eating its fill before dropping the power. As a crab grows, so does the area it can translocate, with larger specimens drawing up to a kilometer at a time. While younger crabs primarily prey upon seaborn creatures, larger examples will emerge from the sea to scavenge what landborn life they drowned after eating their fill from the now dry sea floor.

### Leviathans

Leviathans are a large ocean-dwelling reptilian species that seems to be related to the Glorianna dragon. The females and males of the Leviathan species are different enough to be subspecies. The species hunts in mixed fleets of 1 to 2 males and 2 to 3 females per pack as to cover each other's weaknesses.

Leviathan fleets are highly aggressive. Fleets of leviathans hunt via prolonged assaults upon sections of the shore. A fleet will surface just off shore, before loosing a vast swarm of drakes. Using carpet bombing techniques, they will endeavor to massacre as much prey as they can, using telepathy to call in fire from the male Shellfire Leviathans to eradicate hardpoints and megafauna. Once all resistance is slain, the drakes will circle the area, staying on station to protect the Hauler drakes as they drag carrion back to the fleet to feed the vast living warships.

When not feeding, leviathans seem to be relatively non-aggressive. It is rare for them to be observed attacking other underwater predators or megafauna. However, they are known to react with sustained and near mindless aggression to serious assaults. Local Sirens advise that fleets not be engaged without the intent of total eradication. Attempts at obscuring the source of an attack have a high tendency to fail.

#### The Shellfire Leviathan

The male of the Leviathan species is the Shellfire Leviathan. The Shellfire has a reptilian head with two large protruding horns pointing forward. Most of the Shellfire’s body is covered by its shell, which is its main form of defence. Anything not covered by its shell is covered in thick scaly hide. It also has long wing-like fins in addition to four legs. Its shell is coloured yellow, and its scales are red where they are visible. Shellfires are 360 feet long and have a wingspan of 220 feet.

Shellfires are incredibly fast swimmers despite their size, and their shells can stop most conventional weaponry, making the Shellfire incredibly hard to take down. The main weapon of the Shellfire is its ability to fire a ball of plasma from its mouth that hits with the power of macrocannon. Curiously, these balls of plasma appear to be able to move through water and other liquids with no problems and keep their form and power even when fired kilometers away. The Shellfire appears to use some form of divination power to accurately aim its shots as it can strike even distant and evading targets.

#### The Carrier Leviathan

The females of the species are known as Carrier Leviathans. Carrier Leviathans appear to be very similar to Glorianna dragons in the abilities they possess, with the difference being size and power, the Leviathan beating the Glorianna in both cases.

Carrier Leviathans are very large creatures, being 400 feet long from head to tail. The Carrier also has very long fins on its sides near its head, which have a combined wingspan of 330 feet. Most of the body of the Carrier is covered by her shell which is coloured green, with the parts that are not are covered by thick orange scales.

As mentioned above, Drakes form the main method a Carrier Leviathan has to hunt and attack its enemies. Drakes come in many different forms so we will list the forms that have currently been reported.

- Skybane drakes: Meant to contest the skies, Skybane drakes are swift and maneuverable airborne predators. Its breath seems to be a form of bioplasma, being well suited to engaging swift targets. Should this prove insufficient, they possess massive and immensely durable talons. Their lethality is massively increased due to their aeromancy, while they are not particularly powerful or skilled, even basic air control can give a decisive advantage in a dog fight. Their speed however, comes at a cost. Skybane drakes are remarkably fragile, posing thin skin and largely hollow bones, relying near totally on evasion for survivability.

- Beach drakes: Primarily aquatic, beach drakes are long serpentine creatures meant primarily to protect the fleet from underwater threats. they possess a potent plasma attack similar to a scaled down version of a Shellfire Leviathan, leaving them well suited to engaging targets above or below the waves. While incredibly swift and maneuverable in water, on land they are slow and awkward. They primarily act as static defense, riding hauler drakes to guard kills large enough to need time to process, or coming up to the beach to ensure nothing shoreborn attempts to assault the fleet as it approaches the shore for its attack.

- Hauler Drakes: Hauler Drakes are the biggest species of known Drakes; they are also the slowest. Hauler Drakes are one of the few Drakes that fill a non combat role as it is their task to fly to the areas the fleet attacked and haul any and all food back to feed the fleet. While not true combatants, Hauler Drakes possess immense strength and lift capacity to allow them to move tons of carrion. It is not unheard of for fleets to find other uses for this, such as tearing open cover or uprooting trees. More intelligent fleets have been seen using haulers to drop illusion pines or other similarly psychic detritus on points of resistance to soften them up.

- Greater Bomber drakes: The second largest flying drake in the leviathan genus. While large and relatively swift flyers, they are not particularly maneuverable, and lack an effective method for attacking airborne targets. The underside of a Domber Drake is covered in bony nodules. As the Drake flies, these nodules detach, before detonating in blasts of shrapnel and flame. The Bomber Drake is capable of dropping a staggering number of these bombs, regrowing them rapidly. This makes it a natural saturation bomber, enabling it to carpet bomb a significant area. While it struggles to deal with durable targets, it can call in either more specialized breeds or support fire from the Shellfire Leviathan as needed.

-Gunship drakes: A drake with relatively short endurance, it is capable of near perfect maneuverability, as well as hovering. They possess an extremely potent breath attack. Flocks of gunship drakes often respond to prey too durable for bombers, yet not large enough to warrant the attention of the Shellfire Leviathan, as well as providing close in protection for the fleet and the haulers. They do however lack any long range options, meaning that unless they can close the distance to their foe to use their breath weapon, they are unable to respond to attacks.

- Scout Drakes: A unique drake subspecies by the fact that it has the ability to both swim and fly at surprising speeds, the Scout Drakes are the eyes of the fleet. Possessing similar active camouflage to their Glorianna equivalent, the Scout drakes move ahead of the fleet both in their attacks on the shore and when moving through the sea. Scout drakes are fast but possess no combat ability and are near helpless if attacked.

- Torpedo Drakes: The last of the known drakes the Carrier deploys is the Torpedo Drake. Torpedo drakes are an entirely amphibian species of drake, forming one of the main combatants of the fleet when engaging other seaborne life. The Torpedo Drake appears to fill the role of an aquatic Bomber Drake, launching explosive spines at the fleet’s enemies that detonate on impact. Similar to Bomber Drakes, these spines regrow very quickly, allowing the fleet to use massive waves of torpedoes against its seabound foes. Observations have been made that the spines detonate if they ever leave the water.

The Carrier Leviathan itself however seems to have less abilities than its skyborne equivalent. Lacking both the roar and the smokebreath the only ability it has in common with the Glorianna dragon is it’s Telepathy. The Carrier Leviathan is an incredibly strong Telepath being far stronger using it than the Glorianna. The Carrier uses this power to form a shared telepathic web with the fleet to be able to give orders to the Drakes even when they are far inland and able to relay back information to the Shellfire if it is needed to strike at any hard targets inland.

### Deep Beasts

The aquatic equivalent of the Bunyip, Deep Beasts are rare creatures that are currently Avernus's most dangerous aquatic predators. With a well balanced combination of speed, stealth, intelligence, strength and incredibly dangerous psychic abilities, Deep Beasts are able to threaten even the most dangerous of beings.

Their primary tactic is to lull prey into an ambush then destroy their minds with psychic bio-luminecence, and if that fails resort to more violent means.

At present what little information we have on them pertains to the juvaniles of the species, with no indication of what the adults are capable of.

### Avernite Lobsters

Coming in several forms, Avernite Lobsters are extremely large, defencible, and delicious crustacean with a surprising number of mobility options given their size.

## City Dwellers

### Gloom Haunts

Ambush predators that prefer to live within hives, Gloom Haunters will fly towards their victims silently before latching onto their heads with razor sharp teeth, draining nutrients from their bodies until dead.

## Common

### Opalescent Mold

Opalescent Mold are a fungus that looks like slime opals. The seem to survive purely on light and quickly assimilates raw material for rapid growth. Individual scale-formations of Opalescent Mold are incredibly hardy, surviving vacuum, heavy irradiation and extreme temperature swings without much impact, with intense radiation causing rapid growth and expansion. Opalescent Mold creates large mycellar networks that forms additional scales, which gather sunlight and act as miniature bioreactors for the larger organism. The mold tends to calcify after exhausting resources, during which a number of scales and mycellar branches will detach and rapidly decay, returning nutrients to the main body. The remainder can be blown by wind over great distances and resume growth at a new location after landfall. This is believed to be the mechanism responsible for the mold's widespread distribution across a majority of Avernite biomes.

Opalescent Molds defends entrenched scale yards and live mycellar networks from predators and avaricious biologis apprentices by channeling stored sunlight into powerful thermal beams that are emitted from specialized scale clusters. Detached scales can be harvested with great care and rendered either into a potent fertilizer, or preserved chemically for decoration. Jewelry made from the scales of Opalescent Mold is not uncommon among the Sirens. It is believed that the species' hardiness may be useful in rejuvinating barren or toxic soils by colonizing a target region with a vast number of Opalescent Scales, but additional study must be performed to verify whether this function is safe in the long-term, and to determine if it is viable off-world.

Opalescent Mold is capable of disguising their otherwise beautiful scales by bending ambient light, though the Sirens have a method to bypass this protection, and research into the Illusory Pine's capabilities have enabled us to disrupt this power and detect their presence as well.

### Nomad

The Nomad is a transparent, lighter than air organism around the size of a human that was discovered fairly late in Avernus's colonisation, presumably only due to the fact that it lived quite far away from the first colonisation site, and that it seems fairly harmless from a distance.

If given a lack of external stimuli, it will quietly drift along air currents in the Trophosphere and Stratosphere, being pushed and pulled without performing any physical action to move itself, but if any organism comes within it's active area (This area is variable between individuals, only related to it's relative output, the largest known sphere of influence seen was around .5 KM in radius) it will proceed to pause, compact itself, and then fire at supersonic (The exact speed, again, varies between individuals, but there has been no definitive reports of anything exceeding Mach 2) speeds towards it's target.

Once it hits -if the entity has not already been downed by the force of impact- the Nomad's tentacles will wrap around the entity and begin to exert amounts of electricity sufficient to melt or burn most materials (The precise level of power used hasn't been recorded, as all devices used to measure it were fried, but the amount of power pumped in increases alongside the area it can 'sense' entities and the speeds it can achieve).

This active area doesn't seem to be tied to sight or hearing, as it will still target anything not totally inanimate be it invisible or silent, but heavy insulation can shorten the range a Nomad will target you at, it's therefore thought that it targets electric waves, coming from organisms or batteries.

Contrary to it's appearance, it's surprisingly durable, the skin is incredibly elastic, allowing it to take the forces of impact quite easily, and laser weaponry seem to have a decreased effect on them, it also doesn't seem to age, but it doesn't improve in strength or size as it gets older, and there have been no reports of it ever giving birth in any way.

### Tick-Tack Ants

Recognizable by the sounds of their maws snapping together, what is know to be a alert/ruse to anything nearby to their nests that they are going aggressive. Are painted black and red, with the bodies covered in metallic hairs, and extremely long and powerful sting in their abdomen.

The Tick-Tack Ants, or as some would say “Terminator Ants” are the most insidious species of insects on Avernus. They are around 2 to 5 cm long, have an omnivorous diet, and the incredible ability of galvanizing their maws with metal absorbed from other creatures. Like to make nests around the few “edible” plants of Avernus.

The most powerful account was when a biologis, using a Grox as bait, heard the characteristic “Tick & Tack”, before a swarm of ants turned the ground under it into quick-sand, trapping the legs, before the Warrior Ants climbed the body, and rushed to the head, stuck their metal coated stings into it’s skull at the same place injecting corrosive venom, making a opening where a even bigger ant, called Praetorian Ant got into and started chewing the skull of the Grox into death. Them the rest of the body sunk into the sand to be eaten by the nest.

### Crainium rats

A common pest throughout much of inhabited Avernus, the Cranium rat is thought to have originated in Lindon, where they frequently live in preexisting burrows or dig new ones, and with the introduction of human infrastructure and train tunnels to the region, have spread to all the inhabited regions of Avernus, excepting certain parts of the Azure Islands, though have thus far been prevented from making it off-world by automated quarantine measures.

The Cranium Rat is so named for a hairless, ridged, patch of skin on their foreheads that is visually reminiscent of exposed brain matter, and leads those who dislike rats to bemoan the fact that rats have acquired even more disgusting features. These ridges appear to glow with a bizarrely dark light when they are using their powers.

Like many creatures of Avernus the Cranium Rat is psykic, though only at, or often below, the level of a minor psyker.

The Cranium Rat species appears to have their powers entirely concentrated in the discipline of telepathy, and are capable of creating simple telepathic illusions to mask their presence.

However, while Avernites have never been especially vulnerable to such trickery, it doesn’t even begin to touch on their most dangerous feature.

The most notable feature of Cranium Rats is that unlike most of the wild, or indeed intelligent, species of Avernus they appear to posses an instinctive, though somewhat inconsistently effective, ability to choir their powers, making them exceptionally more dangerous when fought in a group, to the point where before the militia was instituted to the current standards the PDF had been frequently called in to burn out or poison infestations.

Even worse, Cranium Rat choirs have shown the ability to pool their knowledge and problem solving capability to get around frustrating obstacles, traps, and attempts to keep them out of our garbage.

Despite the significant potential threat they pose, the Imperium-that-was had immense experience in dealing with dangerous species of mutant rat, one more with a psykic theme to match the warp-touched deathworld was not considered especially significant, and like some of the other smaller prey species, Cranium Rats show little inclination to attack humans unless cornered, being a scavenger species that relies on concealment for survival.

Nonetheless they can still be very territorial around their young and their dens, and local populations often need be wiped out when they threaten to break quarantine, make a mess of the rotting waste potentially allowing disease to fester, or prove to be able to bypass normal traps and show signs that they may grow to unmanageable numbers.

Cranium Rats appear to reproduce in a conventional mammalian fashion, and may be born in litters of up to thirty, though more often eight to twelve, individuals, which may or may not be genetically identical based on factors that are unknowable without proper study, but presumably have something to do with plague resistance and their power’s psychic frequencies.

A recent minor trend of keeping them as pets has started up among the lower income neighborhoods of some Hives, as they are said to be extraordinarily good judges of character and possess a better than average sense for danger, can be trained to share their impressions with their masters, and can live off of scraps and garbage.

Urban legends originating among the more paranoid in the pest hunting platoons claim that there are colonies of rats that only travel in groups, and never during quarantine, that have developed the ability to feed off of garbage without leaving any easily discerned trace, and limit their own numbers to avoid notice, they say these rats lie in the walls, waiting.

### Cranium spiders

Believed to be related to implantation spider, cranium spiders are far larger and more lethal. Named for their disturbing method of parasitic reproduction, where a spider's legs will sprout from the head of the implanted victim. Cranium Spiders posses 2 psychic powers, a form of parasitic self biomancy used for incubation and a form of selective perception altering used to hide themselves. The second power causes all affected to actively edit the spider from their perception, however, this effect will not extend to actions it takes. For example, wounds but not their source will be noticed. While the illusion on its own can be overcome with only some difficulty, the spider is host to a symbiotic fungus(known as the spider blind fungus) whose spores greatly strengthen the illusion through unknown means. Even more disturbing is it's particular form of Biomancy and its use in the spiders' growth. Cranium spiders typically reproduce by pressing an egg coated in a numbing venom to a victims skull. Once implanted the spider will use Biomancy to migrate to the victim's brain or spine. Depending on the location it will undergo one of two maturation process. In either case, once it reaches the site it will begin to grow by using its biomancy to claim "ownership" of the sounding flesh and then reshaping it. While implanted in human victims the spiders will usually show greater ability to coordinate and plan than once "hatched". it is believed is due to making use of the remaining portion of the victim's brain. Unusually spiders in human victims will often choose to remain in this state indefinitely, rather than hatching as soon as possible. The reason for this is not presently known, but many theorize that they consider the increased mental abilities worth the disadvantage of a comparatively frail human body. This behavior has not been observed in the wild, where a spider wait usually waits only long enough to spread its fungal spores around an area before leaving a host.

If the spider takes root in the brain it will begin to replace an ever larger portion of the victim's brain, gaining an increasing degree of control over the host. once the spider is fully mature it's legs will begin to fully extend from the host's skull, to allow easier dispersal of spider blind spores. At this point, the host is essentially brain dead, with the spider using limited access to their memories to crudely impersonate them. While not particularly skilled mimics they can usually pass casual inspection from someone who does not know the victim. Spiders that takes root in the spine will not gain control or access to a victims mind for far longer, however, they can seize control of the body almost immediately. instead of growing directly in they skull they will form their main body along the victim's spine, with only the front of its head reading into the victims brain. In this case, the legs will protrude from the victims sides. Spine grown spiders preserve a larger portion of the victims brain, and thus are both more skilled mimics and more able planners. Due to the greater incubation time and difficulty of hiding increased width rather than small head protrusion typically a spider will only grow from the spine when under the protection of another victim. Typically a spine grown spider will act as a leader for a group of cranium spiders. Though such instances are mercifully rare, and in most cases Cranium spiders will remain solitary menaces, though outbreaks are not unknown.

As both the host species and location influence the size of the resulting spider, cranium spiders come in a large Varity of sizes. Ranging from a mere quarter meter leg tip to leg tip, to as large as 4 meters across if implanted in a particularly large host. In combat a spider will rely heavily on it's illusionary powers to enable a lethal first strike, as it's particular form of biomancy is more optimized for making large changes over time rather than combat. While this means they are capable of a surprising degree of long term adaption, in combat they are of little threat without surprise. Typically specimens 3 meters across or smaller will become pack hunters, with only the largest being solitary hunters. As their invisibility is not fully reliable without the aid of their fungal infection an alert group with rebreathers are usually able to repulse the grown spiders in the when encountered in the wild.

### Avernite Black Bird

This humungous bird claims it’s name due it’s black feathers and body, having a hooked beak adapted to tear rotting meat, a wingspan of around 6 meters, being 2 meters tall and having a body of 1,5 meters from beak to tail. What’s impressive about this animal other than it’s size, is it’s capacity of eating anything organic and sometimes even inorganic materials due to it’s powerful stomach acid.

It’s diet varies with the regions, but the rule of thumb is that it will prey on the carcass of giant animals, be it a Thundabeast felled by other Avernites predators on the plains, or even beached marine animals, like krakens… and from what was seen after the Valinorian Crusade, they take a special liking for chaos tainted or warp tainted carrion, which one we don’t actually know.

Strangely others animals upon seeing a Neroavis will run in fear of it’s visage, even top predators. It’s huge wings, bone headed cranium and red eyes pushing fear even in the souls of the most aggressive and relentless predators. Some of our psykers have said that they possible have the telepath based powers that grants them the ability of pushing utter terror into the souls of any creatures who looks at it when it’s posturing with it’s wings spread wide, the inside of them looking dark as if sucking the light, it’s read eyes lighting the area as two giant red beacons of dread.

### Kin-strife spider

a spider approximately an inch across it possesses a dark grey coloration. the Kin-strife spider projects a very weak telepathic illusion to aid in stealth. The name comes from its hunting strategy. Typically it will approach a pack animal and deliver a bite. The spider's venom has 2 properties, the first is a mild numbing, and the second is a form of targeted hallucination. Typically the hallucination is of spider legs sprouting from the heads or sides of nearby allies, causing the victim to believe one or more of their compatriots are cranium spiders. Typically the spider will then scavenge the resulting corpses. due to the high-risk hunting strategy they employ it is postulated that they have some method of going for prolonged periods between hunts.

### Jinx spider

A spider approximately 3 inches across and possessing a vivid blue coloring. Jinx spider venom on its own has no effect, however, when delivered by a live spider it acts as a medium for it's fate weaving powers. acting as the vector for its eponymous jinx. Typically the jinx will increase the odds of some form of a violent encounter in the near term future. This is not, however, the jinx spiders most well-known ability. should a jinx spider be slain it is capable of self-resurrection. This was initially thought to be a form of illusion but has been confirmed to be a form of chronomancy. How it is able to perform such a feat while dead is a matter of some debate. The unusual and potent powers of the jinx spiders are such that a number of psykers have been known to take the spiders as familiars.

### Fear Weaver Spider

A small light gry spider proximally half an inch across. the fear weaver spider is known for weaving large draping webs. A communal spider that typically lives in colonies of 5 to 50 individuals. The typical structure is a more durable "hub" web spun out of site to act as a nest, with less durable and more sticky strands hanging down in a curtain. The hanging webs are both optically and psionically near undetectable. The hanging webs are coated with a contact poison intended to kill the spiders' preferred prey, however, they have a psychoactive effect on larger animals. Small animals are killed, and then pulled up for consumption by the colony. Larger animals will typically cause the strands to detach when they walk through, as the poison induces an extreme fear response. When the main nest is threatened the spiders will typically attempt to swarm the aggressor and coat it in the same poison used in their webs.

### Memory mimic

A relatively common mimic, memory mimics are capable of basic shapeshifting. Being able to alter their form and color to allow them to pass basic visual inspection. However, they lack the mental faculties to convincingly pass as human, being little more than cunning animals. To bypass this they employ a potent form of telepathy, altering the memories of their victims to believe them to be an old friend, and mentally edit in the appropriate behavior. This ability is unreliable when used on multiple targets as it does not create a uniform effect. Typically the mimic will attempt to isolate prey then strike in a moment of weakness, attacking with barbed pseudopods as well as engulfing its victim to crush them. Memory mimics poses little threat, as an alert group can usually detect them, and their natural form is ill-suited to direct confrontation.

### Murdergangers

a 3-meter tall pack hunting humanoid with long gangly arms tipped in razor-sharp claws, Murdergangers are capable of projecting a potent telepathic illusion of appearing to be one's comrades. Unlike many mimics, they make no serious attempt at infiltration, instead merely using the illusions to close and create confusion while hunting. As such they are primarily a threat to forces venturing outside the hives, though some cities have reported small packs of them being found inside the walls.

### Eyethief

Eyethieves are small (average 0.3 meters tall) creatures that bear a superficial resemblance to the kangaroo rat of old Terra, the most notable difference being their greatly elongated\*, highly elastic\*\*, incredibly strong\*\*\*, prehensile tails. These tails end in clawed grasping appendages.

Eyethieves are generally docile scavengers until they are seen by a living creature larger than themselves that possesses two or more eyes. Once this condition is met, the eyethief will seek to tear out one of its victim's eyes with its tail-claw. If successful it will seek to flee to its nest. During this time, the eyethief's abilities are greatly curtailed and must rely on their great speed, agility and knowledge of the environment to escape. An eyethief witnessed by multiple creatures will target a single victim at a time, returning to stalk others only after it has deposited its prize in its nest.

Eyethieves gain a variety of powers related to their victims. An eyethief can manifest an illusion of itself anywhere within the field of view of a victim whose eye it successfully stole (it seems to be limited to one illusion per stolen eye). It can also swap places with these illusions freely. While it has not been proven it is generally accepted that eyethieves can spy on the senses of their victims. Eyethieves usually use these ability to steal bits of food or particularly shiny objects. As such, eyethief nests tend to be treasure troves of small, valuable baubles. They will notably *not* use this ability to take the eyes of victims who are far away from its nest, as they cannot teleport while holding an eye with their tail.

Eyethieves do not generally seek to cause further harm to a victim whose eye they have stolen unless defending their nest.

### Shine Moths

A species of social insect, shine months typically form massive swarms of hundreds of individuals, with super swarms in the thousands being reported. A typical swarm is made up of six distinct casts ranging in size from little larger than a dog to almost the size of a chimera. Despite a high degree of specialization, they are not truly eusocial, with all breeds being able to lay eggs. Swarms typically establish a massive nest made of shimmering prismatic silk. Shine moth nests seem to be able to absorb light over a wide area, resulting in perpetual twilight in their territory, and making illuminating the night difficult. These nests shine with a strange light that appears to be visible only at short ranges. The light seems to enhance the Shine mouths in ways not fully understood. Some mouths will drape themselves in this silk to benefit from it away from the nest, though these smaller strands seem to run out of power after only a day.

Shine moths are in aggregate omnivores, with specialized breeds in the nest able to digest almost anything and produce a nutrient-rich pap. Typically they will hunt at night, taking advantage of the darkness their nests create, but this is not universal. Aside from predation Shine moths with an established nest are not particularly aggressive away from their nest. However, they will violently and relentlessly attack anything that enters the area of their nests glow. This seems to happen far more than chance would account for. It is suspected that this is established by some yet unknown psychic power. As such the locals tend to consider wandering through Shine mouth territories extremely dangerous.

The locals consider wandering shine moth swarms a significant danger. As a hundreds-strong swarm will seek a sufficiently illuminated location to establish a new nest. Unfortunately for the local settlements, they make no distinction between natural and artificial light. More than one shine moth swarm has been built atop the ruins of a town. Despite this, brave or foolish warriors will sometimes hunt them for their woven silk. This practice has declined in centuries with the semi-successful domestication of the species.

All moths start as helpless larvae. Two meter long pale grubs that are near helpless. After maturing for six months, they will cocoon themselves and metamorphose into one of the castes. the caste will depend on the conditions they were exposed to. Taking into account stress levels, amount of food, light levels, and what pheromones they were exposed to while maturing.

### Gem Eyes

Probably one of the new city creatures with the least information available, Gem Eyes appears to be small, bipedal and telepathic creatures that keep to dark places watching. The only reason we are certain they exist is due to consistent reports from very confused avernites who were awoken after wandering in a haze. Consistently the only universal factor they mention is a small figure, with Gem like eyes.

This led to an immediate hunt by the guilds, who eventually tracked down one, and managed to take a picture before the entire squad was rendered insensate by a sudden telepathic barrage.

So far future hunts have gotten close, but have been unable to get close enough to these creatures before they flee. Hired telepaths have stated that their ability to mind blast others is not especially lethal, but it is impressive. Seemingly they just launch so comprehensive an attack that they simply tax mental defences into exhaustion. Against a single target, they’re probably amongst the strongest telepaths on record. Regardless of this they are currently marked as one of the highest threats amongst the new creatures due to lack of knowledge of their desires, stealth and terrifying abilities.

### Berserker Badgers

Found in the northern edges of a number of regions of Avernus, the Berserker Badgers are a recent threat, emerging less than 200 years ago. Approximately 1.6 meters nose to tail on average, they are mammalian quadrupeds. they possess a fairly narrow body with a long snout, and short legs for their body size. They are known for being shockingly aggressive. In combat they rely on a crushing bite able to compromise trooper armor, and incredibly hard and sharp claws. Typically they hunt in packs of 5 to 12 individuals. Typical hunting strategy is fairly simply, they get as close as possible to their prey and then sprint into melee. While not masters of stealth, their low profile and skill at moving through underbrush often enables them to get fairly close before being spotted. This is made far more concerning by their capacity for intense bursts of speed, often being able to close gaps dozens of meters long before more than a few shots can be fired.

The sheer aggression of the species is enabled by 2 characteristics. The first is a high degree of organ redundancy, enabling them to withstand wounds that would kill most other averntie wildlife, the second if their inherent power. When incapacitated, a Berserker Badger will teleport back to its den. This form of teleportation seems limited to an area the creature considers “home” but is extremely long ranged, difficult to interdict and immensely reliable. Typically a Berserker Badger will fight until it has sustained disable injuries, before falling unconscious and teleporting home. However they are able to activate the power consciously, often using it after a successful hunt to return home quickly with more meat than could be carried. Offensive use of the power has also been observed, with a Badgers clinging tightly to a large animal before Teleporting away and taking chunks of the victim with it, though in some cases the badger was unsuccessful, removing itself from the fight without damaging its foe. It is worth noting that should a badge be rendered unconscious through any means, it will instinctively activate its power and return home.

Observation of dens has revealed that a wounded Badger will remain unconscious until their injuries heal, a process that can take weeks for particularly gruesome injuries. During this time it will need to be protected and fed by other members of the pack. For this reason it appears that no more than half of a badger pack will leave the den at a time. There are no confirmed instances of a badger succumbing to wounds that do not kill it outright, in one case a specimen was able to eventually recovering from the destruction of nearly 30% of its body.

Killing a Berserker badger seem to require either destroying much of its body or destroying its brain. Anything less and the creature will teleport home. Frustratingly, this has greatly limited the reliability of autopsies. As intact corpses are difficult to acquire, even should the creatures be decapitated, the teleportation reflex will be at least partially initiated, dealing significant damage to the corpse. So far the source of their ability to survive what should be lethal wounds has not been conclusively identified. However the remains of a membrane have been found wrapped around most major organs, and is suspected to play a major role. Frustratingly, some quirk of their nature means the membrane is rarely intact in deceased examples, and so far attempts at vivisection have failed due to their teleportation ability.

### Snow Wolf

The Glacies Lupus, or snow wolf, is a pack predictor unquestionably descended from the noble Terran wolf brought by the initial dark age colonists, albeit tremendously modified from millennia of guided evolution by the planet mind. Where once they were 40kg of grey brown muscle, now they are half a ton of pure white fur. Where their noses were once keen, now they serve as rivals of the best sensing equipment mankind can produce. Where their claws once were dangerous yet mundane weapons, now they are infused with the power of winter itself and strike with the power to shatter their enemy's frozen armor. Where once they were clever and intelligent, now they have been recorded using their minor cryogenic abilities to disable electronics like mine detonators. Where once they were a fairly standard pack hunting species, now they're practically the definition of loyalty, with not a single recorded instance of a pack leaving behind a member behind under any circumstances except terminal wounds or it was clearly suicidal for the entire pack to stay.

The snow wolf has an extensive range in the colder portions of Avernus, being common in Avernus's spine and further north. The Nyne have domesticated the snow wolves long ago, being one of the earlier breeds they practiced Alkahestrial enhancement upon. Snow Wolves enhanced by Nyne Alkehestry tend to be larger and more powerful than wild breeds, reaching 1 ton in particularly legendary breeds. More notable is a bonding ritual that the Nyne have developed, that allows the creation of a familiar bond between a young pup and a designee, turning the Lupus's legendary loyalty towards its new master's ends, and enhancing the wolf to a varying extend based upon the master's capability.

### Burrowmarrow spiders

Burrowmarrow spiders are a species of parasitic spiders that use biomancy to literally nest inside the bones of infected individuals, infecting those they sleep near or come into prolonged contact with. Symptoms are usually suppressed via biomancy for months until the colony builds to a critical mass, and swiftly devours the hosts from within. Most adults can survive infection long enough for it to be detected, however children and infants are far more at risk, often succumbing in as little as three months, infants however can be overcome rapidly. The swarm released from a fatality can trigger the colonies within the bodies of others to began rapid reproduction, sometimes causing cascade fatalities reducing entire households to spider filled tombs overnight. Despite this, fatalities are somewhat uncommon as screening for infection is a fairly simple manner, and the infestations do not spread rapidly, as such the habitual vigilance of Aventies ensures most cases are caught swiftly.

### Nogling Pox

Nogling pox is a disease that primarily affects nogs, although it has shown the capability to jump to humans and trolls. Infected victims will develop pressurized cysts filled with highly caustic (samples have demonstrated the ability to degrade adamantine plates) pus. These cysts will violently rupture when exposed to trauma, spraying the area around the victim with their contents. In nogs, the physiological changes are accompanied by behavioral alterations: victims demonstrate a greatly increased herding behavior alongside increased aggression. A stampede of infected nogs can present a serious threat.

### Ambulls

Insectoid monsters spread throughout the galaxy in an attempt at domestication. The tunneling, incredibly strong Ambull has thus far resisted any and all endeavours to tame them. One of the most well known, or at least widespread monsters, the Eldar were able to acquire many of the most lethal variants of the species that had adapted to conditions like extreme cold, heat, urban life and more. A potential opportunity does arise in two areas, as Ambulls are apparently delicious, and when reduced to a brain and placed in a mechanical suit can act as an incredibly (if uncontrollable) lethal servitor.

### Bruul parasites

A creature disturbing enough to be mistaken for a weapon of the Dark Gods, Bruul Parasites are memory devouring creatures that rest within the brains of their victims, drawing power from their consciousness. As they devour memories the parasite learns, attempting to create close-knit family units to allow them to multiply, growing more skilled as they age and consume additional memories. What prevents them from being an unstoppable scourge is that while young they are very obvious, their hosts becoming emaciated, with sunken eyes and jerky movements. This is because the parasite has not yet come across the memories required to keep its host in good shape, such as feeding. Older parasites however do know and will take measures to hide their condition. Parasites will fight to the death to protect one another and their supply of hosts, and are capable of pushing their host bodies to superhuman levels in order to do so.

### Sabre Wolves

A more general title for creatures that crossed the galaxy. Bred by Imperial nobles from mutated creatures and xenos monsters, Sabre Wolves in their many forms were the prized hunting animals of the Imperial Nobility, with the Eldar acquiring many of the more lethal forms for Avernus.

### Scrag Bears

Large, foul-tempered, short-sighted predators whose capacity for destruction can be tamed (to an extent). A simple, but effective destructive tool.

### Krootoids

Although no “normal” Kroot were transported to Avernus, Krootoids like the hounds, Krootox and Knarloc were, with the likelihood of Avernus reverse engineering the Kroot’s shaping abilities being extremely high. This list also includes monsters from the deepest shadows of Pech, creatures feared and reviled by the Kroot who descended down vile evolutionary paths.

### Dust Life Moths

Tiny fluttering mites best compared to a type of avernite mushroom. From their wings falls a type of highly explosive dust that disintegrates what it touches. A single moth is not deadly, however they like to swarm and when they do they can carve through mountains in search of food.

### Tribble

Adorable, lovable, gentle, attractive, omnipresent - The Tribble is a highly fluffy creature with no apparant danger to humans but still banned from Avernite cities. Mechanicus investigations reveal a fast-reproducing species, and Telepathica research indicates that the Tribble teleports it's young randomly away. Many Avernties are thus speculating that perhaps the Tribble is a subversive menace, perhaps targeting granaries and consuming them in their entirety even as the minds of their inhabitants are crushed under it's force of it's cuteness.

Either way, nobody's taking chances with the seemingly safe fluff-ball.

## Rocks

### The Most Precious Thing in the World

An enchantment of pyroclast. Sample was retrieved from Hive Residential 43B-98254. Sample induces psychomemetic adoration in observers.

### Lanternrock

An enchantment of ruby. Sample glowed with an inner light. Sample was destroyed following discovery.

### Deceiving rocks

Not a creature, but nevertheless something of utter importance that must be brought up to the Governor himself.

These stones are found scattered all across the northern regions and seem to possess a strong memetic property, when they are inspected those that do so are overcome with a certainty that they contain some utterly world shattering secret or power.

This effect is long lasting, and remarkably potent, as most attempts to inspect the rocks will yield false positives, but the belief will remain.

The glamour on these stones, will cause people to rush from their posts to examine them, distract and otherwise impair any missions.

They would however be a potent distraction for daemons, beings which tend to have very little in the way of self control.

## Other

### Luminous Horror

A strange and relatively rare creature inhabiting caves of Avernus Spine, also reported in other places, mostly underground. Luminous Horrors are about 2 meters tall, vaguely human-shaped creatures made of amorphous ethereal luminescent matter producing warm, daylight-like radiance. A body of a Luminous Horror is amorphous, seemingly lacking any organs, and looks similar to fire or plasma, but actually is somewhat resilient. For reasons unknown, they always appear in groups of three, sometimes few such groups can be encountered together. Few reports of groups up of 12 specimen are known, probably witnesses of bigger gatherings didn't survived. There is no data about their sapience available, but it seems that they possess at least some basic tactical skill. They are at least partially material rather than daemon-like, as they leave small amounts of dust, which seems to have some psychic properties, after destruction.

Their most peculiar ability is the affinity to light and fire, as they are not only immune to fire and light, but actually healed by lasers, plasma, melta weapons, incendiary munitions, flamethrowers and so on, even by warpfire. Other their abilities are psychic shields, levitation, pyromantic powers including some light-based attacks, and healing, which can be pyromancy-based. Presumably they use telepathy to communicate with each other.

It seems that their nature connected to the concepts of Light and Fire. Researchers speculate that it's possible that sufficiently powerful attacks may cause them to overload, but their ability to absorb energy hasn't been tested against weaponry of Titan-grade and above yet, and Luminous Horrors are able to absorb less powerful attacks seemingly with ease.

Their pyromancy powers include summoning beams of various power, up to ones comparable to shots of Neutron Las Cannons, creation of illuminated areas which seem to empower them somehow, increasing their movement speed tremendously, and other light-based abilities, like flashes of blinding light.

Psychic powers and lack of vital organs would make Luminous Horrors dangerous opponents even not counting their ability to render good portion of human ranged weaponry less than useless. As they are always encountered in groups, they are known to sometimes heal each other and attack enemies with same attack, so it's advised to seek opportunity to deal with them one by one rather than fight entire group at once.

Explosive weaponry as bolters, grenade and rocket launchers are very effective, as heat produced by explosions usually isn't anywhere near enough to compensate for the damage. Concentrated Impaler fire can be efficient enough to deal with small groups. Charging in melee is a surprisingly good, if risky, tactic, recommended weapons are power mauls. Grav weapons proved to be very effective.

Also, while they do not appear in bigger groups very often, it's not rare enough possibility to dismiss, so if a one or two are encountered, 5 or 4 at least should be expected to be near, not 2 or 1. In case that it's absolutely clear that there is only one Horror, even greater caution should be taken, as such situation implies that something able to defeat companions of the remaining Horror may be somewhere near.

Avernites speculate that Luminous Horrors are the ghosts of the original human population of Helheim, but psykers that encountered them tend to find it unlikely, as they have pretty much no resemblance to human souls.

Rumors also speak about existence of a different, even more dangerous horror described to be much more bright and with four arms, but no proofs are recorded yet.

### Annihilus Weavers

As with all things Avernite, the most frightening spider can be found deep in the bowels of the planet, within the so-called Caverns of Avernus. The Annihilus Weaver is a phenomenally dangerous specimen. It is not due to their size-- they are indeed only around the size of a grown man. It is not due to their venom, which is no worse than an average Blink Spider, or their speed. But rather, it is due to what they are capable of creating.

While most spiders can, in some fashion, spin a web, the Annihilus Weavers instead weave networks of pure and unrivalled destruction. Their threads are nearly invisible, warping any light that falls upon them in such a way that their presence is obfuscated to the naked eye. It's only by watching for distortions in the air where images are not quite where they aught to be that one can discern their presence. The reason, as I am told, is that reality itself bends around their webs. That is to say, the threads they spin seem to cut cleanly through the fabric of space and everything that occupies it. Should one for example brush a limb or a blade or a bolter against one, they will find the limb or weapon severed cleanly at the point of contact.

Thus, the Annihilus Weaver is so-named due to the fact that their webs annihilate all that they touch.

Were they passive creatures-- simply one environmental hazard among many found in the Caverns-- then they would not be nearly so perilous to encounter. However, the most terrifying property of these creatures is their tendency to weave vast orbs of obliterating webbing. These so-called Spheres of Annihilation are deployed as hunting tools, shoved down corridors like silent tumbleweeds onto unsuspecting prey. They do not seem to even be interested in feeding once they have killed-- we believe that they are somehow able to use their threads to directly digest their meals. That is, the moment you have touched their web, they have already consumed you.

Fortunately, killing a weaver will render its threads significantly less lethal (though still quite capable of killing you-- the web continues to 'digest' matter even after deactivation, albeit much more slowly) after some time has passed.

### Red Crested Warp Fowl

Thought to be an urban legend until somewhat recently, the Red crested warp fowl, more colloquially known as the Avernite Chicken is a small bird believed to primarily hunt in the warp. Physically it appears near identical to a typical chicken, despite it’s unassuming appearance it possess psychic powers of unusual potency and is considered extremely dangerous. As it was only recently discovered little is known of the creature and much of what has been inferred is suspect at best. What is known is that there are a number of reported cases where a cult has attempted to summon a demon, only for a Warp fowl to emerge from their portal and slaughter them before returning to the imatrium. Initially such reports where dismissed as hallucinations and the warp fowl was believed to be an urban legend. However recently a recent summoning of a warp fowl by a coven of delta class witches resulted in a running battle overt enough to be observed and verified.

During the one recorded instance of the Red crested Warp fowl it demonstrated a number of potent pyromantic abilities, as well as a great deal of skill at unraveling or countering the powers of its foes. Physically its combination of extreme strength, durability and small size allowed the creature to propel itself at extreme speed, punching through reinforced walls with ease. Post battle analysis of the more intact bunker walls it burst through suggests that some form of power was used to aid in penetration. Close analysis of the footage suggests but does not confirm, that it is capable of some form of short range teleportation, and that it is either a skilled tactician or posses minor combat precognition. Little else so far has been determined at this time, however at no point in the footage did the creature show visible injuries or signs of strain. As such it cannot be ruled out that other techniques or abilities where kept in reserve when establishing a ceiling for its possible threat potential. The possibility of some form of illusion or shapeshifting power has been raised as well, as it’s near identical appearance to the typical chicken is cause for suspicion.

Further efforts at analysis and data gathering are ongoing, including re analysis of older forensic examinations of suspected failed demonic summonings. At present efforts are stymied by the violence of a failed summoning closely resembling the violence of a rampaging psyker. However, there has been one possible indicator. Forensic work has found small amounts of burned plant matter at the battle site. At present almost a dozen different species of plants have been isolated, however so far all samples have proven suspiciously difficult to identify. As the recovered list of summoning reagents did not include any plant matter, it is believed that they were introduced by the Warp fowl itself. What if any significance they posses is unknown at this time.

### Skinwalker spiders

technically not a mimic, but functionally similar. A skinwalker spider is a swarm of spiders that form a gestalt mind similar to congregation asps. The group mind is capable of augmentative biomancy and can increase in both power and number as it feeds. Young swarms often hunt by hollowing out victims and puppeting the skin and bones, while they are only moderately skilled actors, the swarm is a deadly enough combatant they only need to get within a few meters of their prey. In recent years small more intelligent swarms capable of better mimicry and even competent tool use and basic conversation have begun plaguing our settlements. While they are often unable to penetrate deeply, their ability to exist as either a mimic or a swarm of spiders leaves then a serious threat.

### Temporal Cheetah

Long thought a myth by the human population of Avernus, in recent years enough data has been acquired to prove the existence of a fifth psychic cat species. Extremely rarely seen in the mapped regions of Avernus, it is speculated that Temporal Cheetahs originate from the time twisted plains. However the unexplored nature of the region makes this hypothesis difficult to verify, and some hypothesise it is simply an extremely rare creature.

Weighing in at approximately the same as a standard human, and having roughly the build of a historic Terran Cheetah, the Temporal Cheetah seems fairly unimpressive by the standards of Avernus. It is distinguished aesthically by its "spots", each of which are a ring of dark with either one or two lines running out from the centre of them, distinctly resembling a clock face.

Temporal Cheetahs encountered by humans have invariably had an extremely powerful set of psychic abilities, enabling them to move faster than the human eye can trace and allowing them to dodge nearly any projectile weapons or melee strike. Some more terrifying examples of these creatures have shown the ability to regenerate serious wounds in seconds and quickly turn dangerous targets to dust. Currently the estimated range of their abilities is less than 50 meters, though the powers of individual examples have been extremely variable so it is possible that more powerful Cheetahs exist.

The recent slaughter of a unit of Skitarii in the environs of Dorthonion has earned the Adeptus Mechanicus some knowledge on the workings of this power. By looking at the substantial aberations found in the chronometers of dead rangers and by noting that the damage patterns found on the armoured vehicles resembled those of enthalpic weapons, a number of magos biologis independently came to the conclusion that the Cheetah could control the "density of time". Beyond this, there is very little agreement about how this is done, or its limitations, except a certainty that it has them.

Notably, no member of the telepathica has yet to formally record an encounter with the Cheetah, so we know very little about the true psychic potential of these creatures. The rarity of encounters in general let us know very little about it's behaviour- It is still currently still unknown what causes it to come into conflict with humans, though the occasional non violent nature of it has led to hypothesis amongst magos biologis is that it is either a play behaviour, or hunting practice against weak targets, as Terran cats hunt insects. Neither Vlad Tepes nor the Ancient Wanderer have denied this.

### Ladonic Apples

Ladonic Apples are a species of apples capable of reversing age in a manner believed similar to juvenat. Most notably, they function on dragons, with the exception of the Threnody Dragon due to their excessive psychic resistance. Ladonic Trees tend to be guarded by masses of lesser dragons made ageless by the tree.

### Argent Hounds

A potential opportunity was recently flagged in the mid-tier of the caverns by the Companions. New animals are always being found at this particular depth, but this is the first they felt may be of practical use (most are too dangerous or possess powers too complex to be of relevance) given our hatred of Chaos. This one has been positively identified as not merely effective against them, but seemingly specifically designed to be the hunters of daemons.

Description

First encountered seven years ago, Argent Hounds are being increasingly found in the mid-level of the caverns.

Due to one of their powers, it is hard to fully assess their appearance. They are canid in form, with a strong resemblance to wolves or domesticated dogs in that genus, albeit with longer stiff ears compared to known human breeds. The best estimate we have managed to obtain of one places it as similar to a Phase Tiger in size with metallic grey-white fur with a long topcoat and a thick undercoat.

The hounds are pack hunters operating in tight-knit social groups that are estimated to range from 3-36 total members. Their communal nature is combined with a high degree of intelligence, which allows the comparatively\* individually weak hounds to navigate cavern phenomena that are the bane of other creatures that frequently hunt them, in addition to the usual benefits of intelligence.
\*As always Cavern standards apply.

By physical standards, they are obvious beneficiaries of Grábakr’s bioengineering, displaying disproportionately potent physical characteristics, even when their size and biomancy is taken into account. The only unclouded hound observed managed a bite force sufficient to tear through the warded and reinforced Terminator armour of Companion Tullar with ease.

Interactions

Their initially observed powers did not give the impression of great strength, but rather a focus on tactics and misdirection. This comes primarily in the production of a silver mist that their name is derived from. It is not an illusion and was able to suppress all of the Companions’ detection devices, but it has illusionary effects and exposure induces both physical and mental deterioration. The Companions of Varen did not ingest the mist, but several of its mental effects were able to bypass their wards seemingly without effort. These made the companions fatigued and placid and continued to build until they left the mist. Despite being less personally dangerous than normal mental effects the companions viewed this effect to be far more dangerous than more extreme and personally traumatic illusionary or mental techniques (they’ve grown rather jaded in that regard.)

While in the Mist the companions found that the Hounds were able to manipulate it to form physical constructs. Claws and fangs were expected so they warn that being enveloped is effectively surrounding oneself in a cage of attackers, but they also made primitive tools and used the mist to create distractions. Creating tripwires on the floor, leavers to pry boulders from the ceiling, containers to try and deluge them in a nearby stream of oblivion acid, they were simple but highly effective means of keeping them on the back foot and constantly guessing as they fought against the heavy fog. Their distractions played into this, creating false images of themselves, causing rocks to skitter around to draw the companion’s attention letting them hear the roars of other cavern creatures and so on.

The companions successfully withdrew from the mists, intent on observation instead of forcing their way through. A hound physically appeared in front of them as they did so. They are uncertain if it was merely speed or some form of teleportation or movement technique based on the mist that enabled it, whichever it was it lunged for Gaius Claude with devastating speed. Tullar was able to intercept the blow meant for Claude, losing an arm in the process before collapsing in a deathly state, the return attacks from the Companions seemed to drive the hound away and the Companions returned to the surface.

While human medicine was able to save Tullar’s physical body, we were only able to confirm that his mind and soul had all been severely injured hence his coma. The Order of Restoration sought advice from the Yinnari healers resident in the University who found the condition striking, but chillingly effective. In their words it was an attack not designed for those born, and with some difficulty managed to heal Tullar, stating that there were few recourses for humans at our current level of knowledge. Tullar lacks memory of what happened in that encounter, but is otherwise healthy.

The eldar also managed to find and extract an anomalous liquid from Tullar’s body, although at the time it was not doing anything. Unable to identify its effects, it was added to the Cavern Archives.

The Companions being who they are, swiftly returned to the Caverns intent on further exploration, but found themselves puzzled by the hounds. Their tactics were very effective against humans, but humans are extremely weak by most standards of the Caverns, with many creatures having the raw power to burst through their mists, or some trick or technique to bypass it. In these instances the Hounds seem to flee, although as a pack they are able to bring down quite strong examples of mid tier creatures.

Some of their questions were answered by [INFORMATION REDACTED] which caused the emergence of a Lord of Change. It seems the daemon was desperate to [INFORMATION REDACTED] and felt the caverns were safer by comparison, bringing along a horde of lesser daemons as bodyguards. Its level of strength was hard to determine, but upon its exit there was an immediate howling throughout the entire area followed by an almost solid mass of mist.

The Companions were close enough to observe despite the death-like lethargy that afflicted them, with the daemons began to break down at the mist’s touch, the silver substance utterly inimical to them from its mere presence, while simultaneously sapping their energy. Seemingly seconds later, hounds in their thousands charged in, breaking up the larger groups of daemons while keeping them under constant attack.

It seems their physical attacks had the greatest effect, and we now understand what the Eldar meant by their assault not being “meant” those “born.” Against a creature of flesh and blood the attack damages body, mind and spirit, but the body anchors the other two. For a daemon whose mind and soul are more important and dictate their physical form the consequences are disturbing. Already facing drain from the mist, the Hounds bites and claws destroyed the daemon’s idea of “self” causing them to dissolve into raw warp stuff. We were unable to confirm what the substance they injected into Tullar does, or if they possess more advanced mist based techniques, although Kurger estimated that the conjured mist in this encounter was several times denser than usual. Whether this was because of more present hounds, a greater power expenditure or both he is unsure.

The battle was over in a few minutes, with the hounds going their separate ways and carefully tending to those that were wounded. The Companions were left alone, with Tullar even hearing one sniff him curiously. He suspects he made a friend with one of them by surviving, even if he cannot remember the encounter.

Conclusion

While the Companions are wary of them they also state that they have seen few creatures in the Caverns that might be of similar utility against Chaos. They doubt they could nor would recommend trying to remove them from the Caverns, but that resources to study them for any anti chaos information may yield results.

### Xenacles

A squat stony creature, Xenacles are sessile ambush predators that lurk upon stony islands. Roughly the size of a horse, xenacles are surprisingly hard to detect at long range. Slipping into a torpor-like state that renders them near impossible to detect via mundane or psychic sensors. How they sense prey is not known, but once prey comes near, a colony will launch a coordinated assault. They hunt using a spear-like tongue, capable of striking targets up to a kilometer away. The tongue can maneuver mid-air, and will always strike as though it had hit at full force despite angle or speed.  Once impaled, the tongue retracts bringing the prey back to the xenacles maw.  Entire colonies will work tougher to bring down even megafauna.

### Cliff racer

A cousin to the Psyrodactyls, cliff racers nest in massive and immensely territorial swarms upon islands. When something approaches, they will erupt from their rookeries and swarm the target in a whirling mass of fangs and claws. While roughly half the size of a typical Psyrodactyl, they are notably faster and fight in massive swarms. While they lack the stunning powers of their larger cousins, Cliff racers are capable of a disorienting screech. While each individual Cliff racers screech is relatively easy to resist, the cacophony of an entire swarm is near impossible to withstand.

### Cloud snare spiders

Massive floating spiders are capable of weaving kilometers-long webs of clouds. The web of a Cloud snare spider will appear as a typical cloud bank until an unfortunate creature or sir ship enters. They will soon find the cloud crisscrossed with strands of a strange gaseous web. These strands can exist as either column of gas, or an incredibly durable solid strand of silk. These strands are both toxic and corrosive, wrapping around and dissolving unfortunate prey. The strands will collapse around prey as they pass deeper into the spider’s web, eventually cocooning and dissolving any who cannot escape. The spider is utterly dependent on its web. The spider itself is surprisingly frail and is swift only when moving along the strands of its web.

### Sky Serpent

Massive airborne predators, these creatures appear as massive kilometer-long serpents, that seem to be able to fly through the air. Their exact method of flight is not fully understood but seems to rely on the spatial currents of the horizon. Despite their size, they are ambush predators. They create a pocket of distorted space to lurk in, distance folded in so that they are to far away to see until their prey is within striking range. Slain specimens are initially near weightless, but within the hour, this effect fades, and they inevitably fall into the depths, often taking prey they had wrapped themselves around with them into the depths.

### Lurking leviathan.

A strange creature is able to distort space to a staggering degree. They look a great deal like a whale with an extra set of flippers. They possess a sky blue belly and a cloud white back. They roam throughout the horizon alone, or in pods of up to five. Leviathan will always appear to be impossibly massive and distant, ranging in apparent size from hundreds of kilometers to a few hundred meters. How large they actually are is so far unknown due to their strange power. As one closes they seem to grow in size while becoming more distant, with the process reversing as one moves away. While strange, these creatures are mostly harmless, they are filter feeders who filter small plants and organisms from vast amounts of clouds.

### SkyBlooms

A type of airborne algae, skybloom seems to draw sustenance from spatial distortions. They come in dozens of varieties, ranging from vast tangled stalks bearing fruit to kilometer-wide tangles of moss. Most frequently, they will grow within cloud banks or near sources of water. While most varieties are relatively harmless, some play host to territorial wildlife, or possess means of defending themselves.

### Boundless Tetra

A common prey species, Boundless Tetra are strange even by the standards of the horizon. Each will have a body composed of four segments, though what their segments vary. Observed segments are a barrel-shaped body, fins, tails, and wings. There are relatively few patterns on which segments make up a Tetra, so far none have been observed to have more than one body, though many will have none. When one approaches a Tetra, they will take on the appearance of a random species, most often one that the observer does not consider prey. They retain this power even upon death, a dead Tetra will appear as the form it died in when approached. They vary in size from 0.3 to 1 meter, though there are unconfirmed reports of specimens over 15 meters, and one instance reporting a specimen over 170 km in width. While the latter is suspected to be an illusion created by spatial distortions, its existence cannot be ruled out. While their shifting nature has rendered their biology extremely mysterious, their meat is known to be incredibly nutritious.

## Pests

### Adamantium Cockroaches

Adamantium Cockroaches are a speedy diminutive insect that is heavily armored as well as resistant to chemical, biological and radiation vectors. They secrete various dangerous chemicals as well as being a disease carrier.

### Defoliating Locusts

Defoliating Locusts are pests that reproduce extremely rapidly, consume plants at an extreme speed as well as leaving surviving plant life with debilitations that inhibit their growth for some time.

### Enervating Kudzu

Enervating Kudzu are species of rapidly spreading and invasive weeds that drains the vital energies of plants and crops.

### Familiarbane Hornets

Familiarbane Hornets are wasps that inflict their victims with a psychic pain/poison that is forcibly transmitted onto those that their victim is linked to.

## Plagues

### Beningitus

Beningitus is a seemingly benign disease that blends into the cells and immune system of the infected. It is highly infectious and will eventually drain it's host body of resources to severely debilitate but not kill them.

### Solanum

Solanum is a disease of highly variable incubation period that eventually causes victims to degenerate into raving mad zombies.

### Cebrisis

Cebresis is a disease/scrapcode that transmits through the datasphere (including writing) and the mind. It has a long latency period, is difficult to cure and can inflict permanent mental damage even if cured.

### Anthropomorphism Amoeba

Anthropomorphism Amoeba (Anthromoeba) are parasitic species that live inside the animals and peoples of Avernus. Anthromoeba detects and swallows viruses and bacteria as well as blood and other lifeforms. This process boosts the host's immune system through unknown means, however Anthromoeba also drains the life-force of their host as well as stressing their bodies.

## Shattered Horizon

### **Xenacles**

A squat stony creature, Xenacles are sessile ambush predators that lurk upon stony islands. Roughly the size of a horse, xenacles are surprisingly hard to detect at long range. Slipping into a torpor-like state that renders them near impossible to detect via mundane or psychic sensors. How they sense prey is not known, but once prey comes near, a colony will launch a coordinated assault.

While unable to pursue prey, the sharpened lashing tongue of an xeanacle can strike at foes almost a kilometer away. The barbed spear-like tip is capable of striking with consistently massive force regardless of its speed or wind up, and seeming to be able to ignore momentum to maneuver to strike prey. Typically xenancales will spear two or three human-sized creatures before pulling their victims back to the beasts fanged maw to devour it, though against larger creates colonies will work together, allowing them to threaten larger animals or airships. dozens or hundreds of them lodging their tongue into the target, before dragging it to the ground.

### **Cliff racer**

A cousin to the Psyrodactyls, cliff racers nest in massive and immensely territorial swarms upon islands. When something approaches, they will erupt from their rookeries and swarm the target in a whirling mass of fangs and claws. While roughly half the size of a typical Psyrodactyl, they are notably faster and fight in massive swarms. While they lack the stunning powers of their larger cousins, Cliff racers are capable of a disorienting screech. While each individual Cliff racers screech is relatively easy to resist, the cacophony of an entire swarm is near impossible to withstand.

### **Cloud snare spiders**

Massive floating spiders are capable of weaving kilometers-long webs of clouds. The web of a Cloud snare spider will appear as a typical cloud bank until an unfortunate creature or sir ship enters. They will soon find the cloud crisscrossed with strands of a strange gaseous web. These strands can exist as either column of gas, or an incredibly durable solid strand of silk. These strands are both toxic and corrosive, wrapping around and dissolving unfortunate prey. The strands will collapse around prey as they pass deeper into the spider’s web, eventually cocooning and dissolving any who cannot escape.

The spider itself is relatively frail but is capable of rapid movement through its web, as well as a high degree of control over it. Slaying the spider causes the web to dissolve into a cloud of moderately corrosive mundane gas. The Gas silk has a number of industrial uses, as such a number of brave beings make a living hunting these arachnid horrors.

### **Sky Serpent**

Massive airborne predators, these creatures appear as massive kilometer-long serpents, that seem to be able to fly through the air. Their exact method of flight is not fully understood but seems to rely on the spatial currents of the horizon. Despite their size, they are ambush predators. They create a pocket of distorted space to lurk in, distance folded in so that they are to far away to see until their prey is within striking range. Slain specimens are initially near weightless, but within the hour, this effect fades, and they inevitably fall into the depths, in more than on occasion taking with them a skyships they had encircled.

### **Lurking leviathan.**

A strange creature able to distort space to a staggering degree. They look a great deal like a whale with an extra set of flippers. They possess a sky blue belly and a cloud white back. They roam throughout the horizon alone, or in pods of up to five. Leviathan will always appear to be impossibly massive and distant, ranging in apparent size from hundreds of kilometers to a few hundred meters. How large they actually are is so far unknown. Attempts to close with one increase both the distance and its apparent size. As one moves away, they seem to grow nearer but smaller. As of yet, not attempt to make contact with them have been successful. They appear to be filter feeders, drawing in vast amounts of microbe-rich clouds to sift for food.

### **SkyBlooms**

A type of airborne algae, skybloom seems to draw sustenance from spatial distortions. They come in dozens of varieties, ranging from vast tangled stalks bearing fruit to kilometer-wide tangles of moss. Most frequently, they will grow within cloud banks or near sources of water. While most varieties are relatively harmless, some play host to territorial wildlife, or possess means of defending themselves.

### **Boundless Tetra**

When one travels the Shattered Horizon they will often see a variety of creatures flitting through the air. While most of the time these animals (and fungi, and lithoforms) are well known, sometimes one observes a creature that cannot be defined. Often referred to as Boundless Tetra, these entities consist of a variety of poorly defined flying beasts whose main similarity is that their bodies appear to have four distinct segments. Each tetra that has been observed has been a combination of a singular barrel-like body, one to four wings or sails for flight, one to three fins for maneuverability, and occasionally a tail. As there is no singular form, some tetra can have a more familiar form of a body, two wings, and a tail or fin, while others have been observed as being set of four wings without a body or as a singular wing backed with sails, fins, or tails. Their variability in size is also well known, with most ranging between 0.3mm and 1 meter, though individuals of larger size have been recorded from great distances, and the largest recorded was 170 km in width. The larger specimens have been noted to be observed from great distances and yet retain the same undefined state, which leads many to believe that such massive beings are in fact an optical illusion caused by the undefinable barrier that separates the Shattered Horizon from its neighboring biomes, and none larger than 15 meters have been observed by those outside the Shattered Horizon looking in.

Acquiring a specimen is quite difficult, and often achieved by poaching one that has been caught by one of the Shattered Horizon’s own predators, usually harpooned by a Xenacle though the best-preserved specimens were freshly caught in the webbing of cloud snare spiders. Study of these specimens, though, has proven problematic as they often lack any defined biology, with some lacking any form of orifice even at the molecular level. Others appear to be conventional wild-life that only displays the tetras traits when viewed from a distance of at least 5 meters away. And yet others still seem to change what animal they look like when recaptured. The current theory is that some breeds of tetra have an innate shapeshifting ability intended to have it appear innocuous so as to deter predation. This theory is reinforced by such tetra (seemingly) always assuming the appearance of a species that observers have no prey instincts towards, though this often backfires when it assumes the appearance of something hostile as in the recorded case of a tetra assuming the appearance (but no other traits) of a Cliff Racer.

The boundless tetra serves an integral role as a prey animal for many of the flora and fauna (and lithosphere) of the Shattered Horizon that otherwise lack sufficient intake to justify their size and health. Some species are known to be quite delicious, and on the occasions of trade with those outside the region they can claim a hefty price. In the singular recorded instance of a boundless tetra coming into Governor Rotbart’s possession, he used it to create a consommé of superior quality and with minimal need of clarifying, with a far greater yield than traditional. The conversion of 5 kilograms of meat into 2 liters of broth allowed the Governor to sate Champion Jacob’s immense appetite while providing the champion’s mother with a flask of in her words “highly nutritious hydration solution”.

### Hiccupo

Named for the fact it seems to cause a temporal hiccup according to daemonologists, the Hiccupo is from the Time-Twisted Plains and is, while Avernus-gene-boosted, effectively "simply" a hippo with extreme jaw strength capable of busting tank armor. This would not really be notable for most Avernus wildlife, honestly, given what is on this planet. However, it seems to cause these "hiccups" in the terms of seconds, and has good burst movement for muscles like an ambush predator while maintaining the bulk and power of a hippo.

Each "Hiccup" seems to store the lost time of a target for the Hiccupo, with no so far determination on how much due to Hiccupo being highly aggressive. Or, for Avernus, normally aggressive. It looks like the targeted person suddenly snaps backwards a second or so in time as the Hiccupo stares at them.

Other effects of the "Hiccup" seem to be some form of memory loss and lack of awareness in the target, but if this is some form of "normal" chronomancy or a uniquely Hiccupo effect is difficult to determine and would require catching one of the things. This means that while you do have a second when the Hiccupo drops the effect of stolen time to get away, they usually arrange it so that their jaws are around something that looks important when they drop out of the stolen time.

Young Hiccupo do not seem to be able to cause "Hiccups" and are defended by adults, quite aggressively. They will often kill things and drag them back to the younger ones before they are matured, and move in herds of 20 to 50 Hiccupo at a time, bathing in the rivers of the Time-Twisted plains.

Hiccupo are mostly a dull yellow, with bright green highlights.

The fact that these rivers seem to sometimes be 400 meters in the air do not seem to bother them.