Wawa

## Description

Wawas are large fluffy goats found in the high mountains. They usually only reach 4.26-5.84 ft (130-178 cm) for males and 4.33-5.31 ft (132-162 cm) for females. They are almost always white or grey in coloration with little variants between them. Males and females both have large curled horns, although the males have heavier horns. The horns of the wawas form into an armored cap at the front of the head that helps to protect their heads when charging and slamming their heads into things. They have long ears that help them to pick up on sounds in the mountains and detect threats long before they see them. Their eyes are located more forward on the head, unusual for a prey species, but aids them better in seeing where they are going as they climb the sheer mountain cliffs.

They have stocky builds but are incredibly nimble, able to scale sheer walls and jump incredible heights. The rumps of wawas are notably fluffier than the rest of them, often giving them a funny waddling look from behind when they run. This thick fur though makes it harder for predators to land a killing bite and allows wawas to escape death time and time again to scurry up quickly into higher, safer cliffs.

The name wawa comes from the sound they make when bleating. For the Yurak'riti people, the wawas are an important part of their lives as they provide food in the form of milk and meat, clothing from their wool, and their horns and bones can be used to craft a variety of items.

## Ecology

### Distribution and Habitat

Wawas are found in large herds all across the mountain ranges and sometimes down into lower lands during the breeding season. A typical wawa herd is between one hundred to five hundred individuals and can often look like a furry avalanche when they come jumping down the cliffs. They are well suited for cold climates and high altitudes that they call home.

### Diet

Wawas have a very slow metabolism and can survive on very little food. Their preferred food of choice though is a thick, stone-like high mountain lichen that grows in the cold climates and can be found underneath the snow, however, they won't turn down hay, straw, or sugar cubes. Wawas are very good at locating this lichen and often those that herd them will simply follow their herds out as they find patches of lichen they like and then call them back as the sun sets. However, that is not to say wawas are herbivores as they have been known to snatch up high mountain rodents for a meal while browsing for lichen.

## Behavior

### Social Behaviors

Wawas are very social creatures and not aggressive or territorial. They are promiscous and a female may mate with several males in one season and give birth to two to three calves. Wawas usually keep to their family groups while breaking off to graze, but then form into larger herds when moving to a place of safety to rest for the night. Male wawas often keep watch of the herd at the edges, often acting as herders in their own way to keep the herd following the lead patriarch who is often the oldest wawa in the herd and the largest. The wawa patriarch will lead the larger herds to places of safety and to grazing territory, however, in domesticated wawas, the herder takes the role of the patriarch and uses both sound and mana lights to get the herd to follow them back to safety.

Wawas, being so social, are also very friendly towards creatures that aren't wawas, as long as those creatures aren't being aggressive first. They have no fear of elves and often they will be very curiosu about their handlers and herders, nudging and smelling them and trying to nip at them lightly. This makes them rather easy to domesticate, tame, and herd.

### The Naughtiness of Wawas

Ask anyone in the Yurak'riti clan and they will be quick to tell you that wawas may look cute but they are a handful to deal with as they are both clueless and curious, stubborn and playful, and have all sorts of peculiar behaviors they will do and pass along to their herd just to cause grief.

Wawas are curious creatures, but not too intelligent and will often climb up buildings or even up the walls of the fortress and get themselves stuck in odd places where they will proceed to bleat loudly until someone comes and saves them. There have been cases of wawas turning up in odd places in Har'Ol'Nek'Preya without any reason for them to be there such as the lost wawa that ended up swimming circles in the cascade lake or the one found wandering the magma tunnels where it then proceeded to climb to the top of the Val'Vil'Flare fortress to try and cool off. They also can be clueless and will nuzzle and try to be friends with clearly aggressive fauna or take a bite out of unknown flora and end up making themselves sick.

They can also be stubborn and there are cases where instead of going out to graze, a whole part of the herd rolled over onto their backs with their legs in the air and played dead so they wouldn't have to go out. They can also be playful and scamper around, enjoying being chased about or trying to charge and headbutt an unfortunate fae they have started to attach to.

They also love to chew on anything they can get their mouths around and are horrible little thieves, often stealing items and carrying them off to drop in the snow. Yet despite all of this, the Yurak'riti have a strong fondness for these naughty puffs of fluff and often treat them more like over-energetic children than animals.