Silenta Spuristo

Silenta Spuristo are a Halloween 2023 event release.

### Young

While much of this juvenile’s day is spent in slumber, the nights are something else entirely. Excitable and curious, this cub’s wanderlust is only curbed by its environment or its mother’s watchful eye. It will follow its nose anywhere, and once it has found a scent it likes, it will pursue it until the source is found. If stopped in this task by either a parent or other caretaker, the small creature will let out a near human-sounding wail in protest.

### Adult

The Silenta Spuristo is a tenacious and sturdy creature, tracking prey for miles until it succumbs to exhaustion. In order to keep its prey on the move, it will fan out its many tails and raise its fur to appear larger if their target is in sight, or it will occasionally produce loud, wailing screams that carry for miles if the quarry is not directly visible. Their highly-developed olfactory system allows them to pick up even the smallest trace of scents, including those faded by age or water. Once their prey is exhausted, the Silenta Spuristo will emerge from seemingly nowhere to finish it off. Due to its comparatively slow and steady approach to hunting, it is capable of going many days without food. In early autumn, unmated individuals will pair up and settle into dens, producing litters of around four or five pups. Before the pups have learned to properly hunt, the male will go out and drive prey toward the den for his mate to finish off. Once the pups have departed, mated pairs that work well together will often continue to hunt cooperatively so long as game is plentiful.

### Extra Info

#### The Mane Thing

Besides its nose, a Silenta Spuristos second-best asset is its coarse and wild mane. Each hair is coated with an oily substance that keeps water out and traps scents as the creature is on the hunt. Because of how frequently the mane is dragged across the ground, bioluminescent fungi are often found in the manes of adults. Because of this, older individuals tend to have more brilliant manes. When agitated, excited, or afraid, a Silenta Spuristo will puff up its mane to appear larger.

#### Tall Tails

Unlike adults, juvenile Silenta Spuristos have only one noticeable tail from birth and could easily be mistaken as the young of an entirely different species. Upon closer inspection, however, small nubs can be found at the base of the tail. These tail nubs grow as the Silenta Spuristo matures and will become fully formed by adulthood. Although the reason for this isnt entirely clear, its speculated that this is for energy conservation, as most pups are born from late autumn to mid-winter.

#### Smells Like Death

Like many animals, the Silenta Spuristo has anal glands that produce rather foul-smelling liquids when utilized. However, unlike most canids, the musk they produce is highly potent and viscous, able to linger on a surface for days after being applied and even through rain. It is used to mark territory, and its strength is believed to be caused by the animals far-flung hunting strategy.

## Variations

### Body

The trait associated with Silenta Spuristo's body color is in the format AABBCC. The first set of letters (AA) determines the body color, while the second two sets of letters (BB and CC) are only included to aid in determining the outcome of offspring between a Silenta Spuristo and a Glacia, Klara, or Transira Alsalto.

### Fire

While Silenta Spuristos cannot visually express the Ice gene, it is included to account for their ability to breed with Glacia, Klara, and Transira Alsaltos.

## Trivia

* TFO uses Esperanto as a basis for creature names (although it's not always exact--accents are ignored and spellings occasionally shift). “Silenta Spuristo” means “Silent Tracker.”

## Acknowledgment

Art by: rosastrasza,Virida. Descriptions by: rosastrasza.