Voidic Snail

A domesticated Voidic Snail is seen in common travel garb

The Fauna that can be found on the continent of Ludwag are wide and varied, some big, some small, some fast, and some slow. But they can all share

one similar trait, and that is the fact that they all originate in Ludwag, and nowhere else. Though man oftentimes has troubles when it comes to pets and livestock, many escape and may form an invasive population in a habitat that they are not native to. Some non-native species may be introduced as a means to control the populations of native species that are causing issues for the inhabitants of the ecosystem. But most of the time, it's just escaped pets and livestock.

This is exactly what happened in the curious case of the Voidic Snail, no one is entirely sure where they came from. All that is known is these snails arrived on Ludwag in a ship piloted by a strange being known as Westerlo, who had been traversing the void. Upon the departure of Westerlo from Azura, it was later discovered that several of these snails had managed to escape from Westerlo's ship and made their way to the Silvic Jungle, as it mirrored their original habitat. Some even speculate that Westerlo may have purposefully placed the snails in the Silvic Jungle for unknown reasons.

### Physiology and Anatomy

The Voidic Snail does not have any relatives or many closely related animals on the continent of Ludwag. Although it is a gastropod, it shares many similar attributes to the pre-existing snails that can be found all over Azura. The diet of the Voidic Snail mainly consists of the low-lying vegetation in the Silvic Jungle, although on rare occasions they may use their adhesive-like underbelly to scale up the large trees of the jungle in search of more plentiful food sources that have not been touched by the other inhabitants of the ecosystem. Those who may attempt to mount the Voidic Snail and have it scale up surfaces will be sorely disappointed as **all of the races on Ludwag are simply far too heavy for the Voidic Snail to climb with**. To maintain its shells, the Voidic Snail will use its large tongue as a pseudo-spade to dig beneath the soil in search of minerals that it can consume to fortify its shell.

The shell that encompasses a large portion of the Voidic Snail is mainly of a chitinous substance that has been reinforced with a variety of minerals that it has consumed via digging beneath the soil. The Voidic Snail sports a multitude of sharp spike-like extensions alongside its outer shell that assist in fending off its predators, the shell of the Voidic Snail is roughly comparable to a piece of lower-quality plate armour when it comes to durability of the shell. Upon the death of a Voidic Snail, the shell that was protecting the snail will begin to weaken and eventually become frail due to it no longer being supplied with the minerals that the snail would have normally dug up from the soil.

Snails are slow animals, though this was not always the case with the Voidic Snail before its introduction to the Silvic ecosystem. The predecessors of the Voidic Snails found in the wild today were capable of accelerating up to speeds that rival a thoroughbred horse. However, with the introduction of the snails to the wild, it has been recorded that the snails have seemingly regressed in their capability to accelerate. They can now only be found moving at the maximum speed of a mule **(15 MPH / 24 Km/h)**. The Voidic Snail may be a slow-moving gastropod, but it makes up for this in its capacity to transport large amounts of heavy objects across great distances without the need for many rest stops along the way. A Singular Voidic Snail is capable of towing 20% of their total weight **(240 Lbs / 108 Kg)**. When more Voidic Snails are added, they can tow a heavy burden of goods across North Ludwag.

### Psychology

When a Voidic Snail is threatened, it will retract itself into its shell in an attempt to protect its squishy body from becoming the meal of another animal. Quite a few animals predate upon the Voidic Snail in its new habitat. Creatures such as the Elka’oah bird pose a threat to the Voidic Snail due to the bird's ability to break open the shell of the snail with a few strikes. A single Elka’oah is capable of diverting a Voidic Snail from its pack and leading it to its doom. One of the more interesting predators of the Voidic Snail is the Nemegral. This large marsupial will attack the Voidic Snail from the shadows, using a burst of speed to catch the snail off guard and ram into its shell to force it to fall onto its side. The snail will retreat into its shell in a bid to protect itself from the Nemegral. However, the Nemegral will use its talons to tear the snail out of its shell and feast on its flesh.

The Voidic Snails share pack bond mentality with other members of its species, they will often congregate into groups of up to 10 snails at a time. They use this numbers advantage as a means to stave off predation by allowing one of their pack members to be consumed whilst the others continue on their way. This is the most successful means that the Voidic Snail has to avoid predation, aside from hiding in its shell and waiting for the predator to either leave or get frustrated from trying to break into the snail's shell.

Voidic Snails are known as generally docile, but timid creatures. It can take a great amount of effort for one to gain the trust of a Voidic Snail. Those who do manage to form a bond with a Voidic Snail mention them as being incredibly faithful companions who won't leave the side of their caretakers even in situations that would leave a common Voidic Snail terrified and cause it to retreat into its shell or flee. Voidic Snails possess a memory on par with that of a horse, allowing them to remember the faces, smells, and voices of their companions for many months after departure. This requires that a person keep in semi-frequent contact with a Voidic Snail to ensure that it does not forget who they are and ruin potentially years of relationship building in that time. Even if a Voidic Snail were to forget a friend, it may still retain trace feelings for their companion which can make it easier to rebuild the relationship that someone once had with it.