The Great Bestiary of Adratal

## Prologue

Written in collaboration with many different trackers, hunters, and
scholars, from every nation, The Great Bestiary is a written collection
of the worlds animals, insects, and creatures of unknown origin and
their behaviors. Though woefully incomplete, this book contains notes
and illustrations on at least three animals native to each nation.

**Diet:** Omnivorous, feeding mostly on plankton, shrimp, small small fish, and snapperwaed

**Size:** Their soft eggs can range from football-sizes
to a large gourd or pumkin. These eggs harden once they hatch and exist
as their first shell; over it's lifetime it will change shells two to
three times, and will grow to from the size it was born with, to a small
 mattress or coffee-table size.

**General Appearance:**

The Auroral Mautilus is a large sized hard-shelled creature that live
 in and between the southern locks, as well as the southern sea of
Mestisys. They are known for their bright, opaline shells produced
during birth that grow with the creature, until eventually shedding into
 another shell to grow underneath. The shell gains contrast in color as
it ages from the sea water, but also brittleness- discarded shells
gather and what give the nutrient rich area it's white and soft sands
along the bay. These shells are fished and harvested, labeled for their
quality, and are a commodity in high demand by the Mestisyian
government. The softer, whiter shells can be cooked and heat treated for
 body armor, worn by the Royal Guard of the realm, while the brittler,
more lustrous pieces are boiled and used for weapons. Finally, if
something is so perfectly lustrous and the rainbow of colors found on it
 wide, it may be claimed as property of the clergy and used in
ceremonial rituals or as an object of enchantment.

The inner creature otherwise resembles a small octopus, with
spearhead legs used for jetting across the sea floor- ten in total;
there are many documented cases of swimmers in the southern coastal
cities or towns to be rammed by a Mautilus swimming by, capable of
bruising and sometimes breaking large bones if fast enough.

As the creature ages, it is rare, but not unheard of, for a Mautilus to reach a *fourth*
 shell, indicating it's ripe old age- these are considered extremely
dangerous, for any shell it produces on it's body is too brittle to grow
 properly and, when swimming, can ram ships- it's shell shattering-
along with the lower wall of the ships hull.

### **Splitheaded Whalekraken-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Western Oceans, close to arctic circles

**Diet:** Apparently the courage of sailors as nobody dared research these for long enough to find out.

**Size:** Humongous

**General Appearance:**

 The name "Whalekraken" really just means
completely scary and huge octopus.
It doesn't help that this creatures head is split into two long bulbs
which have their own pair of eyes.
Between these two head-ends, a sort of maw is located. This is actually
not the creature's mouth but an array of terrifying horns which happen
to be shaped like teeth.
The actual mouth of this kraken is also in the middle of the eight arms,
 as it is the case with every octopus.
Swimming on its side, the creature can be mistaken for a whale that
suddenly split's its own head by opening the mouth over 180° at first
sight though, hence its name.
The horn-maw of the splitheaded whalekraken can easily grind battleships
 into splinters and is probably used to brawl with even more
intimidating creatures of the depths.

### **Feathered Octopus-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Jungles

**Diet:**Coconuts, Bananas, Fireflies

**Size:** Fit in a beer mug

**General Appearance:**

The ancestors of the feathered octopus developed
straggly bits of skin which more and more became feathers although not
originating from scales.
As a result the feathered octopus can actively change the color of
individual feathers and even pressurize them to become stiff. This makes
 the feathered octopus an amazing climber and deceiver.
In fact so good, that until now the species has been considered a
deformation of a chameleon.
When scientists tried to heal the apparently sick animals with magic,
the creature hastily spread it's four legs into eight tentacles and
re-shaped its head to resemble the center of a flower with the tentacles
 quickly becoming the petals. It was then noticed that the species
called "Firefly-eating sunflower" actually also was the feathered
octopus in disguise the whole time.
The feathered octopus left the ocean, simply because the amount of fuzzy
 leaves and things to copy in the jungle gave it an advantage there.

## Insects & Arachninds

### **Demonspite**- Vale of Creos

**Habitat and Location:**
 Demonspite Desert, a massive and inhospitable arid wateland to the east
 of Creos. They infest the tunnels and caverns underneath it. But the
Demonspite is just where their burrows come up for air, they could go on
 for much longer.

**Category:** Part-Arthropod Part-Humanoid hive-mind species.

**Diet:** Pigs, cattlegrubs and fungi mostly. But they feed everything to them and then eat those in turn.

**Size:** A yard in length.

**General Appearance:**

From some angles they look uncannily human, from others they look uncannily other.

***Do not attempt to communicate with them. Kill on sight. They're much smarter than they look.***

## Fish

### **Righinn-** Lèanacòrsa

**Habitat and Location:** Commonly found in the estuaries and inland salt marshes of Lèanan, Righinn make migratory trips to and from the deeper waters of coastal Crùn to spawn and can be caught in great numbers during these periods.

**Diet:** Primarily bottom feeding scavengers, Righinn scrub riverbeds clean of algae and debris.

**Size:** Averaging half a metre in length, particularly long lived individuals grow to over a well over a metre. The Palace Aquiary contains a specimen rumored to be over two metres in length, though the validity of this claim has yet to be verified as the specimen has also grown predatory in it's long life and claimed the life of many other prized occupants of the Aquiary.

**General Appearance:**

Flat, angular bodies with similarly sized pectoral and pelvic fins allow the Righinn to "walk" across the bottom and scrape up food with it's downward facing mouth. A muddy brown base with black speckles help camouflage the fish from predators, males have a metallic silver spot on their tail and dorsal fins that glint in the light to attract mates.

### **Hunare-** Caeles/States of Fëyoln

**Habitat and Location:** The most prominent kinds are located all around
 the swampy pits of the territory of Yspa, but certain subspecies can be
 also found in rivers all around the nation.

**Diet:** Other fish, and small animals that venture to close to the bank of the river.

**Size:** About a meter and a half long.

**General Appearance:**

The Hunare is a large, carnivorous fish, which
has a smooth water-trapping skin so that it is able to survive on land
for a short period of time. It has three sets of eyes; one in front of
the head, one on the sides, and one on the top. This is an evolutionary
breakthrough which allows them a nearly 360 degree field of view, and so
 no prey can escape its sight. They have very large main fins in order
to propel its large body, and to push itself onto land to catch
land-based prey by surprise. The Hunare is often a nuisance to fishers,
who will eat their bait as well as the rest of the fishing rod.

## Amphibians

### **Axefrog-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Swamps, meadows with nearby water supply

**Diet:** Omnivorous apex predator

**Size:** ~100cm tall 230 cm wide when crouching, appearing much longer in jumps

**General Appearance:**

In the western forests, evolution seemed to miss
crocodiles so bad that it took unsuspecting frogs and slowly let them
grow into something that could take a crocodile's place in the
foodchain. If it wanted.
The freckled axefrog is a massive amphibian with a thick, muddly green
skin and yellow eyes that waits in the water and shoots out when it
notices prey. It's name derives from the fact that it's frontal legs
have morphed to feature two fingers and a blade between them. One can
guess that this used to be the webbed skin used for swimming and with
the upcoming of a scaly skin had slowly become a sharp edge that could
be used to ruin someones day rather than paddle in the water. Axefrogs
are still good swimmers and their back-legs look ever froglike. In fact
it is advised to try and attack their back legs when fighting an axefrog
 because their dangerousness stems from their ability to catapult
themselves into enemies with their axeblade hands stretched before them.

The freckled axefrog is a close relative to this animal. The only
difference is that it appears white with yellow and orange spots all
over it's body and that it's bite injects a terribly painful poison
which's effect is comparable with a fever and heavy migraine. The white
axehands of the freckled axefrog, still attached to their bones and held
 together with the re-purposed tendons of this limb is a traditional
weapon of the Chained Promontory elf tribes.

## Reptiles

### **Drij-** Dra-miri

**Habitat and Location:** Forests and home-caves.

**Diet:** Omnivorus, scavenger preferences.

**Size:** Length: 6 feet promedium. Wingspan: 4 feet maximum.

**General Appearance:**

They are a selectively bred pet of the Dra-miri. Coloration and race is very variable as there are 20+ recognized races.

They have good disposition with Dragons, they act cranky with
Easgannduinne and Outright ignore humans. Other interactions are not
documented.

Can be used as a messenger or guardian if trained.

## Birds

### **Sult-** Lèanacòrsa

**Habitat and Location:** The dense grasslands and the reed choked salt marshes are where these
 fat, flightless birds make their nests. Sults live almost everywhere in
 Lèanacòrsa as they have been partially domesticated as a food source.

**Size:** Standing at 45 centimeters tall and weighing in at 4 kilograms.

**Diet:** The
Sults diet mainly consists of small crustaceans and fallen fruit though
occasionally it will consume carrion.

Sults will lay two eggs every spring and both parents will watch over
 their chicks until they are around six months old before leaving them
to fend for themselves. Their lifespan is around 20-30 years though few
make it to that age as they're a staple food source for many of
Lèanacòrsa's carnivores, including the Easgannduine who hunt and farm
the creatures in large fenced enclosures alongside Clàbar-feòil.

To hide from it's numerous
predators they disguise themselves amongst the plants by working long
blades of grass into their greenish yellow feathers. If that doesn't
work then bird quickly switches tactics, sprinting at impressive speeds
in hopes of losing it's pursuer.

Though usually docile, male Sults engage in vicious fights during the
 mating season and will slash and kick rivals with their long legs and
sharp talons. Rather curiously female Sults will sometimes pick a mate
regardless of which one wins the fight, instead picking the male with
the most impressive grass display. This leads to a divide amongst males
of different regions, fewer predators means more outlandish displays and
 weaker males while places with more predators have simple displays and
larger males. Some scholars argue the two should be separated into sub
species but as it is a learned behavior and varies from year to year, it
 has remained unchanged.

### **Western Cliff-Raven-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** The cliffs around western shores

**Diet:** Fish but also animals who fell to their death

**Size:** Wingspan of ~1 meter

**General Appearance:**

Black birds that have a deep, wry call.
They are slightly taller and more sleek than other raven like birds,
mostly because their beak is designed to poke fish out of the water
as well as to quickly skin the carcasses of land animals, like sheep
or goats.
This appearance and their seemingly more precise method in eating
corpses has also given them the name of "elf-raven".

## Mammals

### **Short-Haired Mammoth-** Volkomos

**Habitat and Location:**
They live in grassy fields, are native to the island of Volkomos.

**Category:**
Mammal

**Diet:**
Vegetarian, prefer the greenest grass available

**Size:**
A little larger than an ox, much smaller than the larger mammoths in the north.

**General Appearance:**

Smaller version of the mammoths we are familiar with. Has short fur
similar to a horses, and can range from dark brown to blonde.

### **Fil-** Andalus

**Habitat and Location:** Andalus Desert. They can be
found in many habitats but mostly the desert, lakeshores, and the
savannahs surrounding the desert.

**Category:** mammal

**Diet:** trees and shrubs

**Size:** small building

**General Appearance:**

A massive creature, and often fericious when provoked. Their legs are
like trees, their bodies larger than a house, they have enourmous sail
like ears, a long snout like a serpent, and tusks the size of 10 spears.
 It is the ultimate beast of war and burden in Andalus.

### **White Goblin-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Mountains

**Diet:** Mice, Weasels, Berries, also bread and other prepared foods.

**Size:** ~60cm

**General Appearance:**

A small, bipedal creature with white skin and
hairs. Their faces appear happy and mimic a fair share of human emotion,
 although their silly grin is mostly related to the
shape of their skulls and their really strong yaws.
White Goblins do live in smaller families and have an own language.
It's hard to tell how far their culture is developed and if they can be
interacted into modern society because they live at terribly windy
heights and react quite hostile to intruders.
While not exactly hunting intruders, they linger around unseen between
snow and stones and wait until their enemy rests or stands close to a
cliff to then kick their knees from behind or push them down with a
suprising, scary noise.

### **Wool Unicorn-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Meadows

**Diet:** Grass

**Size:** ~120cm length x 90cm height

**General Appearance:**

Basically a sheep with a single horn on it's
forehead. Those creatures are not very magical but do taste a bit better
 than regular sheep. Or at least everyone who breeds them pretends this.

### **Green-Tailed Stagag-** Strait of Mestisys

**Habitat and Location:** Forests north-west of Mestisys

**Diet:** Herbivore, mostly grasses, flowers, maize, and wild fruit

**Size:** Ranging from a large dog when young to a small horse when fully adult

**General Appearance:**

Green-Tailed Stagag, different from the Red-Tailed Stagag native to
the Strait and lands south of the Strait, are a much wilder breed of
creature. Found in the wild forests of the newly acclaimed land
bordering the Tripatriquon and the Andalus Desert, these deer-like
creatures are highly intelligent and very illusive to hunt- most notably
 for their incredible ability to disguise themselves, by transforming
into the earth and stone and wooding around them, they can shrug off a
hunter's arrow or spear with ease, and use their light footedness and
sharp memory to elude hunt of predators.

The creatures resemble a North American white-tailed deer, but with
some key differences: beyond the ability to transform, they are
noticeably smaller, its fur longer and shaggier in places. New hunter's
often describe the hide as "bark-like" and rigid, as well as greener and
 more condensed colors, resembling a greener-brown camouflage. Finally,
it's silver antlers are the most most obvious difference from a standard
 deer, but also their ability to bend and morph them at will while
remaining rigid and strong- having slain several, smiths confirm that
they are pure silver and remain solid in death.

While birth of a Green-Tailed Stagag has never been documented, it is
 believed to be similar to that of the Red-Tailed Stagag: two adults
transform next to one another, entering an inanimate state for several
hours until the act is done. That being said, Green-Tailed Stagag do not
 seem to form prides of groups under one territory, like Red-Tails, but
rather seem to act together as one large, ever extending tribe or
community. Observably it is the largest non-hivemind example of
interconnectiveness recorded, with notes of Green-Tails aiding one
another in escaping foes and even forming together with other, seemingly
 random Green-Tails from vast stretches of distance away to use their
transformitive abilities to slow an enemies pursuit.

Their only predators are the wild wolves, coyotes, and bears of the
forests, who only survive by sheer force of will against the creatures,
most all other predators having been staved out over the centuries. That
 being said, their difficulty to hunt is rewarded with delicous dark
meat, expensive hide, and the silver of their antlers- it is the trait
of a true huntsman to be able to track a Green-Tailed Stagag until the
perfect time, when it's antlers are at their largest, before going for
the precise kill between their transformations.

### **Shadow-puppeteer Geckobat-** The Chained Promontory

**Habitat and Location:** Forests

**Diet:** Smaller animals, mostly insects

**Size:** the longest exemplar was one meter and 2 centimeters long with eight centimeter long legs.

**General Appearance:**

The Shadow-Puppeteer Geckobat is roughly the size
 of a ferret and has the same type of wriggly, dexterous movement. It's
 head has two massive eyes and a set of large, bat-like ears from which
it got it's name.
The feet of a Geckobat have long claws used for climbing and appear as
four-fingered hands with thumbs.
The eyes have a special property: While the Geckobat is blind and relies
 on it's hearing, the eyes have evolved to feature luminescent organs.
In fact the eyes of a Geckobat, together with their batlike face and
sharp teeth look uneasy to most people.
They look appealing to moths and other insects though, which get
attracted by the light and then eaten.

The amazing part of this specific breed of Geckobat however is, that
the animals have learned to move their tiny forelegs and hands in front
of their eyes to cast shadow-puppets on surfaces.
These are used to scare away predators.

The call of a Geckobat is a wicked giggle that echoes through the
forest and is repeated by other Geckobats who turn their head to the
source. This has the effect that people who run through forests are
sometimes caught in a valley of glowing yellow eyes.

A modern day, earth dwelling human would call these creatures "gremlin-lemur" rather than geckobat.

## Lus Brùid

### **Molnabeleg-** Caeles/States of Fëyoln

**Habitat and Location:** The woodlands of the Thean and Malagos Farai provinces.

**Diet:** Insects and other small creatures

**Size:** Can range from a square inch to the size of a large house.

**General Appearance:**

The Molnabeleg is a type of living goo that lives
 in the thin woodlands in the southern half of the Kingdom. It can range
 from yellow to dark brown in color, and varies insanely in size. They
usually appear as blob of goo hanging from a thick tree branch, trapping
 insects that are attracted by its sweet smell. Large blobs of
Molnabeleg cannot hang on tree branches, and instead simply lie on the
forest floor, sometimes trapping things as large as a rabbit. Usually
though, bears and deer know to stay away from it.

If a Molnabeleg happens to find its way to a town, it will gradually
eat up everything and everyone in it, as its body is as hard to escape
as a pit of tar. For this reason, if a large, suspicious blob is seen
moving towards a town, torches will be thrown at it, burning the entire
thing into gas and ash.

When a Molnabeleg reaches a certain size, it's body will not be able
to move as a whole anymore, and so it breaks down into hundreds of
thousands of tiny pieces and starts its life cycle again. Certain
animals, such as some birds and rodents, eat small Molnabeleg as part of
 their diet. They must evolve slick mucus in their throats so that it
doesn't get digested while they are swallowing their food.

The main reason why no one takes a stroll in the forest is because
you might get your foot stuck in one of the billions of Molnabelegë.