Alcaean Fauna

## Featherfox (Vulpes iridescentia)

Featherfoxes strongly resemble normal foxes, only instead of fur they have iridescent black feathers, like magpies. Their screams are unnervingly human. They have talons as long as the average pinky finger, and vestigial wings they can’t fly with. Featherfox blood is silver, like mercury, and turns black when fully oxidized. Pristine featherfox blood goes for hundreds of gold per ounce on account of its psychedelic properties when consumed.

* Size: ~2 feet tall, about 35 lbs
* Diet: Dead things, but will hunt small mammals. It isn’t unheard of to see them “disposing of” corpses. They often eat bones, too
* Lifespan: 8-12 years average. Some live to 15+, but rarely

## Pseudobasilisk (Reptilium medusae)

Pseudobasilisks are the patron animal of the rot-goddess **Diantha**. The "pseudo” label only accounts for its size— while most basilisks are about fifteen to eighteen feet tall, the pseudobasilisk is only about six to ten. Their eyes have special reflective powers that, if exposed to sunlight, can cause whatever they’re looking at to burn/melt. This doesn’t work in the dark, but their venom is a great substitute. It is rumored that they started the brainplague, but this is all speculation. Their heads are worth a lot of gold.

* size: 6-10 feet tall, about 900 lbs
* diet: Medium-sized mammals, sometimes cannibalistic
* lifespan: 40-60 years average. Some 80+ or more, but don’t often live that long because they’re prone to disease and poaching

## Eel-headed Wyvern (Draco piscis)

Their name is self-explanatory. Eel-headed wyverns are two-legged drakes with a long neck and jaw that can be unhinged. They can swim quite well, but mostly stick to land and air. They have five to eight rows of teeth and rudimentary camouflage. Males change colors rapidly to attract females, who are feathered and do not have the same color-changing property as the males. They are strongly attracted to shiny things. There is evidence that they can be tamed, but efforts to selectively breed and domesticate the species have proved unsuccessful… and bloody.

* size: Males around 20 ft long, weighs about a ton; females around 25-30 ft long, weighs about a ton and a half
* diet: fish, medium-large sized mammals, sometimes scavengers. Don’t hunt humans
* lifespan: 150+ years, some have been documented at over 200

## Gildwolf (Canis aurea)

Descendants of true direwolves, gildwolves mostly reside in **the stills**, and happen to be the most common cause of death for adventurers who dare explore her depths. Gildwolf pups are all-black until about age two, when they shed their whole coat for the last time. The autumn after their shed, their full coat comes in, revealing brilliant, sparkling gold markings. These markings are random, unique to every wolf, and it’s speculated that these markings are how they identify each other. Pack hierarchy is loose, with one leader who takes care of the rest who fall in line accordingly. Pups and elders take priority.

* size: 5-6 feet tall, females usually larger, weigh about 150-200 lbs
* diet: Fish, medium-sized mammals. Will eat humans but don’t go out of their way to find them
* lifespan: 20-25 years average. Longest living gildwolf was 32 years old

## Vampire Sparrow (Passeris sanguis)

Vampire sparrows are sort of like normal sparrows but a little bigger and speckled with white downy feathers. They are quite soft and good for petting if you disregard their thirst for blood. Vampire sparrows are pack animals and are often hunted to endangerment for their down feathers — it makes good pillow-stuffers, coat and cloak reinforcement, especially in the winter. They have good meat for kebabs, too, but not so good for storing for later.

* size: About 10 inches long, beak to tail tip, and 2 oz in weight
* diet: Mammalian blood, small bugs if they can’t find any, which is rare
* lifespan: 3-5 years

## Skulker (Caulis umbra)

Also called shadow stalkers, skulkers look part snake and part dog, with four-inch-long venomous fangs. A tuft of coarse fur-like down crests its crown and spine, down to a long tail that ends in a similarly venomous barb. A face full of whiskers allows it to sense prey from the dark in which it seems to melt into, and retractable scales allow it to secrete the same venom that drips from its fangs and tail; said venom is flesh-melting and makes for an easier meal. An extremely rare creature, skulkers exclusively hunt at archer’s line— the shadows of it, rather. Any adventurers who dare to brave the shallows of the forest make a really great meal.

* size: 4-5 feet tall. Females tend to be larger and have more brilliant scales.
* diet: Has a taste for human flesh. Otherwise hunts medium-to-large sized mammals, often banding together to form a temporary pack to take down those an individual may not be able to. Not naturally pack hunters.
* lifespan: About 15 years, though most live for much less. A skulker will sooner die of starvation than allow itself to be caught or killed