Warmbeast

Warmbeast

*Mustela Gigantus*

Animal, Mammal

* Largest Recorded Height: 0.8 metres (to shoulder)

* Average Length: 2 metres

* Largest Recorded Length: 2.6 metres

* Average Life Expectancy: 22 years

* Longest Recorded Lifespan: 30 years

## Description

The Warmbeast (also known as the Warmer Stoat and the Giant Stoat) is by far the largest weasel on the planet and the largest of the Mustelidae, as well as the only one to have a chiefly herbivorous and fungivorous diet, only occasionally supplementing it with insects and spiders. The Warmer Weasel inhabits Asmocaria, regularly travelling across the steppe between patches of woodland.

The Warmbeast at first appears to simply be a scaled-up form of the Inecurian Stoat, possessing the same bone structure, general appearance and fur colour (ginger back with white underside, and white all over during the winter). According to the traditional legend, that is because it actually *is* a scaled-up Inecurian Stoat, created by the kind-hearted Titan known as Shilasha, who instructed them to carry out the behaviour for which they are most well-known and which they are named after.

Warmbeasts are much-loved, amongst intelligent folk and wild animals alike, for their practice of seeking out lonely, afraid and cold creatures during the harsh Asmocarian winter and cuddling up with them to keep them safe and warm. Warmbeasts are especially known for helping young pups to survive in this way. Warmbeasts do not appear to expect anything in return, though it is not unusual for the animals they help to return the favour by giving them food, leading them to shelter, or protecting them against predators - not that they are targeted by predators particularly often, as predators too recognise the friendship of the Warmbeasts and will only attack them if desperately hungry.

There appears to be no benefit to the Warmbeast for going out into the dangerously cold winter environment to help others, beyond the happiness it feels from doing so. This behaviour is self-detrimental and could not have arisen naturally through evolution, perhaps lending credence to the magical origin myth of these creatures. Though there is no scientific proof, folk tradition holds that the creatures are themselves magical, containing tiny circuits of the Magestream which keep them warm even on the most bitterly freezing nights, and that if you look closely enough you can see the magical energy seeping out their eyes as glittering sparkles. This has never been recorded in photographs or videos, but many witnesses who were themselves helped out by Warmbeasts on cold nights correlate the story.

Warmbeasts are highly honoured in Asmocarian folklore and Natrakhsanian tradition. They are said to be the physical avatars of kind-hearted deceased souls, or those who were selfish in life but wish to redeem themselves through acts of charity. Asmocarian Christians also regard them as the kindest and most pure-hearted of God's creatures, and many believe they are guided by angels.

## As Food

Warmbeasts are not eaten, out of respect for their kind nature and supposedly Titanic origin. However, those who were desperate for food have eaten them. Their meat is said to taste much like venison.

## Conservation

Warmbeasts are common throughout their range and are not at risk. Keeping them as pets is illegal, but so is hunting them, and their population remains stable.