Domesticated: ----Plants: include millet, barley, flax, rice, lentils, chickpeas, lettuce and cabbage, apples, olives, figs and similar. ----Milk and wool (and sometimes meat) herd animals, introduced in the last decade. They're called 'unicorns' for the single branching horn (which is actually an antler, and falls off at the beginning of the flood season) and resemble long-necked caribou with a thick wooly coat on the neck and back, and fish-scaled underparts. Sturdy, and can handle the tough vegetation of the plateau. However, longs will venture out of the forest to hunt and eat them. ----Pest control "pets," Furwyrms. Look like a two-legged ferret-snake hybrid with possible mongoose. Affectionate but get into everything, and will constrict even already dead prey before eating it. Very smelly. They eat mostly sand hens and vampires, but will attack and kill cabbits.
Ocean: ----various kinds of algae, including a more complex seaweed that's a cross of different red and brown algae (kelp) ----needle-fish: a cross between a barracuda and a houndfish with a long, pointed beak, and of a large size. Closest thing to a top predator and attacks pretty much anything else in schools of 2-5 fish. Good for eating, but dangerous to catch. ----sea serpent: a cross between a large sturgeon and an eel (most likely a combination of conger and moray species). Feeds peacefully on algae, small fish and the sole crustacean in the bay, and are the largest fish caught. ----birdfish: cross between freshwater sunfish, smelt and flying fish. Very abundant, and feed on algae, larva, and eggs of other fish. Prey for most of the predatory species. ----snappers: a variety of crustacean that looks like a combination of both lobsters and different kinds of crab (primarily spider crabs and large hermit crabs such as the coconut crab). It is amphibious, able to survive on land and in water, although the largest adults are solely aquatic. During the initial life-cycle, the aquatic larvae are prey for the other species of fish. And the soft-shelled juveniles that live in caves, the delta and tidal pools, are prey for both marine and land predators. Small adults live primarily on the beaches, traveling inland to steal from fields or eat in the forest at night, and retreating to the water during the day. Large adults are only prey for sea serpents (and even then, usually decomposing carcasses or injured individuals) or the Beastfolk.
Plateau/fields/delta (or general distribution): -----plants: there is a river fern that grows in the delta, as well as "wild" rice. The plateau is mostly scrub bushes and grasses, with some cacti. ----sand hens: sextapoidal moles with bird wings. They nest in underground burrows but are capable of flight. Mostly found on the plateau closest to the desert, but have also colonized the riverbank and forest. ----cabbit: a combination of a cat and a hare. Omnivorous, and prey on sand hens, gill-snakes, juvenile snappers, and insects (as well as fish, although most of them avoid swimming) for meat, and can be a serious pest towards crops if they get too accustomed to Beastfolk. Fully wild cabbits will stay away from the village out of fear/wariness and eat scrub-grass and dig up the roots of forest vines though. They have some immunity to scorpio venom. ----gill-snakes: mudpuppy x garter snakes with axolotl gills. Relatively small, harmless, and primarily aquatic. They do have a single lung, but the external feathery gills are more efficient oxygen exchange. They burrow in the bottom of the delta and hibernate if conditions are too dry for them. ----death-heads: very large wasp/dragonfly nasties. Live in nests in either burrows or tree hollows and actively predatory towards other insects and even larger animals. Very venomous. Called so because the white markings on their heads seem to resemble skulls. ----scorpios: moth/scorpions. Actually docile pollinators, but do possess a sting with venom. This is mostly used to fend off death-heads and other predators. The scorplings undergo several molts under the mother's care, and then spin a cocoon to metamorphose into their winged adult stage. ----red bee: honeybee/widow spider. Away from the nest, they are mostly shy and harmless, but if defending the nest, they will swarm aggressively and sting. The venom is a nerve toxin, and multiple stings are usually fatal. They are black with red and white stripes, and a red hourglass on the belly. Their nests are made of both honeycomb and spider-silk, laid down in layers. Subsist almost entirely on nectar and honey, but will eat the corpses of death-heads if they attack a red-bee nest and are killed. ----vampires: cockroach (actually more closely related to giant hissing cockroaches), fly, and mosquito. Quite large, and feed on just about everything. Females must feed on blood several times before giving birth. (Live young, yay!) Only come out at twilight, and swarm during and shortly after the flood season. Another primary prey species of the cabbit and death-head. ----midges: These tiny, aerial insects are found in swarms all year round, and are pretty much literally everywhere. Every house and building will have some midges in it at all times, and midge swarms tend to follow folk around. About the only places they tend not to follow are the communal "bathroom" spots. They never seem to land on anything, and have a habit of hovering motionless for periods of time. They're considered only a minor annoyance, and are terribly hard to crush.
forest: -----the forest is made up of mostly deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the drought season, but there are varieties of vines, bushes and ferns as well. Tree nuts similar to acorns can be harvested, as well as berries/fruits from some of the bushes (most except a bright orange variety and a mottled green-blue kind with a hard rind are toxic, though) during the growing season. ----long: top predator. It's part giant monitor lizard (komodo dragon on steroids, probably most similar to Megalania/Varanus Priscus) and part tiger, and has bat-like wings. Can't fly, but it can spread the wings and glide down from a high vantage point to a lower one; they also aid in swimming. Large enough to easily take down even the biggest centaur, and very dangerous, not even counting the necrotic bite. Luckily, they're not very common. On the other hand, they will occasionally leave the forest, cross the river, and climb up to the plateau to get at the unicorns. This has put them into direct contact with folk to disastrous results in the past. ----warhead: A boar and hyena cross. Mostly boar, but no less dangerous for it. While primarily vegetarian, they can and will attack and eat other creatures. About the only thing that can kill one reliably is the long. Their large tusks can gut a centaur, they have paws that end in small hooves instead of claws, and a hyena-like gait. ----armor-sides: antelope/armadillo. The tough armor on the sides and scaley scutes on the belly help provide protection from predators, but they mostly rely on camouflage and being able to jump and turn on a dime. Herbivores, but very shy and difficult to hunt so not a primary food-source. (They are very tasty, though, so if there's a chance to bring one down, a hunter will take it.) ----spiders: Will actually be recognizable to investigators as a mutated monkey. They're most common not-chimera of the animals. They have up to eight limbs, and generally at least six are fully functional. Expert climbers that mostly live in the treetops to consume fruits and nuts. ----screechers: a parrot/flying fox cross. Wings are bat-like, but have downy feathers instead of fur, and they're brightly colored with a toothed beak. Can mimic speech and are particularly fond of imitating a scream, hence the name. Eat fruit and nuts primarily, but will consume insects. Probably the best fliers in the ecosystem. ----honey-eaters: a badger/pangolin cross. They're semi-arboreal, have prehensile tails, and are one of the few creatures that will risk red bee nests to get at the honey. Immune to the venom of the bees, and will also eat death-heads, scorpios and vampires. ----[no name]: a giant wolf-bear that's appeared so recently that it doesn't have a name yet. The one that's been encountered is actively hostile and aggressive. It has killed two Folk and several unicorns. Most other forest dwellers don't leave the forest that often, but this one has been sighted several times, increasingly closer to the village each time.
WILDLIFE (AND SELECTED PLANTLIFE)
----Plants: include millet, barley, flax, rice, lentils, chickpeas, lettuce and cabbage, apples, olives, figs and similar.
----Milk and wool (and sometimes meat) herd animals, introduced in the last decade. They're called 'unicorns' for the single branching horn (which is actually an antler, and falls off at the beginning of the flood season) and resemble long-necked caribou with a thick wooly coat on the neck and back, and fish-scaled underparts. Sturdy, and can handle the tough vegetation of the plateau. However, longs will venture out of the forest to hunt and eat them.
----Pest control "pets," Furwyrms. Look like a two-legged ferret-snake hybrid with possible mongoose. Affectionate but get into everything, and will constrict even already dead prey before eating it. Very smelly. They eat mostly sand hens and vampires, but will attack and kill cabbits.
Ocean:
----various kinds of algae, including a more complex seaweed that's a cross of different red and brown algae (kelp)
----needle-fish: a cross between a barracuda and a houndfish with a long, pointed beak, and of a large size. Closest thing to a top predator and attacks pretty much anything else in schools of 2-5 fish. Good for eating, but dangerous to catch.
----sea serpent: a cross between a large sturgeon and an eel (most likely a combination of conger and moray species). Feeds peacefully on algae, small fish and the sole crustacean in the bay, and are the largest fish caught.
----birdfish: cross between freshwater sunfish, smelt and flying fish. Very abundant, and feed on algae, larva, and eggs of other fish. Prey for most of the predatory species.
----snappers: a variety of crustacean that looks like a combination of both lobsters and different kinds of crab (primarily spider crabs and large hermit crabs such as the coconut crab). It is amphibious, able to survive on land and in water, although the largest adults are solely aquatic. During the initial life-cycle, the aquatic larvae are prey for the other species of fish. And the soft-shelled juveniles that live in caves, the delta and tidal pools, are prey for both marine and land predators. Small adults live primarily on the beaches, traveling inland to steal from fields or eat in the forest at night, and retreating to the water during the day. Large adults are only prey for sea serpents (and even then, usually decomposing carcasses or injured individuals) or the Beastfolk.
Plateau/fields/delta (or general distribution):
-----plants: there is a river fern that grows in the delta, as well as "wild" rice. The plateau is mostly scrub bushes and grasses, with some cacti.
----sand hens: sextapoidal moles with bird wings. They nest in underground burrows but are capable of flight. Mostly found on the plateau closest to the desert, but have also colonized the riverbank and forest.
----cabbit: a combination of a cat and a hare. Omnivorous, and prey on sand hens, gill-snakes, juvenile snappers, and insects (as well as fish, although most of them avoid swimming) for meat, and can be a serious pest towards crops if they get too accustomed to Beastfolk. Fully wild cabbits will stay away from the village out of fear/wariness and eat scrub-grass and dig up the roots of forest vines though. They have some immunity to scorpio venom.
----gill-snakes: mudpuppy x garter snakes with axolotl gills. Relatively small, harmless, and primarily aquatic. They do have a single lung, but the external feathery gills are more efficient oxygen exchange. They burrow in the bottom of the delta and hibernate if conditions are too dry for them.
----death-heads: very large wasp/dragonfly nasties. Live in nests in either burrows or tree hollows and actively predatory towards other insects and even larger animals. Very venomous. Called so because the white markings on their heads seem to resemble skulls.
----scorpios: moth/scorpions. Actually docile pollinators, but do possess a sting with venom. This is mostly used to fend off death-heads and other predators. The scorplings undergo several molts under the mother's care, and then spin a cocoon to metamorphose into their winged adult stage.
----red bee: honeybee/widow spider. Away from the nest, they are mostly shy and harmless, but if defending the nest, they will swarm aggressively and sting. The venom is a nerve toxin, and multiple stings are usually fatal. They are black with red and white stripes, and a red hourglass on the belly. Their nests are made of both honeycomb and spider-silk, laid down in layers. Subsist almost entirely on nectar and honey, but will eat the corpses of death-heads if they attack a red-bee nest and are killed.
----vampires: cockroach (actually more closely related to giant hissing cockroaches), fly, and mosquito. Quite large, and feed on just about everything. Females must feed on blood several times before giving birth. (Live young, yay!) Only come out at twilight, and swarm during and shortly after the flood season. Another primary prey species of the cabbit and death-head.
----midges: These tiny, aerial insects are found in swarms all year round, and are pretty much literally everywhere. Every house and building will have some midges in it at all times, and midge swarms tend to follow folk around. About the only places they tend not to follow are the communal "bathroom" spots. They never seem to land on anything, and have a habit of hovering motionless for periods of time. They're considered only a minor annoyance, and are terribly hard to crush.
forest:
-----the forest is made up of mostly deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the drought season, but there are varieties of vines, bushes and ferns as well. Tree nuts similar to acorns can be harvested, as well as berries/fruits from some of the bushes (most except a bright orange variety and a mottled green-blue kind with a hard rind are toxic, though) during the growing season.
----long: top predator. It's part giant monitor lizard (komodo dragon on steroids, probably most similar to Megalania/Varanus Priscus) and part tiger, and has bat-like wings. Can't fly, but it can spread the wings and glide down from a high vantage point to a lower one; they also aid in swimming. Large enough to easily take down even the biggest centaur, and very dangerous, not even counting the necrotic bite. Luckily, they're not very common. On the other hand, they will occasionally leave the forest, cross the river, and climb up to the plateau to get at the unicorns. This has put them into direct contact with folk to disastrous results in the past.
----warhead: A boar and hyena cross. Mostly boar, but no less dangerous for it. While primarily vegetarian, they can and will attack and eat other creatures. About the only thing that can kill one reliably is the long. Their large tusks can gut a centaur, they have paws that end in small hooves instead of claws, and a hyena-like gait.
----armor-sides: antelope/armadillo. The tough armor on the sides and scaley scutes on the belly help provide protection from predators, but they mostly rely on camouflage and being able to jump and turn on a dime. Herbivores, but very shy and difficult to hunt so not a primary food-source. (They are very tasty, though, so if there's a chance to bring one down, a hunter will take it.)
----spiders: Will actually be recognizable to investigators as a mutated monkey. They're most common not-chimera of the animals. They have up to eight limbs, and generally at least six are fully functional. Expert climbers that mostly live in the treetops to consume fruits and nuts.
----screechers: a parrot/flying fox cross. Wings are bat-like, but have downy feathers instead of fur, and they're brightly colored with a toothed beak. Can mimic speech and are particularly fond of imitating a scream, hence the name. Eat fruit and nuts primarily, but will consume insects. Probably the best fliers in the ecosystem.
----honey-eaters: a badger/pangolin cross. They're semi-arboreal, have prehensile tails, and are one of the few creatures that will risk red bee nests to get at the honey. Immune to the venom of the bees, and will also eat death-heads, scorpios and vampires.
----[no name]: a giant wolf-bear that's appeared so recently that it doesn't have a name yet. The one that's been encountered is actively hostile and aggressive. It has killed two Folk and several unicorns. Most other forest dwellers don't leave the forest that often, but this one has been sighted several times, increasingly closer to the village each time.