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Archived: Creatures kept as pets

From ThornsWiki

Bander Wolf

Found in: Everywhere

This striped wolf originally hails from the tall grass of the Anaxi plains, where it is unseen by the wild horses and kenser on which it feeds. When tamed, this animal is a formidable hunting partner. People of all races enjoy the benefits of a bander's unconditional loyalty as well as their strength, for protection or just a good friend.

Their stripes can be dark brown, or black, or grey. Rarely, albino bander wolves occur. The bander wolf's eyes can be blue or yellow. Its ears are perfect for hearing sounds far away, its nose is powerful, and its mind is sharp, making it ideal for tracking.

Cats and Dogs

Founnd in: Literally everywhere

Dogs and cats are sometimes kept as pets, but it is rare. Cats are utilitarian, used for catching rats, and dogs are considered unclean and noisy. Humans are more likely to have a dog or a cat as a pet.

Hingle

Found in: Anaxas

A rodent resembling a chinchilla crossed with a squirrel, kept as a child's pet. They are white, with a dark grey face; they are often quite fat. Children of all races adore them. Unfortunately, they are also a delicacy; parents can get their children to go to bed merely by threatening to cook and eat their pet hingle. The paradox of the delicious yet cuddly animal is a powerful one.

City hingles live in large nests that they build in attics, basements and alleys, usually out of discarded bits of shredded paper. Wild hingles, on the other hand, live in burrows in the ground. Hingles are rarely hunted for their meat, but they are bred by farmers and sold at markets, and poorer families often attempt to catch house hingles to eat.

A hingle is about the size of a squirrel. A single hingle will generally provide enough meat for one meal.

Leira

Found in: Mugroba

A lizard the size of a small dog, with delicate spines extending from its face. They are energetic and friendly, though unintelligent, and are often walked on leashes. They're quite popular among both humans and wicks. Leira live 10-20 years easily, and sometimes live well into their 30s. Leira hail from Mugroba, but many are imported to Anaxas and are sold in bazaars.

Leira are typically a beige color with stripes of a darker brown; this only really varies between the desert types. Northern leira are greyer with stripes of darker grey (for blending in with the rockier area) and Southern leira are much paler to blend in with the ergs. Leira from middle Mugroba are halfway in-between. (They're not very colorful.) They eat beetles, but can digest other insects.

Osta

Found in: Everywhere

An osta is a member of the cat family, slightly larger, with leopard-like markings. Its defining trait is its uncanny ability to remember. An osta can find its way home even if dumped twenty miles away. It remembers every person it sees, often greeting them with its trademark chirruping sound, which is tailored to resemble birdsong (a trick used for hunting). Ostas are also popular for their fur—selective breeding across the Six Kingdoms has allowed for a variety of unusual colors not found in ordinary house cats. Their small paws, tail-tips and faces are darker; their tails are large and soft. Ostas live around 20 years.

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  • Anaxi Osta are usually a rich burgundy in color, almost a wine, but shades of maroon and rusty orange are also popular.
  • Mugrobi Osta are creamy in color, with a dusky purple on their faces and extremities. Their spots and markings are paler, also, more like a charcoal or the same dusky purple. They are smaller than their temperate cousins with larger ears and thicker footpads.
  • Hessean Osta are a rich shade of mahogany brown and tend to have striking amber eyes.
  • Bastian Osta are a variety of greys, though a smokey grey with darker markings are the most common. Their eyes are often heterochromatic or even two-toned, standing out in stark contrast to their coats.
  • Gioran Osta are, not surprisingly, white. True albino Osta have been bred selectively in Gior in pursuit of perfection, but they are not available for purchase outside of the Kingdom of Gior. Non-albino osta are a pale yellow or pure white with dark markings and often violet eyes.
  • Hoxian Osta are a blue shade, almost like indigo, with markings that are usually another shade of blue. Occasionally, completely black or solid blue ostas have been part of Hoxian litters, but they are extremely rare. Hoxian ostas have green or amber eyes. They are the largest and most long-lived of all ostas in the Six Kingdoms, sometimes reaching almost twice the size of the average Anaxi osta.

Whice

Found in: Anaxas, Bastia, Mugroba

Whice are multicolored domesticated birds, most popular among wicks as pets. Their unusual traits make them ideal pets - they eat only once a week, and make almost no noise unless spoken to directly. Their voices are somewhat harsh, but they can roughly imitate speech. (Often a wick will teach his whice how to curse in Tek.)

Their colorful plumage is their main attraction. Whice come in many breeds, and each breed has distinctive plumage. Wick tribes often "adopt" a type of whice and breed them for their entire tribe.

A group of whice is often called a quilt, as they can resemble a multicolored quilt when they take flight all at once. Whice live an average of ten years.

Yoffel

Found in: Hox

Though originally thought to be a subspecies of dog, the yoffel's closest cousins are weasels.

A yoffel has an extremely strong stomach and is capable of eating three times its own body weight per day. This is not actually very hard for the yoffel because most are quite small. The characteristically large, floppy and loose skin a yoffel has is not something they are born with but is a side effect of their infancy. As babies they are very fat, and only tend to grow a little until their maximum size is reached at three months. After three months, the yoffel's superhuman metabolism begins, and they loose their large amount of baby fat in a matter of hours.

The word Yoffel is generally thought to have come from the small sound the animal makes when frightened, which, mistaken for a bark, is what also led to the belief of them being related to dogs.

Yoffels are considered to be a physical manifestation of all that is pathetic. Their droopy skin and large eyes make them seem malnourished and weak, a yoffel is always sniffing out food, so they get cute points for looking like they have a cold, and its lack of usefulness, as food or pelts, make it quite common to see these animals have a good meal at the expense of a stranger whose heart was played by its pleading expression.