Archived: Creatures kept as pets

Dogs, cats (universal)

Dogs and cats are sometime 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.

Osta (Hox, Mugroba, Anaxas, Bastia)

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 - it is an unusual shade of rich burgundy, the product of selective breeding. Their small paws, tail-tips and faces are darker; their tails are large and soft. Ostas live around 20 years.

Whice (Mugroba, Anaxas)

Whice are multicoloured 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.

Leira (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.

Hingle (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.

Bander Wolf (Anaxas)

This striped wolf 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.

Yoffel (Hox)

Though orignaly thought to be a sub species 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 a 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 babys 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.