Fauna

This is a list of animals that are unique to Vita. However, Vita is home to a great many other animals that exist on our world. (Think Eastern Europe for Anaxas.) This page will also list some common animals, like horses and cats, that are thought of differently in this world.

You should never capitalize these animal names. These terms are treated like regular words.

Rideable Creatures

Horse (Anaxas, Mugroba, Hox, Hesse, Bastia, Gior)

Horses are wild as well as tamed, and can be broken. They are used for riding, pulling carriages and farmwork. They are not generally ridden by the galdori, but they do employ horses as beasts of burden, generally preferring them to kenser.

Moa (Anaxas, Mugroba, Hox, Hesse, Bastia, Gior)

Moa are members of the bird family, and are preferred to horses overall because of their speed and beauty. Agile and intelligent, moa are long-living as well as loyal. Many galdori consider their moa to be part of the family, and give them names. They are flightless and their legs are heavy and strong. Their even gait makes them ideal for riding.

Moa plumage is a soft array of subtle color, with tones ranging from a deep red to golden, black to rich brown. Their tails are sometimes allowed to grow and fall to just above the ground, but often they are clipped.

Domesticated moa are very different from feral moa, which are slightly smaller. Feral moa are rarely seen in Anaxas anymore.

Kenser (Anaxas, Hesse, Bastia, Gior)

The primary beast of burden for pulling wick carts. Kensers look like horses, but have shorter noses, long ears, and stronger, more muscular legs. They have short, dark fur, with tawny spots around the hindquarters and shoulders; they have no mane. Their hooves, which are larger than those of horses, are cloven, and leave distinctive tracks. Their tails are clipped short. Often, they are fitted with goggles to protect them from sand, dust or other frequent irritants of the road.

They are docile and friendly beasts and very popular among children. They have a low and melodious call, which resembles that of a dove.

Chrove (pl. chroven) (Hox, Anaxas, Bastia)

Large, scaled and monstrous beasts ridden by the Seventen. They are chosen for their swiftness as well as their intimidating features. The chrove is technically a member of the genus Panthera, but its skin is furless, hardened into a blackened texture resembling scales. Their legs are short, but powerful; the head sits low on the body, near to the ground, where the chrove sniffs out its prey. Their ears, too, have been subject to a sort of evolutionary hardening, and come down like horns on either side of their small heads.

A kind of hardened shell covers the majority of the chrove's spinal column; the Seventen outfit their chroven with armor as well as a saddle and a harness. Their claws, which are quite big already, are fitted with steel reinforcements.

Chroven have large, thick tails that serve as a fifth limb, a battering ram, and, sometimes, a balance. Their weak spot is their relatively soft underbelly.

Suba (pl. subae) (Hesse)

Subae are a type of massive boar, normally wild and dangerous, native to Hesse's vast grasslands. They are caught at a young age and domesticated, but breeding them in captivity leads to weak and slower subae. This makes owning a suba the mark of the very rich or the very brave, and many of the very rich wish to give the impression that they are the latter rather than the former.

Young subae are called "farrows", and are raised to be rideable mounts. Though in the wild they are very aggressive and assertive, if trained properly subae are very obedient and intelligent animals, more so than a horse or moa. A well-trained suba is the mark of great expense and care.

In appearance the suba is very like the wild boar, save a few differences; most noticeably, they are a pleasing golden color with brown grass-like stripes. They are much larger than most wild boars, and have longer legs, sometimes reaching a height of eleven hands at the withers and weighing over a ton. Their tusks can grow to be quite large, over three feet long and several inches thick. Sometimes owners adorn the tusks with metal bands or piercings; usually, owners of domesticated subae in cities saw off their tusks, file down the stumps, and display the tusks over their mantle-pieces as trophies to show that they properly trained one.

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.

Wild Mammals

Garmon (Anaxas, Hesse, Bastia, Gior)

The garmon is a herd animal found on the Anaxi plains and many others places in Vita. The garmon is a temperamental animal, often martial without provocation. The meat is not highly sought-after, but is a cheap and tasty alternative to beef for many Anaxi townships as well as nomadic wicks. Garmons travel in packs and are very family-oriented. Their primary predator is the bander wolf.

Elepha (Anaxas)

Elepha (both plural and singular) are miniature elephants, about 2-3 feet high in their adulthood, found in the forests of Anhai valley. They have a soft vellus coat of fur, and can blend almost entirely into their surroundings because of the moss that naturally clings to their fur. This natural camouflage is particularly useful when eluding their main predators, the forest cats.

Despite their size, which is considerably smaller than their larger counterparts the elephants, the elepha are quite heavy and their tusks can be very deadly to smaller foe when they charge. The valley wicks are careful not to induce the rage of a mother elepha, who could charge and break their shins quite easily. On the whole, however, elepha are mainly docile and relatively shy. They can be friendly to familiar faces, but they are not tameable; as house pets, they are universally destructive, messy and often die quickly in captivity. For this reason, wicks think they are best left to the forests.

Piikii (Anaxas, Naulanon, Hesse)

Piikii are small monkeys that live in bogs and swamps (such as Fen Kierden). They are considered sentient, being of far greater intelligence than other animals, and have the habit of mimicking anything they see. This tendency has given rise to the motherly phrases "piikii see, piikii do," and "cheeky as a piikii."

Morgan (Hox, Vezzea, north Mugroba)

Morgans are small mammals (about four inches long, not including the tail) native to Hox, Vezzea and northern parts of Mugroba. They look like a mixture between shrews and mice, with elongated limbs, five-toed feet with partially opposable thumbs, and a long ratlike tail. They have tawny brown coats with fawn-colored spots. They are considered pests and are often hunted by cats or ostas. In Anaxas, however, the exotic nature of the animal has led to a few misguided attempts to tame and keep them as pets. Morgans are not very intelligent and are feral by nature, and can be fairly destructive if kept in a home.

Miraan (Southern Hesse)

The Miraan, also known as a "Teacup Drake," is a tiny animal that looks like a cross between serpent and bat. They are often considered small cousins of the Drake, though anyone well versed in Biology knows this is not the case. A full-grown Miraan can reach up to three feet in length, though most of this consists of tail and neck, it's body generally being small enough to fit in a teacup, excluding the wings, which span the length of the Miraan, from nose to the tip of the tail. The males range in color, often vibrant blues and greens, and occasionally reds and violets. Neutral colors are rare, and range on the grayscale between black and white. Female Mirann are always metallic, colors ranging in silver, gold, or copper.

Miraan tend to be mischievous pets, naturally curious, and very clever. They can be taught tricks, if one has the patience to train them, and make great messengers, as they are quick flyers and have a naturally high endurance.

Spinewolves/Huthah (Hox)

Spinewolves, or Huthah, are large, bander-like mammals with ivory spikes along their necks. The adults range in size from 4' to 6' high at the shoulder. Their colors range from black to white, sandy brown, to deep, rich reds. Their markings are an interwoven mix of stripes along the lower portions of their bodies, around their legs and bellies, to spots along their backs and tails- these markings fading to light grays or disappearing entirely in the winter months, when their fur changes to a snowy white. They often live in small, family packs, consisting of five to ten members, occasionally more, depending on how many pups are born in a given year.

Spinewolves are naturally wild and dangerous, and highly adaptable, but some have managed to tame the beasts, taking them from their packs as pups. It has been rumored that certain barbaric tribes use them as mounts for battle, though this is unconfirmed. Due to their pack mentality, once tamed, Huthah are fiercely loyal, willing to lay their lives down for their owner.

These animals can be found in the mountainous region of Hox, where their thick fur protects them from the cold.

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Kluiw (Gior)

Large, pure white, thick furred mountain cat. Standing 3-4 foot at the shoulder. Related to osta's, the Kluiw have large, fluffy ears that they tuck against their heads when not hunting, to retain heat, and long thick tails used for balance in the snowy, rocky regions of Gior. They have large, wide, well furred paws, which act like snowshoes as they walk across the snow. Their faces are slightly shorter than osta's, with large yellow eyes and long sensitive whiskers. Kluiw communicate with deep throated chirrups and growls, retaining the photographic memory of their osta cousins in some respects, the big cats can find their way back to Gior from as far as Anaxas. The thick, luxuriant fur of these cats is rather heavily sought after, causing them to be hunted into near extinction. Shy creatures, you would be hard pressed to see one of these creatures in the wild.

Uliam (Mugroba)

Uliam, sometimes called Quiet Wolf, or Hyaena Tacetus, is the laugh-less cousin of the hyena. They are a omnivorous species that can consume many things, including vegetation, prey animals and carrion, though scavenging is their main source of nutrients. Uliam grow to between 3-4 feet at the shoulder, and compete with other big predators with their versatile diet. Known to be pair or family hunters (usually a breeding pair and offspring), uliam mate for life. They have small litters of 2-4 cubs, which then spend two years with their parents before looking for their own hunting ground, or staying with their parents. While reclusive creatures, it has been discovered that they do recognize their own relatives, with offspring willingly allowing their parents to hunt within their territory.

The interesting thing about uliam is their lack of common vocalizations. They do not bark or yelp in social situations. Their communication seems to be purely physical cues and posturing. However, when caught in duststorms, they emit eerily high keeing howls in order to locate other members of their group. Because these shrieks are so specialized for sand storms, it is believed they cannot make other sounds.

Terri Bird (Hox, Hesse)

Terri birds are white with black stripes traveling down their bodies. They are foragers that tend to gather in cities and forests, and they eat anything as long as it's in small quantities. Native to the taiga of Hox and the plains of Hesse (with small variations in the bird in each location), the Terri has downy-like feathers have made them incredibly sought after. In the past they were often hunted and their feathers were used as decorative strips in mufflers or hats-- the bigger the strip the more expensive the item of clothing.

The Terri bird is on its way to extinction and there have been several laws banning Terri bird hunting, although poachers still exist that continue to hunt the quickly dwindling numbers of the small bird. These days, seeing a Terri bird is considered good luck, and some have even suggested that it has unknown magical properties. Most modern day scientists dismiss these speculations as myth.

Aquatic Creatures

Ingo (Mugroba, Anaxas)

The ingo is an aquatic relative of the hingle. They live in small colonies consisting of paired individuals that each live in a separate burrow. The ingo only inhabits islands with rocky coastlines that protect them from hunters and storms. They mainly eat kelp but will also supplement their diet with snails, fish or any other available food source.

Ingo are known for their playful nature and relative intelligence. Fishermen will occasionally raid burrows for ingo pups and train them to search for pearl oysters. Ingo's make quite dedicated pets and as a result pirates and fishermen consider it taboo to kill one and generally don't reveal the location of their islands to fur traders.

Ingo are dorso-ventrally quite flat and swim in a manner similar to dolphins and whales. They are roughly 50cm in length and around half as wide. Their hind legs are vestigal and only used in a mating clasp. Their front limbs are comparatively very strong and can be used to drag themselves about land, although they prefer to remain in the water. Their front limbs are also used for fine motor control, although they look ridiculous when used for this purpose. They have a thick subcutaneous layer of fat that protects them from the cold and makes them look chubby and cute.

There used to be a mainland species of ingo with a brown coat, but they were hunted to extinction over a century ago.

Prayer Fish (Mugroba, Hox, Hesse, Bastia)

Also known as the armoured fish, siege fish and death fish. The prayer fish is a largely benthic, heavily armoured fish species that preys primarily upon other large fish, seals, whales, sharks and anything else that is readily available. They're primarily solitary and possess an unusually high intelligence for a bony fish. Occasionally, for no known reason, the prayer fish will amalgamate and form raiding parties. These raiding schools have been known to attack ships, to the point of capsizing them or breaching their hulls. Even the bravest sailor lives in fear of them and their erratice behaviour. The only known means of dissuading them is to pour large amounts of chili powder or other irritants into the water. This is a desperation act that tends to make it difficult to fish for days after and is considered insulting to the god Hulali.

The prayer fish is fairly inflexible where plating is present on its body but has a very mobile tail. It's maneuverability comes at the expense of long distance speed but it is capable of a disastrously fast sprint. This sprint and their tendency to hide near the ocean bed makes them difficult to spot. They're oviviparous and bear live, fully functional young. The young tend to spend about month around their mother, allowing protection while their bone plates fully form. An average adult is 5m in length. Since the species is mildly sexually dimorphic, females usually grow beyond this range as they age.

Insects

Starfly (Anaxas, Hesse)

A large insect, looks like a cross between a dragonfly and a firefly. Leaves a temporary trail of phosphorescent light when it flies. So named because it is commonly mistaken for a falling star.

Burrower Wasps (Mugroba)

Known to the wicks as Hama Koketa, these insects are now very rare, but once filled the desert with their harmonious song.

These large, deadly insects looks like enormous wasps, but are actually more closely related to starflies. They generally grow to 1-2 inches in length, though there are anecdotal reports of individuals up to 12 inches. Unlike wasps, they lack stingers, however, their bite is extremely painful and usually leads to infection - and sometimes death - if left untreated. Their wings make a characteristic hum, and in groups the hum of the swarm seems to harmonize with itself, forming a hauntingly beautiful "wasp song".

They form large underground hives in the deserts of Mugroba, though at one time hives were occasionally sighted as far south as the Talmarma river. The hives are deep underground cities, home to between a hundred and a thousand wasps. Each nest looks from the surface like a large sandy hill, riddled with wasp-sized holes. Since the wasps never breed in captivity, it is generally believed that there is a queen somewhere in the depths of the colony, but this has never been confirmed. The hives are known for their "honey milk", a milky white mush that is secreted by the digger wasps to feed their larvae. Interestingly, the honey has extremely high water content, and in the depths of the Mugrobi desert the nests are often the largest (sometimes *only*) source of water for miles in any direction. It is said that the wasp acquire water by burrowing all the way to the water table deep below the earth, essentially digging a well in the desert for themselves. Alternately, some galdori academics theorize that they condense the water directly from the air, somehow.

The wasps are highly empathic. In the presence of burrower wasps any fear, hostility, or worst of all, panic, is said to provoke immediate attack. wicks and other travelers practiced in dealing with the insects are able to dig up the nests and harvest the milk honey with impunity, simply by carefully maintaining an absolute, unwavering calm. There are tales of Burrower Wasps being trained for use as lie detectors, however, in reality they usually die within days when placed in captivity, and don't seem to be particularly interested in lies one way or the other.

The wasps hold special significance to many wicks, and is often associated with Hulali. They are said to be particularly docile in Achtus, the month after the festival honoring their prime god.

Once common, burrower wasps have been becoming increasingly rare in recent decades, and are now on the brink of extinction. The cause for this is unknown, but old wick folktales claim that the wasps flee the land when hardship is immanent for it's people.