Cauldruin-born

These are servitors of the Cauldruin, a famous magical artifact. Known as the Cauldruin-born, legend says they sometimes appear at the close of a battle to carry away the body of a fallen hero. The remains are thrown into the Cauldruin, to rise again as an intelligent, but strange and unfeeling being.

Drinking or immersion in saltwater hurts them. Their arms have two elbows and they can carry a Furre off into the air with ease. The winged spear-hurling warriors wear helms with a third eye, enabling them to see all that is invisible.

They stand a head taller than normal Furres,and could perhaps pass for a Wyrmme if hooded and cloaked. Cauldruin-born have no tails, which makes the deception more difficult.

Chiznat

Roughly the size of a Furre's forearm, the Chiznat does not eat, but only drinks dew. Most of its eating is done during its larval stage.

Native to western Drakoria, the Chiznat is wasp-like creature that lays its eggs in a living host. Its stinger delivers a powerful dose of paralyzing venom that carries a virus. After infection, the victim gets a boil that grows bigger and bigger. If not cut out or otherwise treated, the victim will go into a catatonic state, with one to four Chiznats hatching out of their abdomen in approximately fifteen days.

Dark Faeriefurres know a spell to make a Chiznat into a tool for long-distance spying. They are not so useful up-close, as the drone of their wings gives them away.

Curcupine

These green behemoths are created by sorcery. They start out four times the mass of a Furre, and stand one and a half times as tall. They are used to dig moats, build castles, and protect forests against logging. As they age, they grow larger, and there are even legends of Curcupines the size of windmills.

Up close, they attack with hard, armor-cutting claws. Their tails can be swung to shoot magical, armor-piercing spikes as long as a Furre's forearm.

They can be peaceful, given care and guidance, but without a caretaker, they become dangerous. If rewarded for it with praise, they learn to love destruction and a Curcupine on the rampage can easily wipe out a village. With effort, they can even claw their way through castle walls.

Draxorians

Native to Drakoria, there are three species of draxorian: the large, rideable, flying Dracosaur, the flightless Nightdrake (also known as a Watchwyrm), and the smaller Minidrake. All three draxorians can be bonded using a magical music ceremony between compatible subjects.

Those who do not bond this way simply go wild. In the wild they are fierce and wary, untamed and untamable. They will attack a Furre to drive them away from a nest, and there have been cases of draxorians who developed a taste for the flesh of young Furres.

Draxorians of all kinds tend to lay their eggs far from their homes, leaving their young to fend for themselves. This protects them from another instinct: to eat any eggs they find. Female Draxorians are called casses. Males are called syres. A dragon that is too young to ride, but larger than a hatchling, is called an ansel.

Dracosaur

Dracosaurs are quadrupeds with wings. They are not sapient (but they are about as intelligent as the smartest real-life dogs).

At the shoulder, a Dracosaur is at the level of a tall Furre's eartips, with its wings rising higher than that. It can usually carry two Furres on its back.

Dracosaurs come in gem-like colors and their color is already known by the color of their eggshell.

Minidrake

The Minidrake, the smallest member of the draxorians, is less than a meter tall at adulthood, and can ride on a shoulder comfortably. It looks just like a miniature Dracosaur.

Minidrakes have a very active social life if they are around other Minidrakes. They form alliances, hold grudges, forgive, fall in love, break up, get back together, and so forth.

Nightdrake

The Nightdrake, sometimes called Watchwyrm, is perhaps the rarest. Its skin is dark colored, usually dark blue or dark dark green. Nightdrakes have big eyes like milky opals, and they cannot see during the day. At night, however, they have perfect vision. They also have small gemlike lenses on their foreheads which project a light that only they can see.

Furres who mindmeld to a Nightdrake are said to become very strange. They become withdrawn and don't like to speak much. At night, they see through the Nightdrake's eyes, while in the day, they allow the Nightdrake see. The Nightdrake's dislike of wide open spaces tends to magically "infect" their rider.

Untamed Nightdrakes are a deadly menace. They run at a shockingly fast gallop, swim very fast, and their teeth are hard enough to pierce armor. Their skin is extremely tough. They are the preferred mounts of Drakorian bandits, but are also favored by miners.

Eetrox

Powerful and compactly built, the carnivorous Eetrox can leap about in trees. They roam the wilds of Drakoria in hordes of around 20-40, and they are hated by the Wyrmmes, who will send out patrols to wipe them out if they get too close to the City-States.

They are primitive, and occasionally will run by crouching on all fours and wriggling across the ground quickly.

Herdbird

Herdbirds are a domestic species kept for their downy fibers (called "hurls") which are mixed with plant fibers and spun into deliciously fuzzy shirts and sweaters. They are also kept for their eggs.

Impellion

The Impellions were created by the Dark Primes to serve their high priests. They are very rare. One Impellion is a traditional reward for destroying a large town or city. They arrive in this world in the form of fist-sized eggs.

They devour whatever they can, and grow to their full size in minutes. They must eat large quantities of fresh prey to keep up their physical speed, slowing down somewhat if starved.

They are almost like machines in the execution of their assigned tasks. They do not like to talk to anyone but their master or mistress, and do not possess emotions such as pride, affection, or anger.

Their tails are equipped with heavy armor-piercing projectiles which they launch at their enemies. As soon as one is fired, a new one starts to form, and is ready a second later. Their scythe-claws can even cut through stone.

Except for the tips of their four feet, their bodies disintegrate nearly anything touching them. They possess a psionic ability to appear to be in a location that is not where they are. The more magic a viewer possesses, the more pronounced this effect. Impellions can magically see through total darkness but not walls, so they try to avoid being in buildings or other structures that impede their vision.

As if that was not enough to keep them alive, they are also the fastest self-regenerating creatures in all the Dragonlands. Because they require magic to live, they can not survive in the Olde World. It is fortunate that Impellions cannot breed, for they would quickly overrun the world if they did.

They can be targeted through sonar and other discriminatory senses. It is also possible to hazard a guess as to where they are, by watching the prints of their feet in sand, their shadows, and similar indirect indicators.

While Impellions are immune to magic and psionics that attempt to affect them (such as setting them afire or mind-control), they are not immune to indirect use of magic, such as setting a forest around them on fire or blowing at them with a gale-force wind.

Perhaps their greatest weakness is that they must obey the will of the one that awakened them. They are cunning but not geniuses; they rely on the wits of their superior. If that person is somehow removed, the Impellion will try to find a replacement patron on their own.

After they have been vanquished, Impellions are strangely forgotten, except by those who faced them directly in combat. Mage lore sometimes has scrolls with precious accounts of the encounter. The reader of such lore could learn that a magical circle blocking out all magical energy formed around an Impellion will cause it to revert back into the inert egg. To awaken it again, it must be bathed in the blood of a dying innocent Furre (a Wyrmme or Bugge will not suffice).

Kentauri

The legendary tribes of Kentauri have two arms, and four legs. They are said to be ancient, and in general are hostile to normal Furres, who would drive them off or kill them to claim hunting grounds. Female Kentauri have a pouch.

Leotaur

The Leotaurs are inimical, seeking to kill any regular Furre that they find. Like their lupine counterparts, Leotaurs will eat most sapient creatures such as Furres and even other Kentauri.

While Wolventaurs are happiest in packs, Leotaurs are often solitary wanderers or mated pairs. Unfriendly males will fight to the death for a female, but friends will prefer to wrestle.

Wolventaur

Another of the elusive and primitive "Kentauri" tribes, Wolventaurs are notorious for eating any Furres they catch.

The games of the Wolventaurs are violent and cruel. One involves burying a Furre up to their chin in the dirt and seeing who can knock the head off with a thrown weapon first.

Kiwi

Kiwi is a broad term for numerous kinds of flightless birds with pointy conical beaks. They are all small, inquisitive little birds, which especially adore cookies as treats. They are often pets of Furres, though they can be overly nosey at times and curious about every single thing.

There are many, many varieties of Kiwi. Most are wild. They range from baseball size to large turkey size and have a tuft of tail feathers with several different colors. Over the rest of their round, wingless bodies, they have shaggy, curly strands of feather resembling the fibers that make up a peacock's tailfeather.

Kiwis are often kept for their eggs, which Furres find very tasty. Woolbird Kiwis are a domestic variety that grow plenty of curly feathers, which when shorn, are twisted with very fine plant fibers to make a downy yarn that feels like a cross between marabou down and angora hair. There are even dog-sized house-kiwis, paddling pond kiwis, and hopping grass-seed-eating kiwis.

The black-feathered Yawk is a cave-dwelling Kiwi. Its big feet are sensitive to vibrations in the ground, and it cannot see much beyond blurs of light and dark. Yawks eat padaak-fungus, and are, themselves, a food source for Nightdrakes.

Folklore has it that the presence of a golden kiwi on one's shoulder brings romance to the lonely. The kiwi is traditionally associated with Matchmakers.

Lichenthrope

Ancient Drakorian Wyrmmes discovered that a certain fungus, when allowed to cover a corpse, would reanimate it into a creature with the intelligence of a snake. The Wyrmmes made herds of them to protect their tombs. Able to sense vibrations and heat through their textured surface, Lichenthropes can tear would-be tomb raiders to shreds. Lichenthropes know no fear, and can not fall unconscious due to injury.

Capable of living for centuries, older Lichenthropes have an outer covering resembling random staghorns, while the younger ones are rough, crinkly, or warty. The nails of Lichenthropes grow into dangerous claws that cause grotesque and painful infections if the wounds are not cleansed. If an infected Furre dies, they become a Lichenthrope themself.

Vulnerable to sunlight, Lichenthropes can leave their subterranean lairs by night. Most of the time they are perfectly still, dormant.

The deep bodily fluids of Lichenthropes are a green goo that glows in the dark. This substance seems useful- but so long as it gives off light, it is capable of infecting a corpse. It usually lasts up to three days.

Naga

These are the traditional temple guardians of the ancient world. They have the torso of a Furre but a lower body like a huge snake. Their faces are often snake-like, with scales and backswept ears tight to their heads. Furres tend to find them beautiful yet somewhat repellant at the same time.

A Naga can only be magically created by a conclave of Dark Mages. It begins as an egg, which hatches and rapidly grows into a four-meter-long adult over the space of a month. Making a Nagafurre requires the destruction of a Faeriefurre, a mortal Furre, and a snake. They are usually equipped with a warrior's weapons, and armor made especially for them. Then they are set to guard great treasure hoards.

Nagas can spit fist-sized balls of "fyre": gooey stuff that bursts into fire in the air. The Nagafurre's senses of touch and hearing are very acute even in total darkness. By nature, they are oftentimes vain and insecure but love to listen to stories, especially long epics.

There are three known ways to distract one. Its serpent nature makes it hungry and after being given a large offering of food, it will usually go to sleep. Its Faerie nature gives it a curious, playful side, and it can become obsessed with a puzzle toy, such as a large jigsaw or a metal blacksmith's puzzle. The mortal Furre nature gives the Naga susceptibility to loneliness. Most will never have seen another Naga and can oftentimes be thrown into a state of rapture and longing by showing it a large mirror.

Ostrix

Ostrixes are large birds with thick legs and are the favorite domesticated riding animal of Kasuria and the Olde World. They can and will eat just about anything a Furre would eat. Their favorite foods, though, are dry, bland palm fruits and nuts.

They are good multi-purpose animals with different uses, ranging from a pack animal, to transportation. They are speedy, graceful, and have pleasant dispositions, though they are not known for their smarts. They are extremely reluctant to fight but they will defend their owner if kept as a pet.

Ostrixes are relatively common, and can be purchased at fairs or town markets. They can only carry one passenger, but if hooked to a small cart, it can pull two persons. Ostrix teams move very gracefully due to their instinct to synchronize gaits.

Raukor

The Raukor, sometimes called Diatryma, is a predatory bird twice the mass of a domestic Ostrix, and more common in Drakoria than Kasuria.

It is virtually unknown in Olde World, where they may haunt misty eastern jungles.

Make no mistake, this is a deadly predator. It feeds on Ostrixes, which, in a long chase, it will outrun. It can stalk with great stealth, and its long neck uncoils to thrust its head forwards to seize prey in its serrated beak.

They are voracious and clever pack hunters. Where there is one, there is usually a dozen or two more. They attack with an unceasing chorus of cawing shrieks that makes even yelled speech impossible. They can also mimic sounds they have just heard with great accuracy. They are most deadly because the whole pack will attack a single victim unceasingly, then move on to the next foe.

Their resistance to magic and psionics is legendary. Their thick hide is very tough, and can even resist crossbow bolts, thus their skin is prized for making feathery shields and armor. The long plumes on its back are not its tail, but a tuft that can be raised, lowered, or made to quiver. Wyrmme nobles hunt Raukors with long spears, and make their back-plumes into fans on long handles. Drakorian chieftains and chieftainesses sometimes wear cloaks woven from Raukor plumes.

They can't be trained, despite the legend of the Dark Prime Peristane's fire chariot being drawn by four Raukors. Raukor-form Werefurres are especially feared. In Drakoria, a bad-tempered Wyrmme may be called "that old Raukor" behind their back.

See also: The Curse of T'Graal

Roctopus

Roctopus are creatures normally found on the ceilings of caves and have the ability to fly, albeit slowly. They catch prey by dropping down on them, and then crushing them to death. They tend to be alone, since many are cannibalistic out of mating season.

Scarhawk

Scarhawks, often called Raptors (especially wild ones), are huge birds with sharp beaks. Their large size and powerful flight muscles allow them to carry Furres on their backs but they are not precisely "domestic" animals.

To be rideable, the egg must be taken from the parent bird shortly after it is laid. The hatchling must be fed large amounts meat. As fresh meat is the only thing they will eat, there can only be so many in a given area. (Unlike draxorians, they will not eat fish.) These "hand-reared" birds will bear their own trainer/rider faithfully but are extremely reluctant to accept a new one.

Raptor Knights are Furres who devote themselves to the care of their winged mounts. The job is very demanding since the care and training of the Scarhawk is much more intense than an Ostrix's. For every Scarhawk there are around fifteen Furres devoted to its upkeep. In the wild, Raptors would spend time grooming one another. In captivity, this task falls to the rider.

Only a few Raptors grow strong enough to carry a furre in full metal armor, but can usually carry two passengers with ease. Malgrove's city guard's Air Cavalry elite ride Scarhawks; and they are kept in eyries.

Snugg

This creature "sneezes" its long, sticky tongue at prey. It would be quite comical except that its saliva is a very potent paralysis poison. Their habitat is caves and forests with very little sunlight. A naturalist by the name of Yorkin ti'Payne was touched on the cheek by one. He reports that he was conscious as it licked a wound into him with its abrasive tongue. Fortunately, he recovered and was able to run away before blood loss killed him.

Surfcutter

Surfcutters are swift swimming birds, unable to fly. Their hind legs have moved forwards and their wings have become flippers. They are not natural creatures; they are the result of a potion on birds. Their presence is usually heralded by the wind going dead, a magical effect that they cause around them.

They are usually sent in a large flock to assassinate someone at sea, following them magically. The Surfcutters then weaken the hull of the ship, going into a frenzy to attack any people in the water.

The potion used to transform birds into Surfcutters is known as Nareetha's Tears. Its effect lasts eleven years and a day. If given to a Furre, the result is a Merfurre until it wears off.