Bestiary:Frostmaw

OOC Note: This bestiary details non-mob and unusual creatures/plants found within Frostmaw's region. For mob details, please see the main Frostmaw Creatures listing. Real World animals and plants for this biome type--taiga and tundra, respectively--are naturally occurring, common, and thus unlisted (e.g. Snow Shoe Hares, Ermine, Elk, Lichen, Evergreens, etc).

Frostmaw is often thought of as a barren wasteland of ice and snow, but to those that call it home, it is a place with a vast and highly diverse wildlife--a wildlife that shares one common factor: It sees you as food.

Fauna

Frost/Snow Gryphons

Like the dragons, wyverns, and drakes, gryphons have adapted to the harsh northern environment and diverged into their own branched species. As is common of Gryphons, they possess the upper body of a bird of prey and the hindquarters of a predatory cat. Frost Gryphons typically appear as a snow leopard's lower half on an eagle's upper body, the plumage stark white save for its wings where it carries the leopard's silver, black, and white patterning. Their necks are thickly ruffed to protect them from cold and combat alike, and atop the male's head is a feathery crest that can be lifted in moments of excitement, danger, or to display oneself to a prospective female. Eyes are typically a golden color although some females have been found to have an icy blue. Every fifth litter of gryphons--litters ranging from one to three cubs--produces a Snow Gryphon, similar in most appearances save that its bird half is that of a Snowy Owl.

These are highly prideful creatures that rarely back down from a fight, even when badly outnumbered or outmatched. Taming or befriending one is not a matter of might, but respect. Common methods include staring one down while in turn not backing down, as the gryphon will often make feigned attacks or screech painfully loud to distract its challenger. Unless hunting, it is not in their nature to attack an opponent first, possessing an odd sort of honor that bespeaks a heightened intelligence beneath their beastly exterior. Those that win a Frost Gryphon's respect will have a fiercely loyal companion for life, so long as the creature is treated kindly, fairly, and, above all else, with honor. Due to their strange natures, some refer to the Frost Gryphons as the Knights of the Sky, bound by duty and a strict code of manners.

The Frost Gryphon is the official sigil of Frostmaw, often depicted white and rampant against a black snowflake and blue field. As such, these animals are highly protected, and any deliberate harming or hunting of them is severely punished.

Not-Alpacas

Rabbit-like in appearance, these mysterious creatures were recently discovered in Frostmaw's ruins, and have taken many unwary explorers since. While they appear harmless, small, and even cute, these animals are highly dangerous, traveling in large hive-minded packs maintained by a Matron, and devouring any living creature that gets in their path. Their front teeth are similar to chisels, slightly back-curved for a scooping motion, while being sharper than a typical rabbit's. This allows them to chew through nearly any material (as was discovered when Joliette Thorne's nigh-indestrucible familiar lost a finger to a single bite).

It is unknown where these creatures originated from, with Frostmaw's clouded history holding no reference to their existence. Some believe they may have been released onto the surface when part of the ruins collapsed into the labyrinthian chasms beneath, suggesting they were a by-product of avian technology.

For all their appetite, the Not-Alpacas have not been seen to wander outside the boundaries of the ruins, and prefer to feed on the Blue Crows that live there, as well as the occasional person that foolishly wanders into their territory.

Vermusni

Alternatively called Ice Mice and Rime Rats.

A vermin highly common to Frostmaw and other northern regions. Vermusni are small and mouse-like in appearance, a clear relative of the rodent family. By size, they fit easily within the palm of an average human, having a rounded, compact body that's thickly furred. Its underbelly is white, and along its back runs a dorsal stripe of black, while all fur in between is a mottling of greys, blue-greys, white, and black. Like mice, they possess long, thin tails, lightly furred and ending in a large white tuft. Rounded ears are disproportionately large for an Arctic animal, a furless, leathery flesh resistant to the cold. Vermusni paws are of the same furless nature, heavily built and in possession of long, dexterous fingers. These fingers, while capable of complex manipulations, also house thick, blunt claws well suited to burrowing into ice, frozen earth, and Frostmaw homes, where they make their nests and raise large-numbered litters in rapid succession.

The Vermusni hide, although difficult to harvest from such a small creature, is sometimes made into gloves by the people of Frostmaw due to its characteristics of being light and flexible while still warding off the cold. It is a valuable asset to craftsman requiring maneuverability and warmth. The Vermusni fur is also known to be used in making earmuffs and other small pieces of Winter gear. Neither hide nor fur comes cheaply, for while the Vermusni are as common as snowflakes in Frostmaw, their small size makes it extremely difficult to work with the materials and harvest enough of them for a suitable piece.

Aside from their usefulness in clothing, Vermusni are generally loathed by the people of Frostmaw, viewed as an occasionally useful pest, at best. They are notoriously skilled at getting into anything and everything, their powerful teeth damaging grains, furniture, tack, clothing, and even metals should they have a mind to chew it. There is said to be nothing a Vermusni can't get into, and when one considers their tiny size, flexible skeletal structure, determined teeth, and burrowing claws, it isn't surprising this vermin is so capable. A highly efficient digestive system allows these animals to eat nearly anything without risk so long as they can get their teeth on it. Being omnivorous, Vermusni favor grains, plants, insects, and small animals/lizards, but they will not hesitate to scavenge abandoned carcasses or raid Frostmaw goods and food supplies. Rarely will a Vermusni starve even in the dead of Winter.

Snow Bees

A species nearly lost to extinction due to the over-population of its aggressive predator, the Frost Hornet, but slowly being rehabilitated with the aid of skilled druids after a small hive was discovered by the avian Neema. The appear as a smaller than average bee, bodies alternating stripes of white and pale blue, and covered in a thick fuzz. Their antennae are likewise coated in a layer of the 'fur', while their translucent wings give off a sheen reminiscent of ice. To finish it off, their legs are thin, glossy black needles, highly flexible for easy curling into the body to protect against the cold.

Snow Bees often make their hives directly out of ice, workers seeking a suitable chunk formed in tree branches to be hollowed out and shaped in the elaborate honeycomb pattern universal to beekind. The queen is housed at the core of the hive, the safest location from predator and cold alike.

Frost Hornets

A species that has nearly served as the bane of Frostmaw's rare Snow Bees, these highly aggressive creatures are notoriously volatile and will swarm at the slightest provocation. Their bodies are glossy, hard-lined and armor-like in appearance, marked in jagged lines of white and dark blue, and with long, barbed stingers of an abyssal black, keen enough to puncture a giant's thick skin. The venom they inject upon stinging is an unusual sort, often described as a bone-numbing cold that seeps through the body and freezes muscle, preventing movement while keeping the 'prey' alive during the swarm's feeding. Some of Frostmaw's species are capable of surviving this painful ordeal due to their large natures, thick coats, and developed resistances, but many foreign races and smaller species suffer a worse fate when caught.

Frost Hornets travel in large swarms and attack as a single unit to bring down their designated target. They are flesh-eaters of a most aggressive nature, and will eat their fill of a paralyzed prey's body before abandoning it to its fate. These creatures do not make nests of their own, but instead seek out the carefully built hives of Snow Bees, wipe out the occupants and their queen, and take over the vanquished construct. Frost Hornets are nomadic in nature and never occupy a single hive for long, always moving on to conquer another in an eternal life of war.

A Frost Hornet's only known predator is the Polar Badger.

Polar Badger

Polar Badgers are similar to their warm-land cousins in many ways with the same general build, aggressive personality, and tendency to burrow. These creatures differ in the fact that they are pure white save for a dark gray stripe running down their back from nose to tail, and their features are smaller and more compact to prevent loss of body heat. These badgers feed almost exclusively on Frost Hornets, having developed a few techniques to draw in the war-like species including an ability to exude a musky scent almost indistinguishable from the pheramones released by a Snow Bee queen. When a swarm is drawn in, the badger will roll in snow before releasing an oil from its skin, causing a chemical reaction that hardens the frost into a thick armor plating over its back to protect it from stingers. Wide, shovel-like claws are used to swat hornets from the air, as well as to dig out its complex burrows.

Polar Badger dens are found most often at the base of icy cliffs, dug out of the permafrost by powerful claws and hewn into a surprisingly cozy nest. These nests are typically lined with debris such as fur shed by wolves, hares, and mammoths, to maintain a level of warmth and comfort. The badgers breed once a year during the week of the Winter Solstice. Females attract a male in a similar fashion to how they draw in prey, by giving off a pheramone similar to the scent of a Frost Hornet swarm. Once the male has located the false scent, the pair will engage in a violent fight. Should the male win, they will become a mating pair, but should the female win, the male's fur will be used to line her birthing nest. Kits are born after a four month gestation and rarely in litters larger than three.

These creatures are highly valued for their pelts, a plush natural white used to portray high-ranking status, as well as the oils within the fur which are believed to play a part in the forging of Black Ice armor. The hunting of Polar Badgers is strictly controlled to prevent depopulation, with poaching penalties reaching as high as execution.

Tundra Ducks

A most unusual conglomeration of animals, even by Frostmaw standards--some jokingly call it the inbred sibling of the Angha. Although technically a closer cousin to the penguin, the Tundra Duck loosely resembles a normal duck in basic appearance, most notably the large duckbill on its face. Except that this beak is also home to two immense, walrus-like tusks, one of numerous weapons of self defense. The animal's elongated body is almost ubsurdly fat so that it's left with an undulating flop and waddle pace that's a hypnotizing mixture of seal and penguin. This same body is covered in closely packed feathers, like a penguin's, that are both waterproof and insulated against Frostmaw's cold. Despite all this, the Tundra Duck is deceptively fast, and not simply due to its innate agility upon the ice. In truth, this animal is thought to be mildly magical in nature because of two distinct traits it possesses: a combustion based propulsion and a crippling cry.

Most discover the first of these traits by accident, and rarely in their favor, as those happening upon these cumbersome animals often think them slow and dimwitted... only to find the Tundra Duck suddenly rocketing at them across the ice at unnatural speeds. The source of this is a pair of glands found at the base of the Tundra Duck's seal-esque tail. When the unnamed oils secreted by both glands are rubbed together with the water-proofing oil of its feathers, it produces a small burst of combustion that serves to launch the animal forward over the ice. It is this fireball trick, along with being a comically strange mix of creatures, that has earned it the nickname of the "Wizard's Washout". It is uncertain whether the Tundra Duck came into existence naturally or if it was indeed a by-product of magecraft that ultimately adapted and thrived in the North.

Its secondary trait is, in fact, its most commonly used to deter predators and interlopers alike. A Tundra Duck can emit a sound that is said to be caught between a screech and a quack. Of course, it isn't the strangeness of the noise that is the defense mechanism, but rather its effect. Witnesses claim that the sound is projected from the Duck's bill in a fashion that's supposedly visible as a rippling, conical shape in the air. Where this distortion strikes, it delivers a small but potent concussive force. Should it catch a creature with hearing of human level or higher, it has been known to render them unconscious, cause cranial bleeding, bruise or break bones, or even kill at point-blank range. A second aspect of this banshee-like skill is that is also propels the Tundra Duck backwards, so that it can attempt escapes while its attacker is recovering.

Despite the oddities and dangers of this strange little animal, many hunters attempt to capture them during Frostmaw's Summer, when the Tundra Ducks' plumage has changed from the gray-white of Winter to the beautifully speckled russet, black, and white of the 'warmer' seasons. Likewise, the meat of a Tundra Duck is especially delicious, being juicy, tender, and an excellent compliment to a number of vegetables and grains. Its collection of oils are known to be used by people of Frostmaw in the preparation and preservation of leathers, woods, and certain types of gemstone. Some have even been known to keep these creatures as pets, although the end results are rarely favorable.

Tundra Ducks are found almost exclusively on the ice of frozen lakes, rivers, or ice floes, as they do very poorly on any other surface; likewise, they are incapable of flight, but are exceptional swimmers when needed. They are known to feed on Black Sun Koi, and vice versa, with neither species proving to be the true predator of the other.

Black Sun Koi

Black Sun Koi are not unlike goldfish in appearance, but nearly Halfling-sized, with streaming tails and fins so thin as to be nearly translucent. They are much sturdier than their distant fish cousins, allowing them to live under the ice and in the deathly cold waters of Frostmaw's rivers and lakes. Named for the onyx black color of their scales in the Winter, a feature that allows them to gather what little warmth and sunlight is available in the north during this harsh season; however, these koi are not darkly colored year round, each season ranging in color from dirty white, to russet, copper, crimson, chocolate, and even gold, often in a patchwork, calico-like mixture.

Diet consists of primarily aquatic plantlife and smaller fish or amphibians, although these koi are opportunistic and will eat any organic material they can fit their large, gaping mouths on--including the hands of unwitting travelers, or stray animals. They are far more powerful than their elegant forms suggest, a fact that allows them to latch onto their target with suction-cup force and drag it beneath the water to drown before being eaten. At times, schools of the koi have been known to work together to pull much larger prey into the waters, although this occurence is not especially common. Like many inhabitants of Frostmaw, they are both beautiful and deadly, forged by a ruthless environment.

Flora

Frost-Fire Rose

As any rose, the Frost-Fire is a regal flower with sharpened thorns. They have earned the name Frost Fire due to their unusual coloration: the petals are a deep, almost black, violet, marked with patterns of a striking azure that, when gathered into the full blossom, give the appearance of blue flames. Above the bloom, as if the smoke of the 'frost fire' is often floating a visible cloud of pollen, most noticeable for its snow-like glisten. Like all roses, it carries thorns along its stem, these ones being very heavily arranged and cruelly barbed. Falling into a Frost-Fire Rose bush is dangerous for this fact, as the thorns are plentiful and not easily removed once they've embedded themselves into flesh.

It is not uncommon to find an animal or two entangled and dead within a bed of these flowers, bled dry from countless puncture wounds as it struggled in vain to tear itself free. During Winter, their stems and leaves are coated in a pungent oil, believed to both repel desperate herbivores and trap in heat to prevent the plant from freezing to death. Its root system is immense, running deep below the permafrost and spreading wide to gather nutrients. This arrangement of roots often serves as homes for burrowing wildlife, although the roots are rarely eaten, as they are year-round coated in the sharp-scented oils.

The Frost-Fire rose is a common plant in the regions of Frostmaw and along the northern ranges of the Xalious Mountains, although it has yet to be seen growing outside these areas. Their darkly colored petals are perhaps what allows them to bring in enough sunlight in the northern climates, but may in turn spell disaster for themselves in warmer regions. It is often used as part of courting rituals among the Northern peoples, for being both a beautiful and blood-thirsty flower.

Blood Blossom

(Coming soon)

Winter Willow

A species similar to the Weeping Willow, this tree is highly uncommon in Frostmaw, and the few places it is found to grow are considered especially important. Like its kin, it possesses curving branches and elegantly drooping foliage, although its bark is a stark white with thick, cragged lines in black--thought to draw in the sparse sunlight--and its leaves are an eye-catching silvery white not unlike falling snowflakes.

Frostmaw Fort's garden, the flower field outside the arena, and four clearings in the forest are known locations of this tree. Rumor has it dyrads bound to one of these trees have a skill with natural ice, although none have been recorded as existing. Other rumors claim the white trees are where Ice Elementals have died, their frozen core serving as the seed for these unusual beauties to grow.

Cerulean Flower

A small flower of unknown origins that blooms only in the sauna-like environment created near Frostmaw's mines. These flowers seem to require next to no sunlight, and presumably thrive upon the heated dew of its singular habitat. Cerulean Flowers are named for the simple fact that they are a shocking cerulean color all the way through, from their three-petal'd heads to their stems and leaves the color changes little in hue. Some inhabitants of Frostmaw have been known to harvest the plants and use their parts to create various potions and other mixtures.

Winter-Berry Bush

A stout bush found all throughout Frostmaw and famed for the pure white berries that grow upon it. Harvesting the highly desired berries is considered a tricky business, as the plant defends itself with thick black thorns along branches and leaves of a dark blue. When harvested, the Winter-berries are put to countless uses ranging from pies to drinks--both alcoholic and otherwise, stews, potions, healing remedies, and dye recipes. There is even a rumored recipe involving careful fermentation of the berry to create an extract that puts a warrior into a battlelust with strength increased tenfold--no confirmation has been made on such a recipe, and is presumed to be a closely guarded war secret of Frostmaw.

This shrub is a sturdy plant that finds life in the high-altitude climates of Frostmaw and has been known to take root anywhere the snow can fall there, from cliff-faces to outside habitats. An old story about the plant's origin tells that the berries were once snowflakes that fell upon the earth and blossomed into these stubborn little bushes.

Additional Wildlife

This is a listing of the various Mobs and Pets found in Frostmaw, with their descriptions available on their individual Mob/Item pages:

Saurian

Mammalian

Avian

Miscellaneous/Unclassified

Frost Worms
Ice Trolls- It is still argued by inhabitants, whether or not Ice Trolls are beasts or people.

Supernatural/Legendary Beings

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