Rilli

Rilli
Climate: Open grass or farmlands
Frequency: Common
Seeded Worlds: Azureus
Organization: Herd
Diet: Herbivore
Intelligence: Average intelligence
Size: Large
Danger Level: Low danger

Rilli are used as beasts of burden in Emaria, primarily as mounts and pack animals. They stand nearly two meters tall at adulthood and can easily support the weight of an armoured knight. While they are almost as intelligent as Emarions and humans, they make no resistance to this way of life because the work is easy and the food is free. That said, they’re incapable of human speech and don’t have an intricate language of their own. They can be taught languages with reasonable ease, however, and while they can’t communicate back, their gestures are enough to convey what they want to.

Combat: Rilli are used as mounts in the military because they don’t scare easily and can move much more swiftly than a humanoid walking. The Rilli themselves usually don’t fight, and if nobody is mounted on them will run away instead of battle. When cornered or defending their master or chicks they can deliver a powerful kick that can even pierce thick armour.

Habitat/Society: Undomesticated Rilli form herds of twelve to thirty on the open plains, and move as a group looking for food. Most of the time there’s a leader, who is the strongest or fastest of the herd, and who leads them from place to place. When they encounter a humanoid who wishes to capture them for domestication, all but the Alpha Rilli back away, and the hunter must essentially mount the back of the Alpha. If he succeeds, the entire herd will be loyal to that one person and usually will gladly work for him in return for good, open lands to live on and enough food to keep the herd comfortable. If the hunter fails, the entire herd will just run away, much faster than anyone could travel on foot, until they’re sure the hunter isn’t puruing them anyway. Usually a herd will have one or a few members who split off even if the hunter succeeds, and if he tries to stop them, the entire group flees as well.

Domesticated Rilli like a lot of space to run around when they aren’t working, though Rilli in the military are more content to live in a much smaller area or indoors. Rilli who are overworked tend to just stop working once they’re tired, unless what they’re doing is particularly important and time is an issue. It’s also notable that domesticated Rilli don’t reproduce, though sometimes express the wish to temporarily leave their master for that purpose. In that regard they honour the master’s decision either way.

Ecology: Rilli eat plants, mostly those which grow close to or in the ground (a common favourite being potatoes), and also enjoy fruit for a treat. They can also eat more common grasses and roots, but those taste bad to Rilli. They don’t need to eat a lot, but with a full stomach can go two full days comfortably without any food, though they do need water.

Black Terror

Black Terror
Climate: Dark caves and especially evil places
Frequency: extremely rare
Seeded Worlds: Azureus
Organization: Twin (seeing more than two together is unlikely)
Diet: Unknown
Intelligence: Exceptionally Intelligent
Size: Large
Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous

Black Terrors are considered one of the most dangerous creatures that are native to Azureus. Their capacity for arcane magic is terrifying when paired with the knowledge that they lurk in dark places. Even more dangerous is the being created from a reanimated Black Terror, known as a Necro Terror because only a Necros has the ability to raise such a powerful creature.

Combat: Black Terrors are adept in dark magics fuelled by corrupted essentia, and will unleash said magics in full when faced with combat. Necro Terrors are even worse, with spells that can outright kill all but the most hardy adventurers. Even worse is that both will actively seek combat with anyone entering their lair and will only flee if the Terror is obviously no match for its opponent.

Habitat/Society: Black Terrors are, in rare occasions, encountered in twos, making them exponentially more dangerous. This is the only known case where Black Terrors will be seen together. Necro Terrors, on the other hand, are found often leading lesser undead minions, or worse, being led by one or more Necros.

Ecology: Black Terrors are not known to eat, though meat from other creatures is assumed. Terrors of both kinds leave an evil taint in any place they occupy, and it takes powerful light magic to nullify such a taint, which has adverse effects on local flora and fauna while it remains. Luckily most Terrors are found deep in the Abyss, where evil creatures already dwell.

Abomination

Abomination
Climate: Warm caves
Frequency: Rare
Seeded Worlds: Azureus, Eterna, Entrega, Ifavi (extinct)
Organization: Colony
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Average
Size: Medium
Danger Level: Tough to Very Dangerous

Abominations typically come in three types: Shamanic, magic-users who patrol cooler caves in the Abyss; Savage, which possess a large horn and prefer hotter climates; and Clan, which always travel in fours and have no preference of climate, even being seen above ground in rare cases. All three varieties have the ability to float in the air as if levitating, and even sleep while doing so.

Combat: Shamanic Abominations, when faced with combat, will normally cast spells until the opponent gets close, then attempt to bite it. Savage Abominations bite and try to impale anything living they run across except other Abominations, and will continue to attack until the enemy is dead, even if it runs away. Clan Abominations are much smaller and tend to avoid combat with larger enemies, unless they are hungry, in which case they will attack anything human-sized or smaller. They have weak magic they can cast, and large teeth compared to their size, but their main form of attack seems to be slamming headfirst into enemies to knock them down, then bite down on the throat.

Habitat/Society: Other than Clan Abominations, they are rarely seen in any societal roles, though they tend to ignore each other rather than attack, as they do any other living creature they run across. Clan Abominations are almost always within ten meters of each other, and don’t openly interact with each other, indicating they may be connected by a hive mind with each other.

Ecology: Abominations are rarely seen eating, and waste doesn’t seem to be a problem, leading many to speculate that Abominations don’t actually exist entirely on this plain. Only Clan Abominations seem to require food, and most of the time they just eat whatever they kill, until danger draws near.

Onyx Crawler

Onyx Crawler
Climate: Caves, grasslands, and forests
Frequency: Very Common
Seeded Worlds: Azureus, Eterna, Oastanai
Organization: Nest
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Animal
Size: Medium
Danger Level: Low

Onyx are a type of creature appearing in two forms. Crawlers are the workers, defenders, foragers, and diggers for the nest. Queens are the hive mind connecting them all, laying new eggs and directing the current Crawlers to better the nest. Onyx are one of the most common semi-dangerous animals on the face of Azureus and Eterna, and are slightly less common on Oastanai.

Combat: When faced with combat, Onyx Crawlers will attack with their front two legs, and often their tail. They will only ever run from battle if the nest is low on resources and can not easily afford to lose Crawlers. If they are caught in a battle in the queen’s chambers, they will do everything to protect her, sometimes just blindly rushing the opposition in hopes it will slow it down. That said, the exoskeleton on an Onyx Crawler leaves much to be desired, and they are easily killed if provoked or looking for food.

Habitat: Onyx Crawlers thrive under the open plains. Many nests have dug complex cave systems and established hives where survival is relatively easy. The Crawlers are connected via a hive mind to the Onyx Queen, which can order them around up to a hundred kilometers away. In some cases rogue Crawlers can be found, which usually means the Queen was killed or the distance between the two was great enough for the connection to sever. In these cases the Crawler will generally just search for food and try to survive on its own, but with a limited mind of its own, this generally proves ineffective.

Ecology: Onyx Crawlers forage for food wherever they can find it. Being omnivores, this means fruit if they can find it, herbs if they can’t, and meat on the rare occasions they manage to swarm something before it has the good sense to run away. Onyx Crawlers are more often than not found alone or in groups of two or three, because Queens generally want to cover as much ground as possible at any given time. Onyx Crawlers tend to be good for the natural environment, providing fertility to soil when they die and maintaining a manageable population. The caves they dig are sometimes home to other creatures and they don’t eat too much so their impact is minimal.