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faction:iromakuanhe:domesticated_fauna

Iromakuanhe Domesticated Fauna

(For non-domesticated animals, please see the article here.)

Like many cultures, the Iromakuanhe raise and breed their own domesticated species for many purposes, including companionship, labor and of course, food. Many of these derive from the animals the wandering Saal brought with them on their expedition, while others are native to the Iruotl System and her three inhabited planets. Over the centuries, a combination of selective breeding and minor genetic engineering has fine tuned the aspects of a few of these species to the point of near overspecialization, though some favor the hardier, more generalist animals.

Airborne Animals

Maekardan

Frahxit Floatcrabs

Cruel, ill-tempered and delicious are commonly applied to the float crab species. They are an airborne crustacean that uses a combination of a helium sac and electrostatic feelers to float about in the skies of Maekardan and Hlarai, well-liked for their beautiful hides and succulent meat. The taste is typical of a crustacean, like that of a lobster, but slightly richer in texture and sweeter in taste. They feed on airborne particles released by Float Trees and the moisture in clouds, and occasionally, Jarin Larvae. Though not particularly social animals, they are prone to form small parties for protection and hunting purposes. This trait was carried over into the management of the species after it was domesticated.

The Fraxhit itself has a brilliant sky blue carapace with a golden stomach and highlights. It has a total of 16 extremities, with four pincer claws, two eye stalks and ten long, hairy feelers that use electrostatic manipulation to guide the crab along. The underbelly has a noticeable protrusion, which is the armored helium sack.

Type: Omnivore Social Type: Packs (4-16) Used for: Meat, Hides

Jarin Wyrms

A species of majestic winged snake-like creatures with a few mammalian features, the Jarin Wyrm was the favored riding animal of the Eyr Ranr people, prior to the advent of Wind Riding. Despite having fallen into disuse due to the availability of cheaper and easier-to-use methods of transportation, the Jarin are still among the most popular pets of the Iromakuanhe. There are two species of Jarin, with the Coiled Jarin being the smaller subspecies that is popular as a pet, and the Waver Jarin, which is still used today as a riding animal by some. Though few people enjoy the taste of the Wyrm, it is described as bitter and pungent, with a naturally spicy taste and very rough texture. The scales are ground up and sold as an aphrodisiac. In the wild, they are solitary, monogamous animals, only staying in groups of more than two while they are raising young.

They have three life phases, in larval, chrysalis and adult form, in a manner similar to insects. Once it is no longer capable of clinging onto the back of the parent Wyrm, the larval form burrows deep into the earth and nourishes itself in a manner similar to a plant until it is capable of maturing into the second life phase, typically after two to five years. They change inside the confines of their well protected shell. Once hatched, the adult phase has about fourty years of life, though a well fed and taken care of Jarin can live to be eighty.

Jarin range from two (Coiled) to thirty feet (Waver), with most ranging in between from breeding and typically come in yellow, white or orange, or a mix of the three. They have sparkling reptilian scales and long, red manes of hair jutting from the back of a well armored head. Wyrm have a single razor sharp beak and a pair of grooved talons built into the bottom of their tail for swooping down at prey. The Coiled variety has a smooth hook instead, which was engineered in to prevent injuries to owners.

Type: Carnivore Social Type: Solitary or Paired Used for: Pack Animal, Recreation, Pet, Medicinal

Hlarai

Hlarai Cloudstinger

Believed to be a distant relative of the Fraxhit, the Cloudstinger is a large multitentacled gelatinous creature that moves about in a manner similar to the jellyfish. It is covered in sectioned plates of a shell-like material, like those found on the Floatcrab. It has dozens of soft ribbon-like extremities beneath an armored canopy, and a set of four manipulator arms. It floats about thanks to the very same electrostatic manipulation and helium sac abilities possessed by the Fraxhit, though cruder in comparison. Typically growing from one to two feet in diameter, the creature's main organ sac is filled with a potent cocktail of chemicals from which many pharmaceuticals are made. The meat tastes faintly of stale peanuts and calamari, though it is known that the meat is quite toxic to most species, and should not be consumed under any normal circumstances. It is occasionally served as a means to experience a toxin-induced high, and can be cured in salt water to cancel out the natural toxicity.

When threatened, the Cloudstinger can defend itself by spurting out a cloud of a mild muscle relaxant, which tends to remove the ability to attack from most predators.

Type: Herbivore/Insectivore Social Type: Small Schools (50-100) Used for: Hides, Food, Medicinal

Kingdom Zaidok

The Kingdom Zaidok is a four-winged waterfowl that was genetically engineered by Veyrin Kingdom colonists who had emigrated from Hlarai to Veyrin in the late AR 700's. Like all Hlaraian avian species, the Zaidok is four-winged and has a good ability to swim, but received a number of modifications that would give it both culinary and utilitarian purposes. Zaidok have a better taste even when malnourished or fed fairly bland foods compared to most other species raised for their meat, and mature and accumulate fatty deposits quite easily, allowing them to be eaten no more than a year or two after being born. In addition to this resilient flavor, their bodies are remarked to tolerate low-gravity sickness and even short term vacuum exposure quite well.

However, the other purpose of the Zaidok is to sniff out deposits of Veyrinite for free-ranging wildcat miners who could not afford expensive resonance detection systems. Simply by injecting tiny amounts of Veyrinite, perhaps no more than 300 KD worth, Zaidok cocks gain the ability to detect the resonance fields generated by untuned Veyrinite through vibrations that they interpret as smell or sound.

When the Veyrin Kingdom was brought under rein and their forces dispersed, a great number of the former Kingdom citizens turned to raising their hardy fowls for meat in small communities in the core systems. Eventually, industrial farming groups caught on and many large farms raise Zaidok as their main product. It is not uncommon to see Zaidok raised in groups of two to three in even urban residences of Kingdom descendants and casual agriculturalists and do-it-yourself farmers managing a mid-sized garden who wish to produce their own poultry.

Type: Herbivore/Omnivore Social Type: Flock (3 to 60) Used for: Food, Eggs, Special Labor

Mazerin

Hashida Vuvuzambur

Hashida Vuvuzambur are large, pseudo-warmblooded arthropods raised on Mazerin, that are tended to by keepers for the myriad products their life cycle generates. They are eusocial creatures with a number of specialized breeds that vary by purpose, with sterile drones roughly the size of a full grown Iromakuanhe's fist to larger breeding queens four to five times their size. Although they bear a passing resemblance to the bees sometimes raised on Yamatai, the Vuvuzambur are neither insects nor coldblooded, and have a more complex metabolism and life cycle.

The majority of Mazerin's species are descended from quadrupedal omnivorous mammals who were believed to have flourished in the equatorial regions and spread out, and from the unique warmblooded arthropods that flourish in the colder regions. Like many of their less successful relatives, it is theorized that the Vuvuzambur somehow evolved a complex internalized biochemical furnace organ and use their hollow, fuzzy shells as a form of insulation from the cold.

The domestic Vuvuzambur is native to the Hashida Peaks Region, where it constructs large white and blue crystaline hives that descend up to twenty meters above and beneath the ground and may sprawl for up to a hundred meters. These hives are tended to by keepers with special biochemical implants that allow them to smell like normal hive scenery and otherwise soothes the residents, allowing for the collection of the bounty produced therein. Proteinous crystals cast off from the hive walls are collected to produce jewelry, and Zambur larvae and pupae are collected live as food. However, the main purpose of Vuvuzambur culture is the collection of their unique 'jelly' which is processed from a combination of boreal tree saps, lichen and various flowering plants that spring up during the short lived summer. This jelly is naturally sweet, preserves itself for months or years and contains a number of enzymes with medicinal effects as varied as antibacterial and antifungal, encouraging scarless healing and even a mild stimulant depending on the exact diet the Vuvuzambur has been given.

Because of the ease of reducing aggression in a hive and their engineered non-aggressive instincts towards Iromakuanhe, Vuvuzambur are raised and tended in a variety of structures, including artificial hive towers inside of the arcologies, or by live-in keepers who use the hives as an extension of their own homes.

Type: Herbivore Social Type: Eusocial Hives (1000+) Used for: Food, Medicinal

Land Animals

Maekardan

Gishep

Gishep are small, timid quadrupeds raised on Maekardan for their wool and meat. Their bodies are lean and skins thin, with ridges on the sides of the torso that contain water-filtering 'gills' connected to the trachea. This gives them an unusual wheezing sound when exhaling but gives the Gishep an improved ability to expell hot air while retaining water and maintain a cool body temperature. Although timid, Gishep are sociable, affectionate and friendly, making them a good alternative to more aggressive or territorial pets with small biochemical modifications and regular to improve their somewhat poor smell. They are normally raised in large herds with numerous herders tendin to a group.

Gishep come in three varieties, with small variations. The Golden Gishep has leathery wings that allow it to glide off cliffsides and rolling hills, while the White (wingless) and Grey Gishep (hybrids) are better conditionned for life in large herds and interbreed freely.

Type: Herbivorous Social Type: Large Herd (40-160) Used for: Wool, Meat, Pet (Rare)

Gualmyan

Strong, tender and hardworking, the Gualmyan has a special place in the hearts of the land-based cultures of the Iromakuanhe. The Gual, as it is affectionately nicknamed, is a primarily bipedal reptilian species capable of walking on all fours as well. common as a pet and often used as a mount or light pack animal. It is rarely used for hard manual labor, as most owners genuinely care for their animals. They are treated in a manner somewhat similar to fine horses and some species of the Terran dog. Omnivorous creatures, it is rarely hard to please a Gualmyan's palette.

The Gual has a reptilian appearance with smooth, light tan leathery skin and a long, thick tail that is roughly 3/5 the total length of the body. It has mid-sized upper arms that can be used as claws or for locomotion, and a pair of long reptilian legs that end in robust, digitigrade feet. The Gualmyan tends to vary in hue, but are usually covered in earth tones such as brown, tan or orange. The skin on the torso is always a few shades lighter. They have large black eyes, with bright blue irises, and a thick double eyelid for protection from water or dust clouds. Gual range from three feet tall and seven feet long, to a large five feet tall and fifteen feet long, among taller breeds.

Type: Omnivorous Social Type: Pack (10-20), Single or More; Varies with Owner Used for: Pack Animal, Recreation, Pet

Zoloat

Zoloat are genetic cousins of the Gishep that are raised in the arid badlands before the Northern Prairies and around the warm highlands in the deeper regions of the continent. Standing at a grown man's hip once fully grown and five feet long, they are thin animals with spiral-shaped horns and slender goat-like features. Their skin is slightly tight, dry and has a slightly reflective golden appearance to it as a consequence of the creatures incorporation of heavy metals into its skin, and their hair is fine and bristly. Despite having a poor and unscrupulous character, Zoloat are seen as purifiers in Iromakuanhe culture because of their bizarre metabolism and ability to ingest food contaminated by heavy metals and silicates, or otherwise tainted by a number of naturally occuring poisons in Maekardan's biosphere with impunity.

They are raised for their flavorful meat, savory and nutritious milk and their skins, which are often tanned to make leathers for high-quality artisan leatherworking. In many sects, it is traditional to burn the bones and fat at the entrances to ancestral burial sites, and many traditional Sund Wakir often give one or two Zoloat as part of a dowry, even if their daughter and son-in-law have moved to the city.

Type: Herbivorous/Omnivorous Social Type: Large Herd (30-120) Used for: Milk, Meat, Leather, Pet (Rare)

Hlarai

Mazerin

Mazerin Dirhoun

The Dirhoun is believed to be descended from the hunting and companion canines brought with the Saal during their exodus through space, although it has a number of traits common in Maekardan and Mazerin fauna, such insulation against extremes of temperature, high water preservation and bony crests across the head. Distinguishing them from the more reptilian Gualmyan are clearly mammalian features such as fur, warm blood and the ability to develop fatty deposits. They are carnivorous quadrupeds, with pointed teeth and extended canines, and body structures that favor mobility and endurance over raw strength.

There are few animals that have been bred to a greater variety than the Dirhoun, with many natural and artificial landraces of the animal having been produced by breeders and geneticists. The Mazerinii favor large hunting breeds, while breeders on Hlarai produce rescue animals and competent swimmers. Maekardanii have a preference for ostentatious animals with exaggerated features, preferring a bizarre and small animal to a larger and more healthy one.

Dirhoun are recognized for their behavior, which is clannish and prone to forming functional groups around the families and residences of their masters. Their temperaments vary between aggressive and wary guard animals to docile companion creatures, with extremes of intelligence running along this axis.

Type: Carnivorous Social Type: Pack (5-15), Single or More; Varies with Owner Used for: Hunting Animal, Recreation, Pet

Franguos Herdtitan

The Herdtitan is a large, muscular animal covered in a thick, luxurious mane of greenish-brown hair, often mistaken for a morass of vegetation covered boulders. It is well attuned to dry, inhospitable conditions, such as the desert or the tundra, and is most commonly seen on Mazerin and Maekardan being tended to by Curdatl or Sund Wakir. They are raised for their meat, hides, fur and milk, which is rich, creamy and slightly savory in taste, and also as draft animals. The meat is similar to the bovine species, though it tends to be noticeably gamier, like that of a bison, or elk.

The Herdtitan is typically four to six feet tall, and weighs from 500 lb to a ton, depeding on age and gender, with the “Bull” generally being in the upper weight and size ranges. They have long, ram-like horns and a thick hide, covered in long, soft, green-ish brown hair. They tend to be stocky animals, being somewhat taller than they are wide. They have wide, padded feet ideal for soft terrain, such as sand, or snow and hoof-like sections facilitate moving about in harder terrains.

True to its name, the Herdtitan is a very social animal, often living in very large social groups with several hundred individuals. They are polyamorous creatures, and the males spend each spring vyying for the affections of a potential mate.

Type: Herbivore Social Type: Large Herd Used for: Pack/Draft Animal, Meat, Hides, Milk


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faction/iromakuanhe/domesticated_fauna.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/21 00:59 by 127.0.0.1