Menagerie Sculpting

[Pedant]

For aspiring world-builders in the same vein as Lexicon Building and Lexicon Sculpting: a post where you have the opportunity to describe the creatures that inhabit your con-culture or con-world! A few rules to start with:

1. The first person writes part of a description about this animal, nice and general (anything from “tree-dwelling warm-blooded fructivore” to “chicken” to “mermaid”).
2. The second talks about an animal in their con-world that fits the description, however much or little they want. The second person then repeats the process again.
3. Try to include the name of your species in at least one of your languages. If in English, try to be creative!
4. The creatures can be as nonsensical or as realistic as you want. But please try to keep the descriptions you give to others reasonable...
5. Try to include creatures that are real in your world. If they’re mythological, please note what they might have come from.
6. You can always include creatures that exist on Earth (see the example in Rule 1). However, if you do, try to point out how your creature differs from those on Earth. This can be anything from coloration to noise to genetic lineage to wings morphing into pairs of scissors in their third year.
7. The animals cannot be sapient. They can, however, be related to sapient animals.
8. Enjoy!

As an example:

Mermaid

Common Selkie (Homo aquaticus: a descendant of homo erectus that took to the sea and never quite left. 2.5 meters from head to foot on average, selkies have longer limbs, broader shoulders, and more blood per square inch of body than humans, along with more fat (spread all along the body). They aren’t purely aquatic, but are good at climbing rocks near the shore and swimming long-distance. Selkies have three subspecies:

• Homo aquaticus paludis is found in swamps, and off the coast of the Second Subcontinent. They are thinner, smaller, and lighter-coloured than other selkies.

• Homo aquaticus sirenae live on the rocks around the Inland Sea in the First Subcontinent. They have longer bodies than other selkies.

• Homo aquaticus nymphanus lives on the colder islands to the south of the Sixth Subcontinent, sharing the land with the Miserable People. They tend to be broader, and have a higher fat content, than most selkies.

So, first up:
Temperate woodlands browser (Example: deer, moose)

[k1234567890y]

chul.png (35.03 KiB) Viewed 7687 times

Chuls(Chul is pronounced as [t͡ʃɨl]) are the collective term of several species of animals of Rubaim, the largest moon of the planet Zdon of the Zlih solar system.

Chuls mainly live in forests of the temperate area of Rubaim, they resemble temperate woodlands browsers like deers and elks of our world in many aspects. Chuls are herbivorous, they mainly feed on grass and mainly live in forests. A chul is a medium-sized animal, with a body length of about 100 cm, a shoulder height of about 70 cm and a weight of about 20 kg.

Chuls don't have outer ears, the ear-like structure behind the head is actually a frill, there are three frills on a chul, one is on the neck, the other two are on the back; besides the horn-like structure on the head above the eyes is an antenna, all animals of the subphylum Cephalopanoplia have an antenna, which is a sensory organ that is used to sense touch, air motion, smell and taste.

Like most dominant land animals of Rubaim, chuls belong to the subphylum Cephalopanoplia, to which the Quers, the sentient species of Rubaim, also belong. Animals belonging to the subphylum Cephalopanoplia are hermaphrodite and don't have any forms of sexual dimorphism; besides, all animals of the subphylum Cephalopanoplia are either oviparous and ovoviviparous, which means they hatch from eggs. Chuls are ovoviviparous, that means chuls hold eggs in the mother's body until they are ready to hatch; besides, due to the lack of sexual dimorphism, chuls don't have horns like elks and deers do.

Next: apes and monkeys

[Neon Fox]

The alya or wild deer was a primary prey animal of the Cɛbaun Kīn around Tuysafa's northeastern Great Bay. Though broadly similar to the roe deer of Earth, the alya was more domesticable due to a few key behavioral differences--primarily that its herding behavior was more amenable to humans installing themselves at the top of the hierarchy. Both sexes grew and shed antlers every year, providing the Cɛbaun Kīn with a ready source of this valuable material, and selective breeding led to an animal whose wooly undercoat was useful for applications too stressful for the fur of the twālti or domestic rabbit. Alyākaun, domestic deer (ety. 'home-deer'), were kept primarily for fiber and some draught applications, as it was thought that the flesh of the wild animal was more wholesome.


Next: Dangerous, in an unexpected way or out of proportion to size or appearance (I.e. Hummingbirds are tiny and pretty but very aggressive and can poke your eyes out; platypi are poisonous despite looking silly; koalas are cute but will shred your face if you bother them.)

[Pedant]

Next: apes and monkeys

Next: Dangerous, in an unexpected way or out of proportion to size or appearance (I.e. Hummingbirds are tiny and pretty but very aggressive and can poke your eyes out; platypi are poisonous despite looking silly; koalas are cute but will shred your face if you bother them.)

Might as well do both and combine the aspects...

The dakugorā or hawkbill tamarin (bascadoramphus lemuris) is not, strictly speaking, a primate. Instead, it is from an equivalent lineage of "monotremes" called the avisimia or "bird-monkeys," although these are strictly gliders at best and not fliers. The hawkbill tamarin is one of those peculiar avisimians that crossed over the Boreal continental mass while the great pine forests were still around, and became accustomed to life in the jungles of Pelia--including Salvi.
The hawkbill tamarin has a long, lemur-like body, with two patagia stretching between their four legs on either side. Its body is black, with a white face and underside. Its short, flat tail is used to literally steer itself in the air as it passes from tree to tree. The hawkbill tamarin's actual bill is not a beak; instead, it is a long snout, covered in skin and a thick layer of fuzzy fur, which serves as nose and mouth both. Its eyes are large, and on either side of its head, with a black iris and golden whites; it looks rather adorable. Hawkbill tamarins do not mate for life; instead, they form partnerships that last as long as it takes to rear the couple's children. Eggs are laid in tree hollows, which is where the mothers stay while the father brings food. And it is this food that guarantees the dakugorā a life almost completely free of predators.
Like its cousins in Pelia and Meniscia (two of the four continents), the hawkbill tamarin is an insectivore--but a very particular one. It lives off the dragon ants of the jungle, which have incredibly poisonous venom (something rather alkaloid, in fact) which they use to strip away the bark of trees to carry back to their hives. The hawkbill tamarin lives on these ants, only occasionally eating other bugs (or, when it feels like a treat, certain fruit). The venom is ingested and incorporated into the body, and their coloration acts as a warning to jungle animals to keep away. In case that doesn't work, the hawkbill tamarin's sharp claws and pointed snout are likely to scare
Every animal on Ajjamah has eight Gifts, a magical properties instinctive to the creature. Because the dakugorā's brain is not very large, and its neocortex is less well-developed than that of a human or a phallene, the hawkbilll tamarin's eight Gifts manifest only in a precious few individuals, perhaps one out of every million.

1. Nascence/Permanence: creating anthills--queens and all--out of nothing.
2. Conjuring/Perception: creating copies of ants--all of which are edible.
3. Oaths/Summoning: everything eaten by one hawkbill tamarin is also eaten by their children (the effect is the same).
4. Persuasion/Redirection: tracking the thoughts of hunting animals near the nest--idiotic things--and instinctively increasing the amount of pain they feel when the hawkbill tamarin gets close...

Next: tropical grassland apex predator

[evmdbm]

Toknefex - or Greater Nefex.

Blue-green in colour, large mammalian kangaroo-sized predator with powerful hind legs for running (top speed in sprints of approx. 30kph). Smaller arms, but with long grasping fingers and retractable hyper-extensible claws. Typical use of the claws on catching the prey is to try to slice through the spinal column - which inevitably has led to prey animals developing armour on their backs. The hyper-extensible claws are a feature of Azdrai predators, with the Tokzakka an ape-like savannah ambush predator also possessing them.

Next: Anything domesticated for food

[gestaltist]

This is my favorite thread ever.

Next: Anything domesticated for food

An animal from an old project of mine which I'm actually thinking about importing to my current conworld: a capybara-like rodent adapted to tundra. I am (unimaginatively) calling them "kapi".
The kapi look more or less like capybaras but are more stocky and have white fur. They are herd animals and tend to stick together for warmth at night. During the day, they use their paws to get through the snow and frozen ground and graze on whatever they find beneath. Humans living in the polar circle domesticated them for their fur, meat, and - to a lesser extent - milk.

Next: the closest thing you have to a dragon.

[karaluuebru]

An animal from an old project of mine which I'm actually thinking about importing to my current conworld: a capybara-like rodent adapted to tundra. I am (unimaginatively) calling them "kapi".
The kapi look more or less like capybaras but are more stocky and have white fur. They are herd animals and tend to stick together for warmth at night. During the day, they use their paws to get through the snow and frozen ground and graze on whatever they find beneath. Humans living in the polar circle domesticated them for their fur, meat, and - to a lesser extent - milk.

Sounds like the shagrats from the Future is wild

Next: the closest thing you have to a dragon.

The dragon Mantis is a large manteod from Kèrgeloç, known as the Land of the Giant Bugs.

Kèrgeloç is one of the most remote places on Earth,having no native mammals, and the peculiar evolution of the Bird-Eating Snail¹ has meant that it is virtually devoid of avian predators.

This lead to a spectacular explosion in the variety of insects, and examples of gigantism, with The Dragon Mantis being a spectacular example. With a 30cm wingspan, and an explosive defence mechanism in their tails (on Kèrgeloç, even a dragon has predators), these creatures are popular zoo exhibits the world over.


1 The Bird-Eating Snails are so called because they rasp open birds eggs, which are their favourite food, thus killing the chicks inside and preventing bird populations from establishing themselves. When no eggs are present, the snails content themselves with preying on other Kèrgelonid gastropods.


Next:
Man's (or whatever your sapients are) best friend

[gestaltist]

Sounds like the shagrats from the Future is wild

Yes, that's where I got the idea. I completely forgot, TBH.

Next:
Man's (or whatever your sapients are) best friend

I my current project, humans have actually evolved as favorite pets of an older sapient race. I'm still deliberating if I should use that fact to have divergent human sub-races like we see with dogs. Obviously, humans don't make for loyal pets and their former masters are now mostly lost to history.

Next:
a poisonous animal

[Pedant]

Next:
a poisonous animal

The turtopar or Golden Dart Salamander (toxicus interbidus) is a nudanguinate (roughly equivalent to Terran amphibians) native to the jungles of Salvi (and Pelia in general). It is small, only about ten centimetres long from head to stumpy tail, and a bright golden colour. It has long legs and a squat body, similar to a frog, but it also has a vestigial tail, which it uses to steady itself on trees (and while mating). It jumps rather like a gecko instead of a frog, in fact. The turtopar has large eyes, a small, cute mouth--and produces one of the most venomous substances in the world, which it is immune to but which very, very definitely deters any potential predators.
The turtopar was used a lot in the old days as a source of poison, used in assassinations and potions alike. It's been banned in Salvi for the past two cycles, but is still permitted in other parts of the world--and is especially valued by the assassins of the Wachtik Empire to the northwest.
The turtopar is not particularly intelligent, which means it only has a minuscule connection to magic. Given its general deadliness, it's helpful that it only seems to connect to Redirection to aid in its jumps across the jungle during mating season.

Next: large mountain-dwelling herbivore