Animals of Estcarp

This is an overview of the flora and fauna of Estcarp. More on the fauna than flora. The animals listed here do roam the length and breadth of the Great Khibiny Mountain Range, but as Estcarp is the only settled region, this is where we'll focus on the creatures that inhabit the land.

The one thing that should be remarked is upon the abundance of wildlife, forests, and pristine wilderness. The Highlanders and Stormborn respect the land and what nature provides. Their creed is Take what you need and nothing more. More to the point, Highlanders and Stormborn alike view themselves as servants of the land and not the other way around.

Plants, Trees, Grasses
There is a tremendous variety of plant life in the Highlands. There are several varieties of grasses, each adapted to their own particular habitat be it a mountain valley or high alpine meadow. This is true for almost all types of vegetation. There are great forests of hardwoods, including giant redwoods and massive old pines, mosses and lichens that grow on the rocks and trees, even in the highest meadows.

The Highlanders have domesticated certain plants. There are two varieties of apple tree that have been cultivated and nurtured, several types of wild grape that now graces the dinner tables in the form of wines, jams and jellies. A hardy winter wheat has been turned into a yearly crop by numerous farmers. Along with these items, there are potato like tubers that grow quite well underground even in the harshest winters. As they have traded in the lowlands, Highlanders brought back corn, other varieties of wheat, and various lentils.

As there is plenty of building material in the form of natural stone, marbles, and granite, timber is used sparingly. The Highlands comes complete with its own tracts of cleared lands in the valleys, meadows, and high alpine plains making clearing land of trees unnecessary.

The Animals
Like the plants, trees and grasses, the Highlands support a plethora of animals. Most notable is the fact that there are creatures known as the megafauna, magnificently oversized versions of common lowland animals. On occasion these beasts make it to the foothills and plains, giving rise to the legends of monsters in the mountains.

Along with the peculiar megafauna beasts, there are many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Let's start small and work our way down the list.

Insects
It would be impossible to detail every type of insect flying, hopping or crawling in Estcarp. There are spiders, scorpions, flies, mosquitos, butterflies...all the normal types of insects. There are a few poisonous ones and mosquitoes do carry some disease. At least two types of insects have been domesticated, the Highland Silk Worm and the honey bee.

A particularly unpleasant arachnid is the Wandering Spider. He is big, brown, hairy and aggressive as he only wanders when he's searching for a mate. This spider's fangs can pierce through a fingernail or toenail and the neurotoxin it delivers in a bite can be lethal.

Reptiles and Amphibians
Snakes, lizards, frogs, salamanders, newts, toads, turtles...all have a niche in the Highlands.

To date, only two venomous snakes have been encountered. Both are large and have a deadly bite. The first, the Banded Pit Viper is a black and red banded snake that is native to the near rainforest conditions in the depths of the Torenthi Chasm. It is both highly venomous and highly aggressive.

The other is the Mountain Cobra. This snake can reach a length of fifteen feet and is most often found around rock falls and fallen trees. The Mountain Cobra has a couple of ways of warning predators or potential threats to leave it alone. The first is a menacing rattle from its tail. If that doesn't work, it will rise up to over half its body length and flare its hood. It can spit venom as well as bite.

Fish and other Aquatics
With so many rivers, streams, and lakes, there is also a plethora of fish, shellfish, and some aquatic mammals as well as lake birds and fish eagles.

The two most common aquatic mammals are a very large beaver and giant otter. Neither are a danger to humans.

Some Highlanders make a good living from fishing or farming freshwater oysters and mollusks. Some even farm oysters for pearls as well as for food.

There is a large, predatory catfish that has been known to cause serious injury as well as some giant freshwater eel and a particularly nasty fresh water shark. The latter two only live in the deepest lakes and rivers.

Bichir
The Bichir is a freshwater fish that closely rsembles a cross between a giant catfish and a giant eel or snake. In color, they are white to cream, sometimes blue-gray and tend to be able to blend into the sand on the bottoms of rivers and amongst the rocks at the edge of rivers and deeper creeks. The Bichir hunt in the rivers, but return to the deep lakes to mate and spawn.

The average length of an adult Bichir is 12 - 13 feet. Males have been recorded up to 16 feet in length. Both males and females are highly aggressive. Their usual mode of attack is to bite and then, like a constrictor, wrap the victim in coils and pull them under the surface where the hapless victim is drowned and then dragged to the Bichir's lair where it consumes its meal at its leasure.

The Bichir is not a super predator. What it has on its side is its size, speed, and aggression. Its scales are not abnormally tough and it is not abnormally hard to kill.

Birds
Birds of all kinds grace the skies of Estcarp. Some even inhabit the plains and forests. Species of birds includes, but is not limited to: robins, ravens and crows, geese, ducks, quail, pheasant, raptors, vultures, owls, and a particularly nasty flightless bird call the Stygian.

Three bird species are of particular note, although only one is dangerous to man.

Harpy Eagle
This is a massive, crested eagle that haunts the Highlands. Its wingspan averages ten to twelve feet from wingtip to wingtip and it is one of the heaviest birds of prey in existence. Its favorite food are small to medium mammals (such as the giant otter) and large fish.

Highland Condor
This is the king of vultures. It is a magnificent bird with gleaming black plumage and a snow white ruff of feathers around the base of its neck. It has a ten foot wingspan and primarily feeds on large carrion leaving the smaller stuff to lesser buzzards.

Stygian
The Stygian is a massive flightless bird. It is omnivorous although it prefers meat. There is nothing that frightens a full grown Stygian. It stands nearly six feet tall at its shoulders and weighs approximately one hundred fifty pounds. Stygians wields its large, heavy, pointed beak like a hatchet, repeatedly closing in on prey, inflicting deep wounds with quick stabbing motions, then withdrawing to a safe distance as its unfortunate victim bleeds to death. It does not care if its prey is completely dead when it starts eating. Stygians roam the alpine plains and forests. Rarely, when prey is scarce, they will come into inhabited areas.

There are other flightless birds, some large, but none as imposing or potentially dangerous as the Stygian.

Rodents and Marsupials
There is the average variety of marsupials...opossum and a small kangaroo-like creature that is rarely seen.

Goes without saying...there are rats, mice, squirrels, nutria, capybara. There are no known rodent species that are dangerous to humans in the Highlands, the exception being those that normally carry disease.

Mammals
Mammals of all types can be found in the Highlands. Most of them are ones that could be encountered in the lowlands as well. Others are indigenous only to the Highlands and those are the animals that will be documented here.

Bison
Bison are both wild and domesticated and roam the high alpine plains and meadows. Early on, Highlanders caught and domesticated these animals. They provide the staple red meat of the Highland population.

They are nomadic grazers and travel in herds. Bison are good swimmers and can cross rivers over half a mile (1 km) wide. The bulls leave the herds of females at 2 or 3 years of age, and join a male herd which is generally smaller than the female herds. Mature bulls rarely travel alone.

Head-and-body length ranges from 2 to 3.5 m (6.6 to 11.5 ft) long, the tail adding 30 to 91 cm (12 to 36 in). Shoulder height in the species can range from 152 to 186 cm (60 to 73 in). Typical weight can range from 318 to 1,000 kg (700 to 2,200 lb).

Bison are not normally aggressive although they can be unpredictable in mating season.

Wild Boar
These animals range freely in the Highlands going pretty much wherever they want too. They are highly aggressive and can kill a man. In fact, there are probably more deaths per year by wild boar than by all of the other Highland outsize predators combined.

Adult boars can measure from 90 to 200 cm (35 to 79 in) in length, not counting a tail of 15 to 40 cm (5.9 to 16 in), and have a shoulder height of 55 to 110 cm (22 to 43 in). As a whole, their average weight is 50–90 kg (110–200 pounds), though boars show a great deal of weight variation within their geographical ranges.

Highlanders routinely hunt wild boar to keep them from over populating, and for meat. Although they are occasionally hunted for sport, the meat, skin, and tusks are always put to good use. The bristles, in fact, are made into hairbrushes.

There are no domestic varieties of pigs in the Highlands.

Highland Elk
The Highland Elk stands about 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulders, and it had the largest antlers of any known cervid (a maximum of 3.65 m (12.0 ft) from tip to tip and weighing up to 40 kg (88 lb)). The Elk can attain a total mass of 540–600 kg (1,200–1,300 lb), with large specimens weighing 700 kg (1,500 lb) or more, roughly similar to the Alaskan Moose.

Highland Elk roam the alpine prairies and grassy meadows along with the bison. They are hunted for food, their skins, and their antlers which are made into many different tools and implements. Attempts to domesticate them have failed. Not due to the animal's nature, but due to the fact they are so massive it was impossible to maintain them.

They are not ordinarily aggressive, but an injured adult can cause serious injury or death.

Ground Sloth
There are several species of sloth inhabiting the lower forests. Higher in the mountains, at the periphery of forests and in grasslands, dwells the Ground Sloth. This animal can weigh up to six tons and reach an overall length of twenty feet. The sloths are covered by long thick fur, dark brown in color on the back and sides, shading to tan and cream on the chest and underbelly.

It is characterized by massive front claws which it uses to hook and drag branches down from tress so it can eat the leaves. Due to not being able to put its front feet flat on the ground, it walks on the sides of its feet. This massive animal does not move rapidly and will normally stand its ground rather than flee, depending on its great size to deter would-be predators. While not known to be actively aggressive, it can do severe damage with its claws when cornered.

The great ground sloths are omnivorous. Their preferred diet is made up of a variety of fruit, plants and berries. They will, on occasion raide ant and termite nests or the occasional bee hive for honey. Periodically, usually prior to winter's hibernation, they will take over kills by other predators. It is believed they need the nutrients and protein to sustain them through the winter months.

There is not an abundance of these massive slow-moving animals and they are not normally hunted unless one moves in and starts damaging valuable crops. Even then, the first recourse is to try to drive the animal away from the farm. Their  meat is rank and the fur, no matter how often it is washed and cleaned retains a slightly musty or rank odor. If a sloth carcass is found, the claws are harvested as they can be fashioned into unique weapons as well as into other tools and personal ornaments.

Suri
A small camelid that is particularly well adapted to survival in the highest of the mountain plains and meadows, it is highly valued for its wool. These animals live both in the wild and as domesticated farm animals where they are raised for their coats.

Sheep
There are a variety of average domesticated sheep along with the large Mountain Sheep that roam the highlands. They are occasionally hunted for food, rarely for sport.

Horses
There are two or three species of wild horse, but the only one indigenous only to the Highlands is the Dikaya. The Dikaya are also Estcarp's national emblem. Of the species of wild horse in the Highlands, only the Dikaya have been dometicated.

Predators
Where there is prey, there are predators. In the Highlands, there are the usual variety of wildcats, birds of prey, and other carnivores. The ones listed below are unique to the Highlands.

Short-Faced Bear
Possibly the largest carnivorous land mammal that has ever lived in Rhyaria, the Short-Faced bear is a fierce predator. Unlike its smaller cousins, it prefers meat although it will scavenge or hunt for berries when prey is not available.

The average weight of a full grown male is approximately 2,000 lbs. Some can reach as high as 15 feet when standing on their hind legs.

Cloaks and blankets made from the beast's thick fur are highly prized.

Dire Wolf
The dire wolf averages about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in length and weighs between 50 kg (110 lb) and 79 kg (174 lb). With the exception of the canine teeth in some populations, male and female body and teeth sizes evidence no major differences.

Dire wolves' overpowering bite can hold and subdue their prey considerably larger than themselves. Traveling in large packs, the wolves feed on a variety of larger mammals and the megafauna.

Mountain Saber-Cat
Amongst the various large predatory cats in the Highlands, the Mountain Saber-Cat is by far the most impressive. It is more robustly built than any of the other forest or mountain dwelling cats, with particularly well-developed forelimbs and exceptionally long upper canines. Its jaw has a bigger gape than than other cats and its upper canines are slender and fragile, being adapted for precision killing. Saber-Cats specialize in hunting the large bison, elk, and sometimes the vicugna or mountain sheep.

The Saber-Cat has a body mass range 490 to 880 lbs. and stands up to 4 feet tall at the shoulder. It competes with both the Dire Wolf and Short-Faced Bear for prey.

See the gallery below for images of the various animals.