Bestiary

Raanan Beasts

Baneclaw

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  A baneclaw

  Lifespan:
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• Native to Raana: yes

Baneclaws are ferocious bipedal predators indigenous to Raana, with charucks their only natural enemy. Thankfully only found alone or in pairs, they keep on growing as they age, reaching gargantuan sizes. Their dung is particularly effective as fertilizer. And given how dangerous they are, it is risky to obtain, and hence scarce, hence highly sought after, and valuable.

Beryll Monkeys

• Latin name: Inexor valacae
• Lifespan:
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• Weight: up to 200kg
• Native to Raana: Yes

Ape-like creatures native to the Irendorian continent. Lots of rumors circulate about these beings, many of them lurid, and some motivated by a desire to demonize them to justify exterminating them, as they live in forests which some humans would like to chop down for timber. More intelligent than the Earth gorillas that they equal in size: they are said to have language, live in villages, create and use tools, have some form of religion, and trade gemstones with humans. The rumors about their males' taste for human women, and the enormous size of their genitals, may also be true.

Thought to be most likely responsible for the "Beryll pottery culture", dated by its artifacts to the brief period 5,000-4,750 BHE.

Chanoga Wasp

• Lifespan: 3-5 years
• Length: 30-40 centimeters (12-15")
• Wingspan: 60-80 centimeters (25-30")
• Weight:
• Native to Raana: Yes

The chanoga wasp/chanugah hornet is one of Raana's few native flying creatures, dwelling mostly in regions of high altitude (3,000+ meters). It's extremely rare, thankfully, as its aggressiveness is a thing of legend.

A charuck

Charuck

• Lifespan: 120-160 years
• Length: 12-35 meters (40-100 feet)
• Weight: 6-15 tonnes
• Native to Raana: Yes

A "charuck" is a class of huge, reptile-like predator, as big as the largest of old-Earth's dinosaurs. The Academy has listed at least 20 different species, differing widely in size and appearance. Some are sea-dwelling but amphibious and can terrorize coastal villages; others stalk prey in dense jungles. They are seldom found in mountainous regions or open fields however.

Devor Dragon

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• Native to Raana: Yes

A huge, dinosaur-like beast found in the Corazon jungles. As dangerous as a Charuck. Avoid.

A dukka

Dukkas

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• Native to Raana: Yes

A smallish Raanan game animal; a good source of pelts and meat. Dukkas travel in family groups of up to a dozen, and aren't dangerous.

A large femmer beast male

Femmer beasts

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• Native to Raana: Yes

A rare example of Raanan fauna which has proved amenable to human domestication. Adaptable omnivores, like Terran boar. Large, strong, and armed with defensive fangs, horns and a thick hide, they are not aggressive towards farmers who they recognize as a source of easy food. Kept on farms and raised for meat and leather.

A galdar male

Galdar

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• Native to Raana: Yes

Raanan equivalent of deer. Hairy hooved & horned herbivores. Large, but tend to run away rather than fight; a useful source of hides and meat. Hunted in forests, jungles and swamps outside the Great Biological Wipe.

A halodim

Halodim

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• Native to Raana: Yes

Native game animals found in the Corazon jungles. Harmless, by Raanan standards. There's not much meat on them, but they are a good source of Pelts.

Lurkmite

• Lifespan:
• Length: 1m
• Weight: 20kg+
• Native to Raana: yes

Aquatic, crab-like predator the size of a dog. They may hide in shallow water, hoping to surprise potential land prey on the seashore, and have been known to attack humans.

Artist's impression of a tar snake; no actual photographs survive

Tar snakes

• Lifespan:
• Length: 100m+
• Weight: hundreds of tons?
• Native to Raana: yes

Gigantic, elongate, lizard-ish creatures, far bigger than any animal ever evolved on Earth. Capable of standing up to even large bodies of soldiers equipped with the best weapons; their defenses seem not merely physical. One was recently responsible for a recent incident on the Haalu Plateau which dealt a severe blow to the Chancellor's elite space marine force. Stay well away.

"The Degosa tar pit is famous for the Haalu incident in September 2488, when 120 space marines were sent to destroy a large tar snake dubbed "The Degosa Demon". They failed miserably, and the 500-foot serpent pulled over 70 marines into the depths of its dark abode. Those who survived, came back... changed. Most subsequently rejected the call to go back into service even though refusal to guard the Spheremasters equals a death sentence once you have taken the space marine oath."

Wrool Cats

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  A wrool cat

  Lifespan:
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• Weight: up to 100kg
• Native to Raana: Yes

A cat-like, leopard-sized predator native to Raana. Widespread, fierce, and bold enough to enter cities.

Earth fauna out-competes Raanan fauna, but since the human colonists brought mostly herbivores rather than carnivores, wrool cats are managing to survive, preying on deer and boar in the absence of wolves and lions. A rare example of Raanan native life surviving in the Great Biological Wipe.

They hunt in small family packs, though adolescent males can be encountered on their own. Tough, aggressive, and dangerous, attempts to tame them haven't gone well so far. They seem quite intelligent; maybe that is why.

Raanan Pests

Bitter Bugs

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• Native to Raana: yes

Small, insectoid creatures that can give a venomous bite - painful, but rarely lethal. Reason to wear gloves when gardening!

Cikko flies

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• Native to Raana: yes

More local pests that can form plagues devastating food storage.

Dungah crawlers

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• Native to Raana: yes

Raanan critters that can form plagues which devastate human crops and food stores.

Narlet

• Lifespan: 6-12 years.
• Length: 15-40 centimeters (10-15")

• Weight:
• Native to Raana: Yes

A narlet is a small rodent-like creature common in all of Irendoria. It's ragged fur and bony structure make the creature uninteresting for most hunters - only a handful of destitute tribalists are known to frequently hunt the animal

Rodar vermin

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• Native to Raana: yes

Raanan creatures that occasionally boom in numbers to form plagues which devastate human crops and food stores.

Vermer rats

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• Native to Raana: yes

Pests that occasionally boom in numbers to form plagues which devastate human crops and food stores.

Earth Invasives & Livestock

A wild boar

Boars

• Lifespan: 10-14 years
• Length: 1.5-1.8 m
• Weight: 60-200 kg
• Native to Raana: No

Introduced from Earth, and now plentiful in the wetlands within Ikaanos City and some other areas in and around human habitation (within the growing area of the Great Biological Wipe). These fierce omnivores can be hunted safely as long as you are better armed than they are, and keep an eye out for bandits. People concerned about the replacement of native Raanan flora & fauna with invasive Earth species encourage the culling of boar as pests.

Chickens

• Lifespan: 5-10 years
• Length: 25-70 cm
• Weight: 1-5 kg
• Native to Raana: No

Brought from Earth and surviving fine on Raana in farms, as a source of eggs, meat, and feathers for bedding. They can fend for themselves on farms, eating any small animal they find as well as seeds and some plant matter, but this active lifestyle make them eventually too tough for eating so just useful for the occasional egg. So they are kept indoors, provided with food and killed young if wanted for meat.

A deer stag

Deer

• Lifespan: 10-13 years
• Length: 2m
• Weight: 100-200 kg
• Native to Raana: No

Introduced from Earth, and now plentiful in undeveloped areas around Ikaanos and some other human settlements (within the growing area of the Great Biological Wipe). These gentle herbivores can be hunted safely as long as you keep an eye out for bandits. People concerned about the replacement of native Raanan flora & fauna with invasive Earth species encourage the culling of deer as pests.

Dogs

• Lifespan: 6-14 years
• Length: 25-100 cm
• Weight: 1-100 kg
• Native to Raana: No

Brough from Earth as companion animals, guard dogs, and some for work on farms. Come in a wild variety of shapes, sizes & colors.

Horses

• Lifespan: 25-50+ years
• Length: 2.4 m
• Weight: average 400-600 kg (absolute 26kg - 1,500kg)
• Native to Raana: No

Another Earth import, used in agriculture and for pulling carts as well as a self-fueling human transport. Well-suited to Ikaanos' unsurfaced, muddy tracks. You can enroll your slaves in one of Ikaanos' riding schools, or build a Stables in your Yard and buy your own horses. Depending on fitness, horses can comfortably carry a rider and saddle totaling 15-25% of their own body weight or less (e.g. a 500kg horse can be expected to carry a rider, saddle, rug, bridle, bags etc totaling 100kg).

Mules

• Lifespan: 35-50+ years
• Length: 2 m
• Weight: 300-700 kg
• Native to Raana: No

Another Earth import, these hardy, willful & characterful creatures rarely roam wild - they are used as beasts of burden, well-suited to Ikaanos' unsurfaced, muddy tracks. Doubly convenient, as they self-fuel by eating the familiar Earth plants of the great biological wipe rather than needing rare fossil fuels or scarce biofuels, irreplaceable Energy Cells, or a connection to a fusion power module. You will likely acquire a couple to haul camping equipment around if you want to explore beyond Ikaanos City itself; they come included in the price of a "Camp Level 2".

Cattle

• Lifespan: 25-30, but usually slaughtered after 5 years (dairy) or 18 months (beef).
• Length: 1.5-2.5 m
• Weight: 400-1,200 kg
• Native to Raana: No.

Another livestock species transported in from Earth in hopes it might be able to survive on Raana. Raised for use as beasts of burden as well as for their meat, milk and leather. Female cattle are called cows when mature and heifers when young. Male cattle raised for their meat are castrated to make them docile, and called steers. If uncastrated for use in breeding, male cattle are called bulls when mature and bullocks when young. Cattle used for pulling carts or ploughs, or even for riding, are usually male, usually castrated, and known as oxen; their laboring makes them big and strong but their meat becomes too tough for easy eating.

Raanan Flora

A mature denaar tree

Denaar trees

Famous for the addictive, destructive, mind-altering drug easily extracted from resin in its bark, which is currently reckoned to be ruining the lives of over 12% of Ikaanos' population. The Raana-native plant is common in the foothills of the Beryll mountains, brightening up the forests with its red flowers.

Dungah moss

A plant that's almost as much a threat to Ikaanos as the monstrous, jungle-roaming lizards outside the Great Biological Wipe which keeps most other Raanan species at bay. This fast-growing moss-like thing turns brick, mortar, concrete and soft rock into soil enough for it to grow on - fast destroying buildings in the process. Growing so fast that some of the poorest of the poor are employed as "dungah pickers" to control it, it is inedible to Earth fauna, but sometimes used as an ingredient in antibiotic paste.

Haal trees

A tall, long-lived, Raanan evergreen tree, one of the few able to survive in the Great Biological Wipe around human settlements. Haal wood is useful for furniture, wood paneling, and weapons manufacture, and has a pleasant aroma when freshly cut. Its sap is also a source of syrup, and useful oils can be extracted from the plant too.

Rembar vines

One of the few species of native flora able to survive in the Great Biological Wipe inadvertently introduced to Rana by humans. It's a fast growing plant that spreads over buildings, with roots that break masonry apart. Along with dungah moss, working to return human coloniser constructions back to the verdant chaos of Raanan nature.

Abominations

An artist's impression of a "Prowler"

Rumors are spreading of things arising from the interaction of Raanan and Earth life beyond the bounds of what's normally considered "natural". For example, survivors of the Haalu incident seem behaviorally and physically altered - cold and pale, no longer speaking, disconnecting from their prior lives. Suspected to be maybe diseased or infected by something, plus assuredly having sustained psychological damage or even alteration from whatever it was that they experienced... They are unnerving to be around, with people worrying if whatever is wrong with them might be infectious. Though others worry it's even worse than that, calling them "Prowlers", and muttering about "zombies" and "aberrations".