Animals

[Moonlit]

Stehara is a world filled with strange and interesting creatures that never existed on Earth, when settlers first arrive on their new planet they were astonished by these creatures, now with the genetic experiments not more animals stranger, deadlier and more intelligent then anything known to Sterhera's natural wildlife, are loose. Here is a list of the well know Sterherian animals and the ones that the Government have recently let loose.

Natural Inhabitants
Steva
Agro
Old Kane

- Alphyn

- Ribbon-Tailed Peryton

- Armored Iguanas

-Ghost Vultures

- Spiny Rabbit

- Cliff Jumpers

- Giant Red back Apes


Genetic Experiments

- Raptors

- Scarbin

- Spiked Tree Cats

[shadoo]

Alphyn:
Alphyn are apex predators, that live in breeding pairs. They are wolfish creatures with a raised ridge of hair that goes from the top of their head to the middle of their shoulder blades and usually are dark colors, ranging from deep maroon, brown, or black. They have long claws on their front paws, sharp teeth adorn their mouths with few molars. They stand at the size of a large pony. Their mane and tail are lighter colored than the rest of their body.

[shadoo]

Ribbon-tailed Peryton:

The ribbon-tailed peryton has a beautiful black and emerald green coat along with black base feathers and green feathers strewn through out the ebony. It was also blessed with black antlers that curve inward at the tips and two huge wings that can life it off the ground. It's tail consists of two large feathers that are three feet in length and curve downward slightly, one of black and one of green. It feasts on flesh with razor sharp teeth, and has lashing hooves that can slice open skin with a light kick. They live in herds with one male at leading it. It's call is high-pitched and can hurt the ears.

[shadoo]

Armored Iguanas:
These are often used as mounts for those who are less fortunate and cannot afford to have technological traveling aids. There are two different kinds and they come in many colors. There are flying and grounded Iguanas. The most common color is tan, they stand at the size of a small war horse and are 25 feet long from nose to tail. On the bridge of their nose starts the armor plating and it stretches to just to the base of the tail. It has huge hooked claws for defending itself but flat teeth for grinding plants. Scattered along it’s armored spine are colored feathers that often stand out against the color of it’s hide.

[shadoo]

Ghost Vultures:
Ghost Vultures are the carrion eaters of Sterhera, they are named Ghosts because their bald heads have transparent flesh on them and so you can see their skull and neck bones. Their feathers are a mottled grey with specks of white and black. Their wing span would fit that of a California Condor on the Earth. They nest in dead trees and though they prefer scavenging they have the ability to take down some of the smaller animals. On their breast over their heart is a bald spot which shows their heart inside as it is also transparent.

[shadoo]

Spiny Rabbit:
This is one of the most well-known rodents of Sterhera. It has the look of a rather long legged dwarf rabbit, save for the fact that their hairs can grow and stiffen into long spines, much like a porcupines. If you can kill and catch it however, it’s meat it succulent and tender. The issue with that is, it is extremely fast and has excellent defenses. It is purely herbivorous and prefers berries to any plant.

[shadoo]

Raptors

Named after a prehistoric creature found on Earth, this beast resembles those reptiles, but unlike them these feathered creatures bones are not so fragile. Standing 5 feet tall and covered from head to toe in small red brown feathers. Clawed three fingered hands allow these intelligent animals to grab onto its prey. Like the prehistory raptors these genetically created bird have the large hook shape claw that can move independently from the others on their feet.

Longer hardened feathers crown the Raptor's head, looking much like an Indian headdress. Able to vibrate these hardened feathers the Raptors use the noise- that sounds like a cicada although lower in pitch- to communicate with others of their pack while hunting. As smart as humans these animals are not to be trifled with, like wolves they are able to take down large game. Rejected by the Government these creatures were let loose into Argo territory believing they would dye of quickly- they were not aware of the Raptor's intelligence and ability to adapt. Quickly the raptors became a top predator and have taken over the far edge of the Firefly Forest at the edge of Argo's territory.

[shadoo]

Scarbin

These insects were fashioned by the government to eat wood and metal, materials used to build flying ships. Like the creatures that attached themselves to the bottom of ships on Earth these creatures if not stopped will destroy a Sky Ship rather quickly. Covered in a hard shell these creatures as extremely hard if not impossible to kill, these bugs are only effected by smoke, which will slow their eating. Smoke will also make them unaware of what they are eating as they continue to chop away, enabling one to feet this bug poison. With en incredibly short life span these bugs live for only 24 hours, but they breed like made. Like an ant hill these bugs have only one reproductive female that serves as their queen. (The Government currently has the only queen Scarbin.)

[shadoo]

Cliff Jumpers

Living in the cliffs of Steva these acid spitting birds are gliders rather then fliers are extremely territorial, these nasty creatures will attack anything that trespasses into their territory- including sky ships. Able to latch onto the side of ships with strong talons on bat like hands positioned on their wings these animals pose a great threat to ships. With Acid that quickly eats through metals and flesh, able to shoot this acid substance at a staggering distance of 7 feet they are hard to approach. Light boned a hit from a bat could easily kill these cat sized birds, if you can get close enough to swing the thing.

They are also very sensitive to sound, on a certain pitch this sound can drive the Cliff Jumpers away. Causing them to become confused the sound can make them lose their sense of balance and quickly plummet to the earth. Coated in an oily substance- a residue their body secrets that is a left over from making their acid- acts like a sort of armor. Binding their feathers together, arrows are unable to pierce their hide because of it; however this substance is extremely flammable.

[shadoo]

Spiked Tree Cat

These black log furred cats are the size of a snow leopard, line the Spiny Rabbit the fur of these felines are actually quills laced with poison. Like a porcupine they can launch these spikes on their tails with surprising precision, the toxins within the quills can paralyze prey- animal and human alike. If one receives an overdose of this poison it will cause their heart to stop. These cats spend much of their time in trees, like a leopard, puma these cats wait for unsuspecting prey to pass underneath before dropping on them. Racking their tail along the animal they will leave several spines in their prey, if the prey does break away from them the poison will prevent them from running far. They also hunt birds in the canopy above, solitary animals these animals are of average intelligence. Placing them in between the Raptors and Scarbin of the government's experiments.

[shadoo]

Giant Red Back Apes

Akin to the yeti these giant apes of the Steva mountain range dominated the land for thousands of years before the humans repopulated the planet, they are greatly respected and feared by the people of Steva. Walking upright they are covered from head to toe in brown fur, long sharp claws are hidden beneath the long fur on their hands. made Red Back Apes have a streak of red brown down their backs giving them their names, they also have longer fangs that protrude from the bottom of their mouth. Normal peaceful these animals can become aggressive fast, males travel on their own until the mating season. During the mating season they gather females like Elks gather and harem and fight one another for them.

[shadoo]

Tenncarra

Giant avian lizard the Tenncarra are used for the same work as the Armored Iguana, to transport riders and items through the air. Standing at 11 feet tall with a wingspan of 60 feet these animals are huge able to carry loads that way 500 pounds.Brightly colored feathers cover their chest and form a crest on their head, these are used for attracting mates; other then these feathers which can come in a wide verity over colors the Tenncarra are completely bald resembling a giant pterodactyl its massive wings made up of a membrane that stretches between fingers evolved for flight. With a powerful beak build for breaking nuts and bone these animal are omnivorous, and while the unfixed males are extremely high spirited and hard to control fixed males or geldings are extremely gentle; females are a mixture of both.