Randel
2008-11-16, 05:20 PM
When watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, I thought how neat it was that they have their world populated by mix and match creatures (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MixAndMatchCritters) like vulture-wasps, or sabertooth moose-lions. Also, in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheToughGuideToFantasyland) there are thoughts on seemingly normal animals being modified by wizards to survive in a world with monsters in it.
So, what sorts of creatures, either natural or modified can we come up with to put in a magical world?
Natural Creatures:
Minor oozes- oozes that range from the size of slugs to rats, a garden pest found mostly in wet climates. They do nasty damage to leafy crops but can't hurt trees and most animals can destroy them. Salt kills them but if dried out in other ways they go into hibrination until they are moistened again. In some cases they may group into swarms or even combine into a larger ooze in which case they become a real threat similar to a locust swarm. Arguably, most oozes have a 'minor ooze' form that is harmless until they combine into a larger one.
Acid toads- toads with an acidic skin that causes irritation if held, preyed upon by snakes or some other animals. They become edible to humans if killed and washed properly. Notable in that they are one of a few natural animals that prey on minor oozes and can survive being engulfed by any ooze for about five minutes. Wizards are experimenting on making a version that can eat oozes while not harming crops with their own acid.
Wandering Trees- trees that have a limited capacity for travel. Normally they stay rooted to one spot for years at a time but in a pinch they can uproot themselves over a period of several days in order to move away. They can't outrun a woodcutter but when attacked they may shake and moan or cause a branch to fall down on the attacker (known as a widow-maker branch). Most woodcutters respect them and only pick up branches that fell out naturally, preferring the non-mobile trees for their wood. Wandering trees can communicate with eachother through a network of roots and if danger threatens the forest then the wandering trees are likely to begin uprooting themselves to evacuate the area. Their movement is said to fortell great danger.
Deception Wolves- Wolves who display a remarkable amount of intelligence, or at least a remarkable voice box. They have been known to imitate the calls of various animals such as sheep and even birds. There have been cases of them imitating the voice of a human, ususally repeating some well-used phrase like 'Dinners ready!' or 'Good morning'. Darker stories tell of them imitating the call of a parent for their chilren, and then eating the child when they come, then attacking the parent when they come to answer the childs call of help... or the wolves imitation of their childs cries. Zoologists and wizards alike are sure that these wolves are non-sentient and that many of the nastier stories about them are exaggerated or should be attributed to were-wolves. Aside from their wider vocabulary, Deception Wolves are otherwise identical to normal wolves.
Augmented Creatures:
Booze cows- Originally created by an eccentric dwarven wizard, the booze cow is an otherwise normal cow who gives alchohol instead of milk. The origional booze cows produced inferior quality spirits, equivelent to cheap ale or beer mixed with milk. But further experimentation with breeding and diet has produced some that can produce gallons of fine ale or whiskey on a daily basis. The calves of a booze cow must be given to a normal cow to raise since the booze cows 'milk' would be extremely unhealthy for it. Booze cows are valued a great deal by their owners and they can sell for up to ten times the price of a normal cow. For this reason and more, they are frequently targeted by thieves and bandits either to later sell for a profit or in the case of some monstrous humanoids and giants, to just get the alcohol they produce. Note that when milking a high-quality booze cow it is vital to keep them away from open flames.
Messenger Ravens- A special breed of raven magically bred to be able to memorize a persons message, fly to a determined location, and repeat the message for its determined recipient. They are preferred over mundane messenger pidgins due to their better capacity for directions and not having any notes tied to them that can be read. Some users color their ravens a different color before sending them out, so that enemies who know of such animals won't think to target them. Sky-blue is a favored color in this respect. The animals extraordinary ability works exactly like the Animal Messenger ritual and the ritual (or spell) Speak With Dead can be used to extract the messages from a Messenger Raven that has been killed.
Blood turnips- Originally created by a wizard as a rather smart-ass way to disprove a popular saying, the blood turnip has shown a little popularity among vampires and some healers. While the original blood turnips were rather unappetizing (though still edible) to vampires, some dedicated growers have developed strains that are quite palatable to them (these blood turnips have the unusual quality of growing warm soon after being removed from the ground). Healers have also grown strains of blood turnips that can either provide transfusable blood or provide a nutrient-rich juice that the body can easily digest and replenish blood with.
Any other ideas?
So, what sorts of creatures, either natural or modified can we come up with to put in a magical world?
Natural Creatures:
Minor oozes- oozes that range from the size of slugs to rats, a garden pest found mostly in wet climates. They do nasty damage to leafy crops but can't hurt trees and most animals can destroy them. Salt kills them but if dried out in other ways they go into hibrination until they are moistened again. In some cases they may group into swarms or even combine into a larger ooze in which case they become a real threat similar to a locust swarm. Arguably, most oozes have a 'minor ooze' form that is harmless until they combine into a larger one.
Acid toads- toads with an acidic skin that causes irritation if held, preyed upon by snakes or some other animals. They become edible to humans if killed and washed properly. Notable in that they are one of a few natural animals that prey on minor oozes and can survive being engulfed by any ooze for about five minutes. Wizards are experimenting on making a version that can eat oozes while not harming crops with their own acid.
Wandering Trees- trees that have a limited capacity for travel. Normally they stay rooted to one spot for years at a time but in a pinch they can uproot themselves over a period of several days in order to move away. They can't outrun a woodcutter but when attacked they may shake and moan or cause a branch to fall down on the attacker (known as a widow-maker branch). Most woodcutters respect them and only pick up branches that fell out naturally, preferring the non-mobile trees for their wood. Wandering trees can communicate with eachother through a network of roots and if danger threatens the forest then the wandering trees are likely to begin uprooting themselves to evacuate the area. Their movement is said to fortell great danger.
Deception Wolves- Wolves who display a remarkable amount of intelligence, or at least a remarkable voice box. They have been known to imitate the calls of various animals such as sheep and even birds. There have been cases of them imitating the voice of a human, ususally repeating some well-used phrase like 'Dinners ready!' or 'Good morning'. Darker stories tell of them imitating the call of a parent for their chilren, and then eating the child when they come, then attacking the parent when they come to answer the childs call of help... or the wolves imitation of their childs cries. Zoologists and wizards alike are sure that these wolves are non-sentient and that many of the nastier stories about them are exaggerated or should be attributed to were-wolves. Aside from their wider vocabulary, Deception Wolves are otherwise identical to normal wolves.
Augmented Creatures:
Booze cows- Originally created by an eccentric dwarven wizard, the booze cow is an otherwise normal cow who gives alchohol instead of milk. The origional booze cows produced inferior quality spirits, equivelent to cheap ale or beer mixed with milk. But further experimentation with breeding and diet has produced some that can produce gallons of fine ale or whiskey on a daily basis. The calves of a booze cow must be given to a normal cow to raise since the booze cows 'milk' would be extremely unhealthy for it. Booze cows are valued a great deal by their owners and they can sell for up to ten times the price of a normal cow. For this reason and more, they are frequently targeted by thieves and bandits either to later sell for a profit or in the case of some monstrous humanoids and giants, to just get the alcohol they produce. Note that when milking a high-quality booze cow it is vital to keep them away from open flames.
Messenger Ravens- A special breed of raven magically bred to be able to memorize a persons message, fly to a determined location, and repeat the message for its determined recipient. They are preferred over mundane messenger pidgins due to their better capacity for directions and not having any notes tied to them that can be read. Some users color their ravens a different color before sending them out, so that enemies who know of such animals won't think to target them. Sky-blue is a favored color in this respect. The animals extraordinary ability works exactly like the Animal Messenger ritual and the ritual (or spell) Speak With Dead can be used to extract the messages from a Messenger Raven that has been killed.
Blood turnips- Originally created by a wizard as a rather smart-ass way to disprove a popular saying, the blood turnip has shown a little popularity among vampires and some healers. While the original blood turnips were rather unappetizing (though still edible) to vampires, some dedicated growers have developed strains that are quite palatable to them (these blood turnips have the unusual quality of growing warm soon after being removed from the ground). Healers have also grown strains of blood turnips that can either provide transfusable blood or provide a nutrient-rich juice that the body can easily digest and replenish blood with.
Any other ideas?