Hieran Fauna

Below are some of the fauna found on the planet Hiera.

Hieran Dire Rabbit

Based off of the Rabbits of Terra—and extensively modified by House Cygnus terraformers and gene-scientists—the Hieran Dire Rabbit is much larger and has much more insulation fluff than other rabbits. Measuring 3-5 feet in length and potentially reaching up to 3 feet in height at the head, the Dire Rabbit is a constant presence on Hiera due to how fast they can breed. Many children, from serfs to the highest of nobility, have kept them as pets. If raised correctly, they can be ridden by children. They consume a large amount of plant-based food when available, and hibernate frequently if food is unavailable. Thus, many families who bring home a pet dire rabbit can be surprised by how much energy their new pet has because it has an abundance of food to eat. It is recommended that each family only have one Dire Rabbit, because if a family brings home seperate genders, two can quite quickly turn into dozens.

Hieran White Lynx

The Hieran White Lynx is one of the Dire Rabbit’s chief predators. The White Lynx, prized for its unusually pristine white pelt, stalks the plains and tundras of Hiera looking for its next meal. As Hieran Dire Rabbits are plentiful and breed very quickly, the Lynx population is instrumental for keeping them in check. As such, hunting of the White Lynx is very regulated, with many hunters of even the low-ranking nobility only allowed to hunt 1-2 per year. Coats that use White Lynx fur are very expensive.

Ice Wyrm

A giant armored creature that bores through the ground. The Ice Wyrm is one of the only animals that was endemic to Hiera before it was colonized. They caused the settlers of House Crux much discomfort until their numbers were significantly reduced. Armored with tough scales and armed with a yawning maw, the Wyrm is not to be fought by one person. Adult specimens are typically 30 to 40 meters in length, and can weigh up to hundreds of tons. Hunting expeditions to kill an Ice Wyrm are very dangerous, and can quite frequently fail, leading to the death of many overconfident nobles. However, if one does fall, the scales can be worth a fortune - used for jewelry, decorative armor, adornment for weapons, and even grinded up and used for increased stamina in the bedroom. The Ice Wyrm was also one of the ancient enemies of Hiera’s alien population—the Gaald, an eel-like creature that excretes gold—as both typically fought over land. However, with the Gaald’s subjugation under House Crux, the Ice Wyrms now have relatively free reign on some of the most coldest parts of the planet. There are rumors of a titanic Ice Wyrm in the northern mountains that scouts say is over 100 meters long.

Elfenking

Though the origin of the name has been lost to time, it is its very mystery that seems to best encapsulate this mighty creature. The Elfenking is a ruminant mammal, similar to a deer or elk of Terran descent, but similar in size to a moose. Crowned with heavy, winding antlers and sporting two tusks that grow longer with age, the Elfenking have dappled coats of grays, pale blues, and whites. Because they are often coated in snow or dampened by its melting from the forests they inhabit, an unusual species of moss has taken to growing in the Elfenking’s fur. Subtly bioluminescent, the moss makes the Elfenking appear to glow with a pale aura. 

Recent studies have shown that the Elfenking do not actually shed their antlers seasonally, but rather they grow throughout their whole lives. They have enlarged frontal cortexes compared to other cervids, manifesting in a slight swell to the head that scholars first thought was a result of the males ramming their heads together during mating season. Fibrous nerve tissue runs in complicated wire patterns throughout the antlers, extending from their frontal lobes. Biopsies of the neural tissue show high concentrations of a plant-like matter, said to be pointing to an unexplained symbiosis with the moss that coats most Elfenking.

Legends speak of Elfenking who spoke, not from tongue but from thought, perhaps heretical experimenters splicing their souls to those of animals in the centuries before the Scream. Such tales are chalked up as the mutterings of fools, though some have said in the deep of night they can hear the Elfenking together, humming, singing.

Pale Elfenking

There have long been rumours of mythical talking cervids in the deepest, darkest parts of Hieran forests. Furthermore, there is some rudimentary evidence for Elfenkings having nascent, psychic abilities. More reliable conservation studies of the creature suggest the species perhaps once had a more potent mental-projection capability, able to stun or otherwise drive-off predators. Sometimes called the ‘spirits of the forest,’ events get odd when an Elfenking is left to graze in a region flush with betrayer blossoms (aka Memento flowers.) The plants are innately psionic themselves and can retain brief psychometric impressions from nearby intelligent minds. The phenomenon known as the Pale Elfenking is said to occur when the cervid acts as a natural hub or antenna for all the various Memento scattered about a forest region. There is reportedly a bizarre effect much like the screeching static of an audio feedback loop. Memories reverberate across this unintended meta-neural network causing confusion, disorientation, madness, and eventually brain death to any hapless humans exposed. 

Pale Elfenking phenomena has not been reliably recorded for centuries to the point that some regard it as a myth. Rural nobles purport that the sobriquet ‘spirits of the forest’ is a peasant euphemism for getting drunk and loafing about in the woods. According to these nobles, the labourers must have some awful distilleries deep in the forest, the real reason for work absences. Whenever a tenant farmer misses their quota, they must be shirking their duties and blaming interference on a Pale Elfenking. More recent rumours claim that agents purged the pale aberrations after burning out the psionic abilities in the rest of the species. Supposedly, it was part of a larger effort to remove any Cygnus ecological modifications deemed ‘unacceptable’ to the House at large. Some peasants say that Cygnus had been using the creatures to steal memories and spy on the planet’s populace. When inconsistencies in the details and timelines of these theories are pointed out, older more disturbing explanations often come to light.

Stories of ancient, antlered shapeshifters and mind-catchers are whispered about among field hands and fishwives. Hooved tricksters would wear the faces of your loved ones, dead behind the eyes and returning with empty smiles. Like the traitor’s flowers coming into bloom, the Pale Elfenking’s memory collection would reach a critical mass and a sentient gestalt would emerge. Becoming self aware, the creatures would see their place in the world and covet the God-given primacy of humanity. Innocents and the unwitting alike would be lured into the deep woods by the beasts. The tricksters would slip into the new bodies as easily as one would change their clothes. Whatever shreds of consciousness survived the possession were discarded into the previous husk. The person would be left aware, but unable to act; mute and trapped in the body of a dumb beast forever. Modern scholars attribute such lowborn folklore to antiquated excuses for unexpected and undesired changes in personality or behavior; adolescent rebellion, for example. However, it should be noted that during the War against the Artificials, after a Cygnus compound was raided… certain eco-historical records were allegedly found. And that, at the height of internal synth purges, certain remote wooded regions were indeed put to the torch, after which, the recovered records were promptly burned.

Dire Bear

The Hieran Dire Bear is one of House Crux’s most celebrated animals, and the largest variant of bear on the planet. Modified by House Cygnus to tower at least 11 feet (3.4 meters) standing up and weigh almost 4,000 pounds, the Dire Bear is the size of a small elephant. These bears can be tamed and used as mounts and as beasts of burden.

Hierbear

The dire bear is the largest ursine species on the planet. However, it is said that due to some quirk of Cygnus’ gengineering, not every bear stops growing with age. They continue to grow larger and larger like some perverse variant of gigantism. They become leaner and more elongated in form. Their bodies harden into a carapace-like composition, better able to support the ever-expanding size and reduce the necessary dietary intake. The process takes hundreds of years. Most hierbears are hunted down by natural predators like nobles and ice wyrms well before their mutation takes full effect. There are sightings every decade or two in the more remote wooded regions of Hiera. The bears seem to feed on minerals in addition to organic material. Their diet is speculated to consist of gnawing on trees until they grow large enough to start hunting wyrms instead, reversing the role of predator. Hierbears spend most of their time sleeping and digesting their kills through a gastric process taking multiple years. The largest recorded specimen is still on display at Ven City University’s Central Campus. It towers over the atrium at an easy seventeen-feet in height, and possesses an insectile quality to its rangy hide.

Leprechaun

These ferocious, squirrel-like creatures are deceptively cunning and bloodthirsty. They owe their name to their unique coloration; they have deep orange fur and white underbellies which often get stained green through contact with the grasses. Leprechauns usually travel in packs of 5-10 throughout the more temperate areas of Hiera, stalking through the grasses in search of prey. They commonly take on creatures many times their size, dragging the carcasses back to their dens for their large communities to consume.

Leprechauns are considered a plague to the rural areas of Hiera, and if serf casualties raise to a concerning level then a response team will be dispatched to exterminate the infestation.

Furroads

30cm long, under 1kg.  This is what you get when an over-aggressive species of toad finds a way to mate with various stow-away mammals from landed starships. At Present, Furroads have a soft furry skin covering their bodies and webbed feet that secrete a form of adhesive paste.  As they move slowly on their own, and otherwise prefer not to tunnel through the snow, the Furroad sneaks rides on larger creatures they come in contact with.

Great-haired Walladary

2-3 meters tall, 3 meters long, 400-500 kilograms.  Hair reaches to about a hand's-breadth from the ground.  Slow, unassuming, hairy. These mammals are built to survive all manner of cold climates and exceedingly low temperatures. Fat stores along their spine form in bulbous rib-like bubbles underneath lengths of coarse fur allowing them to go without eating for months.  No necks (longer backs to allow for more fat stores), so they have two pairs of eyes: 1 pair forward-facing, another pair to their flanks.

Hexayak

4 meters long, 3 meters high at the shoulder, average around 700 kilograms.  Immaculate horns sweep back from the crown of the skull and also forward from the underside of the jaw.  Three pairs of strong legs allow this beast to propel itself forward with immense speed (for short bursts) and also allow for climbing of rocky/sloped terrain.

Caripard

1-1.5 meters at the shoulder, 2-2.5 meters long, 100 kilograms.  This is actually some form of feline mammal, though its unusual exterior may suggest otherwise.  As with most felines this animal has fur, often seen in tawny to bleach/grey tones, and in patterns allowing it to blend in with snowdrifts and the minimal grasses of the summer months.  Keratin protrusions adorn the Caripard's head and follow along the spine/shoulders to the base of the tail, often matching whatever markings it has. Whiskerless, these creatures use echolocation to both hunt and communicate, the tones they emit being absorbed by the knobs of keratin on their bodies.

Salaguin

50cm long, 2kg.   Curiously, these beaked creatures are predisposed to considerably high temperatures and can only survive conditions below 10 degrees celsius for more than a few minutes.  Therefore, these amphibians only reside in and near the various hot springs and geysers that dot Hiera's landscape. Their wing-like forelimbs are webbed to augment movement under water.

Glaciadillo

These hand-sized creatures have a rounded, chitinous exterior which has developed over time to act both as protection from predators and the elements. When un-balled, the Glaciadillo capably navigates over and through snow and underbrush by sense of smell (they are blind).  They inhabit glacier environs most often, though their range can fluctuate to include boreal forests and even areas of high altitude providing there is enough root-matter for them to forage. Colloquially, Glaciadillo are called "Snowballs" by Hierans.

Glaciadillo Reaver

An odd mutation, allegedly deliberate to make hunting glaciadillos near Thronderhauer ‘more sporting.’ They are somewhat larger and faster than their common cousins with the addition of leporid DNA. Known for curling into a wheel shape, the reavers are referred to colloquially as ‘iceballs.’ The reavers have special, flanged dorsal-cilia that grows from their chitinous carapaces. These wiry root-like growths are cryophilic in nature, drawing in ambient moisture and riming over into large hoarfrost patterns. Often, the reavers are mistaken for ice-rain encrusted shrubbery from their elaborate frozen exteriors. Folks are often drawn closer by a delicate tinkling chime from the disguised reavers, who twitch their ice-shard encased cilia as a warning display. The ignorant think the frosted leaves of the bush are being disturbed by an errant breeze and go to investigate. 

Concealed within the lacy frost-forms coating their back are wicked frozen spikes. Each cilium makes the attached inverted-icicles twitch against another to produce the clinking, cautionary music. If a predator or uninformed human persists in bothering the glaciadillo, the creature triggers a sudden, powerful spasm in all of its back muscles. Dozens of frozen spines are flung off the chitinous back-plates with tremendous force. Despite its limited range and fragile ammunition, more than one hapless visitor to Hiera’s Thronderhauer region is perforated by the violent ice spray each year. A planetary tourism advisory reminds that frost-covered foliage may be beautiful to look at, but if it starts to shiver and ring absent of any obvious wind, back away slowly and make no sudden movements lest you too, find yourself unfortunately impaled.

Tundarilla

1-2 meters tall, 300-350 kilograms in mass.  Solitary, bipedal, perhaps relatives of apes? Omnivorous.  Also known as "lurchers", Tundarilla meander about the most remote areas of the Hieran hinterland in search of sustenance.  They are ambush predators: once they find a suitable location, they stand in such a way as to resemble nearby scrub-trees and shrubbery.  Sometimes the wait for prey can take days, yet the Tundarilla will remain unmoving, its limbs twisted about like branches.

Hieran Skating Hare

40-50 cm tall and long, 1 kilogram. Unlike other rabbits, the Hieran Skating Hare does not really hop or jump, instead, they slide or skate: the nails of this mammal distinctly curl under their feet and harden to form supportive rails that they use to traverse ice.  Being so light allows the Hare to stay on top of even the thinnest of frozen waters without breaking the surface. Primarily consumes bark as its preferred form of food, though willingly includes insects and even avian eggs if they can be found.

Ottercat

The Hieran Ottercat is a white furred mammal, about half a meter tall and about 1.8 meters long at the adult stage of their lives, and weighing between 6.8 kilograms to 11.3 kilograms. The Ottercat is an omnivore, although it prefers rodents and shellfish when given the option. The Ottercat lives under the ice of the frozen waters of Hiera. In the early days of the Post-Scream era, the Ottercat was hunted to near extinction, although they survived, they are now considered a great house pet.

Volkenhunde

Volkenhunde, or Folk Dogs, were engineered to help settlers cope with the untamed wilds of early Hiera. They mixed the best traits of two of humanity’s earliest animal companions, birds-of-prey and canines. Volkenhunde were used to assist in hunting and defense, and to navigate safely through storms where even advanced technology flagged and failed. This early success led them to become deeply woven into Hieran culture, persisting to the modern day. The expense and skill required to rear and keep volkenhunde has rendered them almost exclusive to the nobility.

Extinct Animals

Hiera has an engineered biosphere that took many years and stages to get there. Designed bacteria could convert surface substances efficiently. Eventually, more complex protoforms emerged; sometimes purposefully and sometimes not. These are some of the known Hieran fossiloids from its terraforming era.

Ak'b'al

Ak'b'al
digital reconstruction

A relic from when the atmosphere contained more volatile gases hosting a comparatively warmer climate. The Ak’b’al is a mix of insectoid and reptilian DNA spliced into the native genome. A cross between an eyeless wyrm and a megaraptor, it sported a large pair of dragonfly wings. A fine coating of soft, feathery white down partially muffled the sound of its flight. Ak’b’al would perform leaping ambushes, dropping out of the sky with teeth and talons extended. This down supposedly also served as insulation because even a hotter Hiera is still quite chilly.

Nagual (also Blinkclaws or Rakenfeen)

Nagual
artist's interpretation

These creatures have a highly debated origin. They appeared as hulking headless hominids with shaggy fur coats. Bio-analysis of fossilised remains indicate the presence of unknown primate-DNA. The Nagual were naturally headless, both their sensory organs and cognitive functions de-centralised throughout their bodies. They supposedly possessed a rudimentary to moderate intelligence, derived from the networked sum of their disparate neural-clusters. 

Their dermal follicles displayed an interesting hydrophilic property, allowing them to absorb fluids such as water or blood quite readily. Liquid would pass through their skin and be discretely digested throughout their anatomy. It is theorised they would rend their victims asunder, then spatter themselves in the aftermath to filter-feed. Geno-archeologists claim such a complex physiology indicates a purposeful design. Others state that the creatures served no practical purpose in the terraforming process. Thus, while some engineering might have been involved, the Nagual would ultimately have been a random mutation or accident.

Where the Nagual’s hands should be are instead pairs of sixteen-inch bone-claws. A stunted tertiary claw acted as a rudimentary thumb for them. Gnarled cartilage growths sheathed the backs of the claws and capped each bodily joint, giving them natural armoured plating. Easily capable of disembowelment with an errant swipe, the claws look like calcite gauntlets affixed to curving sickles. These digits were naturally devoid of soft tissues; neither flesh nor muscle directly attached. Rather, an internal system of braided carbon-tendons motivated these lethal extremities.

Most interestingly, experimentation by retro-biopsionicists suggests the creatures had psychic properties of their own. While not able to perform the complex calculations of a trained psycho-portationist, some evidence indicates they could mimic the ability. The Nagual would temporarily shunt their physical existence elsewhere, allowing them to ‘phase out’ with reality. Going partially intangible, they could propel themselves at speeds otherwise impossible for their stature and musculature. Recreations show rakenfeen able to ‘blink’ over great distances, manifesting directly in front of, or slightly behind, their prey. 

Based on ancient remains of mauled ice wyrms, it was once thought the Nagual must have traveled in roving hunter bands or small familial packs. Recent simulations however put that supposition into question. Frozen wyrms appeared swarmed with multiple lacerations, and it was shown that a single pair of Blinkclaws or even a determined loner could accomplish the feat. Their phasing ability would allow them to attack from diverse angles in a rapid succession, and bring down the slithering quarry. Furthermore, it is speculated that the semi-intangibility would allow the bone-claws to ignore armor and penetrate deep into the dense wyrm-hide. Crux special-forces have been known to make unique daggers from excavated claws; psycho-porters able to bypass even advanced personal defenses with some practice.

There is still much to learn about these enigmatic horrors, but we may have to wait even longer for answers. An incident occurring some fifty years ago has led to the indeterminate suspension of further research into the fiend. There was an outbreak at a remote polar base that resulted in the near total expiration of all the staff. Some called the disease scratch fever and others ‘the feenrache.’ While exact details remain classified, it is known genetic archeology of Nagual was one of the programs being conducted at the time. Any research drifting too close to the entity has been declared verboten. 

"You've grown into a fine killer."