# Bestiary

# Wind Serpent

**Type:** Flying predator / bondable mount

**Size:** 20-40 meters long

**Behavior:** Hunts in twilight belt thermal updrafts. Intelligent, territorial, capable of complex communication. Bonded serpents serve as mounts, messengers, and protectors.

**Abilities:**

- Flight (sustained by wind currents)
- Thermal vision
- Pack tactics
- Psychic receptivity (bonding)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Exposed underbelly (soft tissue)
- Grounded in windless zones
- Bonding disruption causes disorientation

**Encounter Notes:** Unbonded serpents attack threats to territory. Bonded serpents defer to Beastwalker. Juveniles are playful but dangerous. Elders possess near-human intelligence.

# Thermal Lizard

**Type:** Ambush predator

**Size:** 2-4 meters long

**Behavior:** Heat-seeking, camouflaged in day-side margins and ruins. Waits motionless for hours before striking. Solitary except during mating.

**Abilities:**

- Thermal camouflage (blends with heat signatures)
- Explosive speed (short bursts)
- Thermal vision
- Armor-plated scales

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Cold exposure (sluggish below 10°C)
- Poor low-light vision
- Predictable attack patterns

**Encounter Notes:** Often found near geothermal vents or day-side salvage sites. Can be detected by thermal sensitives as "cold spots" against warm backgrounds.

# Shadow Stalker

**Type:** Apex predator (night side)

**Size:** 3-5 meters tall (bipedal)

**Behavior:** Hunts by sound in absolute darkness. Nearly invisible. Territorial. Avoids light instinctively.

**Abilities:**

- Perfect night camouflage
- Echolocation
- Razor claws and fangs
- Silent movement

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Light sources (causes disorientation)
- Loud noises (disrupts echolocation)
- Slow in open areas

**Encounter Notes:** Primary threat in Deep Roads and night-side caves. Deepkin use resonance to detect them. Carry bioluminescent markers always.

# Glowworm Swarm

**Type:** Bioluminescent cave-dweller

**Size:** Individual: 10-20 cm; swarm: thousands

**Behavior:** Filter-feeds on airborne spores. Harmless individually, overwhelming in swarms. Light pulses disorient predators.

**Abilities:**

- Bioluminescence (controllable intensity)
- Synchronized light pulses (hypnotic)
- Numbers (crush threats by mass)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Smoke (disperses swarm)
- Sound (disrupts coordination)
- Cold (induces hibernation)

**Encounter Notes:** Beautiful but dangerous in large numbers. Deepkin harvest them for lighting. Swarms indicate nearby food sources (fungal blooms).

# Sand Skimmer

**Type:** Burrowing scavenger (day side)

**Size:** 1-2 meters long

**Behavior:** Burrows through superheated sand. Attracted to movement. Scavenges equipment, corpses, and mining waste. Cowardly but persistent.

**Abilities:**

- Sand-swimming (burrows rapidly)
- Heat resistance (tolerates 500°C+)
- Vibration sense
- Corrosive saliva (melts metal)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Sonic weapons (disrupt burrowing)
- Extreme cold (immobilizes)
- Predictable (always approaches from downwind)

**Encounter Notes:** Nuisance near day-side operations. Can be lured with bait. Salvaged equipment often shows skimmer damage.

# Feral Bonded Creature

**Type:** Former Beastwalker mount (any species)

**Behavior:** Psychic bond broken by trauma, death, or sabotage. Retains training but acts unpredictably. Dangerous because it understands human tactics.

**Abilities:**

- Species-dependent (wind serpent, thermal lizard, etc.)
- Human tactical knowledge
- Psychic resistance (rejects new bonding attempts)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Species-dependent
- Psychic trauma (erratic, exploitable)

**Encounter Notes:** Often hunts former handlers. Deepkin see ferals as tragic. Wind-Kin attempt rehabilitation. Most must be put down.

# Storm Beetle

**Type:** Flying insect / swarm

**Size:** Individual: 5-10 cm; swarm: thousands

**Behavior:** Native to twilight belt storm fronts. Feed on electrical discharge during superstorms. Harmless individually, dangerous in swarms when they discharge stored energy.

**Abilities:**

- Flight (sustained by storm winds)
- Electrical discharge (coordinated swarm attack)
- Storm prediction (appear hours before major weather)
- Chitinous armor (resistant to wind damage)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Grounded in windless conditions
- Cold (induces torpor)
- Electromagnetic interference (disrupts coordination)

**Encounter Notes:** Weatherworkers use them as early warning system. Some settlements harvest their electrical organs for batteries. Swarms occasionally discharge into metal structures, causing fires.

# Crevice Eel

**Type:** Burrowing predator

**Size:** 3-6 meters long

**Behavior:** Lives in Deep Roads and twilight belt crevices. Ambushes prey by erupting from stone. Excellent tremor sense. Solitary and territorial.

**Abilities:**

- Stone-boring (creates new tunnels)
- Tremor sense (detects movement through rock)
- Crushing bite (armored jaws)
- Slime secretion (acidic, aids tunneling)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Sonic weapons (disorients tremor sense)
- Predictable (always attacks from below)
- Slow outside tunnels

**Encounter Notes:** Major threat in Deep Roads. Deepkin map known eel territories. Leave tremor-dampening markers to avoid attracting them. Slime is valuable for industrial applications.

# Frost Moth

**Type:** Night-side herbivore

**Size:** Wingspan: 30-50 cm

**Behavior:** Gentle creature that feeds on ice crystals and lichen. Beautiful bioluminescent wings. Used by Deepkin as light sources and companions.

**Abilities:**

- Bioluminescence (controllable, multiple colors)
- Cold resistance (thrives in -100°C)
- Pheromone communication
- Ice crystal digestion

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Heat (dies above 20°C)
- Fragile wings (easily damaged)
- Predictable (drawn to lichen blooms)

**Encounter Notes:** Domesticated by night-side communities. Wings used for decorative purposes and ceremonial garments. Wild migrations signal seasonal ice shifts. Poaching is illegal in most settlements.

# Thermal Bloom

**Type:** Plant / ambulatory organism

**Size:** 1-2 meters diameter

**Behavior:** Semi-mobile plant that migrates toward heat sources. Roots can detach and re-establish. Absorbs thermal energy for sustenance. Neither predator nor prey—environmental hazard.

**Abilities:**

- Thermal absorption (cools surroundings)
- Slow mobility (roots as limbs)
- Heat tracking
- Spore release (irritating to lungs)

**Vulnerabilities:**

- Cold (enters dormancy)
- Fire (destroys rapidly)
- Dehydration

**Encounter Notes:** Found near geothermal vents and day-side margins. Can cool settlement heating systems if not removed. Farmers use them to regulate greenhouse temperatures. Spores are medical ingredient (anti-inflammatory).