Spulmokawarta

Overview

Created By: Toscun'ahesesi

Locations: Makubwa Lori

Height: up to 40 in at shoulder

Width: up to ~30 inches

Length: 35 to 71 in

Weight: 50 - 350 kg (Weight is Common to Rare)

Native To: Southern Idalos

MODERATOR APPROVAL NEEDED FOR HEAVY WEIGHTS.

Appearance:

The Spulmokawarta is a solid bulky mass of muscle, looking decidedly top heavy with a broad chest and head. Though looking rather like a hairless canine, there are some immediately obvious and rather nightmarish departures from this design. Probably the first noticed are the vestigial legs that dangle uselessly from its body, occasionally scrabbling ineffectually at nothing. The exact number and placement of these varies by creature, but it would be extremely rare for a Spulmokawarta to have none or two have more than four fully functional limbs. Their functional limbs end in broad, sharp claws, often caked in whatever the Spulmokawarta brought down last. When not being used offensively, they are also well suited to digging, and if no suitable cave or burrow is found, the Spulmokawarta will dig its own.

Then you move on to the tough callused, almost armour like skin patches and the bone spurs that cover much of their back, neck and the front of their legs. The bone spurs making taking a bite out of them a fairly painful prospect for competing predators and the thicker skin helps to deflect weaponry or at least cause it to cut a little less deeply.

The tail reminds the more squeamish of a cockroach, and though it lacks any particular function, it does perhaps reflect their tenacity and the difficulty of exterminating them once a pack settles into an area.

The head would be fairly inoffensive, with small eyes and ears and a wide snout if not for the horror show going on in it's mouth. As well as having a bone crushingly strong bite and a mouthful of jagged teeth, the Spulmokawarta also has two lower mandibles on either side. While normally kept flat along it's jaw, when hunting or fighting, if a Spulmokawarta is going to miss landing a solid bite, it will often extend whichever mandible is closest and toss its head in such a way that it rends its opponents regardless. As well as a standard tongue, it has a tentacle-like appendage on either side of its mouth that can extend roughly a foot and is used to grasp and hold onto or pull in prey for a killing bite.

Habitat:

Spulmokawarta will live anywhere there is enough prey to support them, though their hairless nature means they cannot tolerate extreme cold. Although their connection to Lisarra has never been proven, it is certainly true they only seem to pop up where she has been active...

Lifespan and Development:

Although the Spulmokawarta can live to around 15 arcs, this is unusual as they live violent, brutal lives and rarely die of old age. The grow quickly, reaching physical and sexual maturity in about an arc. That said, they continue to grow throughout their lives, so it is perhaps lucky that most die fairly young. Their gestation period tends to be around six months with litters of 3 to 5 living puppies and several stillborn most common. It is not unusual for the pups to kill each other or be devoured at this stage.

Should they make it through their first few weeks however, they are provided for by their mother. Once they've reached maturity the males will stay with their mother forming a pack while the females are cast out. A female must then go and find another matriarch to challenge for control of the pack and breeding rights. This helps prevent inbreeding, though it has been known to happen. To be fair, genetics are already not on their side so while certainly not good for the species, it doesn't really make things any worse than they already are.

Lone Spulmokawarta encountered then tend to be younger females who have not yet bred. Packs are either a mother and her puppies or a female and her mates. As one might expect with this system, it is the females who tend to be larger and dominant, though sheer attrition and harder life means the males are more numerous.

Diet:

Spulmokawarta are strictly carnivorous predators. They will eat anything they are capable of killing. Not only that, but they are one of very few predators who will kill for the sake of killing even when they have no intention of feeding. It is this even more than their monstrous appearance that sets them at odds with the Sev'ryn who firmly believe in taking only what you need and preserving balance.

Temperament:

Vicious and unpredictable. Common Sev'ryn opinion is that the Spulmokawarta which is literally a bastardization of monster-dog, was a creature created by Lisarras plague, and as such it is a twisted perversion of what it is meant to be and consequently on the brink of madness as a creature that should not exist.

On occasion, should a Spulmokawarta come upon a person who is out of reach, it might try such canine tricks as wagging it's tail or wiggling about with its belly in the air. Sometimes going as far as to limp and whine as if injured. It will behave as if it is perfectly domesticated and friendly. Right up until the person is within reach, when it will revert to the vicious predator it is.

Abilities:

Spulmokawarta have a keen sense of smell and though not the fastest have a high endurance making them accurate and persistent trackers. When they do tangle with something that fights back, the rough skin and bone spurs along its back help deflect weapons, teeth and claws, though it is not impervious, merely tough. Its underbelly is noticeably free of these defences. The two extra tongue like appendages on either side of its mouth are in fact more similar to tentacles and are used to grasp prey and make it easier to either bite down or to gash with the extra mandibles. It's spit carries all manner of germs, and any bite or wound inflicted by either its mouth or mandibles is almost guaranteed to get infected unless promptly treated by a knowledgeable healer.

Beyond that, other than the fact that it is a fairly canny predator, the Spulmokawarta has no particular abilities.

Uses:

None. The meat is widely agreed to be inedible. It is marginally better than starving but has a foul taste and is quite likely to induce vomiting. Although individual bone spurs could be used to craft something it's hide is largely deemed worthless and unworkable.