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The climate of the Empire ranges beneath the frigid cold of northern Wintermark and Varushka, through pleasant temperate areas such as the Marches and Dawn down to the warm grasslands of the Brass Coast. Summers are warm and dry, autumn and spring are wet and blustery, and winter is cold and often snowy.

Almost any mundane animal that might be expected to prosper in such environments can be found in the Empire, with the only major exception being that of the horse.

Oxen

The ox is the foundation of a lot of wealth, They have been used as domestic beasts of burden for thousands of years. These relatively placid animals are used to draw ploughs and pull wagons, and are kept for their flesh and leather. They are excellent beasts of burden and what they lack in speed and gracefulness they more than make up for in dogged determination. A man on foot can catch an ox-drawn cart even if it has a fair head start (as many fugitives have learnt to their chagrin), but they cannot be matched for sheer ability to move heavy loads over great distances. Working oxen require shoes, usually made by blacksmiths, which are very different to horse-shoes and require a lot more effort to get onto their cloven hooves.

Oxen in play
These are the same beasts of burden used in our world for around six thousand years. Everyone from a Navarr Striding to a Freeborn trader uses wagons drawn by oxen. They are used in agriculture across the Empire, especially in Dawn and the Marches Nobody uses oxen for cavalry because they are entirely unsuited to it.

Horses

The horse is extinct in the Empire. While there are occasional stories that some have survived outside the Empire, their population was always small and nobody has seen a living example in four hundred years. They have become powerful symbols of the Empire, representing loyalty, strength, speed and fighting spirit. The Imperial Orcs especially use horse symbols, but they are visible on many Imperial buildings and important items.

Horses in Play
In the Empire world, the horse was never a widespread creature as it is in our world. Most people from outside the Empire consider the creatures entirely fanciful. It is fine to use horse images, as the horse is a potent symbol of the Empire, and to possess things that came from or were used with horses, provided they have been well preserved.

Mammoths

Mammoth.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

There are mammoths in Wintermark and there are known to be herds in Kalsea and a few herds as far south as Narkyst. They are also believed to live in Otkodov where they are extensively hunted by the barbarian orcs. They live in small herds, and are herbivorous. Attempts to domesticate them have proved largely fruitless; they are stubborn, willful creatures that pine and die when kept in captivity. They have been hunted since long before the foundation of the Empire by the Suaq people. A smaller cousin of the mammoth is known to exist in warmer climates outside the borders of the Empire called the elephant.

Mammoths in Play
These creatures are exactly what they seem to be: Mammoths. It is absolutely fine to have hunted them or to have items made out of their body parts. At this time, there are no domesticated mammoths or war mammoths used by Imperial citizens.

Dire Beasts

Some animals in the Empire grow to unusual size, reminiscent in some cases of prehistoric versions. There are dangerous cave bears, great cats with sword-like fangs, primaevil boars, prodigious crocodiles and immense walruses and massive wolves in the wild places of the Empire. Very large versions of less carnivorous creatures also exist - there are immense elk in parts of Varushka and Wintermark, huge cranes pick their way through the reedbeds of the Gancio, and great pale penguins haunt the southernmost reaches of Tsirku.

These creatures are uncommon; where they edge too close to civilisation they quickly become a problem that is addressed by armoured warriors. They are slowly being pushed into extinction, and encounters with them are rare, but they are a know threat of the wilderness. Other dire creatures are known to exist, and in larger numbers, in various places outside the Empire.

Dire Beasts in Play
These beasts are rare, but hardly unknown. A Test of Mettle can easily involve hunting one of these beasts, and a couple of Marchers with long spears might heroically defeat a dire boar in the woods of Upwold. It is fine to roleplay that your armour is made out of dire beast leather, or that the ivory for your wand came from a dire-lion's tusks.

Big Cats

Sabretooth.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

Tigers are native to the foothills of Urizen, and there are some prides of lions on the pampas of the Brass Coast. The forests of Dawn and Varushka alike are haunted by large, dangerous cats similar to overgrown mountain-lions or wildcats. These creatures tend to stay away from humans except in rare cases where one develops a taste for human flesh.

Big Cats in Play
Big cats are more common than dire beasts. A lone character in light armour may receive a serious mauling from one of these creatures, and a fully-grown lion or tiger is more than a match for a single armoured knight. It is fine to roleplay that you have hunted them, and in some cases they may even be domesticated (although they do not travel well).

Drakes

Drakes are large reptillian creatures that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are usually predatory, and while the majority are man-sized or smaller there are a few uncommon breeds that are larger than a man. They are unknown in Wintermark and Varushka and are most common in Dawn and the Brass Coast. They often possess savage jaws and tearing claws, and several breeds have horns or frilled collars that protect their necks. They are sometimes mistaken for dragons although they do not breathe fire and are unintelligent.

Drake.jpg
Artwork by Kate Lee


Drakes in Play
A large drake would represent a dangerous challenge for a single character, or even a small group, and is more than capable of terrorizing a farming village. A Dawnish test of mettle may have required the defeat of one of these creatures. Smaller drakes are more likely to be pack hunters. It is fine for your character to have fought or killed a drake. and the claws, teeth and hides of drakes are used in crafting or as trophies. While drakes are large, they are not behemoths. They evoke images of dinosaurs, there are no titanic tyrannosaurs or brontosaurs in the Empire - although such creatures may exist elsewhere.

Kraken

Kraken.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

Immense squid live in the deep oceans of the world. They are unknown in the Bay of Catazar, but there are verifiable reports of these creatures attacking ships or being seen locked in life-or-death struggles with great whales. They may not be restricted to warm water; there are reports of narwhal being caught with hand-sized sucker wounds. According to some paranoid sailors, the creatures possess an ageless cunning; there are stories of them seeming to shadow oceangoing vessels, or appearing to watch ships for a time before submerging, as well as picking lone sailors off decks and disappearing beneath the waves with them.

While a hungry kraken can apparently be driven off with concerted effort, any vessel that suffers their attentions is likely to be badly damaged. There are no reports of anyone ever actually having killed one of these creatures.

Kraken in Play
While it's fine to roleplay having seen a kraken, or even been involved in fighting one off, you are unlikely to have any real body parts from these creatures. While there are rumours of their sinister intelligence, any background that confirms this trait either way is likely to be rejected.

Dodo Birds

Dodo.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

A particular delicacy is the dodo. This flightless bird is common along the coast of the Bay of Catazar and the animal has been domesticated by Brass Coast farmers. The flesh of the dodo is considered an especially tasty delicacy, and often forms the centrepiece of feasts in Dawn and Sarvos.

The dodo thrives in warm environments. They are flightless, and characterised in stories as slow witted, lazy and promiscuous.

Dodo Birds in Play
You can easily roleplay that chicken and similar white meat is dodo meat. It's also appropriate to use quorn or similar vegetarian or vegan ingredients to simulate dodo meat - it can be prepared and served in a dazzling array of ways.




Iridescent Butterfly

Butterfly.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

The iridescent butterfly, a gorgeous insect with rainbow coloured wings that is uniquely active both during the day and at night. By day, the iridescent butterfly appears pale and drab – wings are usually white, ivory or light pastel shades. By night however, the true beauty of the iridescent butterfly is revealed – the wings become bright and luminous, shifting colour in seemingly random patterns, creating gorgeous displays in summer and early autumn as they dance among the twilight groves where their caterpillars feed. The butterfly does not prosper in the climate of the Empire and requires careful attention. It breeds most successfully in the Principalities of Jarm, where it is said that these creatures swarm in such profusion that they can transform night to day. The silk is spun from the cocoons of their caterpillars is used to manufacture Rainbow Silk, a strong thread that is valuable both for embroidered decorations and for making beautiful cloth. The thread is tough and hard to snap or sever, requiring steady application of pressure to cut making it highly prized.


Chrysalis.JPG
Artwork by Kate Lee

Iridescent gloaming is produced from the remnants of the cocoons which are ground down to produce a thick waxy substance. Iridescent gloaming has an almost magical quality that allows it to take on different colours in the hands of a skilled artisan and is noted for it's use in creating exquisite embroidery, or as a colour wash for leather. It's peculiar magical properties make it a common component in items that use magic or produce magical effects.

The iridescent butterfly is used as a symbol by many Dawnish weaver cabals and other magical cloth workers, It is also strongly associated with the rune Xun, transformation.

Iridescent Butterfly in Play
The forest personal resource can produce iridescent gloaming. it is fine to roleplay that you have items made from rainbow silk, using any light iridescent fabric.

Trogoni

The trogoni are somewhat humanoid creatures with insect-like traits that live deep underground.They are most commonly encountered in the mountains of Urizen (and presumably Skoura and Axos), but are not solely found in the south-eastern peaks. They are significantly less common in the mountains of northern Wintermark and Varushka. Some miners report creatures that sound very similar to trogoni attacking and infesting tempest jade mines, feasting on the raw tempest jade. There are also occasional reports of the Thule barbarians employing monstrous beasts that sound a lot like magically altered trogoni. Whether these are the same species or a related species is not clear.

A single trogon is usually a match for an armoured warrior or two. They possess a tough carapace and savage rending claws (capable of shattering shields into splinters and even digging slowly through raw stone). The majority are around human sized, but there are reports of occasional encounters with much larger creatures. They seem to possess only animal intelligence, and lack the ability to engage in anything other than simple animal tactics. To date nobody has reported an encounter with an immature trogoni, and it is not known how the creatures reproduce.

What makes trogoni a problem is that they seem to be drawn to areas where mana is focused; they attack mana sites, consuming the mana crystals and then seeming to feed on the magical flows. While they do not seem to deplete the magical energy flows, their feasting can prevent the formation of crystal mana while they are present; they can also accidentally destroy any improvements attached to the mana site. The more powerful the mana site, the more trogoni are likely to gather there. A pack of trogoni will defend a captured mana site with rabid intensity.

They seem to possess a natural sense for magical energy, and have been observed charging towards and attacking anyone who performs an incantation in their vicinity. On the few occasions they have been exposed to ritual magic. they apparently enter a berserk frenzy attacking everyone and everything nearby in an effort to overwhelm the ritual. presumably to feast on the mana crystals used in performing the ritual. When they are encountered outside a mana site, they are drawn to consume any mana crystals they can find. They seem to have no interest in crafted items, but some scholars theorize that they are capable of consuming and drawing sustenance from the power of ritual enchantments.

The trogoni do not seem to eat conventional food, and do not kill animals or people to feast on them. Indeed, when there is no magic in their vicinity they are not especially hostile - they will warn off intruders or threats, but do not attack unless provoked or they detect the presence of mana crystals or magical spells.

The trogoni are rarely used in heraldry, but are occasionally adopted as symbols by groups who are skeptical of or hostile to magic, such as Threshers.

Trogoni in Play
Trogoni are occasionally are a threat to isolated mana sites or tempest jade mines. Trogoni do not form massive swarms; a pack is likely to number between three and a dozen or so, although larger groups are not unknown. It is quite acceptable to have encountered and killed trogoni in your background, or to have lost resources to a trogoni attack; a background involving the domestication or breeding of trogoni is not likely to be approved however.

Beyond the Empire

While giraffes, elephants and the like are not indigenous to the Empire, they exist somewhere in the world. Almost any animal that could exist in the real world probably exists somewhere in the Empire world.