📁 -- gimme the rundown on the megafauna situation :D
we know about the beast, but you mentioned others, gimme those too >3
The Compendium || Always Accepting
@dragmirc | @blckkheart asked for the megafaunal ecology of the Greater Reach
The Compendium provides...
The energy saturation of the Greater Reach affects all things living in it, in a myriad of ways.
Slugs are more powerful, people live longer, even the plant-life grows so quickly there is an entire corps of people dedicated to keeping it from overtaking established infrastructure. One thing that is a common denominator in all of these is that the overabundance of energy is unpredictable and shows such in equally varied ways, more often in feral fauna.
Megafauna are mutants. They are what happens when the unpredictability of EPS [energy poisoning syndrome] mutates a known animal into something much bigger and more aggressive. They do not breed, so the mutation isn't a genetic continuation. They do, however, live for a very long time and are incredibly resilient compared to their less-mutated kin. Killing one is never easy and they are impervious to slugfire, it's easier in their rarity to simply learn their habits and avoid them entirely when necessary. They are distinctly territorial, choosing vast tracts of land for their territory, and are therefore easier to track in most cases.
Megafauna as a whole has a distinct media culture in the Greater Reach. Because they are dangerous, the general public is asked to keep an eye out for any mutants they may find for tracking and observation purposes by the Guild of Conservation.
Even slight deviations from main wildlife populations are brought forward for a small reward outside community events, and while most of these creatures are indeed mutating, they are considered pseudofauna. They are still considered a concern to keep track of, so members of the Guild will put some effort into observing these entrants to make sure they are not harmful to the general public and if they are, to make sure the correct safety announcements are written and dispatched.
As of current modern day, there are four recorded actual megafauna patrolling in the influence of the Greater Reach:
The best known megafauna to the whole of the Reach and outside of it is The Beast of South Pass, a contender for the largest at an estimated nine or ten tons.
Although reptilian in appearance, it doesn't act like a reptile. It produces its own body heat instead of having to bask for heat throughout the day and it makes it a very active predator. Its shoulders and hips are oriented more for running than for slithering or skittering. Its head is long and square with a prominent overbite, its jaws lined in dagger-like serrated teeth. Its eyes are gold in color, shining with an understanding most animals are incapable of.
It has a cluster of quills around its head -raised like a crest in threat or curiosity, or lowered for better aerodynamics during the chase- and down its dorsal spine, longer around the shoulder withers and beginning to shorten along the length of its twin whip-like tails. Its skin is patterned in bright broken stripes to let it blend into the ancient coral forest it lives among.
Along both sides of its head and down its back are lines of filmy patches and gill-like slits. It has the ability to raise its body temperature on cue, creating a chemical reaction that makes the patches start glowing a bright blue-white. In order to prevent overheating, heated air is pushed through the gills between patches at high enough speeds, it creates a consistent high-pitched whining noise.
The Beast's territory is in the Southern Wall. There is a natural fissure that passes all the way through the locals and Gateway Cavern in the Western 99 call 'South Pass'. The north and south entrances are a series of narrow paths bordered by high walls, both opening up onto a straight stretch of road in an inner chamber in the wall itself. No one knows how big the chamber is, it has as of yet been unexplored. It is populated by a massive and ancient coral forest on both sides of the straight-way, which in turn houses a number of smaller animals like birds, rodents, and even a few species of Slugs. It is assumed that there are other perhaps larger animals hiding deep in the coral forest, as The Beast always looks well-fed and healthy when encountered on this stretch of road.
As expected, The Beast is extremely aggressive and territorial. It is attracted to loud noises and vibrations in the ground. While one has an easier time of getting through the South Pass by themselves, most people travel in groups and this is what may attract it. Most travelers going to or from the Greater Reach will usually hire a guide and bodyguards, as the only way to deter The Beast is knowing when it is near and distracting it while the majority makes a break for the narrow pin-turns, as The Beast is too large to leave the straight pass.
Entering the Greater Reach from the South Pass puts people into the stomping grounds of another well-known megafauna. The Annwn [pronounced an-noon] is a strange and oddly elusive creature in the megafauna category, seen in the South Plains region. Although its weight caps at closer to two or three tons thus making it the smallest of its megafaunal brethren, it is no less dangerous.
The Annwn looks like a melanistic fallow deer from a distance, its coat dark and marbled with darker browns and greys. It is tall and slender with an impressive rack of antlers on its head with fused palmate points and at first glance, one may think it is one of the deer population that inhabits South Plains and the Great Coral Forest. On closer inspection, not only does its size give it away as megafauna, but there are several details that denote it as not average.
Along its back are a series of shorter twisted antlers, pointing behind it from its shoulder withers to its hips. The tail is almost as long as it is and slender, dripping with long dark hair along its length and always in a perpetual state of motion. Instead of hooves it has paws, uncannily shaped into long jointed fingers capped in wicked talons. Its eyes are bright green with slit pupils and its teeth are structured more like a dog's; flat incisors, prominent canines in the top and bottom jaw, and flat jigsaw molars for rending and tearing.
Not unlike The Beast, The Annwn also has bioluminescent points. It does not share the same heat-chemical system and so does not make a sound when it lights up. Instead, it uses blood pressure through carefully tensed muscles to cause the tips of its antlers on its head and down its back to glow a pulsing green. It's true claim to fame, however, is in how it mimics human voices. Whether it gets it because it observes others or -a more morbid theory- it mimics past victims is unclear, but it is no less unsettling.
The Annwn's territory isn't as easy to spot as the South Pass is. It inhabits an amorphous blob along the eastern wall of the plains, where it blends into the half-formed crags and rocks that make up a majority of its space. It's hard to tell where it begins and ends, and there are small towns that have settled in the outskirts of its influence as well as a major road that cuts through it. The Guild of Conservation has done their best to observe and map The Annwn's travel pattern in its space, setting electronic buoys on stakes where they think the boundaries are to broadcast warnings into the HUDs of mechabeasts and personal communications that travelers are about to enter and exit the space.
The Annwn is nocturnal. It comes out in full when the Lumino has dimmed for the night, which makes its hunting patterns easier to predict. That is not to say anomalies in its sleep schedule can't happen, but it is unlikely to deviate from its nature. Travelers are still advised to avoid traveling by night, but be wary during the day nonetheless. The Annwn patrols in a meandering yet predictable path and is usually deterred from the settlements on its land by loud high-pitched noises. Since towns and the roads are bordered by electronic barriers that emit the sound, it is usually reluctant to try to push through. It is attracted to movement, so a common tactic when spotted from afar is to stop moving entirely and wait for it to leave before continuing on at a slower pace.
The Western Wall has a resident megafauna that has been making the talks of drilling through it difficult for years. The Bayun is a very strange creature and one that is the subject of many a nightmare along its territory.
The middleweight champion of the four titled megafauna at approximately six tons, The Bayun is more of a chimera than the rest. Structured like a big cat, it is three individuals fused together at the spine, from cranium top to haunches. The bellies face out in all directions, protected by a set of four legs and clawed paws. Three tails fork behind it with sturdy barbs at the end. It is covered in fur that is a dark mottled brown on the underbellies, fading to a pale fawn color nearer the junction point. Although it does not appear to have eyes, it has ears that rest at the top of each cranial ridge and large flat noses above mouthfuls of teeth similar to a cat's or dog's.
Despite being merged at the spinal column, The Bayun moves surprisingly fluidly and easily. What is normally seen as a biological detriment is an advantage to it. Moving through tight spaces and odd turns is made with hardly a stop in the stride, the other two sets of legs in the beast employed to usher it through such obstacles with surprising speed and accuracy. Whether or not it is controlled as one creature or as three is a subject of debate, but no one is willing to try to get close enough to it to figure it out.
The Bayun does not see, very well or at all. It smells very well, however, and can track less sapient prey through that alone. It also hears incredibly well. It announces itself through a deep subsonic rumble, felt in the ground more than heard with the ear. It acts like sonar to it, the soundwaves bouncing back read through a thin skin membrane between its heads to paint a picture of its surroundings. It is how one knows it's nearby, as it is very audible as a warble of air pressure in the ear. Whether the mild vertigo that follows is a conscious tactic or not is unknown, but being too close to it makes people and animals and even Slugs lose their balance.
The Bayun's territory is one of the easier noticed and easiest to avoid. It lives in a series of erosion passages up near the ceiling of the Western Wall. It has been spotted patrolling these passages from the Southern Curl all the way along the wall to the Northwestern Corner. It stays relatively out of the way of the world below it, using its barbed tails to descend carefully when it comes out to hunt. There are towns and a city along the base of the wall just beneath its territory, but it seems to avoid them naturally based on the noise feedback it receives.
Surprisingly, The Bayun is the easiest of the megafauna to avoid. And that is because it avoids people, for the most part, being very reclusive. It will not shirk a free meal when presented, but it tends to go after other wildlife and livestock. It is easy to deter despite its fearsome appearance with loud noises and shouting, which disorient it and send it running. However, it has been known to attack any who come into its territory directly and has actually attacked surveying and drilling crews part of the Reach-wide project to open a passage into the Western 99 via the Western Wall. Such attacks are attributed to the sound and vibrations the drilling efforts emit into its territory, making it feel threatened. Talks with the Engineering Corps have halted the project in the hopes that another way that does not disrupt The Bayun's lifestyle can be found.
The most mysterious of the four titled megafauna is The Tremorwyrm in the Great Desert Basin region.
It is unknown what it looks like as a whole, as it lives predominantly underground and only parts of it have been seen over the years. All that is known is that it is massive. Given its penchant for churning the desert sands and creating whirlpools in its wake, the scope of its territory is fairly easy to track. Living in the most inhospitable part of the Great Desert Basin also keeps it from harming other creatures and vice versa.
Only rumors have spoken of what it looks like, as save for a few blurry photos and grainy video feed, only small segments of the creature have actually been seen roiling through the desert sands. What these images and media show are what appears to be serpentine coils covered in an interlocking armoring that are colored like sand with small streaks of muted reds and greens. The head has never been seen by humanoid eyes in a full scientific view, only subsisting on stories told by the locals who live on the desert barrier scrublands. As it undulates under the sand, it creates small tremors, hence its name. It can be followed by the sound of humming, fine sand particles rubbing against it and each other to make a faint dyning note as it moves.
As with The Annwn, the Guild of Conservation has placed electronic buoys around the outside of its known territory. These are set to warn foreigners in the region of the set territory space and to avoid it at all cost. Which is normally not a problem, the high temperature and unstable ground in the heart of the basin are enough to deter all not born into the climate.
While no human settlement lives in The Tremorwyrm's territory, fringes or otherwise, there is a resilient fruit the desert Slugs like that grows on the rare rocky outcroppings in it. It is a rite of passage in many cultures of the area for young Slingers-to-be to run into The Tremorwyrm's territory and retrieve the fruit, seen as dedication to the well-being of one's future arsenal and proof that young Slingers will take care of their Sluggy partners in turn. Rather than avoid entirely The Tremorwyrm, novice Slingers will actively use its attraction to vibrations in its sandy territory to bait it into making the chase more daring, thus proving further their worth to the art or relieving the arrogant chaff from the running.
