Not all of the frozen north is just barren stretches of ice, forests do exist in certain parts. These "taigas" are located further south in the icy region, where the temperatures remain in the right range to allow plants and growths to survive. Funnily enough, it is here on the edges of the world where some of the largest and healthiest forests are, despite the brutal conditions. And it is because not many folk travel this way, civilization and loggers finding the land and remote nature too much. As a result, there are vast forests of fur tree, hornwood, quill pine and tine trees, their sizes huge and their numbers great. These taigas experience long, cold winters, spending most of their lives coated in snow. Though times are harsh, animals live within the forests, though any visitor to these places would have a hard time spotting them. The taigas are massive, becoming a labyrinth of trunks that seemingly go on forever. Life may be heard more than seen, though if one hears a deep hooting from the tree tops above, it is time to turn around and run. Don't look up to try and spot the noise maker, as it will just result in you seeing a broken branch flying straight for your face.
The sudden assault from above comes from the Timber Devil, a loud hooting humanoid thing that lives within the tree tops. Seeing them before being taken out by a rain of tree chunks is difficult, but a single glimpse will reveal its lineage. They are a relative of the Swamp Devil, one that has moved to this arctic region. Its body has thickened up, the arm tentacles have become more short and stout, and they now have a coat of insulating tendrils. No longer do they make their homes in the muck and earth, instead taking an arboreal lifestyle. Their limbs are used for climbing and swinging about through the upper story, building nests in dead tree trunks or fashioning one from broken branches. Despite their differences, though, they have retained one feature that is familiar: the hunger for flesh and Blood.
Timber Devils do drink Blood like their other relatives, though they consume more meat than them. Due to the harsh climate and long stretches of time without viable prey, they need to consume all they can when they can. And to achieve this, they stalk the canopy, watching the understory carefully for any sign of food. Their large eyes help pick out shapes below, and when prey is spotted, they reach for the nearest branch. The hunting method of the Timber Devil is about as blunt as could be, for it involves throwing things at their food until they stop moving. That's.....pretty much it. Their flexible, boneless arms allow them to whip objects at impressive speeds, raining missiles down upon all. They will use anything close at hand, typically branches, pine cones or frozen chunks of some past meal they had. With the speed and weight of things thrown, they can do some serious damage. Targets are blindsided by the assault, and it takes only one or two lucky shots to drop prey. Thankfully, the Timber Devil throws about a dozen just to be sure. When their target is knocked out or dead, they descend to feed. Fangs pierce points that bring out the most Blood, and they suck em dry. The drained carcass is then hauled up into the treetops, where they store them in an arboreal bower. This is food to be saved for later, preserved by the cold. When times are lean, the Timber Devil will visit this pantry to feed on the meat, ensuring a safe food supply so they don't go hungry. It makes one wonder what the first loggers who tried to harvest these taigas thought when they chopped down a tree and a rain of corpses fell upon their heads.
As one can imagine, the Timber Devils are not well liked. No doubt they served as a defense of the taiga when loggers made an attempt to cash in on such a biome. However, despite their fearsome reputation, their body count remains rather low in comparison to other Devil species. Do know that this isn't because of any form of pacifism or friendly demeanor, it is purely because so few people come this way that they don't have the opportunity to rack up the kills like Swamp Devils do. They serve as a reminder to walk these woods with caution, and always have something to duck under when the rustling above turns to hooting.
It should be noted that there is a subspecies of Timber Devil that exists further north in the region. With pale bodies and thicker tendril coats, these "Arctic Devils" live more on mountains and icy spires. The hunting method, however, remains the same, as they just throw chunks of ice at prey, hoping to brain them or send them tumbling down the mountainside. Glimpses of them from climbers gave rise to the idea of "men of the mountain," thought to be an arctic race of people who lived amongst the snow and spires. Further studies and a number of bludgeoned corpses quickly dispelled such an idea.
