#beastember

Beastember #12 August Ram

The August ram looks to me more like an antelope than a goat or a sheep. The design is simple but the blue coat gives this creature a nice fantasy vibe. I like it.

Headcanons:

1. Perhaps it was named this way because there are no other antelope species in Southern Thedas to compare to (just like a pronghorn was sometimes called a “goat” or a “deer”, even though their closest relatives are giraffes).

Hey, remember that little project of mine called Beastember? yeah, me neither

Beastember #11 Ram

What can I say. It is a ram. Unless it is A Very Special Ram, there isn't room to elaborate.

Headcanons: 

1. The rams are the most important domesticated animal for the Avvar and the Chasind, providing them with wool, meat and milk. Wool from Avvar rams is considered to be more valuable than that from animals bred in the valleys by Fereldans (colder climate = thicker coat) and is an important part of trade between the Avvar and other communities, with especially warm and beautifully embroided shawls and scarves reaching very high prices.

Beastember #8 Hart

I love harts! I remember when I first saw the skeleton of the Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) as a kid, in Museum of Natural History in Wroclaw – I was in awe. So, naturally, even if my Inquisitor has been collecting mounts like a maniac the beautiful Tirashan Swiftwind named Blue became her number one choice.

The hart’s appearance is very similar to Irish elk and I imagine it being the similar size (females generally smaller, with shorter antlers). The stripes are definitely more okapi like, but I really like this little detail.

I don’t really understand why there is so little information about this species in game? Like... not even a codex entry? The only facts we got come from WoT2 – unlike halla, there seem to be harts kept and bred in captivity, though it is rare. The majority of harts are still wild creatures.

Headcanons:

1. The hart is closely related to halla and it also the work of Ghilan'nain. If halla was an elven equivalent of the Arab horse, the hart was a Percheron or Shire – heavier, sturdier, could have been used both as a heavy cavalry mount and working animal. I assume that the first case became more common and selective breeding made harts more aggressive and willing to obey only their trusted rider. 

2. As I recall, there were no harts present in Dalish camps – however, I am pretty sure there are tamed harts here and there. The reason why harts are not so common as hallas might be that a) harts are more solitary creatures, not feeling well in bigger herds, making it more complicated to breed them,  b) harts only listen to one (maybe few) people, while halla, in general, are bonded to the whole clan – so one hart can be used as a mount by only one warrior and c) halla just have a greater cultural and religious meaning to the Dalish.

3. Harts can be bred in semi-captivity, when individuals have a lot of free space for themselves. If only kept in stables, they become sick and overly aggressive. Few human nobles bred them, mostly for show. If one wants to ride a hart, they must gain their trust and respect first – the bonding is similar to one between the mabari and their owner. 

Beastember #9 Fennec

(let’s pretend the name of the series is still valid in May, shall we?)

What can I say about fennecs? They are just a real life specie that was put into Thedas without many changes. In DA, they seem to inhabit different habitat though (temperate zone forests and mountains rather than deserts). As we haven’t seen an example of red fox in Thedas, I assume fennecs took that niche.

Beastember #7 Halla

The Halla reminds me of the European unicorn or East Asian kirin – graceful, intelligent, and mystical. The connection between halla and the Dalish is wonderful, there is this mutual respect and trust and the relationship benefits BOTH sides – oh I just love it! From biology pov, halla looks a lot like a “normal” deer, except for maybe their intelligence and social behaviour (in DA:O it is implied that they are monogamous). I think both sexes have antlers, just like reindeer. Antlers are not horns – deer loose them every year and they grow a new pair for mating season. Actually, the antlers are probably the fastest growing bone in animal kingdom. That’s why I was confused by DA:O codex entry which said “Dalish halla keepers carve their antlers as they grow, making them curve into intricate designs” – as the antlers grow only for few months each year it would be difficult? On the other hand, the Dalish have good access to magic – maybe they can shape and carve the antlers to better match their needs? So when the antlers are finally shed, they are basically half-ready to become parts of tools, jewelry and weapons? I am not an expert of Dalish lore so if someone wish to add something or correct me, please do!

Headcanons:

1. We don’t really know how the animals had been like before creation of the veil. Did all of them had magic? Were they able to shape the reality around them? It is a great topic to think about, but now let’s just assume that animals lived and behaved more or less “normally”. Ghilan'nain is known as a Mother of halla – and I think she used to breed them, using magic, turning a common, spotted deer (like one presented on halla tarot card) into more intelligent and beautiful creatures, that were suited to be the mounts of her people. There had probably been many more creatures changed/created by Ghilan'nain but only the halla (and maybe harts, we’ll get to them next time) remained with the elves after the fall of Elvhenan. Though most of their magic was lost, halla retained their high intelligence and connection to the elves.

2. The scraps of Ghilan'nain knowledge, that got into the hands of Tevinter mages, were used to create the mabari.

Beastember #10 Hyena

I mentioned earlier that Thedas fennec is basically a copy of Earth fennec. In case of the hyena, it is not that simple. The in-game model is quite different (and imo a bit ugly) from any hyena species we know today. I experimented a bit further with its design and based the head on Hyaenodon while keeping the general posture hyena-like. It turned out a little over the top but I still like it better than in-game desing :P

Beastember #6 Greater nuggalope

TBH I consider a nuggalope more as a joke than as a legit species of DA fauna? I mean... Why horns? Why the weird front legs anatomy? Why Avvar bothered breeding one as a battle mount? Just...why..? XD

But assuming it was supposed to be a „real” species – let’s take a look at the front legs for a moment. Nuggalopes are knuckle-walkers, just like gorillas and giant anteaters. It would give them the advantage of more mobile palms, but on the other hand this type of walking is not the best for running (sorry, nug riders, I don’t think a majestic gallop is an option). Based on its size I would say a nuggalope could have a similar trophic niche as Megatherium or Diprotodon – feeding on leaves, being able to stand on hind legs and use the front paws to grab tree branches. The large size would prevent most of the predators from attacking the adult individual.

Headcanon:

Beastember #2 Deepstalker

Drawing this little baby, I was inspired by Compsognathus (a small carnivorous dino) and a lamprey. The second one was a reference for, of course, the mouth. Lampreys are known as water vampires, they use their jawless mouth full of sharp teeth to suck the blood of their victims. This is exactly what I think happens to deepstalkers’ prey – deepstalkers attack quickly, immobilize their prey with venom (Slowing Spit attack lol) and then feed on their slowly dying prey for hours (even days or weeks, if the prey is large like bronto).

Headcanons:

1. I like to think that deepstalkers are smaller than what we see in the games. Given that they a) hunt in packs (which is efficient when your prey is bigger than you – see wolves and lions as an example) and their main prey are NUGS and b) they live in Deep Roads full of small caverns and tunnels – it just doesn’t make sense for them to be this big :D I would say that adult females could be the larger sex (maybe the size of female turkey) but males could be even smaller. I think cat size is a max.

That wouldn’t make them less dangerous for a lost wanderer – imagine a dozen of creatures like that, cutting through your skin, injecting venom in your wounds... it still sucks.

2. Deepstalkers are not immune to the Blight BUT, thanks to their biology and reproduction strategy, they can still produce healthy offspring, even THOUGH they have darkspawn in their diet. 

First of all – slow metabolism. I think they can use food like snakes do – eat one big meal and then just go into few months period of a low energy demand. In these conditions, the Blight induced changes in deepstalkers would also go slower than in a body of a mammal.