#worldbuilding creatures

Theme: Creature/Animal Habitat & Behaviors

What does the creature eat? How does it typically achieve this food? How long does it tend to spend on eating/finding food?

Does the creature have a set place it calls home? If so, what is it like? (Small underground den, cave, coral reef, a particular tree, etc.) How does the creature maintain this home?

If not, what does it do instead? If it sleeps, where does it sleep? Does it bring its food anywhere?

Does it migrate or travel often? If it migrates, why?

Does the creature have a sense of play? If so, what does play look like? Is it social? Does it play with other species, similar ones, prey?

Is the creature an apex predator or keystone species? Where does it lie on its world's food chain? Does it have any predators? Any prey?

How does the creature reproduce? If it has children, how many does it tend to have at once? Does it care for these children well?

Does it have any mating rituals? If so, what do those look like?

What does the creature's lifespan and life stages look like? How long does the creature live?

Does any humanoid/hyper intelligent species hunt this creature? What role does it play in its ecosystem?

What are some very specific behaviors to this creature?

| Dragons |

Dragons range in size, with land-dwelling dragons being much smaller than marine ones. The smaller land dragons are about the size of a fox, while the bigger ones are about the size of a grey wolf -- marine dragons can be as big as a dolphin, and use their wings as fins as they rarely fly.

They typically have long necks and can have scales in a variety of colours, as well as a wide range of horn types. Beaks or pointed snouts are common.

Some dragons can have full or partial coverings of feathers, quills or fur, and their wings can be membraneous or feathered. While most dragons have tails that taper to a point, some are tipped in plumes or claws.

Their claws usually resemble those of a bird of prey, with large, hooked talons that may or may not have channels running along the sides.

Dire/Giant Animals in worldbuilding comes with a lot of implications, large food shortages, utilization by intelligent species, interesting anatomy takes in order for the large creature to live long.

And technically you don’t have to do any of that! Do what you want! Make everything fun!

But here are some ideas you can work off of, and place to work towards...

What do they eat?

A creature that large needs to eat enough to sustain its size. Sometimes they’ll need an abundance of food, equally larger or caloric prey/feed, or perhaps everything in the world is already caloric enough to sustain them.

I prefer to do a mix depending on the creatures and regions. One of my main regions with dire creatures is also a desolate arctic wasteland, but underground there is flourishing luscious plants of colossus sizes. Many of the creatures feed off of the plants, and each other (and wary foreigners).

Habitat

Every creature is affected by its habitat, and I always get a little disappointed when epic giant creatures or dire animals appear, but they don’t match their environment or would be so much cooler with fantasy elements added around them. I love seeing giant creatures, from forests full of giant trees, and haunting atmospheres.

I prefer digging real deep into the fantasy or historical elements of my stories, where I either emphasize the rarity of the creature so it stands out from it’s non-matching environment, or go wild with the worldbuilding elements. Such as Dire Foxes, which are primarily used as caravan steeds in a massive desert region.

Utilization

Humans and I’m positive other intelligent creatures are knowingly unique for their innovative ideas to find every usage possible for everything. Dire/giant animals would be no exception. I personally love to give fantastical elements or unique traits to dire animal features alone; such as their wool, teeth, claws, etc.

| Enfields |

Enfields have the general appearance of a fox (specifically a red fox in European enfields, the example pictured), being slightly smaller and lighter on average as they have hollow bones. They have the wings of a bird of prey that matches their pelt colour. Two or all of their legs may be avian, or end in bird feet, and some clans have bird tails while others have fox tails. Some have plumes near the bases of their wings that can look like an extra pair of tails in flight, and some have a flat ridge of feathers along the spine.

Apex predators, they hunt both in the air and on land, eating a similar diet to regular red foxes. Their hunting methods while flying resemble those of a bird of prey.