Creatures of Eh'lah and Sharath
Creatures of Eh'lah and Sharath is an Official GemStone IV Document, and it is protected from editing.
Creatures of Eh'lah and Sharath
- by Loremaster Rhai’zke
Like many places on Elanith, the Southron Wastes and the jungles southwest of them have a number of unique creatures adapted to those environments. The area surrounding Sharath was once a vital jungle with its own highly developed ecosystem. Despite the ecological disaster that laid waste to the area, the ecosystem is no less robust than it was before. Eh'lah is a Dhe'nar settlement on the southernmost tip of Elanith, in a rainforest surrounding a river delta. It has a vibrant ecosystem, teeming with creatures from insects to alligators to massive terrestrial apex predators. Below are details of a few of the animals unique to those regions. Both the sha'rom and nhil'mon are of great ritual importance among the Dhe'nar people with whom they cohabit.
Kish'enda
The kish'enda, literally "ash cat," are six-legged felines native to the jungles around Sharath prior to the Fall. Native Dhe'nar often simply refer to them as kish as there are few other felines native to the area.
They are similar in morphology to leopards, though slightly larger. They were originally partially arboreal but have adapted to life among the wastes surrounding the mountain. They are now ambush hunters and have begun to develop slightly longer limbs more suited to running over flat ground than climbing.
Males and females both reach sexual maturity at approximately 2 years of age. Females are fertile once per year and give birth to live young after a 70-90 day gestation period. They are pack animals, with packs formed mostly of a breeding pair and their offspring. Adult animals usually leave the pack as they reach sexual maturity. Females and males mate for life. If one of a mated pair dies the other rarely seeks out another partner. Packs are highly social with one another, occasionally sharing territory and ranges for a year or more. This blending of packs often leads to new packs being formed as juveniles breed and leave the parent groups.
Nhil'mon
The nhil'mon are lizards, usually over twelve feet long, adept at swimming and fighting with their long claws and heavy tail. Nhil'mon are found in the in the rainforest and river delta environment surrounding Eh'lah. They are a prominent apex predator who are almost exclusively carnivorous. They eat live prey, carrion, and sometimes cannibalize one another. They are primarily terrestrial, they are adept at swimming, and they are capable of effectively fighting using their serrated teeth, claws, and thick tails.
There are two varieties of nhil'mon: the brown and the black. The former are smaller, with muddy brown scales and rings of mustard yellow around their eyes. They are also much less likely to attack without reason, and they put up less of a fight than their larger cousins. The black subspecies has a longer, slightly thinner tail in relation to its body length. Both species have backward curving serrated teeth and long claws suitable for both attacking and digging.
The brown nhil'mon reach nearly 15 feet in length, not including the tail which is approximately 2/3 the length of the body. They are also much less likely to attack without reason, and they put up less of a fight than their larger cousins.
The black nhil'mon are much larger than the brown subspecies and something to be feared, outweighing the similar-sized browns by 100 pounds. They are generally longer than the brown variety, reaching lengths of 15-20 feet, with slimmer and longer tails that equal their body length. They have gleaming black scales speckled with yellow. They are a temperamental reptile, known to attack without provocation and kill even the finest of warriors by dismembering them or dragging them to the depths of the river to drown.
Both the black and brown nhil'mon are temperamental and attack without provocation, though this is a behavior more often observed in the black variety. Both subspecies are also highly territorial, especially during breeding season.
Both subspecies feature prominently in the rituals and mythology of the local populations of humanoids, Dhe'nar and otherwise.
Sha'rom
The sha'rom is a creature of unknown origins native to the subterranean environment beneath Sharath. The creature is a mammal, with keratin scales covering most of its body. These scales are large along the animal's body and smaller along its legs and underbelly. The scales are very fine around the animal's ears, face and muzzle.
An adult specimen is similar in size to a large timber wolf, weight approximately 120-140 pounds and reaching lengths from the tip of the muzzle to the base of the tail of almost 7 feet. The tail is long and slim and measures approximately 3/4 of the animal's body length. The head is reptilian in shape with an elongated snout and small ears that can rotate 90-100 degrees. The sha'rom has a ridge of short, dense keratin spines starting at the base of its skull. They run along its spine and down the long tail. The spines terminate in a cluster at the tail's tip. The tail is very mobile and can be used for attack and defense. An adult sha'rom has teeth approximately 2 inches long, with prominent canines 3-4 inches long. The animal also has a second row of smaller teeth behind the primary set. As with a shark, the animal's teeth never stop growing and replace themselves as they are shed or extracted.
Some rare female specimens are venomous, producing a powerful paralytic from glands in their mouths. These glands begin producing venom during breeding or when otherwise aroused. They do not inject the venom; it simply coats the inside of their mouths and enters the wound via the animal's saliva. Venomous females are immune to their own venom and resistant, but not immune, to the venom of other females.
Sh'arom can see well in almost complete darkness. Their vision is very poor in even dim light, and they are effectively blind in full daylight. They have a very keen sense of smell and can track prey over several miles. They yip or growl in totally dark environments and have exhibited the ability to echo-locate. They also have exhibited the abilities to sense and absorb magical energy, and some specimens have even been observed regenerating wounds and scar tissue in highly magical environments.
The animals are highly intelligent. Captive animals have exhibited highly evolved problem-solving abilities allowing them to escape captivity. They also exhibit the ability to plan and remember. Some escaped specimens have planned ambushes of their captors, killing them before fleeing into the wild.
Females give birth to litters of 8-10 live pups, though smaller litters are not unknown. The gestation period is 60-80 days. The females are fully active almost until delivery, leading to a high mortality rate among the pups. The pups are born with closed eyes, and their eyes open at approximately 3 weeks. The young are able to walk at six weeks. The animals can hunt at 12 weeks and are also whelped around that age. A sha'rom reaches full sexual maturity at six months.
Socially, the animals are solitary and fiercely territorial, even when raising their young. This behavior even extends to the offspring and breeding partners. During breeding, females often maul, cripple, or even kill the males. Males have also been observed savaging the females until dead. While nursing, the females will often maul or kill her pups, especially in large litters. This is a recurring behavior until the pups are whelped and they either flee the nest, kill the female, or the entire little is dead.
Dhosa'nhil
The Dhosa'nhil, or little dragon, is a small reptile that can be found in the rainforests around Eh'lah. These little lizards thrive in the dampness of the ground level, hiding in the thick foliage, fallen logs, and other dark crevices.
A mature male can grow to be as long as 36 inches, while the female is generally smaller. The most unique feature is a circular skin flap that lays about the head. When the creature is calm, it lays flat across the back and chest, hardly visible. When excited or threatened, the flap is extended about the head, making the creature look larger than it really it. The edges of the flap are jagged, which gives it a rippling effect when moving. In most cases, the flap is a much brighter color than the rest of the hide, making the little lizard even more intimidating. Normally, they are shaded in tones of greys, browns and greens with variations of darker and lighter shades mixing in. But their skin tone may vary depending on their surroundings. Their coloring makes them excellent at camouflaging themselves. The tails are very long, almost two thirds of their body length.
These creatures are normally nonaggressive, preferring to intimidate and hide instead of confront. They are known to abandon nests of eggs in favor of flight and survival. Since discovering these little lizards, the Dhe'nar have been amused with their antics. Many have tried to tame them as pets, but the lizards usually run at the first opportunity.
Sai'ri monster
Named after the Sai'ri River where the Dhe'nar settlement of Eh'lah is located, the Sai'ri monster is a large lizard about sixteen to eighteen feet long and can grow up to five feet tall. A long, tapered tail makes up about half of its length. They are quadrupedal with thick, stocky legs and have wide feet with three clawed toes. They are at home on land, but prefer to spend their days submerged in the muddy river beds or in the tunnels they dig into the river banks. Their hide of shimmering ebon scales helps them to blend in with shadows and the dark mud around the river. The only other marking is an iridescent blue streak down their belly. They live together in packs, similar to wolves, with the strongest protecting the weak. The lizard is an omnivore and will eat plants, fish, snails and has even been seen stealing eggs from the nests of ground nesting birds and other lizards. While large in size, the creature is not overly aggressive, unless they feel themselves or their pack are threatened. They tend to avoid humanoids and populated areas, choosing to threaten with their short, squat jaw of sharp teeth and by swinging their tail about or moving away to avoid people.
Resources
Some information is taken from original documentation created by members of The Obsidian Tower.