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| Dirrin Reptile | |
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| Fauna | |
| Official Name | Dirrin Reptile |
| Common Nicknames | Enteen Crawler |
| Classification | Amphibian |
| Habitat | Sundial Isles |
| Domesticated | Yes |
| Current Status | Common |
The Dirrin Reptile is an extremely strange animal among the mounts of Aloria’s many Races. For one thing, it is not a reptile and is instead a giant salamander creature. However, its unique traits do not stop at just its size, as it is also somehow able to walk up vertical surfaces. They are highly valued and revered by the Suvial, whose death-struggle with the Kathar of the Dread Empire has seen the unique use of such creatures in many battles. The Dirrin Reptile, while lacking sophisticated intellect, is still a steed much respected and used by the Suvial.
History
The Dirrin Reptile has been part of the Sundial Isles for over two millennia, being found by the early Altalar colonists to the region lounging by the beaches and inland when they first arrived. Initially fairly skittish, the Reptile (which was later identified as an amphibian) was first tamed, trained, and then thoroughly domesticated by the now Suvial Altalar. The creature took on a life of their own in Suvial society, being found in artwork and clothing designs, being shipped back to the mainland for use by the growing migrated Suvial elite of the Allorn Empire. While their appearance had some recoiling away initially, the creature’s growing usefulness won out in the end. But when the world grew darker, and the Empire began to crack, the Dirrin Reptile vanished from the mainland, becoming a near myth even among the Suvial who survived there. On the Sundial Isles, the animal was still used and bred for centuries, but with the birth of the Kathar, and the formation of the process of Void-outs, the Dirrin was put in serious danger. In this time, following the Cataclysm which shook the world and did only minor harm to the Isles the creature called home, there was still a substantial wild population of the amphibian. But when the Void-outs began to fall, thousands died at once along with countless other forms of wildlife. Within a century following the first devastating Kathar attack, the Dirrin had been made fully domesticated. They remain this way even today, crowded in the overpopulated Suvial cities and towns, or living abroad in Suvial enclaves, serving as unique transportation and powerful mounts given the ongoing conflict against the Kathar.
Physical Appearance
Why the Dirrin Reptile was initially categorized as such is unknown, but the fact that this miscategorization has stuck is what often gets in the craw of scholars. Still, as an amphibian, the Dirrin Reptile does show several borderline reptilian traits. They sit at around ten to twelve feet long, stand at a height of just three to four feet, and weigh around 300 to 400 pounds. Their head has a blunt, wide shape to it with a broad snout, and a pair of large, solid yellow eyes sitting on either side of their head. There are small, hard patches of skin around the top of their heads and tips of their snouts, which appear scale-like. They have a thick neck, immediately connecting their head to their bodies, slightly pudgy forms sitting on four surprisingly strong legs with four toes on their front legs, and five on their rear legs. These fingers and legs are seemingly coated in a thicker, more scale-like skin than the rest of the animal’s body, and the long-fingered hands possess extremely durable fingers with dozens of tiny suction cups. This allows them to perform their miraculous climbing abilities. Returning to their bodies, they have a small bump of a spine running along their back to their tail, which makes up as much as half of their length. Their body, aside from the previously mentioned scaled or “rough” points, are smooth and cool to the touch. Their color palette is stark, being a mix of oranges and whites, often existing in a splotched pattern along their bodies.
Diversity
Dirrin Reptiles have limited diversity, as while their bodies can have unique patterns, the exact pattern is random and doesn’t often conform to any identifiable trait or determiner. However, the species does have sexual dimorphism in that males are always on the larger, but lighter end of the animal’s weight spectrum. Females are smaller and often weigh more.
Life Span and Development
Dirrin Reptiles, as they are actually amphibians, are born in soft-shelled, pale orange eggs in clusters of six to twelve around still, concealing water sources. About the size of a normal chicken egg, these eggs are watched over by the mother for several weeks before they hatch, at which point she leaves the larvae to survive on their own. Each about two to three inches long, these creatures have external gills to allow them to survive their aquatic environment and a tail, without any real legs. However, over a further several weeks, they rapidly mature into being a solid foot long, and possess much of their terrestrial appearance. They then fully exit the water, and the remaining offspring scatter into the underbrush. This does not happen with domesticated Dirrin, as while they may scatter in their simulated natural environment, they are easily corralled and moved together. They take a solid year after this to mature to their adult size, the process fairly slow but fairly noticeable given their immense final size. In domesticated surroundings, they are introduced to the feeling of the saddle early on as youths, small sized, non-functional dummy saddles placed on their bodies to simulate their presence. Dirrin Reptiles can live for forty years.
Mental Overview
Dirrin Reptiles are generally quite docile and mute as creatures, lacking much in the way of response to external stimuli. They do not croak or make noise during the mating season, the closest sound to that being a brief popping noise that triggers when they are startled. They are fairly neutral about their own kind, never actively hunting them, or seeking to associate with them, but their large sizes and slow development time has sometimes seen both cannibalism and confrontations occur. However, this is extremely rare with the whole species now domesticated, and only perhaps a handful of groups remaining in the wild. The Suvial care for these creatures deeply and protect them just as fiercely.
Territory and Groupings
Dirrin Reptiles once casually gathered in loose groupings called layabouts by the Suvial given their casual, quiet nature of just sitting around in the nature of the humid jungles of the Sundial Isles. Those in domesticated surroundings meanwhile are often grouped together on purpose and establish a pecking order, with the largest specimens eating first followed by those smaller than them. Most Suvial fix these issues by having different feeding troughs, but this is harder to accomplish in rural regions.
Trivia
- Dirrin skin fashions or objects is exceedingly rare today, but is sought after for a strange reason. It was rumored to be capable of resisting blasts from Exist or Void-based Magic during the height of the Allorn Empire, though tests today show that is not the case. Regardless, the eccentric elite of lands like Ithania still enjoy to seek it out for the sheer status of the skin.
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