Northern Moose

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Northern Moose
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Fauna
Official Name Northern Moose
Common Nicknames Grandhorns.
Classification Mammal.
Habitat Jorrhildr
Domesticated No.
Current Status Rare.

Northern Moose are exceptionally large deerlike herbivores that live in Jorrhildr. The species are relatively rare due to the fact that their young barely ever survive Jorrhildr winters, though Moose can grow almost 200 years old. This rarity has come about for various reasons—specifically overhunting—and because the species was originally endemic to Ellador, having migrated to Jorrhildr around the time of the second void invasion. The hulking beasts are a majestic sight. They are often seen as an icon of Jorrhildr, representing the inhospitable climate of the continent and the hardiness of its denizens. Majestic and gargantuanly built, the Northern Moose has been known to reach eleven feet in height, with magnificent curving horns that easily span the distance from a man’s crown to his toes. They have long, shaggy coats, which have often been used by Thylans as a material for the construction of their huts; the thick fur and hides of the Moose having remarkable insulative properties. The thick fur and the length and amount of curves in the horns are a mark of age for the Northern Moose—where a calf or juvenile will have short tufts of brown and tan hair, an elder Moose will have draping white and gray fur that conceal it within the snowy terrain of Jorrhildr.

Herbivorous and docile, the lone giants of Jorrhildr survive on ferns, lichens and whatever plant matter they can dig up beneath the snow. As most of Jorrhildr is permafrost, the Northern Moose can travel for weeks between meals and has an exceedingly slow metabolism, comparable to the camels of Farah'deen.

The Northern Moose -- in all of its rarity -- can live to two centuries of age, which is a blessing considering how rarely they breed. A cow will not birth more than three calves at a time and only every thirty years whence the last brood have matured. Exceeding that, the Northern Moose is a solitary creature, and it can take as long as a decade for a cow to find a bull after raising her young.

Natural Habitat

Moose inhabit the frozen wastes of Jorrhildr, where they seem to have migrated during a period of warming in Ellador shortly after the second void invasion when thermal vents from Gana-Isha began to dilate. They travel great distances to find vegetation suitable for consumption, and as such do not have specific ranges.

First Encounter

When Northerne explorers (And by proxy, Regalians) began venturing South-East approximately one-hundred years after the Cataclysm, they found one of the Great Beasts shortly after establishing the colony of Jorrdon (Now a whaling port on the Eastern coast of Jorrhildr). After slaying it, they supped for a week on its body, and so began the lucrative period of hunting that almost drove these majestic giants to extinction.

History

Roughly fifty years after the second void invasion, thermal vents from Gana-Isha began to dilate, and the climate of Ellador began warming rather rapidly. As a result, the Northern Moose—and many other species—began migrating to Jorrhildr shortly before the ice-bridges melted to form the Bismer Strait.

It wasn't until roughly 100 AC that these animals faced the idea of extinction, when exploration of Jorrhildr opened up the Moose as an exploitable resource and profitable animal to be hunted. In less than a year nearly every Regalian noble home had a full set of Moose horns spanning the length of their parlor walls, and tallow became exponentially cheaper.

Trivia

The horns of the moose make useful construction material for natives of Jorrhildr; it is a common sight for a Thylan hut to have Moose-horn beams and supports. Traditionally, moose sinew was used to bind hide to Thylan canoes as a layer of waterproofing. The gentle beasts have been compared to whales, particularly for their large insulated body fat.


Accreditation
Writers pwnzownz
Processors Feykronos, Goldenrook
Last Editor Ryciera on 01/25/2016.

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