As Europe is going through a new Ice Age, Giblartar is closed down again, like during the Messinian event. this state causes Mediterranean Sea to dry out, and become a huge salt desert. On it, islands that once were in the Mediterranean were formed as unique places, that life can evolve. Water is rare, and has a huge salinity problem. Array of interesting creatures live here
Cryptile
Ancestor: Some type of Agamas
Size: 68 cm
A Few Southern Europe living Agamas adapted to the salt flats. Cryptile, like the Frilled Lizard of Australia has a frill. Hovewer Cryptile frills are extremely Sticky. These are an adaptation to catch swarms of Brine Flies. They have limited their need to drink, they take their moisture from Brine Flies. They are extremely fast, much faster than Tundra Lizards. They also weigh very little. that makes them not worthy for predators to catch. Predators prefer to eat their eggs. Except Giant Brine Adders, which ambush them, and deliver them a dose of venom.
Gryken
Ancestor: Pine Marten
Size: 30 cm ( Height ), 80 cm ( Lenght )
Gryken is a interesting predator. descending from Pine Martens, it's a predator which uses the islands to it's advantage. it doesn't need to drink that often. It mainly Feeds on Scrofas, Cryptile eggs, and sometimes Vulture Eages. It can always be a prey to Giant Brine Adder. It's an ambush predator mainly ambushing prey in grykes. they are solitary hunters.
Scrofa
Ancestor: Wild Boar
Size: 50 cm ( Height ), 1 m ( Lenght )
Scrofas, like Boartitans are descendants of Wild Boars, and just like them, they are omnivorous. They evolved to be smaller, need to drink less water, and eat less food, and their hooves to be pointer . Scrofas mainly are eaten by Grykens. Their main sources of food are plants. hovewer it won't hesitate to eat a cryptile egg, or a carcass
Vulture Eagle
Ancestor: White-Tailed Eagle
Wingspan: 1 meter
White eagles aren't the only descendants of White-Tailed Eagle. These lost their white tail for full yellow feathering, except for the bald head. they are scavengers, even tho they may eat a cryptile's egg. They lay eggs on large cliffs. They may be a prey for Gryken, or Giant Brine Adder
Saltwandering Stork
Decendant: White Stork
Wingspan: 2 Meters
Saltwandering Stork, descendant of a White Stork wanders through the salt flats. It mainly feeds on small saltwater plankton, and Brine Flies Larvae. It doesn't have to fear a gryken, but a bite from a Giant Brine Adder can finish off this beautiful bird. It can drink salt water, but it doesn't need to do this very often
Giant Brine Adder
Ancestor: Common European Adder
Lenght: 3,5 Meters
Giant Brine Adders are apex predators of this Salt Desert. Their ancestors are Common European Adder. They mainly eat Cryptiles, their Eggs and Vulture Eagles. They can eat a Gryken or a Scrofa. They can extend their mouths to swallow these large animals. they are venomous, with their venom they could kill a horse, if it still existed. they prefer to eat smaller prey, but they still rule the Salt Flats. They don't need to fear any predator. they don't need to drink, because they get the moisture it needs from it's prey

5 Million years in the future most of Europe is surrounded in Ice Caps. The Earth is at one of the coldest times it's ever been. Thick Ice Caps Scour the Land. You won't see animals of our time in here. the ecological niches are filled by new species
Shagrat
Ancestor: Mamrots
Height: 1 Meter, Lenght: 1,5 meters
These Large Beings are the most common herbivore of this ice sheets. while it looks similar to a sheep, it's actually a descendant of Mamrots. It Lives in Large Herds, which can grow up to more than 100 specimens. It's Fur is Very Thick, which is the protection form from not only the ice, but also insect bites. It has Large claws to dig holes, to protect it's offspring. It's Teeth can be used for defence
Tundra Lizard
Ancestor: Sand Lizard
Lenght: 1 Meter
Most of the reptiles aren't able to survive in the ice sheets. Tundra Lizard is an exception. A descendant of Sand Lizards of today, Tundra Lizard Developed a specialized body heating organs, to survive in the cold. they are insectivores, feeding on vast colonies of Tundra Flies, and Mosquitoes. It is pretty fast, but not as fast, as other lizards. Their main predator is the White Eagle
Snowstalker
Ancestor: Wolverine
Lenght: 1,7 Meters, Height: 1,2 Meters
One of the Apex Predators of the Ice Caps is the Snowstalker. Decendant of the Wolverine, These Predators are fully equipped to fight Shagrats. They can also hunt a Tundra Lizard, but usually Tundra Lizard Manages to escape. They Evolved a Saber-Tooth Similar to Machairodonts of the past. They are ambush predators. They have a pretty thick fur, to help them survive in the Ice Age.
Gannet-guin
Ancestor: Gannets
Lenght: 1 meter
These Look, And Hunt Similarly to the Penguins, that Live in the South. Hovever, they are descendants of Gannets, which adapted to the cooling. to defend themselves from predators, they use vomit projectiles. They Live in Large Colonies, like Penguins. They have a strong beak, in order to fend off predators
White Eagle
Ancestor: White-Tailed Eagle
Wing Span: 2,5 Meters
Second Apex predator of the Ice Caps are White Eagles. Decendant of White-Tailed Eagle, these birds coexist peacefully with Snowstalkers. Their Main Food Source are Gannet-guins and Tundra Lizards. they can also kill a Shagrat, Hovewer facing off against An Adult Shagrat is too dangerous for them. Like other eagles, they are monogamic, with them only laying 1 egg per year. They have thick feathering, and a fully white coloring
Boartitan
Ancestor: Wild Boar
Lenght: 3 to 4 Meters
The Largest animal of the Ice Caps is the Boartitan. An omnivore, descending from the Wild Boars. They are Still Extremely Formidable, and can use their large tusks to fend off enemies. they don't have any natural predators. Even if a Lone Snowstalker, or a White Eagle try to attack one, they are going to get fended off. Boartitans usually live in the groups of 5-7 animals for extra safety. they mainly feed on plants, but they can eat a Tundra Lizard

Honestly, being the largest land omnivore in the world, totally warm and cozy in the fjords and tundras of the world, completely away from all you batshit humies and Reddit, sleeping half the year, eating a ton of berries and sashimi, literally the most majestic creature in the animal kingdom, what's not to love?

Pro-Tip: If you are making sapient races that are carnivores or herbivores, read this!
A lot of people create "herbivore" or "carnivore" intelligent races without any thinking on how it affects the culture and behavior. Often in children-targeted fantasy worlds where you don't have to really explain anything and just rely on suspension of belief. But if you want a bit of realism, check this out!
Let's say there's two different species of “human” on two separate earths in two alternate universes, let's call one of them Herbians as the archetypical example of a herbivore sapient, and the other Carnians as archetypical carnivore.
For this thread, I'll be focusing on a world where humans evolved from herbivores and are the dominant species

First of all, what is a herbivore?

A herbivore is a creature that primarily eats plants, carnivores are creatures that primarily eat other animals, and omnivores eat both. So a deer literally has four stomachs and is what we think of when thinking about herbivores, but deer actually eat a lot of meat, including human remains!
https://www.fieldandstream.com/do-deer-eat-meat/
https://www.reddit.com/Beastars/comments/yp5iud/fun_fact_male_deer_are_opportunistic_omnivores/
https://www.espn.com/outdoors/hunting/news/story?id=4556529
So they aren't herbivores, but omnivores. Even horses eat meat:
https://youtu.be/fg2mJ4veuAY?si=xZbYj7T-VUTYV8CI
https://youtu.be/ZnYNmGMsU18?si=mkPDNSm7QRmZzbUw
The Arabian horse was created in the Nejd desert by the Bedouin. There is little or no grass in the Nejd for most of the year, so the Bedouin fed their horses for months at a time on on a diet of dried camel meat, camel milk, honey and dried crickets. This may be one of the reasons that Arabian horses are extremely feed-efficient and known for “getting fat on a glass of water and a good view”. Since horses and deer readily eat meat at any opportunity, maybe it's the quantity of meat they eat that defines whether they're herbivores or omnivores. But then you find out apes like Orangutans and gorillas are considered omnivores, and they eat very little meat, almost none:

The mountain gorilla is primarily a herbivore; the majority of its diet is composed of the leaves, shoots and stems (85.8%) of 142 plant species. It also feeds on bark (6.9%), roots (3.3%), flowers (2.3%), and fruit (1.7%), as well as small invertebrates. (0.1%).[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_gorilla

Although gorillas don't kill big animals, they regularly eat small animals (mainly insects). However, this constitutes far less than 0.1% of their food. In chimpanzees, up to 6% of the food may be animal matter.

www.berggorilla.org/en/gorillas/general/everyday-life/what-do-gorillas-eat/

“Orangutans are large-bodied animals that must eat large amounts of high-calorie foods. Largely frugivorous, when it is abundant, the fruit will make up as much as 90% of their diet, supplemented with leaves, shoots, seeds, buds, flowers, bark, insects and mineral-rich soil, and occasional instances of meat-eating”

https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/learn/orangutan-specifics/diet/

Because over 60% of their diet is fruit (based on averaging thousands of observations), they are considered frugivores; however, orangutans also will eat young leaves (approximately 25% of their diet), flowers and bark (approximately 10%) and insects, mainly ants, termites, pupae, and crickets (approximately 5%).

https://www.ourf.info/faqs-mainmenu-28/20-about-orangutans/61-what-do-wild-orangutans-eat
So, so-called “omnivores” eat as much animal matter in their diet as deer! You see how this can be confusing? The difference between an actual herbivore and an omnivore is their digestive system and enzymes. Orangutans and deer are designed to survive off of plants, especially when you look at their digestive systems. Orangutans & gorillas are hindgut fermenters, and deer are ruminants that have four stomachs and chew cud. They cannot constantly eat animal products or they'll get sick. As such, animal matter makes up a tiny insignificant amount of their diets, but as herbivores they NEED to eat plants. A pig or a bear have much shorter and different digestive systems and can literally either eat grass every day, or they can switch to eating meat every day whenever it's necessary, and not have any serious problems. Humans can be vegetarians, or even strictly carnivores like the Inuit, and be perfectly healthy.

The archetypical herbivore

The herbians are most likely hindgut fermenters like most intelligent herbivore animals & a very wide diet but primarily granivores (high energy food sources) more than frugivores (low energy) and especially more than folivores (very low energy). Scientists suggested that fruit foraging lead to big brains in primates:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/ma27/fruit-foraging-primates-may-be-key-large-brain-evolution
Same with bats, eating fruits, nectar, and seeds makes them smarter than bats that eat bugs, however this has more to do with size & longer gestation combo:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/421334
This can also be shown in animals like birds like parrots where their larger size, diet and their sociality leads to incredible intelligence on par with or superior to corvids.
Nectar has more calories than all three but is much rarer until the domestication of bees.
Because of their intelligence, herbians need to eat the highest calorie food items in order to fuel their large brains. Ancient hunter gatherers were like 80% vegetarians:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/24/hunter-gatherers-were-mostly-gatherers-says-archaeologist?CMP=share_btn_url
However, for herbivorous sapients their digestive system would actually be designed for an herbivorous diet, similar to apes and horses. So constant meat eating would make them very sick (5% of chimpanzee diet is animal products, and most herbivores like deer sometimes eat bugs, small birds, and pieces of carrion).
https://frugivorebiology.com/chimpanzees-omnivores-or-frugivores/
Horses must eat 1.5-2% of their body weight each day in roughage (like the low calorie hay or green pasture which is like practically eating cardboard), and a half-ton horse needs approximately 15,000 kilocalories (what we think of as Calories) per day, bare minimum! A human sized (150-250 lb) herbivore like miniature horse and orangutan needs roughly 2300 calories each day, but a sapient human sized herbivore would eat high calorie diet such as grains and other carbohydrates and thus would not need to eat so much food per day to achieve their calorie necessities.
http://www.dayvillesupply.com/hay-and-horse-feed/calorie-needs.html
Herbivores would normally get food from foraging, and horses often spend 17 hours a day grazing. Orangutans can forage for up to 6 hours a day. Humans feed captive herbivores with food trays at set intervals - optimally three to five times per day but at least twice per day. With intelligence, herbians would likely try to implement set intervals in order to increase time, productivity and work, but the foraging instinct is still strong and herbians, especially hunter gatherers, would be constantly having snacks during the day. This means, as natural foragers, they'd be workaholics and curious, valuing novelty and sensory experiences, the physical concrete world instead of pure theory. Opportunists and busy bodies (predominantly kinesthetic and visual learners), herbians would value accumulating personal wealth and maintaining production quotas or centralized bureaucracies. They'd most likely be polytheistic, as these cultures are more about valuing community over the individual.
They would be highly social and hierarchical with the dominant male controlling the biggest harem. They'd be very aggressive and warlike, and build cities, fortresses and warriors to protect their land & property. The "Type 6" & “Type 3” personality, or the “extraverted sensing” personality. Herbivores can afford to be very aggressive (and tend to be more aggressive than carnivores), as if they get injured they can simply eat plants (which don't run away) until they heal from their injury. They are also more likely to get in fights because they live in larger groups and hence often adopt aggressive behaviors to find mates, etc. This is why in Africa hippos, elephants, and cape buffalo are often more dangerous than lions, hyenas, and leopards. herbian would be sedentary farmers, and much of their time will be spent eating, and working. The opposite of carnivores, they are focused on EXPENDING energy.
They'd likely emass empires like many ancient agricultural societies (China, India, Rome, Egypt, Khmer Empire, Mesoamerica, Incas) and be obsessed with management of land and irrigation with resulting strict borders, erosion, salinity and so on. Their range is limited to where food grows, so there are no “Inuit” tundra civilizations where agriculture is nearly impossible, or any arid dwellers unless it's next to a large river that never dries up like the Nile River in Egypt (which in itself is sort of an outlier).

Suppression of herbivores

As society grows more and more, herbians would kill to extinction any wild animal that eats them or any crops in their territory, only at best keeping certain breeds as beasts of burden, and it would likely be a very long time before they actually domesticate herbivores besides oxen. There is a difference from the omnivorous / carnivorous caused extinctions because early humans hunted and ate the largest game they could find and the mere arrival of humans spelled extinction for megafauna (for example, Australia, Eurasia, America, etc). Herbians would only kill what they perceive to be a threat to their food and livelihoods, so animals eating inedible plants could possibly be spared.
Herbivores will either starve from prevention to eat the fields of food, or be outright killed as pests. Their survival depends on how well they adapt to these changes. We see this in primarily agricultural areas of Africa where certain species that were wiped out to extinction or nearly to extinction but had to be saved by outside forces and only then did people suddenly realize (surprise surprise!) that those animals turned out to be very suitable for domestication all this time (Bontebok, Blesbok, Quagga, etc). Herbians would love pet cats and ferrets, but hate locusts, rodents, & have a love-hate relationship with birds (besides birds of prey & owls, birds are only good for fertilizer but are otherwise pests). Likely a “Four Pests Campaign” scenario would be reenacted at some point, where people ASSUMED sparrows ate mostly grain and that was enough to exterminate them almost to extinction, causing the locust population to skyrocket. This might result in the domestication of sparrows.
This lack of thought and care for animals compared to plants is also shown in the abuse of domesticated animals like donkeys in agrarian parts of the world, which is heavily correlated with the subjugation & abuse of women:
https://theconversation.com/donkeys-are-unsung-heroes-in-ethiopias-humanitarian-crisis-and-they-could-do-even-more-with-better-support-223217
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/744820
Donkeys & horses actually BENEFIT wildlife (including endangered species) by providing water, but agrarian humans, being overly managing of land and crops, literally think all feral animals are pests and “harmful to wildlife” since they aren't being controlled by humans and thus are inconvenient & useless:
https://theconversation.com/feral-desert-donkeys-are-digging-wells-giving-water-to-parched-wildlife-159909
The overmanaging of land by people combined with the thoughtlessness towards animals actually has environmental effects:

“The removal of donkeys and other introduced megafauna to protect desert springs in North America and Australia seems to have led to an exuberant growth of wetland vegetation that constricted open water habitat, dried some springs, and ultimately resulted in the extinction of native fish. Ironically, land managers now simulate megafauna by manually removing vegetation.
It is likely that introduced megafauna are doing much more that remains unknown because we have yet to accept these organisms as having ecological value.”

https://theconversation.com/from-feral-camels-to-cocaine-hippos-large-animals-are-rewilding-the-world-83301
Herbians would be far more cold, economic, and bloodthirsty than omnivorous or carnivorous humans.

Domesticated species

Herbians would have domesticated several plant species long before the first domesticated animal, and most domesticated species are plants. Their first domesticated animals would be not dogs, but small commensal predators of pests such as cats, ferrets, genets, foxes, shrikes, and harris hawks, and this would be very early in the paleolithic stage when herbians were hunter gatherers (emphasis on the “gatherer” part; irl ancient hunter gatherers were mostly vegetarians). The second domesticated animal, perhaps in the neolithic era, would be bees because of providing honey and pollination, and likely sparrows and other insectivores when you consider the fact that they might be initially hunted for being pests themselves. Oxen would also be domesticated despite being a herbivore. For one, it's paramount for agriculture to begin with, and most likely a commensal situation similar to dogs where the oxen were attracted to the “inedible” (to herbians) plant garbage left by herbians and got increasingly friendly (in order to survive encounters and continue scavenging) & some curious and brave persons decided to kidnap ox calves and raise them as pets. One can imagine a breed of ox specifically bred to have enormous horns for defensive purposes. In other parts of the world they could have domesticated the Moose instead, with antlers that come forward like spiked shields.
Small canines would be substantially better than cats at general farmland pest control - cats could still exist for mice but chasing off rabbits, herding animals, etc, is a very canine specific thing. That said, it would likely be very, very difficult without the pact bond of hunting other animals. Wild dogs would likely remain cultural villains for millenia after other animals are already domesticated.

Goblins: - Goblins (also known as Kobolds, Imps, gremlins, and various other names across the realms) are small mostly nomadic mammalian humanoid marsupials that stand between two and three feet. They possess lean, wiry bodies well-suited for agility and swift movements through their habitats. Their limbs are extremely flexible, allowing them to dart through dense underbrush and scramble up tree branches with ease. Despite their small stature, goblins exhibit remarkable strength and endurance, enabling them to traverse rugged terrain and engage in prolonged pursuits of prey or enemies.
Physical Characteristics: - Goblin fur is dense and coarse, reminiscent of some dog breeds, with colors similar to humans with shades ranging from blacks and browns, white and blonde, and orange to red. - In winter, their fur thickens like a rabbit's, shedding into a thin summer coat for warmer months. - During heightened alertness or aggression, goblins' fur may bristle, making them appear larger and more intimidating. - Their faces have snouts with long whiskers, similar to their distant cousins, the opossum. - Eyes are big and round, possessing night vision, and slit pupils like cats. A Goblin's sight is impeccable, they're able to see with almost no light. - Noses are moist and twitchy, aiding in tracking prey and detecting intruders. The nose of a goblin is as strong as some hunting dogs and allows them to tell whether something is edible or not. - Mouths are lined with sharp, needle-like fangs, ideal for tearing flesh, as well as a long skinny tongue to help reach food, drink easier, and keep their noses moist - Goblin jaws can unhinge slightly to eat larger than usual prey (acts like this usually end with help from the Heimlich maneuver). - Ears sit on top of the Goblin's head and vary widely in shape, from long straight and pointed to small thin and round. Goblins possess acute hearing and can detect the slightest sounds in their surroundings. Both ears can move 180-degree individually for environmental awareness, pinpointing the source of sounds accurately. - Hands and feet are paw-like with five digits each, tipped with tough claws, and are padded like canines. Their feet and hands are identical and can act as an extra pair. Some goblins wear soft gloves as socks with sandals or flip-flops to protect the already padded appendages. - Thick, furry, prehensile tails serve as counterbalances and help goblins express emotion as well as maneuver through trees. The underside of the tail is padded like their hands and feet to grip easier. - Like other marsupials, Goblins have a lower than average body temperature compared to other mammals, making them immune to rabies, and like their cousins the opossum are immune to most venom because of their strong livers. This also makes it difficult for goblins to get intoxicated with alcoholic beverages. - Goblins, while mainly walking on two legs, will run on all fours when in a rush or scared, making them faster.
Reproduction and Lifespan: - Typically, a Goblin gives birth to a single offspring, but cases of twins have been seen on rare occasions. While Goblins are marsupials, their children aren't referred to as joeys but instead are called Gibs (a term the goblins chose because it sounds better than joey). Gibs will spend the first few months of life (between 9 and 10) in a pouch on their mothers' stomachs. Once big enough to come out of their pouches, the Gibs will cling onto their mothers' backs or be held in their arms. - Gibs grow from infant to child in 4 to 5 months after growing large enough to leave their mothers' pouch. Goblins reach adulthood after a decade of growing. - An average Goblin lives between thirty and forty years, but some have made it to sixty and higher ages with the assistance of outside forces like pharmaceuticals or magics made by the sapient plant beings known as Dryads, Fae, or most commonly called, Elves.
Habitat: - Goblins live in various environments, including forests, jungles, deserts, savannas, wetlands, mountains, deep caverns and even the tundra. Courts will always stay nomadic, no matter the proximity to human settlement. They will make temporary camps as they gather supplies, and then move out when they detect suspicion among the humans. Jesters, on the other hand, will either create permanent homes. Some will make dens underground with a series of tunnels. Others will build tree houses high off the ground away from prying eyes. The bravest jesters will take up residence in abandoned buildings inside human settlements and turn them into fortresses of stolen shinnies and repurposed technology. Jesters and smaller courts find cities more favorable than the wild, with fewer predators and more available food and treasures.
Goblin Subspecies: - Forest/Jungle Goblins are the most common of the goblin species, with all the characteristics that were detailed in the physical characteristics section. - Tundra/Mountain Goblins have thick, shaggy fur coats with longer than usual tails. The reason for their longer tails is so they can hold on to one another and stay together during storms or blizzards and act as climbing ropes when traversing steep mountains. They are the least different from the Forest/Jungle Goblins. - Desert/savanna goblins have thin, light colored fur with dark patches under their eyes to lessen the harsh sunlight and hairless tails. The tails of desert goblins, while hairless, have even thicker skin than any other goblins along with their hands and feet to allow them to climb cactuses easier. Desert goblins have developed a stronger stomach and liver than the other goblins, allowing them to eat more dangerous creatures and plants such as cactuses, scorpions, tarantulas, poisons, venom and more. This also means they have the hardest time getting inebriated of all the goblins. - Cave Dwelling/burrowing Goblins have soft, short fur with smaller, weaker eyes and the shortest tails of their cousins. In their place, they possess larger ears, sensitive noses with a ring of fleshy, retractable tentacles surrounding it, and hard dense shovel-like claws. These types of goblins possess echolocation to maneuver better in their dark homes, the strongest sense of smell of all the subspecies, and have been determined to be strong enough to dig through solid stone and concrete. The Cave Dwelling and Burrowing Goblins work with humans the most. They will help uncover favorable minerals and gems to trade for food and supplies. They also like to keep whatever is leftover or broken for their treasure collections. Fun facts: the cave dwelling/burrowing goblins are the originators of the legends of dwarves. They also don't move like other courts, preferring to expand their caves into village-like tunnel systems. - Coastal/Wetland/Swamp Goblins have short dense fur with webbed digits, smaller ears, and stronger paddle shaped tails to swim easier. The tails of the Coastal and Wetland goblins are less prehensile than their cousins due to being more used for swimming. Unlike other goblins that are omnivorous, the Coastal and Wetland variants are primarily piscivores. Due to living in areas with high amounts of plant life, the Swamp, and Wetland goblins have naturally occurring green fur to camouflage easier from predators. These goblins' pouches also seal airtight so if the Gib isn't big enough to come out they won't drown.
Social Structure, Behaviors, and other facts: - Goblins are highly social creatures, forming tight-knit groups that consist of 15 to 30 members at a time, known as courts. When a court begins to get too large to handle, it will separate into smaller ones and spread out. - Courts exhibit complex social hierarchies similar to apes. The leaders are known as Kings and Queens, they're not the strongest or considered royalty, they're the eldest or parents of the first members of the court. The king or queen's mate or closest siblings act as additional leaders if the need arises. - Loner Goblins that were banished from their courts or left on their terms are referred to as jesters. - Most Goblins have an assigned job or task within their courts examples include hunters, gatherers, healers, scouts, and Gib watchers - Goblins are omnivorous scavengers, hunting in larger courts and scavenging in smaller ones. - Favorite foods include small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, bugs, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and greasy human junk foods. Goblins aren't picky when it comes to food and drink. While they like the junk foods of humans, they prefer to eat their food as they call it “fresh.” Us humans would know it better as raw or still alive. - Goblins communicate through a complex array of vocalizations such has clicks, whistles, hissing, and hoot-like grunt noises like koalas (they enjoy freaking humans out with that last one, making it sound like demonic laughter). They are unable to speak human languages but, with practice, can learn to write, use sign languages, or use translation amulets to bridge the communication barrier between species. - They exhibit adaptability and resourcefulness, utilizing found objects and natural materials for tools and weapons. - Goblin names are usually based around things a goblin enjoys doing or think sound nice (this name scheme leads to odd names for individuals) Goblin names are rarely given, but instead chosen by the individual when they become an adult. Until they find a name, Goblins refer to one another as a friend, brother, sister, sibling, elder, mate, etc. - Goblins are often seen with multiple types of corvids, particularly crows, magpies, the occasional blue jay and especially ravens, communicating with them through whistles and chirps, tending to them and forming close relationships with the intelligent birds. Goblins also will keep pet mice, rats, and non-venomous snakes, finding them useful, making good companions, or as emergency snacks. - Many Goblins wear human clothes they were gifted or “found.” They enjoy thin clothes since they already have fur and find the extra warmth uncomfortable. They appreciate pants and wearable bags or packs that let them carry supplies and treasures. Shoes are strange for goblins, but with the assistance of nice humans, they've made glove like shoes so they can still manipulate their feet like hands and keep them protected from sharp debris. - Elder Goblins will teach the younger generations the ways of old. Examples of these teachings are: what is safe for hunting and eating. All the things that hunt goblins. What plants can be used as medicine or magic. And most importantly, how to have fun and love life. - If a Goblin challenges a member of their court or wishes to fight for fun, the combatants will fight similarly to cats grappling one another while kicking, scratching, and biting. Parents will teach their joeys on fighting when they're deemed big enough. - Grooming is essential to goblins. They will help one another pick fleas and ticks off one another, as well as brush fur to keep them from becoming matted or tangled. They will occasionally bathe with water but prefer sand or dirt to deter the as mentioned parasites they deal with. - Some important celebrations in goblin culture are: when joeys become full-grown goblins by joining on a hunt. The day a goblin reveals their name by celebrating their life and accomplishments. When a new King or Queen starts leading the court. They also acknowledge the passage of seasons on each solstice or equinox. All of these are celebrated with a large amount of food and dancing. - When a goblin passes away, they are wrapped in tree bark, cloth, or animal skin, then buried. These individuals are returned to the earth that fed them to help nourish the next generations. - When goblins saw human contraptions such as tools, weapons, and instruments for the first time, they were immediately interested. Some favorites are slingshots, knives, hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, flutes, lutes, drums, and the notorious bag pipes. - Most Goblins are on good terms with Elves, surprisingly. Goblins love and respect nature and see the plant-like humanoids as the pinnacle of it. Some Courts will dedicate their lives to helping care for the multiple orchards of Elves across the world as well as helping in raising their seedlings called fairies, and in return, these ancient magic practitioners will protect these goblin courts. - the goblin language has different dialects because of the multiple types of subspecies and the regions they inhabit, but can still be understood between each one if with an accent. The language itself consists of clicks, whistles, and subsonic frequencies, and some pheromones goblins will expel. They have no written language, apart from what they've adopted from interactions with humans and the Elves. Goblins will carve symbols for other goblins to find that tell things about the area, such as what predators are near, if plants or the water are safe, and if the humans are friendly with them or not. - interactions between the different types of goblins are rare, but not uncommon between borders of biomes. They will usually trade or speak of the area for knowledge, then move along. More aggressive courts might start a skirmish, some end well with new-found friends, others end badly with one less court in the world. - Some myths and folklore about Goblins such as causing misfortune or living in walls doing chores for homeowners are derived from facts like goblins trading chores for food and supplies with kinder humans or a court hunting and pranking the same mean human for years, but most are human hear say and stupidity. - The main predators of goblins are large canines, big cats, large birds, bears, humans, and the most notorious, Orcs. Orcs are large amphibious frog-like humanoids that live in lakes, rivers, wetlands, jungles, and swamps. They're also known as ogres and trolls. Orcs hate goblins with a passion because they will catch and eat orc tadpoles, thinking they're just regular tadpoles or strange fish. - Human magic practitioners such as blood witches and warlocks will hunt goblins to butcher and use in their dark rituals, hoping for more power to come from the joyful creatures. The myth of goblins helping with potions was a lie from a Warlock who was screwed over by a court of goblins that he was constantly bullying.

Nature of Humanity Ch 54
The First Human Exterminator Part 21
A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The Nature of Predators.” Thank you for the story!
___
Memory transcription subject: Johnathon Hunter, Exterminator
Date [standardized human time]: October 24th, 2136
My brain begged me for water while the warm weight on my chest emitted a long, “Uuuuuuuuuuweeeeegh… buUUURP!”
The rather unpleasant scent of morning after binge-drinking assaulted the inside of my nose. My eyes ripped the sleep, that was gluing themselves shut, open. The pain searing in my dry eyes coupled with the unpleasant smell assaulting my nose from the small, warm, fuzzy thing on my chest dragged me from the realm of sleep back to the realm of the waking.
My arms absentmindedly reached for my glasses on the nightstand, only to find that I was not in my bed but rather on the living room couch. I scratched around the small table beside the couch, still unable to find my glasses, before the yellowish blur named Koldi gently affixed them to my head.
My visions restored, I could now see a puffy redness in his eyes. Before he could scamper off, my arm encircled him like an anaconda, coiling him up and dragging him into the fur pile I had built. Something painfully spiky jammed into my arm as I pulled Lil’ K up.
“noooooo… more sleep.” Taumy's paw slapped my nose like it was an alarm clock. At least I now know why the top of my head is wet. Gojid drool had seeped into most of my hair thanks to Lil’ T's bad habit of suckling whatever he is holding in his sleep.
Koldi kicked against my grapple but soon gave up with little resistance, letting me pull him up like a bag of sugar. He nuzzled his entire head into my neck as I squeezed him as hard as I dared too. I gently bit the top of his head, eliciting an annoyed meep. He began to struggle and squirm as I tried to find purchase for another bite. He dodged my attempts with a hiss and, baring his own teeth in retaliation.
I flinched as he managed to get a mouthful of my beard in his jaws and he started to twist his head back and forth like a dog tearing into a piece of steak. A bolt of real pain pierced my skull as Taumy woke and got my ear in his mouth and started chewing, “Ah! Help! I'm being mauled!”
Despite being tag teamed by the angsty pre-teen and toddler wombo-combo my awareness of the situation continued to grow. I came to realize that the bunny-thing on my chest was still asleep despite the ruckus. I managed to look down past… uh… Silvera? Yeah, I looked past Silvera at the strange bipedal Capybara/Kangaroo/Fox hybrid thing using my legs as a blanket. Miva? I think that's her name, snorted awake and began to rub her eyes, “Mweh?”
“uh, Good- OW! Morning. If ya don't remember, I'm John, and it would appear we are at my place of residence.” I loosened my grip on Koldi, hoisted Taumy off of my head, and took a moment to enjoy hearing them both giggle for a moment, “The ball of spikes is Taumy and the Paltan currently eating my beard is Koldi.
She awkwardly waved her paw, “Nice to meet you… uhm, I'm Mila and if you don't mind I could really use some water…”
It hadn't occurred to me that my legs might actually be pinning her in place but she was too polite to ask, “Uh sorry, uhm, how long is she-”
“I'M AWAKE! Buh! Uh… oh!” Silvera started to calm down as she took in her surroundings and likely remembered the events that led her to using me as a bed.
She tried to wiggle her ears seductively. Yet failed as she was both still upside down and looked like something I ran over with my truck, “Hello there! I-”
Taumy sprang up over my head, stepping on my throat in the process, “HI! ARE YOU BIG J'S- WHOA!”
Koldi saw what was coming and tried to get away. Unfortunately, he was still caught in a headlock and, like everyone on the couch, was caught up in the avalanche of motion as my body began to furiously cough.
The four of us fell to the floor in a knotted mess as I desperately tried to hold the living spike ball above us. As my body involuntarily twitched and squirmed, I did my best to avoid landing on anyone. Mila sat on the couch staring at my coughing form as Silvera did her best to squirm out from under me. Taumy was giggling incessantly at Koldi, who was still in a headlock but also upside down.
I threw Taumy onto the couch and got up, releasing my three unfortunate prisoners. None of them looked hurt as I massaged my aching throat and leaned against the sofa with a groan. Taumy righted himself and crawled forward, hugging the back of my head and Koldi threw himself onto my lap.
Mila was about to ask something when I saw her eyes widen in alarm. I lifted a hand and pointed down the hall, “The bathroom is the last door at the end of the hall.” I received a thankful tail flip as she sprinted towards her salvation.
My hand began to absentmindedly scratch the top of Koldi's head, “So uh, Silvera… I don't exactly remember most of last night.”
Taumy and Koldi’s ears flicked to attention as they began to listen very intently to our conversation, “Oh, we mostly just talked about what it was like moving here. My immigration versus your rather strange refugee status as a Gojid instead of a Human.”
The memory of finally receiving my documents to find out that the UN had somehow managed to both lose my last name and changing my species to Gojid came flooding back along with the distinct memory of a Yotul laughing at me, “Oh, yeah. That rings a bell. If I recall correctly, you immigrated here after aging out of a Venlil orphanage?”
Her tail was anxiously twitching behind her as she remembered something unpleasant, “Yeah, it was either that or joining the exterminators and I was not about to do that after they tried to have me institutionalized as a threat to the herd.”
I rubbed some exhaustion mixed with disbelief from my eyes, “So, it is true. That I’ve accidentally joined the secret police?”
She didn’t seem to believe the fact that I am not that smart, “I don’t know what that is, but I do know there is nothing secret about it. How have you not figured that out yet?”
“Look, I’ve been on one job so far and-” I quickly looked up and checked the room for Loke or any of our other roommates, “Well, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it wasn’t like we were busting down doors and arresting members of the local political opposition.”
She tried to flick her tail reassuringly to ease my mind, “Well, hey. They hired you, and you are a predator, Mr. HUNTER. So maybe they are focusing more on different things now. You humans showed up and changed a lot of stuff just by being here.”
I let out a defeated sigh, “Yeah, tell me about it. We managed to start two wars and get an entire planet destroyed in the span of like a month. Actually, why are you so friendly towards us? Aren’t we the reason your species has just disappeared, leaving you stranded behind?”
She waved off my defeatism with a practiced paw, “Oh, it’s not that bad. There are at least fifty thousand Sivkits living in the Venlil Republic, let alone other federation worlds. If I wanted to be around those assholes, it would take like [ten minutes] of searching on the internet before a hundred horny men were banging on my door for a chance. I’ll pass.”
I could imagine her as that Florida woman who shot one of a dozen suitors with a bow after getting annoyed, “I- … you sure you're not human? That sounds like what happened to every woman I know who used a dating app.”
Her tail wagged adorably behind her, “Hehehe, Maybe I am!”
My alarm went off letting me know I only had an hour left before my free time was over, “Hey, I’ve got to go to work soon, but- uhm, I’m trying to expand my friend group. What would you say to meeting up after work every so often? I have an income now, I can at least buy you a drink.”
I resisted the urge to squish her face with my hands as she happily replied, “That sounds wonderful. Just know if you’re trying to get a kiss, that won’t be happening so long as you keep drinking poop juice.”
“What.”
She looked equal parts concerned and guilty“That Sweet ale you were drinking? That fermented Honeydew.”
Oh, god no. NOT AGAIN, “Is-isn’t h-honeydew a fl-flower?”
She gritted her teeth as she explained, “An Earth flower? On Venlil Prime? Over twenty light years away? No. Honeydew is the name of Laysi poop. Cause, ya know… they eat so much nectar that they are effectively all diabetic and have to get excess sugar out of their system, or it’ll kill them… The Venlil discovered they could use it to make their super alcohol a lot more easily. They just water it down for us aliens.”
I just sat in silence and tried to push all thoughts out of my head.
She slowly walked towards me and rested a paw on my shoulder, “John? Are you ok?”
I sat still in defeat, “Yeah. I am. I- just drank so much of it.”
She tried her best to cheer me up, “Well. Thankfully that’s the only drink in the galaxy that is made from poop, so you don’t have to worry about a repeat!”
My eyes met with her own and I could see the realization hit her as I explained, “My favorite coffee is Kopi Luwak… it’s- … What is wrong with me? I’m an omnivore not- … Gawd damn it!”
The world seemed to stop as Taumy threw his arms in the air, “Gawd, damn it!”
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Aroka, Extermination Officer Captain
Date [standardized human time]: October 24th, 2136
Why me? Why, oh why, does it have to be me?! First I get one of the most difficult apprentices, and then they scoop up a human and throw them to me as well. Now, Sudo’s personal problem has decided I am the one who needs to listen to every crazy thought that runs through his head.
I looked up to the Tilfish who was gesturing wildly at the pad he was holding, “See Aroka! Undeniable proof that the UN is just a puppet government! The humans are actually led by this shadow government run by the Illuminati! Who the humans have known for years are lizard people! And WHAT lizard people stand to gain from controlling humans and having them wage wars on their behalf? THAT’S RIGHT! THE ARXUR! THE ARXUR HAVE BEEN RULING EARTH FOR OVER ONE THOUSAND CYCLES!”
My eyes felt like they had just been assaulted, “Rezka. The Arxur weren’t even uplifted when you say they gained control over all of humanity…”
His mandibles quivered, “Buh! I- That’s the genius! Just look at all the pyramids! Those are clearly some sort of teleportation technology, and they convinced the Humans they were sacred so as not to have them look too closely! Why else would there be pyramids in civilizations so far scattered!?”
Very slammed his head into the desk, “The Arxur are about as stupid as they come. Even then, teleportation technology has been proven to be impossible.”
He clacked his mandibles defiantly, “Ah HA! That’s what they want you to think! But there is a special mineral on Earth that warps reality! It’s the reason Earth has no true forests anymore! They were all cut down to harvest it!”
Very and I shared a defeated “What?” as we hoped Sudo would return soon enough.
“Yeah, There is a mineral on Earth that warps reality! It’s why Earth is the only flat planet in existence! The Arxur cut down the true trees to harvest everything that was on the surface and have been slowly preparing to use it!”
I jumped a little bit as John’s deep voice caught me off guard, “What the fuck. Aroka? Why is the giant fucking spider thing a Flat Earther?”
“You can’t deny it, Predator! I know about the Illuminati and the so-called Lizard people overlords that are clearly the Arxur! Admit it!”
John just stood there with that reflective mask on his face. I had to wonder what emotions it was contorting to try and tell. His lack of a tail made it even harder, but I still had to assume it was a mixture of confusion and pain as his hand subconsciously tried to grab the bridge of his nose under the mask, “I wonder what the news would do with an Alien conspiracy theorist. It’d break the internet for sure.”
John just ignored the agitated Tilfish and sat down at his desk, “Hey Aroka? You are aware there is a call-out for someone to go clear a home, right?”
“OH! Let’s go now! We can’t let someone live in fear in their own home! let’s -”
Very had already jumped up from his seat and was headed for the door, “Come on, Captain! Not a minute to lose! We need to save the day!”
John caught on quick enough and sped walked out of the room after him, “Good point, Very! I do so love helping aliens feel safe. Let’s go!”
I made a half apologetic tail flick to Sudo who had just returned, “Sorry! Got to run! People to save and all of that.”
Sudo’s face dropped as I could hear Rezka miss every clue painted on our expressions, “It’s good to see Very excited to work! Maybe the pair of them can train that Predator to be more than a mindless killing machine after all!”
We all walked with renewed energy towards the parking garage as John pulled up the call on his tablet, “Ok. A family of three, no Father, Reports a small creature moving in the shadows of their home on the outskirts of the tundra… Says she ‘Knows it's a predator as they used to have a-” … uh… Klepi problem?”
The vile little things were a common pest across the galaxy, “Klepi are small invertebrates that get into food and contaminate it with their waste.”
John nodded his head in understanding, “Ah. Basically a cockroach… Ok, So, her Klepi problem has disappeared, so she thinks the predator has been eating them. Her youngest son has also found animal droppings that are bigger than a Klepi… How big are Klepi?
I looked for some sort of reference before Very spoke up, “About as big as the tip of your pinky.”
He looked at the tip of his digit and bobbed his head, “Oh… ok. We should be there in an hour. I’ll send a message- … Very! You should send the message, we are en-route!”
Very indignantly asked, “Why me? You are the- … Alright. Hand me the tablet.”
Without Rezka’s constant rambling, the time flew by as we headed towards the call. John actually managed to help speed up the passage of time by asking actually pertinent questions. Such as what I suspected we were running into. Though, he also asked some strange questions which made me decide to never visit Earth… not that being a Krakotl on Earth is a good formula for having a long life span at the moment.
John cocked his head to the side, “So there really aren’t any venomous or even poisonous animals in the Galaxy? That is exclusively an Earth thing?”
The thought of predators or prey that could kill at a touch or with a single bite was terrifying, “As far as I am aware. I would have heard about an animal who could kill with a single bite, or an animal that could kill if you liked it. Maybe there was a long time ago, though. It sounds like your people are obsessed with cataloging animals, and there are not that many people in the federation who pursue that as a career.”
John glanced back at his pad, “Alright, It's not like- wait. Is this the place? How do you want to play this? I’d rather not freak anyone out.”
I grabbed my tool belt, “Just stay behind me. Very will go talk to them and ensure no one is in the house, and then we go in and hunt it down.”
We left the truck at the end of the driveway and walked the last bit towards the house. The mother looked relieved for a moment before her tail dropped as she noticed John. Very waved his tail rather nonchalantly, “Don’t worry about the human. He works for us. Is there anyone in the house?”
She shuffled her two children behind her, “No. We’ve been out here for hours waiting for you! That beast has been stalking our home for days now!”
Very tried to calm her down, “Don’t worry. The nightmare will soon be over. I’ll be staying here with you, and my Captain and John here will be going in and dealing with the, uh, beast.”
She stomped her foot, “I don’t want that predator in my house!”
Very either missed why she was upset or just didn’t care, “Yeah. That’s why Aroka and John are going to get it out.”
I took advantage of her stunned silence to get both myself and John into the abode while Very kept her pacified outside, “Alright, John. How are you tackling this?”
He took stock of his surroundings, “Well… First thing, I need to have a rough idea of where this thing is running. It’s small, so it probably sticks to hidey holes and only runs out when it absolutely has to.”
John laid belly first on the floor and used his flashlight to illuminate below the family couch, “A few crumbs… What appears to be pest scat… but no pests… I think this might be a hunting ground. Left over crumbs attract the prey, the couch provides nesting if these egg casings are anything to go by, and the predator comes over to eat the Klepi. I don’t see any large scat, so the predator doesn’t like hanging out here for long.”
John scanned around the floor before crawling over to a nearby corner with a table, “Got some light gray fur here… Caught on a nail too far under the table for a Venlil to catch their foot on it… Might be a trail here.”
John stood up and carried on down the hall, “First door is too low to the ground for something to easily crawl under, but this second one is actually a bit higher.”
I followed him into the room. “Ah. Isn’t this a cute little children’s room? Mom won’t be happy if this is where the little bugger has been living. But if I know kids, they definitely have food in here and well… You know what that attracts.”
He laid on his belly again and picked up half of an insect, “I guess this is half of a Klepi right?”
I shook a little at the sight of the poor little creature, “Yeah. Poor thing was probably alive when it got bit in half.”
John continued to prattle on as he searched for clues to the whereabouts of his quarry, “Eh. Wouldn’t call it poor. It doesn’t care about possibly poisoning these kids with its poop, and even then it probably doesn’t feel pain like we do. Saw a video of a fly, once, ripped off its own head. Didn’t even realize it did it and just kept trying to clean it. Bugs are weird…”
John let out a startled noise and positioned himself like he was going to pounce, “Get ready Aroka… cause… here… we… go.”
He almost jumped under the bed, and I nearly jumped as hissing came spewing forth. John pulled a small furry Tezka from out of the bed. The horrid thing snarled and whipped its slender tail and toothy maw about.
John had a cocksure attitude about him as he looked the thing up and down. Its squat body and wide head made for a horrid visage, “This thing is plump! He’s been feasting here. What is this?”
No doubt about it, “That. Is a Tezka.”
“A Tesco? Surprised they have a shop opened up here.”
I pinched the end of my beak, “I- NO. No jokes right now. It's a predator. Eats small insects.”
“So… Not really a threat?”
I let out a defeated sigh, “It’s a predator.”
John pulled his glove off and put his finger in its mouth. I could feel my eyes bulge, but no words escaped my mouth as the vile thing refused to bite down, “See? Even if it did bite, it doesn’t have the teeth to really tear flesh. Those are bug munching teeth. Look at how it doesn’t bite. It definitely uses bites as a last line of- whoa! Dropped its tail!”
I could only stare at the wriggling tail that now lay on the floor, whipping back and forth. John picked the little thing up, “See that? The tail is designed to come off. It acts as a distraction. Gets predators to attack it while it runs away to safety. I bet, with a healthy diet and a few weeks, it’ll grow back fine and healthy.”
He grunted as he stood back up, “I- I don’t see any signs that there is more than one in this house. Let’s leave now.”
John followed me out of the house, but before I could get a word in he opened his mouth, “Heya ma’am. Want to see your tiny terrible terror?”
He held it up and the three of them gasped in unison. “Yeah, I think this guy must have believed himself to be a renter. Caught him in the kids’ room. Also, you really need to vacuum more. You have turned your house into the ideal Klepi habitat.”
The mother stuttered, “Wh-what? That thing was living in my kids’ room?!”
John almost sounded proud of the Tezka, “Yup! Been eating the Klepi that have been eating the crumbs scattered under the furniture of your house. You said you used to have an infestation, right?”
The Mother looked a little sad as she realized what she would have to do soon, “Y-yeah… I’ve had to drop a fortune on pesticides…”
He turned it over in his hands, letting the three of them get a better look, “So you owe this guy a big thanks. He dealt with it single-handedly, and you didn’t have to charge him. Though, with him gone, You are going to need to keep this place clean or the Klepi will come back, and this guy won’t be here to stop them.”
Very huffed, “You sound like you’re suggesting to just let it live in the house!”
He cocked his head to the side in thought, “You could probably train it to use the bathroom in a specific spot, but I’d actually recommend making a small home for it outside and letting it just live in the garden.”
She looked taken aback at the thought, “I- It could attack my kids!”
John jammed his ungloved finger in its mouth. He just poked it in the back of its throat a few times until the creature finally bit him. He held it up and just let it dangle there, “Yeah… This thing isn’t aggressive towards stuff bigger than it. I also highly doubt it will ever be a threat to your kids… even if you just had them… want to touch it?”
John crouched down and used his bitten finger and thumb to hold it by its own jaws. The three of them stepped forward cautiously after neither myself nor Very protested. The kids looked awed to see a mythical predator, while the mother went from looking horrified to sad, “Why did you rip its tail off? It’s going to die a painful death now.”
John held up the still twitching tail, eliciting an ‘ewwwww’ from the three of them. He started to talk as though he was giving a presentation on the thing he just learned about. Slowly, the three of them looked less scared and more curious. He even coaxed them to actually pet the thing.
“So, yeah. That’s about all I know. I imagine it likes cramped places where it can hide. Probably lives in small burrows or in hollowed out logs. But I guess we have to haul it away and kill it now. That right Cap’n? Have to burn all predators to death?”
The three of them looked alarmed as John turned to me. I felt a bit annoyed at him putting me on the spot like I was the bad guy, “That is standard protocol. Have to burn the taint away.”
He laughed at me… Oh, he’s going to pay for laughing at me, “HA! Oh, yeah. I forgot about the magical taint. A whole lot of scientific evidence proving that it is real… Oh! wait… no there isn’t. Anyway, let’s get out of here.”
The kids grabbed their mother’s tail, “Don’t let them kill it! He’s just scared! He’s a little guy! He’s not bad!”
The mother looked sick even considering this, “It’s a predator…”
Very huffed, “So long as I get paid, I don’t care. It’s not like there aren’t thousands of predators living on Venlil Prime as refugees. Guess all that nonsense about taint isn’t true, so that just means we only need to worry about large, non-sapient, predators.”
John scoffed, “Oh yeah, those ones you guys hunted to extinction with flamethrowers. Real pleasant way to die.”
The kids begged their mother some more, and she looked like she was in pain. She turned to me looking for some help, “I- Well, Mam!”
A thought ran through my head, “It’s your choice, mam. I was told to see what the Human could do and what we can learn from them. I can have someone I trust come by every week and check on you… It would be a useful opportunity to learn about using predators to benefit society… John’s already proven to be quite useful.”
John stood up and held the poor Tezka out, “There is supposed to be a blizzard in a few days, and with him having just dropped his tail, he probably won’t make it long outside a house. I’d keep him in a box with air holes. Maybe get him used to being around you so he’s not afraid anymore, that way you can let him out to keep your Klepi problem down.”
She recoiled away from it a little bit, “I- I really don’t know about this…”
John gently rested one of his large hands on her shoulder, “How about I give you my number. I can also go in and show the three of you what to do with the little guy. Here, just hold him for a moment. Gently now.”
She held out her paws and gently took hold of the beast. It was strange to watch her breathing calm down in unison with its, “I- … It’s so small…”
His hand glided over her shoulder to the center of her back, and he gently led her into the house, “Come on… I’ll help you get started. Trust me. I think in a few dozen years, anyone with a farm is going to want one of these. Little guys like these are a huge reason we were able to even have cities. We big people just aren’t good at fighting the deluge of pests trying to steal our food.”
John gently guided the hesitant mother inside, with her two children scampering around trying to look at the new thing. Very walked over to me, “You may want to go in there and watch him… I’ll get the truck cranked.”
The fact I still have a job to do caught me off guard. I sprinted after them to make sure John’s advice and plan is something I’d actually want to risk my career for.
___/\___
I have been absolutely destroyed by a sinus infection that migrated towards my ears. Like it has been rough this last week so sorry for the late update.
John has a date! And We finally get to the part where He starts convincing people to keep predators as pets! That’s totally not going to backfire right?
Actually I had a lot in this one! Got to introduce one of two characters I need to! The other being Sudo and Rezka’s Captain! Oh I can’t wait to get to him!
So Riddle me this… of all the aliens in the NoPverse, what would you like as a pet? I’d like a Vlarkell… I’ve heard they're to die for!
Special thanks to u/JulianSkies and u/callmefishy11 for proofreading! Seriously it felt like my eyes were melting out of my skull and your feedback was everything I needed! Sorry I wasn’t able to get it to you guys to proofread!
___/\___
Directory
Library of BiasMushroom contains every link for everything I have written! Check it out as some stuff related to Nature of Humanity may not appear on HFY! As well as my little side stories and Fanfics of other NoP fanfics!
The Nature of Humanity
First / Previous / Next
The First Human Exterminator
First / Previous / Next
For anyone posting to HFY do NOT select HFY first. It bugs out and doesn't work nice with copy/paste from google docs.

A fight over territory
Ukanlos are well known to be extremely territorial. Once they find a place to call home, they will rarely ever move away from it. Sustaining themselves from fish and the occasional large prey that is unfortunate enough to wander into their territory. With their slow metabolism and long lifespan, the life of an Ukanlos is a mostly calm and quiet one. One notable exception to this rule is the mating season. Once every five years, the male Ukanlos will leave their territory, traveling north to search for a new one in the most deserted and coldest places of the tundra. Once they find a smaller temporary territory, the male Ukanlos will start to stand on their hind legs and roar before slamming down. The guild believes that the roars and sounds of slams are meant to attract females, with louder and deeper roars seeming to be preferable. This is believed to be a selection pressure that selects for larger members of the species. Under normal circumstances, Ukanlos' territories are so large and isolated that they are unlikely to encounter other Ukanlos. With all of them traveling to such a relatively small area, a meeting between two competing males is not uncommon. If two Ukanlos males meet, a show fight will occur. In which both of them stand up on their hind legs and will try to push each other over. Significant injuries seem to be rather rare during these events. When the male Ukanlos finds a partner, they will leave once the eggs are laid. The female Ukanlos will stay for a time period of 2-3 months to make sure no other Ukanlos go near them during the mating season, after which they too will make their way back. There are typically 2-3 eggs in each nest and they will hatch after roughly 7 months. The act of building their nests in this deserted area seems to have the benefit that once the eggs hatch, not many predotors will be around to threaten them.
​
An unlikely friendship
A rajang is a fierce and aggressive monster that can pose a threat to most other things around it. They are omnivores that will eat meat from smaller monsters. However their usual diet is mostly made up of fruits, berries and mushrooms. Predetors they will see as a threat and herbivores as a competition for food. As such their incredible aggressiveness is not all that surprising. Which makes the behavior researchers have observed of Rajangs living in the icy tundra quite a shocking discovery. Three researchers were tasked to go on a field expedition and keep track of the yearly migration of Gammoth and Popo herds and document their numbers. Every year during the winter Popo herds can be seen wandering south in search of food and warmth. Very often are these herds accompanied by a Gammoth and it's newly born calf. On their expedition they finally found the herd they were supposed to track, resting. Though before they went to take a closer look, they spotted something that made them immediately reconsider getting closer. A Rajang was holding on to a Gammoth's trunk seemingly pulling with all of his might. At first the researchers believed this to be a fight between the two, however two details made it clear right away that this assumption was wrong. First of all the Gammoth was sitting relaxed on the ground showing no signs of aggression and only occasionally pulled back her trunk before letting up again. The second thing was that outside of pulling on the trunk the Rajang wasn't doing anything else. Rajang are known for their strength sure, but also for their incredible intellegence and this Rajang should therefore know better than trying to out-muscle something the size of an adult Gammoth. After a while the Gammothlifted her trunk and the now dangling Rajang started to swing back and forth. Afterwards the Rajang started climbing all over the Gammoth. The researcher decided that with a Rajang nearby that this expedition was to dangerous to be continued. Gammoths around this time of the year are already easy to anger when they spot anything that isn't their calf or a Popo, but this can usally be dealed with, by keeping your distance and making sure to not come off as a threat, but Rajang spotting you is a different story and so they headed back to make their report.
After this initial discovery many more were quick to follow. The guild has determined this to be a symbiotic relationship. The smell of a Rajang is usually enough to deter most other predators and their fast speed also allows them to protect the Gammoth calf much quicker in case of an emergency. Gammoth on the other hand not only provide warmth, but their incredibly strong smell also allows them to find food in the form of mushrooms and berries deep under the snow that would normally be impossible for Rajang to find. The guild believes that this behavior is learned. As Gammoths have been spotted sharing food with Rajangs to engage in a friendly relationship and what might be even more surprising have been seen to encourage their calf to interact with the Rajang once a friendly relationship is established. The learned nature of this symbiosis also means that it is only possible due to the high intelligence of both Gammoths and Rajangs. Gammoths most likely seeing the Rajang as an extra layer of protection for their calf and Rajang seeing that the benefits of cooperation are better than wasting energy on fighting a Gammoth. Further more due to their high intelligence, it is believed by the guild that both Gammoths and Rajangs can actively distinguish between and remember individuals of the other spieces. As some of them have been spotted teaming up multiple years in a row before going their separate ways again. Many questions are still open, but the guild has made a rule that in case of spotting such a team up by a hunter or another member of the guild for them to immeadiatly turn around and return, since the threat of both a Rajang and a mother Gammoth is to high to risk close up inspections.
​
Hope you had some fun reading this and i apologize for all spelling/grammar errors i've more than likely made.

"Certainly not, they cannot be trusted!”
"We don't know that."
"Even if their story is true, I have no doubt that they have other motives. No one offers peace accords if there are not ulterior motives."
"But they already said! They want to trade with us, and they want the precious mineral compounds found in our ice."
"They want to enslave our planet more like."
"You saw the creature, it had no fur, and it was freezing as soon as it took its layers off. I have no doubt that it has no interest in enslaving our planet. The environment is too inhospitable for it to consider spending so much time here."
"Your logic is backward for a scientist... But I suppose that should be expected of someone with your pedigree."
"...You are wrong, and your hesitation will cost us. They saved our lives, the least we can do is hear them out."
"And at the end of the day that is my decision and not yours. You overstep your bounds, and now you will return to your place, scientist."
Yeb stood, ears plastered back against her skull, the fur on her back puffing outward to strain against the inside of her jacket, but she didn't protest. He may have been wrong about many things, but he was right about this one, she had no power here, and to assume as much would be too presumptuous.
She did know her place.
Had known it since she was a pup.
She raised her chin stiffly at the chancellor and turned on her heels, claws digging against the ice as she trudged from the council chambers and out into the blinding sunlight of early morning. The council had debated for many hours, until unanimously making a decision that she thought would be a great mistake. They had decided not to engage with the GA, and therefore cut off any chances they would have at learning from the more advanced race.
She brushed a dusting of snow from a rock just to her right and sat down staring up at the sky. Over her head the atmosphere was a light bluish purple. The sun blazed down with white, blue intensity.
She could have learned so much from them! Perhaps a way to develop better vaccines as they had clearly found the cure to the plague faster than any of them could. If it had been up to her expertise, the entire world would be dead by now.
Yeb sighed deeply.
There were so many things she could have learned from them, so many things, but now that knowledge would be lost, and they would be left to trundle along in a dark age ad never know what glorious things they could have learned. This GA governmental body has offered them transport into the stars! Who would refuse such an offer.
It was a monumental mistake.
She sat there for a long moment, contemplating her next move. The future seemed bleak in comparison to the one they had been offered. How could she just go back to her normal life knowing what was out there? Could she just sit idly by in her ice cave, eating the same bland fish and listening to the same bland propaganda of a government that "couldn't or wouldn't" see what a tragedy it was to lose fifty percent of their lower class?
It made her sick as she pictured the beautiful images she had seen in scientific journals of the vast cold darkness of space.
She stood.
That was it, if nothing she wanted to at least see the creatures off, tell them good luck, and thank them for what they had done. Maybe they would be more likely to return one day if 'someone' were to go and say goodbye to them and actually thank them for what they had done.
With her mind made up, she stood, and with renewed vigor made her way over the icy tundra and towards the alien landing sight. Government officials were crawling all over the area, keeping the curious, prying eyes of the civilians well back where they couldn't cause trouble or get any ideas. They tried to keep her back too, but she flashed a badge at the first two and managed to dodge two more before three burly agents stepped into her path.
All three of them had deep onyx fur and glowered at her with intense black eyes.
"This area is restricted."
"I just want to talk to them. They know me."
"This area is restricted."
They repeated.
"I am the scientist who first came in contact with them, please, I would really just like to speak with them."
She tried moving around, but it was no good, and they continued to block her path. Behind him, she could see the shuttle that had brought the aliens down. It was of strange construction, cold silver steel in sharp angular lines. The creatures swarmed around the ship carrying boxes, a few of them collected ice and snow in small clear tubes.
The commotion must have alerted them, and she saw their leader raise his head as the agents began to push her back.
She waved a desperate hand in the creature's direction, and it broke into a trot over the icy ground its boots cringing over the snow.
"Hold on!"
It called, and its booming voice was enough to make the agents stop and back away nervously.
The only thing she could see under its mask and hood was that sharp green eye.
"Everything alright?"
He wondered,
She sighed but nodded,
"Well... No... not really. I just wanted to let you know that... Well not all of us agree with the chancellor. Don't... Well just don't forget about us."
She watched the creature's face wrinkle about the eyes, and the feeling she got from the expression was... one of surprising pleasure.
"Don't worry, we won't forget about you. We are a bit harder to ignore than all that... In a 2strictly annoying sort of way” and less of the tyrannical “we are going to take over your world” sort of way."
The creature made a strange, repeated whirring noise deep in his chest, and she yipped her own amusement.
He held out a hand to her and she stared at it,
"It's a human greeting and farewell."
Gingerly she reached forward and took his hand, feeling as he wrapped his fingers around hers in a firm grip and shook once.
It was a strange gesture, yet one that simultaneously made her feel connected to him, in a way, not altogether unpleasant.
Then he let her go, turning back to his ship and striding over the ground with the confidence of a creature that had done this sort of thing many times, that was until he slipped on the ice and staggered awkwardly, arms flailing. She yipped again in amusement, and he waved a hand turning around to see if anyone had seen.
She turned and made her way back up towards the plateau watching as the ice and tundra spread out before her, white on blue purple, and just as she was reaching the top, she stopped. She could go no further.
She glanced back to where the strange creatures were beginning to load their equipment back onto their ship, and then forward to where the government agents were busy pushing back a line of curious onlookers.
No one saw her.
Yeb sat in thought for a long moment, and before she really knew what she was doing, she turned around and raced back down the hill, skidding and sliding on the ice with barely controlled speed. She wasn't sure what she was doing, or what she was going to do, but as she reached the bottom of the hill, and saw an open box resting on the ground; she made a decision.
It wasn't a good decision, nor was it a well thought out decision, and honestly later, she would come to realize that there were easier ways to do what she was about to do, the number one being to simply ask politely, but none of that crossed her mind as she dove into the box and pulled the lid over her head.
As far as she knew, no one had seen her, and before long she felt the crate lurch upwards and wobble its way towards the shuttle, while the creatures outside grunted at its unusually heavy weight.
She was set down inside, and, she thought, strapped down.
It didn't occur to her again, until the engines ignited, just what she had done to herself.
Her stomach lurched into her feet and she screamed in fear and shock as the ground fell out from beneath her. All she could hear was the roaring of engines and feel the battering of the atmosphere around her as they cut through the atmosphere.
And then, after just a few minutes, the rattling died away, and she found herself floating inside the box like a free droplet of water in freefall.
With her tail tucked around her she hugged herself tight, screaming internally about what she had just done.
At some point, she felt the ship lurch, and after a moment, she dropped back to the bottom of the box as gravity reinstated itself.
Inside her box, the air grew stiflingly hot, and she began to pant vigorously as the heat seeped into her body. She hadn't expected it to be so hot.
She felt her crate lurch again, and her ears were filled with the echo of a large space, and strange alien voices calling out to each other. She shrunk back into her box, there must have been hundreds of them...
And now she was a stowaway.
She really hadn't thought this through. What was she going to eat? What was she going to drink? What would happen if they found her skulking on board the ship without invitation? The creatures had seemed hospitable originally, but that didn't really mean anything if they thought she was some kind of spy.
Her insides churned a bit, as the crate was set down and the voices retreated.
The box continued to grow hotter and hotter.
She tried to wait it out as best she could, but soon, it became too much, and with a gasp of air she threw off the lid of her crate and gasped for fresh air. It was, somewhat fresher than it had been inside the crate, but the heat was still unbearable.
Panting fit to burst, she tripped off her jacket, undershirt, gloves and any other layer she could think of, tossing them into the box.
It was marginally more bearable, but still, she felt as if she could barely breathe.
This was the worst idea she had ever had.
How could she have been so stupid?
The creatures were clearly very cold on her planet, what made her think that she would be comfortable in their environment?
She heard footsteps, and quietly dropped to one knee, still panting.
"You see that place. Frozen hellhole for sure."
"I wouldn't mind the cold so much, but the place looked like a prison with ice."
"Hmm if their government leaders knew what they were missing, maybe they wouldn't be so hasty to tell us to shove off."
A familiar voice broke in with them,
"I don't know, I thought it was kinda cool, like Hoth from Star Wars."
"Admiral, haven't we established that you are like... The only person on this ship who knows what that means."
“Yeah? Sunny?”
“Yes Adam I know it.”
“Sunny doesn’t count!”
“HEY Jenkins, since you are just passing by, you know what the planet Hoth is right?”
“Yes Admiral.”
“Alright as you were, you can keep moving crates. Maverick how about you?”
“Yes… yes I know…”
“Ah Maverick! My heart pains from this back stab! How can you do this to me!”
“And you yourself Ramirez? I know you know!”
"AH FINE CMON! But just for the record: that’s because you forced us and half the crew into a Star Wars marathon."
"You can thank me later."
There was some grumbling from the group of humans as they passed by, and Yeb finally got a good look at the creatures without all their layers on. They were, surprisingly, a lot thinner than she had first thought, long and lanky in their limbs and really rather bony. The right skin of their faces extended into their arms and necks. From here she could see the small little hairs on their arms, though they would be pointless for keeping anyone warm.
But they were powerfully built.
As a biologist, she would have guessed that these creatures were built for a hot desert environment rather than the cold. The thought made her rather uncomfortable. Her home planet had no deserts at all, and the environment was only theoretical based on their observation of other worlds similar in size to their own.
The humans passed by her, leaving her alone.
And, quietly, she moved forward, sneaking through the ship and the warrens of tunnels.
The tunnels were very angular, all of their construction was very angular, ninety degrees or close to ninety degrees.
It was all... odd, and alien, and she found herself lost in the corridors not sure where she was going.
Hot metal was close to burning her feet, sweltering around her.
She felt spent.
Following voices, she peered around the corner and into a large room, where many of the creatures sat together, huddled in groups consuming unknown alien food. Behind them, a large viewing window stared out into blackness. She closed her eyes tight and took a deep breath. She felt sick.
It was just so hot.
When no one was looking, she slipped inside and back behind a long countertop and snuck along the side until... Until she felt a waft of cold air. She paused and turned her head towards a large silver door. She inched forward and pressed up against it. It was like ice, so cold. In desperation she reached up to the door and popped it open to a waft of freezing air.
In relief, she scampered inside and closed the door behind her, sliding to the ground in relief as the biting air rushed through her fur.
She was feeling a little better now, and looking around her, she could see stacks and stacks of crates full of... strange... Food?
She would assume it was food.
With everything so hot here, they must need a place to preserve their organic materials from decomposition.
She inched forward across the floor and stuck her head around through some of the crates sniffing at its contents. She would.... Probably be able to eat something here if she was careful about it. She was an omnivore like the creatures, and assumed that they were both based on the same principles of food consumption.
Either way, she was going to figure it out soon to her detriment or not.
This strange frozen storage was going to become her main base of operations, though she did find another location near the medical bay. That one was a little less pleasant though since, from the scientific equipment lying around, she made the correct assumption that they used it to store bodies when someone died aboard the ship.
A morbid thought, but it made sense.
She would stick with hiding in the cold food place for the time being.
There was food there, and no dead people.
From her vantage point sneaking in and out of her hiding space, she was able to watch the creatures from a distance, sure they weren't putting on a show for her and knowing that their behavior was genuine. As far as she could tell they were social and relatively tame.
They sat in groups, conversed and talked like any one of her people, except maybe a bit more enthusiastically.
They ate together and played games.
And even had the same sort of relations with other species.
There were a few fuzzy looking aliens that weren't far off from her species, though they seemed more used to the heat.
Then there were the small scaly creatures, who were just as social, and the large beasts with six arms, towering over even their human counterparts.
From the shadows she watched them, as they fought each other with sharpened sticks made from metal, their ferocity scaring her as she pressed back into the shadows.
It was a strange an eclectic place of many different peoples.
She saw religion, and culture and tradition as she watched from the shadows.
But she also saw ferocity, anger, and bitterness on quiet occasions, listening in on moments she knew to be private but could not help but listen in on.
And there was something, strange, about the humans.
She wouldn't have been able to put into words if asked but... It seemed as if they were disconnected from themselves, like a driver pilots a machine, one with it but no in the same. It was so strange, the sudden blankness that would come over their faces as if nothing was behind the eyes, especially in quiet moments when they were alone with themselves.
She spent days like this, hours on end watching them from a distance hiding in the freezer when it was dark and spending occasion out in the heat.
She used bags of ice shoved into bags to keep herself cool on these forays as the ship always remained rather hot.
She hoped that, in this way she could survive, worried she would be punished if they found her out.
That was until one day.
One day sitting in the air ducts watching the humans pass by that she heard a sound.
A soft scraping.
She turned her head towards the end of the small maintenance tunnel, just as a figure come around the corner.
It was small, and furry, and brightly colored, and as soon as it came around the corner it froze and locked eyes with her.
“STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!”
Its ears trembled.
“INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE! INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE! INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE!”
She slowly went backwards and prepared to run.
The creature suddenly grew very silent.
"Run and die."
It said eyes narrowing, and despite how small and fluffy it was, she froze.
"Run…. And…. Die..."
She didn't know what this thing could do, and it didn't seem concerned with her or afraid of her.
“Go on, try and run! I will brrrreak your kneecaps! SQUEEEK!”
So, Yeb believed it.
”Run and die bitch! Try see what I will do with your kneecaps!”
She believed she was going to die.
And her kneecaps would go first.
Previous First Next
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800 u/BakeGullible9975 and u/Didnotseemecomein
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
So who/what did you think was going to be the next alien on the ship?
And why WASN’T it a punk-y fox that looks like it fell into too many paint cans and staplers?
Rock on punks! Picture of current Yeb here
Previous First Next
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
"Certainly not, they cannot be trusted!”
"We don't know that."
"Even if their story is true, I have no doubt that they have other motives. No one offers peace accords if there are not ulterior motives."
"But they already said! They want to trade with us, and they want the precious mineral compounds found in our ice."
"They want to enslave our planet more like."
"You saw the creature, it had no fur, and it was freezing as soon as it took its layers off. I have no doubt that it has no interest in enslaving our planet. The environment is too inhospitable for it to consider spending so much time here."
"Your logic is backward for a scientist... But I suppose that should be expected of someone with your pedigree."
"...You are wrong, and your hesitation will cost us. They saved our lives, the least we can do is hear them out."
"And at the end of the day that is my decision and not yours. You overstep your bounds, and now you will return to your place, scientist."
Yeb stood, ears plastered back against her skull, the fur on her back puffing outward to strain against the inside of her jacket, but she didn't protest. He may have been wrong about many things, but he was right about this one, she had no power here, and to assume as much would be too presumptuous.
She did know her place.
Had known it since she was a pup.
She raised her chin stiffly at the chancellor and turned on her heels, claws digging against the ice as she trudged from the council chambers and out into the blinding sunlight of early morning. The council had debated for many hours, until unanimously making a decision that she thought would be a great mistake. They had decided not to engage with the GA, and therefore cut off any chances they would have at learning from the more advanced race.
She brushed a dusting of snow from a rock just to her right and sat down staring up at the sky. Over her head the atmosphere was a light bluish purple. The sun blazed down with white, blue intensity.
She could have learned so much from them! Perhaps a way to develop better vaccines as they had clearly found the cure to the plague faster than any of them could. If it had been up to her expertise, the entire world would be dead by now.
Yeb sighed deeply.
There were so many things she could have learned from them, so many things, but now that knowledge would be lost, and they would be left to trundle along in a dark age and never know what glorious things they could have learned. This GA governmental body has offered them transport into the stars! Who would refuse such an offer.
It was a monumental mistake.
She sat there for a long moment, contemplating her next move. The future seemed bleak in comparison to the one they had been offered. How could she just go back to her normal life knowing what was out there? Could she just sit idly by in her ice cave, eating the same bland fish and listening to the same bland propaganda of a government that "couldn't or wouldn't" see what a tragedy it was to lose fifty percent of their lower class?
It made her sick as she pictured the beautiful images she had seen in scientific journals of the vast cold darkness of space.
She stood.
That was it, if nothing she wanted to at least see the creatures off, tell them good luck, and thank them for what they had done. Maybe they would be more likely to return one day if 'someone' were to go and say goodbye to them and actually thank them for what they had done.
With her mind made up, she stood, and with renewed vigor made her way over the icy tundra and towards the alien landing site. Government officials were crawling all over the area, keeping the curious, prying eyes of the civilians well back where they couldn't cause trouble or get any ideas. They tried to keep her back too, but she flashed a badge at the first two and managed to dodge two more before three burly agents stepped into her path.
All three of them had deep onyx fur and glowered at her with intense black eyes.
"This area is restricted."
"I just want to talk to them. They know me."
"This area is restricted."
They repeated.
"I am the scientist who first came in contact with them, please, I would really just like to speak with them."
She tried moving around, but it was no good, and they continued to block her path. Behind him, she could see the shuttle that had brought the aliens down. It was of strange construction, cold silver steel in sharp angular lines. The creatures swarmed around the ship carrying boxes, a few of them collected ice and snow in small clear tubes.
The commotion must have alerted them, and she saw their leader raise his head as the agents began to push her back.
She waved a desperate hand in the creature's direction, and it broke into a trot over the icy ground its boots cringing over the snow.
"Hold on!"
It called, and its booming voice was enough to make the agents stop and back away nervously.
The only thing she could see under its mask and hood was that sharp green eye.
"Everything alright?"
He wondered,
She sighed but nodded,
"Well... No... not really. I just wanted to let you know that... Well not all of us agree with the chancellor. Don't... Well just don't forget about us."
She watched the creature's face wrinkle about the eyes, and the feeling she got from the expression was... one of surprising pleasure.
"Don't worry, we won't forget about you. We are a bit harder to ignore than all that... In a "strictly annoying sort of way” and less of the tyrannical “we are going to take over your world” sort of way."
The creature made a strange, repeated whirring noise deep in his chest, and she yipped her own amusement.
He held out a hand to her and she stared at it,
"It's a human greeting and farewell."
Gingerly she reached forward and took his hand, feeling as he wrapped his fingers around hers in a firm grip and shook once.
It was a strange gesture, yet one that simultaneously made her feel connected to him, in a way, not altogether unpleasant.
Then he let her go, turning back to his ship and striding over the ground with the confidence of a creature that had done this sort of thing many times, that was until he slipped on the ice and staggered awkwardly, arms flailing. She yipped again in amusement, and he waved a hand turning around to see if anyone had seen.
She turned and made her way back up towards the plateau watching as the ice and tundra spread out before her, white on blue purple, and just as she was reaching the top, she stopped. She could go no further.
She glanced back to where the strange creatures were beginning to load their equipment back onto their ship, and then forward to where the government agents were busy pushing back a line of curious onlookers.
No one saw her.
Yeb sat in thought for a long moment, and before she really knew what she was doing, she turned around and raced back down the hill, skidding and sliding on the ice with barely controlled speed. She wasn't sure what she was doing, or what she was going to do, but as she reached the bottom of the hill, and saw an open box resting on the ground; she made a decision.
It wasn't a good decision, nor was it a well thought out decision, and honestly later, she would come to realize that there were easier ways to do what she was about to do, the number one being to simply ask politely, but none of that crossed her mind as she dove into the box and pulled the lid over her head.
As far as she knew, no one had seen her, and before long she felt the crate lurch upwards and wobble its way towards the shuttle, while the creatures outside grunted at its unusually heavy weight.
She was set down inside, and, she thought, strapped down.
It didn't occur to her again, until the engines ignited, just what she had done to herself.
Her stomach lurched into her feet and she screamed in fear and shock as the ground fell out from beneath her. All she could hear was the roaring of engines and feel the battering of the atmosphere around her as they cut through the atmosphere.
And then, after just a few minutes, the rattling died away, and she found herself floating inside the box like a free droplet of water in freefall.
With her tail tucked around her she hugged herself tight, screaming internally about what she had just done.
At some point, she felt the ship lurch, and after a moment, she dropped back to the bottom of the box as gravity reinstated itself.
Inside her box, the air grew stiflingly hot, and she began to pant vigorously as the heat seeped into her body. She hadn't expected it to be so hot.
She felt her crate lurch again, and her ears were filled with the echo of a large space, and strange alien voices calling out to each other. She shrunk back into her box, there must have been hundreds of them...
And now she was a stowaway.
She really hadn't thought this through. What was she going to eat? What was she going to drink? What would happen if they found her skulking on board the ship without invitation? The creatures had seemed hospitable originally, but that didn't really mean anything if they thought she was some kind of spy.
Her insides churned a bit, as the crate was set down and the voices retreated.
The box continued to grow hotter and hotter.
She tried to wait it out as best she could, but soon, it became too much, and with a gasp of air she threw off the lid of her crate and gasped for fresh air. It was, somewhat fresher than it had been inside the crate, but the heat was still unbearable.
Panting fit to burst, she tripped off her jacket, undershirt, gloves and any other layer she could think of, tossing them into the box.
It was marginally more bearable, but still, she felt as if she could barely breathe.
This was the worst idea she had ever had.
How could she have been so stupid?
The creatures were clearly very cold on her planet, what made her think that she would be comfortable in their environment?
She heard footsteps, and quietly dropped to one knee, still panting.
"You see that place. Frozen hellhole for sure."
"I wouldn't mind the cold so much, but the place looked like a prison with ice."
"Hmm if their government leaders knew what they were missing, maybe they wouldn't be so hasty to tell us to shove off."
A familiar voice broke in with them,
"I don't know, I thought it was kinda cool, like Hoth from Star Wars."
"Admiral, haven't we established that you are like... The only person on this ship who knows what that means."
“Yeah? Sunny?”
“Yes Adam I know it.”
“Sunny doesn’t count!”
“HEY Jenkins, since you are just passing by, you know what the planet Hoth is right?”
“Yes Admiral.”
“Alright as you were, you can keep moving crates. Maverick how about you?”
“Yes… yes I know…”
“Ah Maverick! My heart pains from this back stab! How can you do this to me!”
“And you yourself Ramirez? I know you know!”
"AH FINE CMON! But just for the record: that’s because you forced us and half the crew into a Star Wars marathon."
"You can thank me later."
There was some grumbling from the group of humans as they passed by, and Yeb finally got a good look at the creatures without all their layers on. They were, surprisingly, a lot thinner than she had first thought, long and lanky in their limbs and really rather bony. The bright skin of their faces extended into their arms and necks. From here she could see the small little hairs on their arms, though they would be pointless for keeping anyone warm.
But they were powerfully built.
As a biologist, she would have guessed that these creatures were built for a hot desert environment rather than the cold. The thought made her rather uncomfortable. Her home planet had no deserts at all, and the environment was only theoretical based on their observation of other worlds similar in size to their own.
The humans passed by her, leaving her alone.
And, quietly, she moved forward, sneaking through the ship and the warrens of tunnels.
The tunnels were very angular, all of their construction was very angular, ninety degrees or close to ninety degrees.
It was all... odd, and alien, and she found herself lost in the corridors not sure where she was going.
Hot metal was close to burning her feet, sweltering around her.
She felt spent.
Following voices, she peered around the corner and into a large room, where many of the creatures sat together, huddled in groups consuming unknown alien food. Behind them, a large viewing window stared out into blackness. She closed her eyes tight and took a deep breath. She felt sick.
It was just so hot.
When no one was looking, she slipped inside and back behind a long countertop and snuck along the side until... Until she felt a waft of cold air. She paused and turned her head towards a large silver door. She inched forward and pressed up against it. It was like ice, so cold. In desperation she reached up to the door and popped it open to a waft of freezing air.
In relief, she scampered inside and closed the door behind her, sliding to the ground in relief as the biting air rushed through her fur.
She was feeling a little better now, and looking around her, she could see stacks and stacks of crates full of... strange... Food?
She would assume it was food.
With everything so hot here, they must need a place to preserve their organic materials from decomposition.
She inched forward across the floor and stuck her head around through some of the crates sniffing at its contents. She would.... Probably be able to eat something here if she was careful about it. She was an omnivore like the creatures, and assumed that they were both based on the same principles of food consumption.
Either way, she was going to figure it out soon to her detriment or not.
This strange frozen storage was going to become her main base of operations, though she did find another location near the medical bay. That one was a little less pleasant though since, from the scientific equipment lying around, she made the correct assumption that they used it to store bodies when someone died aboard the ship.
A morbid thought, but it made sense.
She would stick with hiding in the cold food place for the time being.
There was food there, and no dead people.
From her vantage point sneaking in and out of her hiding space, she was able to watch the creatures from a distance, sure they weren't putting on a show for her and knowing that their behavior was genuine. As far as she could tell they were social and relatively tame.
They sat in groups, conversed and talked like any one of her people, except maybe a bit more enthusiastically.
They ate together and played games.
And even had the same sort of relations with other species.
There were a few fuzzy looking aliens that weren't far off from her species, though they seemed more used to the heat.
Then there were the small scaly creatures, who were just as social, and the large beasts with six arms, towering over even their human counterparts.
From the shadows she watched them, as they fought each other with sharpened sticks made from metal, their ferocity scaring her as she pressed back into the shadows.
It was a strange an eclectic place of many different peoples.
She saw religion, and culture and tradition as she watched from the shadows.
But she also saw ferocity, anger, and bitterness on quiet occasions, listening in on moments she knew to be private but could not help but listen in on.
And there was something, strange, about the humans.
She wouldn't have been able to put into words if asked but... It seemed as if they were disconnected from themselves, like a driver pilots a machine, one with it but no in the same. It was so strange, the sudden blankness that would come over their faces as if nothing was behind the eyes, especially in quiet moments when they were alone with themselves.
She spent days like this, hours on end watching them from a distance hiding in the freezer when it was dark and spending occasion out in the heat.
She used bags of ice shoved into bags to keep herself cool on these forays as the ship always remained rather hot.
She hoped that, in this way she could survive, worried she would be punished if they found her out.
That was until one day.
One day sitting in the air ducts watching the humans pass by that she heard a sound.
A soft scraping.
She turned her head towards the end of the small maintenance tunnel, just as a figure come around the corner.
It was small, and furry, and brightly colored, and as soon as it came around the corner it froze and locked eyes with her.
“STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!”
Its ears trembled.
“INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE! INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE! INTRUDER! EXTERMINATE!”
She slowly went backwards and prepared to run.
The creature suddenly grew very silent.
"Run and die."
It said eyes narrowing, and despite how small and fluffy it was, she froze.
"Run…. And…. Die..."
She didn't know what this thing could do, and it didn't seem concerned with her or afraid of her.
“Go on, try and run! I will brrrreak your kneecaps! SQUEEEK!”
So, Yeb believed it.
”Run and die bitch! Try see what I will do with your kneecaps!”
She believed she was going to die.
And her kneecaps would go first.
Previous First Next
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

Bevlin Former Gojidi Union Agricultural Engineer October 8th, 2136; Two Days After The UN Returns To The Cradle
Oh.
I have food.
It was only when she was gone and the room was silent that I came to realize how hungry I was. To my knowledge, the last time I ate a proper meal was likely days or even weeks ago. Instinctively my eyes would linger down right to the container which held my middle meal.
Well, at least they seem to have some care about what we eat.
Inside of the container was a mix of what seemed to be assorted fruits and vegetables; all of them were cut in easy-to-eat-bite sized pieces. Even though my less than graceful actions in opening it caused it to be jostled around, it looked more and more appetizing by the second. Despite my hatred for humanity, I can at least admit I'm being kept in better conditions than on that ship–
Don't
Don't go back to that place.
You have food, focus on that.
I stopped my mind from careening into that pit yet again. With what happened, it was better not to dwell on it at all. It was just more unpleasantness in this string of terrible event after terrible event. But, my eyes soon landed back on the container as I found myself bringing it closer. After all, it may look edible, but looks can be deceiving. .
Bringing it closer, I couldn’t help but inspect each and every piece laid before me. Even though these were all alien to me, it was rather easy to tell they were genuine plant-matter that was grown with care and harvested fresh. Furthermore, I found myself trying to mentally figure out what classified as a fruit or a vegetable from only their looks. After all, it wasn't often that someone in my profession had the privilege to get foreign food like this just for a meal.
With two very cautious claws I retrieved a small piece of fruit from the container as curiosity was running hot through my mind.
Interesting.
It could be some form of berry based on appearance alone. And it has a hole in the center where it could've been plucked from a stem. Plus, the bright red hue and feel confirms it’s fresh.
Yet I've never seen a kind of berry with this sort of appearance. It looks like a basket of sorts with how the little fruity spheres are all clumped together. I’m sure if we found this on a colony it would likely get named basket-berry. Isn’t a terrible name, but it’s very likely the person who named it has more claws than brain power despite their fancy position.
That errant thought got a small chuckle out of me as I could remember a professor just like that. He always had the haughty mood about him and his ego was only matched by the holo-plaques he proudly displayed. It was hilarious when someone changed the display to embarrassing material of Professor Serril.
Oh, the laughing lasted for a good clawfull of time and his quills didn't settle down for the entire day. He even broke the oh-so-precious projector display when he couldn't shut it off. If I remember right, we all thought it was Velri, but there was never any confirmation in the end.
Yet.
It's more than just the end.
It is all gone now.
The campus, the professor, and likely all of my classmates. They were either dust in the winds or meals in the bellies of living devils. Forlornly, I popped the berry into my mouth, hoping to seek some minute solace in an alien berry.
Huh, it doesn't taste that bad.
It's… actually quite good.
The flavor was quite sweet and even a bit juicy coupled with a tart undertone. It reminded me a bit of a Shezberry, however the slight tart undertone and general shape set it right apart. My quills bristled lightly with satisfaction as I couldn't help but go back for another, then another, before I was gulping them down greedily. The new, almost unfamiliar taste and my hunger made this strange fruit all the better.
Before I knew it, I exhausted the container of its supply of this newfound berry. The speed at which I ate made me realize how hungry I had really been. But, my stomach still yearned for more, and seeing that there was more waiting for me, I couldn't stop myself from digging in.
There were two other types of food in the container; another was a fruit of some sort and the other was what I guessed to be a vegetable. The fruit was dullish orange and rather squishy to the touch. When I took a bite it was a mix of refreshing and sweet taste dancing on my tongue. The spongy texture added to it, tying it all together and making it seem like a gourmet fruit you would get during the hotter months. The vegetable was similar in how refreshing it was, but it instead carried with it a crisp, green taste which coupled nicely with the orange fruit.
I practically inhaled my meal as hunger took precedence over my own innate curiosity. But, as I quickly neared the end of my meal, it was hard not to remember who provided it.
For being predators, what they provided me wasn't just edible, but was actually quite good.
The food was fresh. It spoke of great agricultural prowess for such readily available vegetation to be on hand.
However, there was also the possibility that they understand our needs quite well, and simply allocated the resources just for us.
By the protector, it could even be a mix of the two reasons.
Then it struck me, I had a way to learn about this strange kind right here at the tips of my claws. Setting aside the container I reach over, plucking the pamphlet right from the nightstand with palpable curiosity.
Despite being made up of light, laminated parchment, it felt like a hefty tome in my grasp. Was I prepared to learn more about them? Is my curiosity leading me down a route I best not travel? Or were misgivings leading my thoughts?
My mind was a whirlwind once more, thoughts racing to and fro like comets in the sky. The entire time my eyes were drawn to the cover, staring deeply at the beautiful world pictured center stage.
You need to find out more sooner or later. And in the end, it is either this or face to face conversation
The realization cut through the whirlwind around my mind in an instant, bringing it right to the calm eye of the storm. I was petrified to be in the same room as a few of them and I could feel their gaze right through their mask. The mere thought of that made my spine bristle with twinges of fear.
Despite all that has happened, they have at least had better care of my health than those…
Once more, my mind wanted to slip back, to recall those terrifying moments that were still so fresh in my mind. Ones of being held in a cage so closely packed I could feel the breaths from those around me. Ones of eyes staring across a sea of my captured kind debating which ones to pluck out for a meal. And others that came before that foul limbo where I saw hope ripped from me as a ceiling came crashing down.
Even in pushing these thoughts out I couldn’t help but feel similar to the now empty container next to me. Once more I was reminded by the upheaval of my life, of everything I held near and close. With what little movement they had I felt my ears droop down in melancholy.
It was gone.
It was all gone.
And it was caused by these, these galactic upstarts which set in motion each terrible event after event which saw me lose everything…
…
But now, here I am.
Held in their kind care, staring dumbfounded at a provided pamphlet to inform me more about their species and world.
I could almost laugh at the bitter irony of it all if I wasn't feeling so hollow.
I shook off the feeling, instead focusing myself back on my original goal. Information was needed no matter how terrible I felt. With bated breath and a nervous tremble in my claws, I flipped it open.
The first thing which struck me, besides a set of pictures, was the fact the text was Gojidi script. It was… strange to see this much care invested in something so simple. It felt contradictory in a way; predators providing you with food and drink along with a booklet of information in your own mother tongue.
Even with latent fear gnawing at my bones I couldn't help but read. Despite that slight shock over the language, the page layout itself was quite straightforward. Every page of this small booklet held a title, a brief but thorough explanation about a topic, and occasionally an accompanying picture with the passage. By now, curiosity was replacing the instincts that usually guided me. Not many of the Federation, save for the Venlil, knew much about humanity. That was a fact written and done.
But now?
The first two pages were about the predator’s homeworld. The most agreed upon name in modern day was Earth, yet there were variations like Terra and Gaia. What caught my attention most was how the beauty of the planet wasn't just for show and that life was flourishing here. Vast jungles and deserts hugged the equator while icy tundras and forests lingered near the hemispheres.
I was now hooked. The side of me that laid dormant since the time I was still in school was slowly becoming reinvigorated and only by two pages of information alone. I started to read more and more, a desire for information clouding the now simmering anger.
***
For a race of predators, they certainly know how to present information properly.
I set the booklet down, having read it all to completion in record time.
Its contents were sobering. Apparently, these newfound predators are not complete predators diet wise, as they are what they refer to as omnivores. What was further laid bare was the fact they eat lab grown meat. The thought of meat being consumed was enough to set my quills on end, however compared to the Arxur, this was leagues more tame.
The biggest surprise, however, came in the form of some of their rules in regulations. They considered us sapient, which was yet again far and better than the Arxur. To top it off, a big regulation they underlined was that predation of a fellow sapient was comparable to cannibalism. But the best part is that it outlined how we still have rights, and that once issues were further figured out, we would be allowed to eventually leave and head to different yet friendly worlds. Everything about the booklet was reassuring.
Despite that, there was always doubt.
All of this was well and good, but who knows if it is even the truth. It could all be fabricated lies, classic predatory deception to make you complacent.
Even with all the evidence in front of me, it was hard not to believe the errant thought. It was well known how deep predatory deception can go, especially when your own kind can suffer something similar. Predatory Disease was something we have always been taught to be cautious of. Everyone I met knew of one or two people who were affected by such an affliction. They also knew how some of them tend to just vanish.
It was years ago in my case. A fellow classmate when I was still a pup showed signs of the affliction. By now it's hard not to remember how he suddenly stopped turning up and how the teacher shut down any conversation about him. In the span of a week he just became a memory.
Words are just words. They're always empty until proven through action. You're still in the den of a predator, and no matter how nice things have been, it's not even been a full day cycle on this planet. Deception takes longer than a day.
A heavy sight left me as my quills bristled. Danger could still be looming over me and likely for the foreseeable future. These predators were new in many ways. Operating differently from what the federation was used to is one thing, but at times they were downright confusing. However, their threat cannot be downplayed.
In just a few quill-lengths of time they took out an entire planet's orbital defenses. What else could they do?
The thought danced around my head, further reminding me of my rather unfortunate situation. It didn't help that the memory of them roughly handling me was fresh in my head. That black carapace they wore was terrifying, and even through that mask I could feel their gaze.
With a huff I laid back against the bed, my eyes lingering up to the ceiling. Everything was… silent. It was the first time I had proper peace and quiet in weeks. Even with likely looming doom over my head, it was hard not to appreciate some time to myself.
Yet.
As the seconds ticked by. It was hard not to feel lonely.
***
It had been hours since I was left alone. The fur around my eyes was damp, an effect of emotions bubbling up as I was fully left to my thoughts. However, it was hard not to feel any sort of emotions as I further dealt with the full realizations.
Everything was gone.
Everything.
My current apartment and the home I grew up in was now dust in the wind.
My family was either atoms in the atmosphere or meals for the worst species in the galaxy.
And even if I was alive, I currently was left with nothing.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout obscenities until the stars burned out. I wanted to yell out against this blatant injustice.
But…
That wouldn't bring them back.
That wouldn't bring anything back.
It felt like torture to face that truth.
By now I didn't know how many times I spilled tears over each revelation. In just hours I felt like I had been wallowing in misery for days. I had the sheets pulled close over me as I clung to what little comforting warmth it gave me. Yet again I was back in that dark hole, the place where my anguish seemed to constantly flow around me.
But, as I laid there in silence outside of my occasional sniffling, I stole another look around the room to try and fruitlessly distract myself.
It was both normal and strange, as I could pick out all the similarities with federation standard medical practices easily. However, the differences struck me harder, as it reminded me where I was. To say I felt like an uninvited stranger was an understatement, as everything just felt… wrong.
Many things felt wrong, truth be told. I was in the care of predators, in their own hospital. It still bewildered me that such a thing could exist even if the proof was in front of me. This was compounded further by the fact that so far these flesh-eaters seemed to have some ounce of care for me. That fact vexed me to my core. Information and law that made sense and was perma-crete fact now seemed to hold no support. In the truest sense of the word everything felt surreal. However, it was all true, which just helped compound the pain.
Yet, as I wallowed there on the bed, I nearly jumped out of my quills when I heard a knock at the door.
"Y-Yes?" I shakily replied as I forced myself to sit up on the bed.
"Bevlin? It's Tenri, are you fine with me coming in?" She stated in a straightforward tone.
I had been so out of it I didn't even hear the clack of her claws against the tile.
With a few deep breaths I did my best to calm myself before I found the words to reply with. "Y-Yes, yes you may."
The door would open with a pneumatic hiss as Tenri stepped inside, rolling a similar cart in as before. Another container sat on it along with some various objects I didn't really recognize. I watched her the entire time, as I felt I looked more sorry than I had in years. This fact was proven the moment she stopped next to the bed.
"Bevlin." She began, her tone taking on a softer undercurrent as she fixed an eye on me. "Are you alright?"
At that moment I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I inhaled softly, my ears drooping as I spoke in a tired tone. "I… I don't really know."
Her demeanor would change quite quickly as concern was growing in her gaze. A soft sigh left her lips as she turned her attention fully on me. It took her a moment to reply, as she seemed to take a moment to find the proper words. "Well, I think I can understand how you feel. Many of us went through how you're feeling and many of us still are going through it. But trust me when I say this, you're not alone, and there are those willing to help you."
I didn't have the strength to argue or even mildly refute her. All I could give was a confirming wave of my claws as I watched her focus back on the cart.
"But in the meantime, I do have some good news to bring. This should be the last and only night you will spend in this room. Tomorrow you will likely be transferred out and to your own bunk in the camp."
My eyes perked up at that, dull curiosity bubbling through the crowd of misery in my head. "Wait wait wait, I'm going to be transferred out? Tomorrow?"
Tenri gave a flick of her claws as she turned around, the holo-pad now in her hands as her demeanor grew friendlier. "More information will be provided then, however yes, you will."
To say I was stunned would be an understatement. This felt like the kind of offer that would come with a catch. "That's… that's quite soon."
"Yeah, however it should be around mid-day, or what these Terran's refer to as noon. Still I'm, ahem, back for another reason too."
Ah, here it comes.
"Um, that is?"
She walked over, gently grabbing a stool before rolling it next to the bed. From there she would sit down, her attention fixated on me. "Well, would you like me to get right to the point?"
Reluctantly, I would give a confirming flick of my claws.
Tenri would sigh softly before she spoke, "This is very blunt of me to say, and given how you have reacted before I'm sorry in advance. However, they want you to go through a proper check-up, and unfortunately that needs to be done by a human doctor."
I could practically feel my heart clatter right into my stomach. "...What?"
"Before you pull me into a back and forth like earlier, let me explain, alright?"
Even though my instincts screamed at me to say no I knew I really couldn't. I was stuck in a world of predators and sooner or later I would have to properly interact with them. With that knowledge heavy in my heart I wordlessly gave another affirmation.
It's not like I have much of a choice either.
With my confirmation she sat up, regaining a more professional demeanor before she spoke. "From what these humans say, they wish to do a peer-to-peer check up with you before letting you go. I… I really understand how daunting this is, but I can promise you it isn't that bad. They have agreed to wear a full-body suit with a full face mask to try and make you as comfortable as possible. Yet, they need to do this at least once with all patients, despite why they came here."
Each sentence felt like a further hammerblow to my mind. I would have to interact with a predator doctor and there was no way around it. Despite the talk of them wearing something to comfort me it was very hard to feel comforted by such a notion. Even under everything they would still be a predator.
What choice is there? The thought ran through my brain like lighting.
At this point you're not the one to make deals. You are on their planet after all. They seem to only be wanting to put you through one check-up while trying to ensure your comfort. The Arxur would laugh in their terrible laugh at such ideals.
It was hard to argue with this rationale. So far these predators had done leagues more to care for me even if I was going to end up in a glorified internment camp. Eventually I would need to bite the grain and deal with one of these humans again.
A heavy sigh left me as I lifted my head up from thought to look at Tenri. Even after everything I said to her she still looked concerned about me. It was hard not to feel a twinge of guilt at this. "I… I think I can go through with it.
For a moment she was stunned before being quick to respond. "Bevlin are you sure? You don't really seem in the right emotions to talk with one-"
"It's fine, I'll be fine."
Even though her look was skeptical she ultimately gave me a soft flick of the claws. "As you wish, I'll let the doctor know of your choice. After it's done he'll likely hand you your end-meal before he leaves."
With that she slid off the stool, and under her usual stoic demeanor it was hard not to see a twinge of worry.
Tenri left without another word, as once again I was left alone to deal with another coming inevitability.
I would have to talk with one of these predators like they were a person.
{Prev} {Next}
---------------
We're back on track with Chapter 4 to see how Bevlin further deals with his newfound position in life. But besides that, thank you if you made it this far in the story, I really appreciate it. As always, thank you to this goat u/Saint-Andros for helping me with proofreading, he's a real one and you should read his work.

Thank you guys for the support I got plenty planned for the future hope you enjoy!!
Previous Next
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This entry details Human biology, their evolution and development as a species. It’ll also provide all information on the Human homeworld of Earth. Class 5 clearance and majority approval from the High Council is needed to access this report. Information in this report is taken either form human sources or from the dissected remains of dead humans.
Note: Most of the dead humans were bodies recovered from the battlefield and all had various amounts of external and internal damage. This was due to the heavy ordinance needed to pierce human armor.
Note: Several of the human corpses were found to have extensive genetic modifications. This warrants further investigation.
Humans are a race of bipedal primates native to the Southern portion of the African continent on their homeworld of Earth. Have four limbs: two arms and two legs. At the end of each limb is a hand or foot with five digits. These limbs connect to a central torso that contains most vital organs. Their head contains their brain and all sensory organs. Humans have forward facing movement based eyesight with limited night vision capabilities. Humans hearing is also above galactic average but is not anything special in the grand scale. Human skin color varies on their ancestral homeland along Earth’s north and south pole, the closer to the equator the darker the skin gets. Humans have two sexes: a male and a female. Males are taller than females and have greater muscle density. Humans have a 9 month pregnancy period before a mother gives birth to a child who is fully grown by the age of 18. Humans are able to reproduce rapidly given ample resources and can go from a few hundred thousand to millions in a few decades.
Humans evolved as omnivores apex pursuit predators. Ancient humans practiced a hunter gatherer culture before developing agriculture.
Humans have outstanding stamina and durability. Things that would kill a lesser species can be shrugged off by humans. Humans are also very capable of organizing into large or small groups with great effectiveness. Humans also have a great ability of bonding with other creatures and domesticating species. Humanity's greatest strength however is their adaptability. Humans can adapt to any environment and situation and will, eventually, come out on top. They can be very stubborn and once set on something will not stop till they achieve that goal, even if it takes hundreds of years and countless lives. They also have a fierce sense of protectiveness of things they care about and will fight to the bitter end to defend it. These traits are admirable and can be attributed to how they survived and conquered their homeworld. Humans spread across the planet and established themselves at the top of the food chain. They weren’t the strongest or fastest but they were the smartest, using this intelligence to outwit and out compete other hominid species such as Neanderthals. Making themselves the rulers of Earth and it’s now only sapient species.
Earth or Terra is the 3rd planet of the Sol system. It is orbited by one satellite, the moon Luna and is classified as a continental world. One might believe Earth is a standard world but it is anything but standard. The Federation classifies Earth as Class 11 deathworld with one of if not the most hostile environment in the galaxy. Only a species as stubborn as the Humans could survive and thrive on such a hellish world. The planet has multiple environments from vast plains, sprawling mountains, dense jungles, and freezing tundra. Heavily active tectonic plates and powerful weather systems make up any natural disasters that could occur on the planet. Earth’s life forms evolved in a sort of biological arms race. Anything from plants, animals, and microbes can kill you on this planet. The Humans call this natural selection or survival of the fittest, the strong thrive and the weak perish. All of these factors combined to make humans a powerful force on the galactic scene. They can colonize any planet and create a large population quickly. This allowed them to build a massive empire and ultimately contend with the Federation on equal terms.

It has come to my attention that some of you vampires, lycanthropes, Namira cultists, bosmers and eater of sentient creatures have an interest for how your partners may taste.
It saddens me that you would eat rather than crossbreed but I suppose I must help out at least for the ones who are able at restoration and overall flesh sculpting in bed.
We will begin with the ten dominant races of Tamriel in no particular order.
Altmers: Altmers are usually rather skinny but their diet contains an impressive ammount and diversity of fruits. Their meat is thus rather fruity. It is important to remember that while it is rather fruity it is not as sweet as one would think for Summerset being so close to the sea offers much fish and seafood to it's inhabitants. Elces and humans taste similar to pork as a basis.
Bosmers: Bosmers are small but usually athletic and as you know either mostly or exclusively eat meat. Their meat is rather gamey and surprisingly though on some parts.
Dunmers: Dunmer meat has a very slight nutty taste and a slight mushroom aftertaste due to how many invertebrates their diet contains. Contrary to popular belief they do not taste like smoked meat UNLESS you smoke it. Their taste has nothing to do with the ash of their province.
Orcs: Orc meat isn't as gamey as bosmeri meat but it is MUCH MUCH thougher. Orcs are, after all, very muscular. They also ingest copious ammounts of game and whatever fruits and vegetables grow in the rather cold environment they usually settle in.
Bretons: This is quite a normal thing with humans (AND some elves) but due to being omnivorous they taste similar to pork.
Imperials: Usually a bit thougher than bretons but the texture depends on wether they are nibenese or colovian. Slight hint of wine for some specimens.
Nords: These are interesting. The flavor is quite mild due to the sweetness of their mead-filled years but the texture has something nice going on: It's a bit though but also rich in fat.
Redguards: Redguards are as gamey as bosmers despite having a more diverse diet. They are rather fond of venomous animals such as snakes and scorpions and eat a lot of goats. Their meat is akin to bosmeri meat but slightly easier to chew as they are usually much larger.
Khajiits: Now some would think that they taste like regular cats (which taste like rabbit meat) but this is too simple. The smaller furstocks DO indeed taste slightly of rabbit but the larger furstocks are VERY GAMEY. Even more than bosmers. A constant of khajiiti flesh is the sweet aftertaste due to how much moonsugar they consume. In fact khajiits eat so much moonsugar they are actually nearly immune to it, hence why you need skooma to properly get a khajiit high. Khajiiti cuisine has so much moonsugar in it that other races can DIE from carelessly partaking in their meal.
Argonians: Though subtypes of argonians exist they are very difficult to find. We will thus focus on the main type which tastes rather similar to crocodile meat (which is to say mild and slightly fishy) althrough less gamey. Argonians are indeed much softer than they seem though still usually fit by all means. It should be noted that their taste and texture, much like their appearance can greatly vary depending on their hist. Each hist's argonians are different if this makes sense. Also be careful about hist sap.
Now let us continue with what some would call "lesser" races as we will not talk about extinct ^{(untasteable or at least too valuable to eat if imported via time-travel}) races.
Reachmen: taste like bretons but more gamey due to their rustic lifestyle. Though you could argue britons are just less gamey reachmen.
Falmers: Mostly feed on mushrooms, chauruses and some cave-dwelling fishes. Similar to dunmers though usually much softer like what you would expect from an altmer instead.
Maormers: Altmer but with fishy instead of fruity.
Centaurs: This is quite interesting. One would think their lower half tastes of horse meat and their top half similar to nords but it turns out their entire body tastes like an in-between between nord and horse meat.
Dreugh: They're massive crab people. what exactly did you expect?
Fauns: They're deer beastfolk. Yep.
Giants: Similar to nord meat but SO MUCH THOUGHER. Though not as gamey as you'd think. They don't usually eat their mammoths and eat smaller animals instead after all. Plus the tundra has more edible plants than you'd think.
Frost giants: Actually not related to "regular" giants. Much gamyer. Tastes rather rich, suspected to be closer to trolls and imgas than anything.
Goblins: Similar to bosmer but softer and with a stronger smell.
Ogres: very though. Interistingly enough, their innards are a staple of orcish cuisine. Which is RATHER FUCKED UP WHEN YOU REMEMBER THAT OGRES HELPED BUILD THE FIRST ORSINIUM??? WHAT THE FUCK, ORCS
Grummites: A type of frog beastfolk. Happily eaten by denizens of the shivering isles and, quite frankly, a favorite of mine. Seriously it's like frog meat except the size of a pig. Bit more gamey than youd' think though.
Harpies: See centaurs but replace nord and horse with redguard and chicken. Very though and gamey chicken.
Imgas: The flesh of apes is usually rather rich, imgas have a nutty aftertaste in addition to it.
Lamias: Surprisingly fishy. It is often said snakes taste like chicken but lamias, while serepntine indeed are still swamp-dwelling creatures.
Minotaurs: You would naively think they taste like beef and to some extent you would be correct but they are incredibly though. Quite gamay, like some wild bovines.
Sloads: Being sea slugs their mucus is rather bitter but being rather large and able to walk on land they turn out to be much much closer to octopus flesh than one would think. Do bother properly cooking them though. Octopi can be eaten raw but snails and slugs are prone to having parasytes which could absolutely anihilate your brain.

The survey of 179.3827634x26173.1947873x+54925.3861348 has been completed.
The planet is tectonically active. There is evidence of repeated plate collisions over the last several million cycles with active mountain growth currently in progress on several continents.
The land mass is smaller than average, at only about 29% of the total surface.
Mineral content and distribution is as expected for a planet of this size and placement.
At any given point in time about half of the planet is suitable to our temperature needs, but, due to an ancient cataclysmic impact, the axial tilt of the world is approximately 23.5°, forcing the habitable zones to move constantly, making permanent settlements of any sort difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
Furthermore, the planet is host to a wide variety of climates, rather than an evenly distributed planetary norm seen on most worlds. For example, some parts of the world's equatorial region are harsh, extremely dry, desert while others are lush rainforests. There is no consistency as one shifts toward the polar regions, either; some places having vast wastelands of frozen tundra and no precipitation while others of equal latitude have lush forests that maintain their foliage either seasonally or year-round (this world even has forests that intermix the plant life between the two types!).
We could set up some automated mining stations and check on them intermittently, when the climate shifts in our favor, except for one, teensy-tiny detail: the world has a native sentient species.
They are descended from an ape-lineage.
They are mostly-hairless. They have no apparent claws. They have insignificant teeth, mostly for grinding and light tearing; no fangs for grabbing and holding prey. They have no armor plating. They are not the fastest runners on their world. They are flightless. They have no cocooning abilities. They do not hibernate. They appear to be omnivorous, though we cannot fathom how they managed to develop as such given their lack of hunting adaptations, but they have developed animal husbandry and farming and they do eat their livestock so we know that they, at some point, must have had adaptations that allowed them to properly hunt. Based on our observations they are not any smarter than the average races among the galactic community.
Based on the data regarding the planet, and the observations about the native species that we have just imparted to you it would be, quite easily, understandable if you were to presume that they are a migrant species that follows the warm season as it meanders around their globe. It would make sense for you to presume that they are few in number and that they are just barely breaking the confines of their pre-sentient heritage and are in the early stages of their farming knowledge. It would be very easy to make these assumptions and, therefore, we forgive you for having made them.
The sentients of this little world number nearly 9 billion.
They have an advanced, FIXED, infrastructure that spans the entire globe and they have even ventured into the space nearest their homeward to build a geostationary network of relays to facilitate their ground-based infrastructure. Yes, that’s right. FIXED. And, yes, they have reached space despite the hardships of their climate.
They do not chase the warm season but have managed to adapt themselves to handle the harsh environments of their world.
We do not know how they manage this.
They have permanent habitations in areas that descend to -129° and habitations that exist in places that reach scorching temperatures of 55°!
Granted, only the heartiest specimens of their species survive in these locations but the fact is: they CAN!
After observing that these apes inhabit all of the temperatures available from their world we began to examine other extremist conditions that might deter them. Like most races, they congregate close to their oceans and, like most races, they appear to be most suitably adapted to the atmospheric pressure found there but they are not limited to such conditions. They have entire cities of people who operate, without special respirators, at extreme altitudes, where their atmosphere is less than 2/3 that of sea level and they have people who mount recreational expeditions to the highest point of their world, where the atmosphere is only 1/3 of that at their sea level!
Going the other direction, we have monitored their information network to determine the extent to which they have explored their seas and, with great astonishment, we discovered they have video recordings of the deepest parts of their oceans. The pressure found at that depth is equivalent to 1089 times that of the pressure found at their sea level.
Overall, at first glimpse, one would think these are harmless apes who pose no threat or challenge to the galactic community but, my dear colleagues, please hear my pleas.
We must watch these creatures for, should they venture beyond their own star system, they may infest every nook and cranny of the galaxy where no one else can go. If we let them colonize and they turn out to be a problem we may find that we can never eliminate them and never constrain them to their home system.
I implore you all, please speak to your representatives and see if we can, collectively, welcome these beings into the galactic community on OUR terms rather than let them find us on their terms.

I'm currently working on my story bible for a book I'm writing and would love to add an element of spec evolution. I've been an enjoyer for a while, but I've never tried my hand at any. I would love some critique of a species from my story bible.
In specific, I would like criticism on whether this is a reasonable split from historical evolution, if the divergence of the species makes sense, and if I'm ripping of the Qu too much with my unnamed tinkering species.
(Context: this book is about a waypoint dimension where things and people accidentally end up and the society that is built as a result. Think of Sakar from Thor: Ragnarok but for the multiverse. I wanted a dimension hopping Bigfoot, but didn't feel silly enough to actually do it. This is my way around it.)
From my story bible:
Gigantopithecus peregrinus G. peregrinus is an extant relative of Gigantopithecus from another universe. In this timeline’s Pleistocene, while hominins like Paranthropus and Homo were taking shape in Africa, Gigantopithecus dominated and spread across Asia, adapting to the surrounding grasslands, conifer forests and even tundras, diversifying to many species. Gigantopithecus evolved more intelligence, with their size shrinking somewhat. They built simple portable structures, but leaving permanent rudimentary structures where they went, becoming Gigantopithecus aedificus. As G. aedificus spread further north and south, the northern tribes grew heavier hair and became omnivorous, (G. ingenspedus); the southern tribes became sedentary, lost much of their hair, building greater structures and became agrarian (G. agricolus). G. ingenspedus followed game like Sinomegaceros and Anancus and lived in tribes of less than 50, sticking mostly to forested areas when not hunting. They somewhat competed for food with Homo. erectus, however, G. ingenspedus went for bigger game than H. erectus, and they stayed clear of each other. ‘
The [Bio engineering species-needs name] found their way to this Earth during this period. They ruled out African hominins and G. agricolus, viewing them as more intelligent and “civilized”. Seeing G. ingenspedus as sturdy, docile, and “dumb” subjects for their dimension jumping projects, they abducted at least a dozen tribes, editing their DNA with the jumper gene as well as a mechanism to slow down aging almost entirely. The gene splicing was successful, making G. peregrinus; however, they were more intelligent than [needs name] anticipated, too hard to control. A third of their subjects found a way to tap into this new power and jumped away before [needs name] were ordered to incinerate the rest and find another species. With little knowledge of navigating with their new ability, they were scattered across the multiverse, often dying in the process. There are fewer than 40 G. peregrinus across the multiverse, with sightings so rare, they are considered a myth by most.
G. peregrinus have, with practice, gotten a handle on their jumping. They are attracted to forests, especially those of various Earths, often contributing to bigfoot sightings. They stay in a good spot for their omnivorous diet; however, when spooked, they will jump away, never to return more often than not. They prefer colder environments because of their thick, orange-brown hair, however there have been sightings in warm environments. Unknown to [needs name], the G. peregrinus portals were unstable, splitting and drifting like the liquid in a lava lamp, meaning that the locations G. peregrinus visit are filled with invisible portals of various sizes, transporting things at random. Much accidental dimension jumping of objects and organisms happen because of G. peregrinus.

1. Public server or private server? This event is different, that other people cannot steal any of the event currency from you. These options both have their ups and downs, so which you pick is up to you. Public servers can have a lot of lag and have a higher chance of you crashing. Other people can attack you as well. But in private servers you cannot nest people, which rewards you the currency of the event, eggs. So, public servers you can nest people, but private servers nobody can attack or bother you, and you have a lower chance of crashing and lagging. The best you can have, though, is someone else with you in a private server. Then it won’t be as laggy as public servers, and you can both nest eachother.
   
2. What creature should you play as? You should never play as a non-flier creature. It makes doing the missions much harder and slower. I recommend the fastest fliers. If you are in a private server, playing as a carnivore isn’t a great idea, unless you are also semi-aquatic and are able to hunt fish for food. The best diet would be omnivore, but herbivore is still good because there are infinite herb sources around the map. I play as Brequewk, because it has 40 flight speed and very high stamina.
   
3. What plushies should you attach to your creature? The plushie I recommend the most is Springram. It helps a lot with the Egg Hunt mission, giving beams to the eggs and making them easier to find. This will also reward 2x the eggs for nesting others. The Egg plush goes well with Spingram, as it increases the rate at which the eggs become ready by 1.5x. Euvatops is good a plushie if you want to eat less often. Reindeer is great for finding eggs, because it ignores fog, plus it increases your flight speed. The Snowman plush makes it so that you don’t grow, letting you stay a baby. This is a good thing because you are faster as a baby then when you are a teen or adult. You can equip any plushies that help you, but these are the ones I recommend.
   
4. Which mission should you do? The mission I would prioritize over the other is the Egg Hunt. Both Egg Hunt and Scrambled Eggs takes me about the same time, but Egg Hunt rewards 89 eggs (3 per egg you collect plus the 65 you get rewarded upon completion) and Scrambled Eggs only rewards 40. You will have to do both, though, because the mission you just did will be on cooldown if you complete it too fast.
   
5. How do you do the Egg Hunt? In Egg Hunt you must go around the map searching for eggs that are randomly scattered. Having Springram make it much easier to find the eggs, giving them a beam that shoots up. When you find an egg, click E on it to collect it. Each time you collect one you get 3 eggs, but once you collect all of them you get 65 additional eggs. I find the most eggs in Tundra and Flowercove.
   
6. How do you do Scrambled Eggs? In Scrambled Eggs, each biome has a pillar. Desert has one on Oasis, Flowercove has one on the roof of the place, Volcano has one near the North side of the volcano, Tundra has one near the higher part of it, Swamp has it on the chunk of land with the biggest tree, and Plains has it a bit North of the old hangout. The game will tell you which pillar you must go to through the chat. Once you click E on each pillar in the order the game tells you to, you will be rewarded 40 eggs. When clicking E on a pillar, I try to do it without landing just to save time.
   

Thanks for reading! If you need anymore help or have questions, just ask in the comments. If you have tips of your own, please leave them in the comments, too.

Into Aethrazia
A fantasy, dice-rolling, choose-your-own adventure book.
FANTASY INDEX
A
Aielstruhm – God of fire, birth, and war, mentioned in the Aethrazia creation myth
Aethrazia - The fantasyland your adventure takes part in.
Alterac Mountains – The highest mountains in all Aethrazia. One of the most inhospitable locations on the planet other than the lava flats in
B
C
The Chute - The centerpiece of Izguard. A massive pit dug straight down hundreds and hundreds of feet into the earth. Used by the Izguardi to travel up and down to various chambers within Izguard.
D
Daniel Palmer - A legendary Paladin, now in his late 60’s. Famous for his work with the Red Horse Mining Company
E
Elizar – The jungle continent of Aethrazia and home of the Elves and the Eldari. Floating hundreds of feet above Elizar are the Elzian Rocks. A archipelago of magically imbued massive chunks of earth that are suspended by the Primal Breath.
Eldari - an ancient race of magically gifted humanoids. Typically, 6-7 ft tall with pointed ears and sharp teeth. Cautious/hostile towards other races. Mostly located in small communities buried deep within the Eldari Forests
Elf - a genetic offshoot thought to have descended from the Eldari. 6-6.5 ft tall with pointed ears and more omnivorous teeth. Thinks highly of their race but commonly found adventuring throughout the world and conducting neutral trading with various other communities.
Eltin’bori - best described as an armadillo-like creature that typically lives in more arid environments. Ancestors to the Krita.
F
G
Golden City - An ancient city on the SE coast of Phantazia. Passed from ruler to ruler and most recently abandoned by the Golden Sigil of Elizar.
Grub Garden - a string of food production chambers deep within Izguard. Magi and green-thumbs alike have worked together to produce state-of-the art vegetable, fungal, fruit, and grub gardens. Run by a young Halfling named Snizzle Sizzleberry.
H
H2Oromancer - a water genasi with crystalline rippling flesh. Skilled in druidic magic and highly creative.
I
Inuig
Isle of Thaut - A small sub-continent off the SE coast of Phantazia. Thought to be the home of Sir Magnus the Great.
Izguard - The underearth super fortress of the Izguardium
J
K
Khrati’kan - A dull rainbow-esue prismatic substance best described as a cross between sand and powder snow. Krita tribespeople believe this material to be sentient and capable of eating living creatures
Krita - a nomadic tribe of humanoid Eltin’Bori that are believed to be going extinct. Generations of traveling Khrati’kan have made them experts at traveling and exploring the great treasures of this violent land
Kobolds - medium sized humanoid dragons. A Komodo dragon, con-artist, and Ghenghis era Mongol enter a bar…
L
Lava Flats, The – A network of exposed molten earth, with its largest lake at the center and southernmost part of Voxnia. Thought to be the birthplace of the Vox’nor’ari.
Leslie of Summerlin - a high elf wizard highly skilled in the art of decoration and liked by many
M
Minor Telepathy – a low level magic that bridges two humanoid minds temporarily. The caster can choose to do so subtly against most people though adept magic users will recognize the trespass. This bridge allows the caster to listen to the thoughts of their target as well as attempt to force thoughts into their mind. Some even claim to have been able to see images of what their target was imagining.
Mvordikah – God of ice, death, and destiny, one of the gods mentioned in the Aethrazia creation myth.
Mahn’sun (pronounced Monsoon) - The underwater kingdom of the Mahn’sun’ari. A fish like a humanoid species.
Mahn’sun’ari - Highly intelligent and adept in ancient forms of magic. These aquatic humanoids can breathe underwater but prefer to live in humid dwellings. Early in their history this was underwater caves and passages leading to, and existing on, the surface. Conflict and difficulty finding resources would drive the Mahn’sun’ari (Mon-soon-are-E) back into the depths of the oceans where they used magic and ingenuity to design vast underwater dwellings. They continued to push deeper into the water and banding together their various tribal communities to eventually form the great underwater city of Mahn’sun.
N
Nortrend – The Northernmost continent of Aethrazia. Essentially a “north pole”. Mostly ice and tundra with flat lands around the coast leading to the deadly Alterac Mountains at its center. There are two publicly used ports on the southern shores. One primarily feeding into Phantazia and the other towards Elizar.
O
P
Phantazia - The continent of Phantazia is a mountainous subtropical drifting landmass that surfs the equator of Aethrazia.
Primal Breath - thought to be the breath of creation on Aethrazia that allowed The Spark to combust and birth existence. The Primal Breath flows west to east along the equator of Aethrazia. It is said to contain various forms of magic and its control has been sought after by a myriad of forces for ages. It is visible from almost anywhere on the planet and is similar to the Northern Lights of Earth but a shimmering teal and purple hue and thinner width.
Q
R
S
Shadow Ravens – magically imbued variant of common ravens. Slightly larger, capable of completely silent flight and nearly silent movement when grounded and rumored to produce hallucinogenic toxin.
Shimmerfly - Living gemstones found deep in the Eldari Forests
T
Tam’ara - A dwarven role-model. She has been running the smelters in The Chute for almost 40 years.
U
V
Voxnian Flats – Sahara flatlands on the southern pole of Aethrazia. These lead into the Voxnian foothills, more sparsely vegetated rolling hills, and finally into Voxnia. The desert homeland of the Vox’nor’ari.
Vox’nor’ari – Or, People of the Sun. A tribal network of Genasi, similar to gypsy families, that roam the deserts of Voxnia, rarely making appearances in the Voxnian Foothills to trade or interact with other races.
W
X
Y
Z
We begin our adventure in the world of Aethrazia. A planet in a solar system not too far from our own. Aethrazia was the result of a war between two sisters. Aielstruhm and Mvordikah. Gods of fire and ice respectively. The ferocity of their battle created the Spark of Creation. A relic sought after since the dawn of time. One that many believe to be no more than children’s stories.
Your story begins in the northernmost province of Aethrazia, Nortrend. A mostly barren tundra known for its unique wildlife and rare beasts. The Izguardi (A large dwarven clan) settled
Choose between five different storylines, make decisions along your character’s adventure, roll the respective dice included with this adventure to determine certain outcomes, and experience your own epic story. Welcome, adventurer, to Aethrazia.
DWARF: Your eyes slowly bat open. Your arms involuntarily stretch out. You yawn and take in the first senses of the day. Sulfur. Pausing for a moment, you pick up on the subtle distant rumbling of drills and hammers beating the earth. Another day in paradise.
Your personal quarters are small. Featuring a bed, small chest, and a few personal belongings. The sleeping quarters are adjacent to the chow hall, which is sourced by the Grub Garden. Hordes of dwarves, kobolds, halflings, and thralls busily move about the halls outside your room. You are in the depths of Izguard. A dwarven owned mining operation turned small city-state buried deep below the icy tundra of Nortrend. You were born here. Grew up working closely with the other dwarves. Mentored by people such as Tam’ara, Edgar Stonetoe, and a thrall named Leek. You are of noble blood, being a descendent of the Moonchasers. A founding family of Izguard. Well-known by other dwarves and respected by older generations.
(Choose an option below)
A1) Finish getting dressed and head to work. (skip to page X)
You get dressed and begin to step off towards the central chute, or the 'Blow Hole' as it has been lovingly nicknamed. You notice Mire and Fehrune boarding one of the nicer metal lifts. Fehrune holds the safety lock open and gestures for you to join.
A2) Rush forward and join them
You push past a few disgruntled kobolds pulling carts and shimmy into the entrance of the lift. The iron gate locks closed, Mire places his hand heavily down on your shoulder with a smile, "Wuz tinking e may naught e’r make it tis'day!” Mire laughs abrasively "Tuh pit master would have ye hide for less." Fehrune lightly chuckling, adjusts a pair of brass spectacles above his stubby, plump nose. “Pay tuh ol coot no mind, boy.” Fehrune has been a mentor and friend since childhood. His long red beard now streaked with wide bolts of silver and grey. His voice crackling more as the days go on. The smut and smog of the various excavation sites have taken there toll, even with modern dwarven medical applications, you fear it won’t be long before his voice begins to go completely.
The lift rumbles to life. Steam releases somewhere above you. There is a harsh jolt before the lift begins to descend slowly down the chute. Various conversations erupt as the workers battle away the unease of silence.
"Ten Scallions tat me digs up a bigger rose den thuh rest of yuh lot tis'day." Mire wagers. A couple joking and dismissing responses go by.
In a friendly banter you reply, "12 scallions says you don' dig up more t'en your own sweat, ya fool!" There are a few chuckles from around the lift. "Aye an anot'er 5 dat you.." the dwarf is cut-off, a large deep voice heavily breaks through the conversation. "I bet 100 Scallions dat not tuh lot of yuh all tuh'getter pull up more Rose den I." Inuig stands proudly, barely able to stand his full height. A soft but serious smile on his graying leathered face. The only goliath in all Izguard.
You smile softly to yourself but remain quiet on the lift. A couple more minutes pass as you continue descending The Chute. You pass the various chambers and "floors" of Izguard. Britefire torches dot the walls in all directions of the chute giving off soft dancing hues of blue. The smell of sulfur increases heavily as you pass the smelting chamber. Flashes of yellow and red swim from its mouth.
"Don't miss that work, huh." a deep voice directed to someone behind you. Memories of working the forge as a young dwarf swarm your thoughts. The pressure from bits of cloth stuffed up your nostrils to counter the pungent smells of sulfur and various accelerants. The taste of the air. The heat... always the heat.
The lift clunks to a hard stop. The small iron gate flings open and everyone begins to file off towards their respective worksites.
Your site is Drill 5. In hall L-17
You continue navigating the tunnels, Mire waves goodbye and mentions a couple joking insults to other workers headed to their respective sites.
You come to a chicken foot split in the tunnel. The tunnel to your left is labeled L-11, the center tunnel is blocked off with tape and there are multiple notices up stating things like “Danger”, “Death”, and "Forbidden”, to your right is hall L-17. L-11, they are pulling up copper and common stone. L-X, the blocked off tunnel, your old roommate was one of the lives lost that day… The miners hit a vein containing powerful magic. The result was a temporal portal opening. Demonic creatures spewed forth. Ripping to shreds any and everything in their path. A handful of examiners, holy men, and demon hunters closed the rift and deemed operations safe to continue but restricted the immediate area until the rest of the vein could be extracted safely.
A few workers continue to pass to your left and right, there is a cart and a couple stands with assorted mining equipment.
B 2) Wave them off and wait for the next lift
You dismiss your friend’s gesture and eye the next lift over. Two kobolds pass ahead pulling carts filled with common stone and debris. You catch a glimpse of Cristalis Rosarium. An extremely valuable resource. The primary reason mining operations began here. Mining operations are carefully monitored, and guards posted along known deposit routes. Heavy screening is done on all excavations, and it is a rarity for any Rosarium to go unseen.
A 4) notify the kobold pulling the cart
a) accuse the kobold of theft
b) quietly get its attention
B 4) Attempt to snag the crystal (1d20)
B 1) Risk being late (not taken lightly here) and;
a) Go to breakfast
b) Go through your chest
c) Wander the sleep chamber
The last of his breath trickled from out his nostrils. I swear before the tears of my own eyes I watched Sut and coal float outward on his final moment.
He is with the Aether now, nothing we can do.
I stared once more down at the limp corpse of what used to be a friend. Vibrant. Joyful. Edged and precise like the finest of pick-axes. Marked, lovingly, with the trials of time and the burden of valiant effort.

1. CON saving throw
   1. >10

ELF: Almost two-hundred years in these woods has made you a shadow. You move as fluidly as the leaves in the wind. You hold your mother’s longbow in your left hand, an arrow carefully notched along the wyrm-silk string. Your Shadow Raven companion continues flying carefully above the travelers walking a few hundred feet below and in-front of you. Pausing carefully, your eyes roll back into your head. In what feels like a long blink, you open your eyes from the perspective of Ent’ere. Two armed guards. The size and stride would suggest half-orcs. Not uncommon for hired swords. A well-dressed halfling follows behind carrying a bulky knapsack. Behind the little-one, an Eldari. Your eyes roll back to their default position, you pause, a dark feeling building in your chest… The Eldari have not been seen in months. Not since the counterraid on one of their largest settlements. This cannot be good.
1) Send Ent’ere back to camp to warn the others and continue pursuit
A near-silent whistle leaves your lips. The air tinged with magica leaves an almost minty remanence on your skin. Ent’ere makes a sharp J-hook turn and begins flying quickly back towards the south. You quicken your pace to close ground between yourself and the party below. (Roll a D20 to test your stealth, you need to beat an 8)
2) Continue tracking the party and have Ent’ere perch closer to the party to listen in
A near-silent whistle leaves your lips. The air tinged with magica leaves an almost minty remanence on your skin.
3) Engage the party
A near-silent whistle leaves your lips. The air tinged with magica leaves an almost minty remanence on your skin.
The Eldari Ridgeline was the only entity not entirely enveloped in evergreens for miles. There were rolling hills and other eyesores but nothing as prominent as that ridge. Tans and burnt oranges painted across its face with green speckeling. Almost as if a giant had walked begrudgingly down that very slope, probably dragging some sort of large weapon, or carcass, a long time ago.
HUMAN: The normally bustling streets of Golden City hold a different air of calm today. Stepping carefully through the venous cobblestone alleys, you pause for a moment. The stale smell of urine, ale, and the refute give rest to a gentle waft of freshly baked Torma bread. The cinnamon and sourdough like aroma bring back memories of beautiful mornings and long days of work in the fields south of the city. Life was simpler working the land.
Picking up pace again, your hand grips slightly tighter around the parcel. A delivery for Ereik, one of the few human council members sitting on the Golden Sigil's Inquisitor board. For as long as you can remember there has been some sort of war. Catastrophic change. So, the news of the Lycanthropes mobilizing to the north didn't cause too much concern. Besides, they practically owned Golden City anyways. What was curious, you thought as you entered the Gilded Calf, was the lack of breakfast options this morning. Mrs. Rayguild is usually bustling with excitement in the mornings. Singing and humming along as she cranks out various delicious pastries, meat pies, and hot teas. She was quiet today. Hesitant to speak, with a look of... a look of terror, buried underneath a clearly fraudulent smile.
A) question her further
B) dismiss it, purchase a small pie, and leave
C) Cast Minor Telepathy
Your face tightens slightly as you focus your energy (Roll a D20, pass < 10)
Pass: Come, Thomas, buy the damned food and be gone… they will kill you.
They? You glance about the room and catch a couple of shadier than normal looking individuals posted against the banister above you. They smile deviously. Your eyes go back to Mrs. Rayguild.
“Joanne, is there anything you need to tell me?” Her face loses color, and she turns away quickly cleaning bar surfaces. You look back up at the sounds of footprints as the men begin descending the nearby staircase.
Choose: RUN, HIDE, FIGHT
Fail: Your mind is unable to concentrate, other than the clear fear you get nothing more than a slight headache.
“Dearie, I am terribly busy today. I hate to be rude but please place your order or be on with it.”
HALFING: You nod your head reluctantly, "Yes sir, as you command." then step off towards the armory. ``12 damned years..." mumbling to yourself as you weave through the fine marble halls of Mahn’sun. Sea life is thriving around you. The vastness of the ocean is separated by various coral building materials, stone accents, and a thin glass semi-circular tubing. The constant gentle buzz of warding magics is a constant companion through these passages.
Nestled at the bottom of the ocean between Nortrend and the continent of Phantazia, Mahn’sun is a thriving neutral collection of various sea-born and amphibious races. Though in recent years, travel between "surface dwellers' ' and the sea-folk has increased dramatically. This is due largely to the influence of Mahn’sun’s new Director of Operations Archwallace Thickskin. A Shar'k warrior turned monk, turned politician, with great ambition and ideas of a Universal World Union or UWU. You have been working directly with Archwallace for almost 12 years now. Starting with your accidental discovery of Mahn’sun on a fishing trip with your family. The smell of salt-water invades your memories, the violent crackling of thunder, and the tumultuous battering of the ocean’s breath against your fishing vessel.
AETHERLING: The world spins around you. Blue wisps of energy dance creating a beautiful aura. The feeling of weightlessness. Peace. You feel yourself being pulled together along the Current. (You manifest in a genderless humanoid specter like form and begin plummeting towards the earth) Terror and excitement battle in your heart. Your instinct is to scream but you don't feel like you have any control of your ability to breath. You continue plummeting. Flashes of green and blue fade as you clench your eyelids shut, anticipating the impact.
Gentle breezes rolling over the meadows. The sun's warmth caresses your skin. You sit on the edge of a floating chunk of earth. Miles above the rest of the world. Looking around you notice a handful of other floating bits as small as common stones and as large as a small home. Most of these are spherical collections of earth and plant matter that seem to grow a variety of flowers, herbs, and even small trees. As your focus narrows, the sound of chittering erupts. Sprites and fairies flutter about taking in your presence. Some, dare I say, attractive fairies have taken up very closely on the ground beside you, giggling and blushing. For the first time you see yourself as whole. Nude, but whole.
Brainstorming
The wind howls, (CON saving throw DC 15 - on failure take 2 points cold damage) frost forms almost immediately on your eyes, face, and hands. Gusts of snow whip around the small ledge you find yourself lingering on. You stand high in the Alterac Mountains. Only a few peaks in the near distance are any higher than where you were teleported. Through the storming sprays of white dusty dry powder, you make out what seems to be a curving path directly ahead of you. To your right is a snow- and ice-covered cliff face. To your left and behind you are drop-offs and the hazy view of miles and miles worth of jetting earth and deep white snow.
"God, a concept far beyond our comprehension. The gods, eternally powerful beings, are pawns. And what does that make us, boy? Ants? The dirt beneath them? How are we to appease a being like God?! Or is that not the purpose at all. Is existence itself the gift? Right, wrong, good, and evil... it's enough to make a humble logger's head split. Aye, this is a gift to all. But what to do with it. Lives all around us boy. Are we not responsible for the caretaking of every being? It cannot be as simple as self. It takes us all to thrive. For what do I ravage the earth? What purpose does my ax and saw serve if not to feast on the flesh of God. And this flesh, so painfully, so graciously given to us... it is for the people. It builds them their homes. It heats their halls, roasts their meats, floats them across vast oceans! And that is only one part of flesh. What of the fruits? The branches, the vines, the roots themselves all sing and dance with life. All of it is equally as important as you and me, boy. All of it. Yet there is no grief to be had in their death. Honor. For as the trees give their very essence for our existence so too, do we, boy. Our lives are testimony to His work. Our flesh for His purpose. The gifts of the world are within us. Around us. Nothing without purpose dear child." Marq'i stops sharpening his ax for a moment and looks up, locking eyes with his son. "Boy... I love you."
Orin the Orc and the cleaning crew (Well Witches) – a violently passionate cleaning person, Orin’s presence often frightens those unaccustomed to his thorough cleaning abilities. Hired by, cared for, and amused by a family of 12 halflings somewhere in the commons of Golden City)
Concepts:
Faster death time
Variable consequences
Sickness / bodily injury - penalties to rolls based off injury.
Swamps of Dunmir
Goblin infested cave network leading to Dwarven tunnel access - ancient entrance.
This is a two-three-day trek underground through booby-trapped and progressively more aggressive goblin families. The alternative is a month-long venture up through and around mountain passes to access the more known entrance.
There is a soft burning glow emanating from the room across from you all. The sounds of creaking wood echoes through the night air. The ship lists and sways calmy about the rippling waters. “We can't afford another day, Captain. The crew is already on the verge of mutiny!"
A) Confront Captain Brighthoof of the Six Sea's Serpents
B) Group stealth check to listen in. (DC 18)
Fish people: Mahn’soon -> Kaly’mari
Nuro-toxin spines, 3 uses? Particular guards
Eel from waist down. Humanoid body and head with fish like appearance - primary race with some other sea creatures being involved
Mega-sloth-like creature that moves only inches every year with fungal-like intelligent species living in and around this being. They sustain themselves on the creature and in return help defend it from would-be attackers.

Like I can imagine a subtropical open woodland ecosystem with domestic bovines being the keystone megafauna of the ecosystem like cows and domestic water buffalo while in more arid, tundra environments domestic camelids rule as keystone megafauna. Domestic yaks dominating alpine areas. Horses living in grasslands alongside domestic sheep and goat species. Forests are dominated by domesticated banteng while hill forests are dominated by domestic gayal. Pigs becoming omnivorous foragers in any environment.
A keystone predator would be the dog which have learned that living in huge packs can help take down the large domestic megafauna while domestic cats hunt the smaller fauna like domestic turkeys, chickens, rats, geese, and all other smaller domestic fauna. Domestic pigeons fly the sky while the rivers and ponds are filled with domestic fish like bettas, and guppies exist as the goldfish and carp becoming filter feeders. Domestic striped bass would be the apex predator of the freshwater ecosystem.
What do you think?

I am The Bard, who has found that coming back to the place you are told is your home is often crueler than being away.
The godsworn made their way north once more, for another day and another night. Then they came out into the high north, where the snow never melts, and the ground is forever frozen. They passed beyond the chilly rainforest of their homeland and into the icy tundra of the furthest north. To their north now stood the mighty mountains of the Crown, a towering wall of jagged peaks, shorn into spears by thousands of years of glacial motion. Between them stood the glaciers of the eternally icy north, beyond which there is no sentient life and only the icy wastes of the northernmost poles.
With the path before them dried and solid permafrost, they made their way eastwards now, across the eternal steppe. This was a strange land to many of them, in its perpetual flatness and sameness. There was only the same icy uniformity, stretching outwards backwards and forwards behind and before them. There was neither tree nor hill, but an endless rolling plain of ice. The only things of note were the random boulders scattered here and there across the plains. How they came to rest there, none could quite say, but these mighty stones were each the size of houses, composed of the same black stone as the far mountains. Their random placement was almost more unnerving than the stillness of the steppe.
Beyond this, they soon found that many of these great stones were engraved with runes and had been carved into particular shapes. They approached one, and then quickly retreated from it. The runes were orcish in nature, around a stone which had been carved into a perfect rectangular monolith. On it was graven a long list of names, and they swiftly realized they stood on a sacred ground, where the honored dead were scattered. Suffice it to say that got them moving in a hurry. Tensions were high enough without walking on a graveyard!
And tensions remained high. The steppe was a harsh place, stark in its nature. There was a beauty to it to be certain, the clean tranquility of the waste and the dancing lights of the aurora borealis above. But it was quiet, deathly quiet. There was life here, to be certain, but much of it asleep through the winter. What remained was quiet and camouflaged. There was no birdsong nor babbling streams, and the wind blew, but it howled over empty plains rather than rustling through familiar trees. The land seemed as alien to the godsworn as the moon might have.
Finally, there was the matter of their conveyance combined with their species which further increased their tension. Orcs are, by nature, a tightly wound species. Homo Fortus is the scientific term for them in Akar, though earthling taxonomy would still qualify them as a subspecies of homo sapiens due to their ability to produce fertile offspring when intermixing with humans. They are however distinct among the great apes, as the most carnivorous and combat-equipped of that family. Orcs are omnivorous, but require higher quantities of iron, calcium, and certain vitamins to maintain a denser musculature and bone structure, as well as their powerful tusks. To obtain this, they possess superior eyesight, the adaptation of infrasight, and aforementioned enhanced musculature to make themselves excellent natural predators.
This is pushed further due to a far more aggressively specialized endocrine system. All orcs are extremely high in testosterone, to the point that it results in their distinct grey coloration and contributes with a high platelet count to produce their black blood. Beyond this, the orc’s body includes four additional adrenal glands, allowing them to produce a massive amount of adrenaline and extremely quickly. Couple this with an enlarged amygdala, secondary pituitary gland, and a frontal lobe that does not finish fully developing until 23 while the stresses on the body caused by their enlarged endocrine system kill them at an average age of 30, and you have a recipe for a species that does not like to sit still.
Ergo, there is reason to believe that even if the orcs had developed their societies to the point where they could invent the car, they probably wouldn’t have. Because the truck and now the demitank, for all their speed and carrying capacity, was torture to the godsworn. They were loud, uncomfortable, alien, stressful, and at the same time engendered a restlessness that was slowly and surely driving them all completely insane.
Even the normally quite tranquil Urz was becoming irritable and tense. When they rested, he stepped away from the group, and they could see him taking out his club and beginning to swing at the air and destroy the local shrubbery to try and clear his head and purge his system from the stress of the ride. Seeing that they were all going crazy, Urma suggested that they begin sparring with one another. The tundra was then lit by the flash of lightning and the crash of thunder as the Godsworn vented their restlessness with joyous battle against one another. Each one pushed the others further and harder, both to release their stresses and prepare one another for the battles soon to follow. Temujin began needing to hold back on the amount of magic he used in his fights in order to ensure that the injuries inflicted on one another could be rapidly recovered from, an impressive testament to the ferocity of their fights that even his nearly limitless magical stamina was being taxed and pushed to grow.
On the sixth day of their journey, they encountered a new problem, a storm, blowing in directly at their location. Uncertain of how well their machines would handle the storm, they brought the truck and demitank near to one another in the shadow of another boulder. There they sat and tried to wait out the storm. It descended on them in a howling fog, whipping up ice and snow all around them. Infrasight became as useless as the regular visual spectrum as everything vanished into a web of white. They huddled together in the main cab of the demitank, cramped, but needing to do their best to stay warm as temperatures plummeted.
Then Magog perked up, and began a low growl in the back of her throat. Everyone’s hackles raised. Magado’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Everyone! Away from the viewing slits, we’ve got incoming!” The godsworn ducked as best as they could as the howling storm was punctuated by the sound of impacts on the hull. Urma snapped her hand up and caught an arrow as it slipped through the driver’s slit and nearly hit Urz in the chest. She examined it, and cursed.
”These are gruumshi war arrows, they must think we’re Ordani!” She swore.
”In hindsight, I probably should have foreseen this as a potential consequence of driving around in stolen Ordani vehicles.” Orsus considered sheepishly.
”It’s a misunderstanding. Everyone out of the tank.” Temujin ordered. “We need to clear this up and quickly before anyone gets hurt.”
”Tem, you do realize we’re still getting shot at?” Magado advised. Temujin shot him a glare. The ranger sighed in resignation. “If I get shot because of your idealism, I’m gonna kick your ass after I’m done kicking these idiot’s collective asses.”
The orcs piled out of the tank not unlike a very violent form of clown car, hitting the ground moving and getting into cover. They looked around, sweeping the mists for their attackers, but found nothing. Even with their eyes shifted into the thermal spectrum, there was only the cold blue of the blizzard. The wind also seemed to be perpetually in their eyes, making it hard to make out anything at all. Then they saw something brilliantly hot and bright rocketing out of the blizzard at them and hit the deck.
A huge bolt of lightning hit the demitank with enough force to flip it over. The godsworn watched it turn slightly in the air before crashing back to earth. Temujin’s eye widened, then narrowed. There was another cleric here. A powerful one at that.
Arrows began to rain down on the godsworn, and they did their best to get behind Urz, Urma, and Orsus for cover. Magado watched the swirling winds carefully. It was too loud for Magog to use her echolocation, not that it would have helped. He could hear hoofbeats, mounted archers. Even so, he had to marvel at it. “They’re hitting us this accurately in these winds while on fucking horseback? How is that even possible?”
Orsus considered this as another arrow hit his shield, blinking away the wind from his eyes. Then he saw that they all had the wind in their eyes in spite of each facing different directions. That’s when it struck him. “It’s the wind!” He shouted. “They’re somehow directing the wind itself to push their arrows into hitting us, and highlight us in thermal sight!”
”That’s very interesting! How do we stop it?” Urz asked.
”I’ll give them something to look at.” Temujin suggested, then flared his spear into crackling lightning, hurling it upwards to create a brief, brilliant flash of light and heat that blinded their attackers. The winds briefly faltered, and they could see the orcs attacking them astride their steeds. “Scatter and bring them down without hurting anyone!” Temujin ordered. “No blood shed, no lives taken!”
The godsworn complied, and split up. Orsus moved in towards an incoming rider, calculated, then hurled his shield. The metal disk flew and hit the orc in the chest, knocking her off her saddle. Urma leapt onto a horse’s neck, balancing on it as she delivered a palm strike to the rider’s chest, throwing them out of the saddle, then catching them before they could fall. Magado threw a smoke bomb at another horse, spooking it and causing the rider to be thrown as the animal reared back. Urz simply ran up to the nearest horse and picked it up with the rider still in the saddle.
But Temujin knew he had his own battle. He could see him in his mind’s eye, and heard the crackle of thunder. He readied his own spear again, drawing on the future sight to predict the incoming bolt. Then it came, and he hurled forth his mighty spear. Two lightning bolts crashed into one another on the plains, straining against one another, but Temujin’s was stronger. He then saw something that surprised him, and yet he had already known. The enemy’s bolt did not scatter back into a hurled spear, but into a mounted warrior, bearing a lance and astride a horse. The horse stumbled, the lance was flung away, and the warrior was thrown.
But as Temujin moved forwards, anticipating a painful crash, the warrior did something utterly unexpected. His body shifted and changed, becoming as a stormcloud itself. It rolled past Temujin, and the warrior reformed behind him, bringing a saber down at his throat. Temujin blocked it with his axe, but winced as rending waves of wind slashed open his skin even with the main blade deflected.
Temujin called his spear to hand and turned on the warrior. Spear clashed against saber once, twice, then Temujin found an opening and lashed out with his axe. The warrior had drawn a shield, and Temujin aimed for it, hoping to knock his opponent back and engage a chance to speak. However, as he struck the leather shield, it shifted away from him, deflecting his attack to the side. The warrior struck him in the chest with the shield, and a gale force hurled him back and away. As Temujin flew back, he saw the warrior slash the air with his saber. He blocked at nothing, and flinched as a blade of air, solid as steel, slammed into his guard and then past it. Red sprayed away from his face, a messy, painful wound caused by the flaying air.
Temujin landed with a grunt, ignoring the blood running off his cheekbones and into his mouth. He brought his axe down on the earth, sending the shockwave through the permafrost to try and knock the other cleric off his feet. Again the cleric took on the form of a cloud and evaded the attack, swooping in to deliver a blow to Temujin’s throat. But this time Temujin was ready, and his spear met the saber and held it in a lock. Winds howled past him out of the blade, nearly blinding him. But he shouted through the storm, “We are not your enemies!”
The attack continued to press against his guard. Maybe he just hadn’t heard him because of the winds. He brought his axe down on the attacker’s blade, and thunder roared, smacking it out of the other cleric’s hand. He hooked a foot behind his opponent’s ankle, then delivered a headbutt, forehead to forehead. The other cleric fell backwards, stunned, and hit the frozen ground with enough force to knock the wind from his sails. Temujin caught his breath, and planted his spear in the ground. Then he offered a hand to the other cleric. “We are not your enemies.” He repeated calmly.
He looked down at the other cleric, who was still breathing heavily. He looked to be roughly the same age, slightly taller than him, and with skin darkened by life beneath the long suns of the north. His face was clean-shaven, his hair braided back behind his head. His armor was of a strange hide that gleamed in the thermal spectrum, but seemed similar to the chitin of crawling things. His sword was not a sword, but a great tooth fashioned into it, with a hilt of mammoth ivory, and his one eye was human-blue, the other gouged out, with burn marks scaring the area around it.
The cleric took his outstretched hand. “It seems not.” Temujin scarely heard him. He saw futures playing out before him. A friend, a confidant, a brother, a rival. To learn from one another and aid in walking in their difficult path. Anger in the courtly places. A clash in the arena with bare fists. Support in a revolutionary endeavor. Black skies, towering shadows, rot leaking from his eye and mouth. Brief friendships cut short by cruel ambitions, will passed down from one to another.
His face darkened with solemn melancholy, then hardened into a certain kind of resolve. The other cleric raised an eyebrow. “Is there something the matter? I didn’t hit you that hard.”
”It’s nothing Jamukha.” Temujin replied, waving his concerns aside. “Let’s first make sure our families don’t kill one another.”
Jamukha frowned, but called off his warriors. Urz sheepishly set down a very frightened and very wobbly horse. “How did you know my name?” He asked curiously and suspiciously.
”I saw you with my blind eye, a man in whom there is no deceit.”
Jamukha’s eye widened. “You can see the future?”
”You can’t?” Temujin asked in confusion.
”No. I’ve heard it was a blessing granted in the past but… there hasn’t been a prophet in nearly three hundred years.” Then he narrowed his eyes. “You saw my future when I took your hand. What did you see?”
Temujin considered lying, but decided against it. “We become friends. Then you die, horribly, to something I don’t know or understand.”
Jamukha placed a hand under his chin and considered that. Then he shrugged. “Well I’m not dead yet, and we’re not friends yet. Let’s get started on the later and worry about avoiding the former when it’s closer to time. Though since I can’t see your future, I would need to know your name.”
”Temujin.” He replied.
”Jamukha, though you already knew that.” The other cleric responded, and they shook hands. “So, ‘Jin, enough about the future of doom and gloom. How about you introduce me to your family, and explain something about the past, namely, where the hell did you get an Ordani tank?”

I am The Bard, who has decided that two wholesome chapters about cooking are necessary for this story.
The orcs rolled out along the easiest path they could in their truck, rolling along in the flat meadows that lay between the mountains and the forests. The ground here would have been challenging to traverse in the spring or summer, run through with many tiny streams of melted snow and thawed mountain lakes. But now in the deep of winter, with snow covering the ground and the lakes frozen in their high alpine refuges, the ground was hard and the modifications to their truck permitted them to cross the terrain with relative ease.
However, their first struggles arose only about an hour and a half from their departure, as they spotted the smoke of a town on the horizon. Quickly recognizing a need for relative stealth, they turned aside from their current path and diverted around a nearby hill. They had to move far more slowly now, both to reduce the noise of their passage, and to carefully chart a path around the trees and find an area wide enough to deliver their bulk through.
Temujin was busy keeping track of their progress on a map, making use of a recently acquired compass and a keen sense to time to track their overall distance. By the end of the day, he concluded that they had traveled roughly eighty miles northwards, though if they had maintained full speed going north, they would have potentially moved nearly one hundred and eighty miles north. At such speeds, it was entirely feasible to reach Kurlatai in the course of a mere few weeks.
To reach Kurlatai, they would have to travel across the span of the northeast, first traveling northwards along the mountain gap until they came away from the forests and into the steppes of the north. This would represent, from their current position, a journey of roughly eight hundred miles. Then, they would turn further east, and proceed along the tundra plains for roughly one thousand six hundred miles, crossing the Iceflow river, entering the Orz plains, and at last reaching Kurlatai. There was a reason that their tribe had never traveled in force to the great meeting. For to reach it from their tribe’s usual summer and autumn camps would have involved traveling nearly one thousand miles.
Orcs, as a nomadic people, are extremely well suited to covering a vast amount of ground on foot. While they cannot run as swiftly as an elf, they can run for far, far longer. The result being that a small band of orcs, moving at top speed through good country with sufficient supplies, can easily cover seventy miles in a day, assuming they are running for most of the day and do not stop to eat lunch, which they will rarely do during such journeys to avoid getting cramps. Even still it would take a delegation two weeks of hard travel, and more commonly three, to reach Kurlatai. Most commonly though, the entire tribe would have moved to a camp by the great freshwater sea, a journey of about two hundred miles, and chartered passage for their delegation with a North Sea tribe. This would allow them to reach Kurlatai in a week and a half with good weather.
By contrast, at top speed in their truck, the godsworn could have reached it in about nine days, while traveling far further due to the limitations of their truck’s size. However, they would be bringing with them what could be accurately titled a lot of guns, a truckload to be specific. With the need to reach the holy city swiftly, it was determined.
”We need to find a way to move through these towns without being detected.” Temujin concluded as they stretched their legs behind the hill. It was odd how doing nothing could render the body tired. Perhaps it was trying to go to sleep.
”We could move at night.” Magado suggested. “If we’re moving at full speed, no horse or man will catch us in this weather. And if they have their own sorts of trucks, they won’t have the modifications necessary to carry them over the snow as quickly. Especially not given that at night, everyone will have to get out of bed, bundle up, and get out to their transport in time to stop us, assuming they even feel the need to try.”
The others looked at one another. It was simple, but it seemed like it would work. “Well, I suppose we’ll try that tonight, because it seems reasonable.” Temujin said with a shrug.
”Right, we’ll need to wait for that nearby town to bed down.” Magado noted. “I’m going out hunting with Magog, we’ll see if we can pick up any spare rations.”
”Need someone to go with you?” Urz asked.
”Firstly, you’re too big, secondly, I’d rather go just me and her.” Magado replied. “Not used to being around this many people for this long, either of us, and I get the feeling she doesn’t like the truck all that much. Too loud.”
”Understandable. Have fun!” Urz said, waving them off. He turned then to Temujin and asked if they had any spare cloth that wasn’t being used for anything at the moment.
”I imagine I will. Don’t start dinner until I get back!” He warned, and the two mounted up.
Orsus leaned a bit of a side eye towards Urma. “Not going to give him a piece of “be careful and back soon?” He teased her lightly.
Urma raised an eyebrow. “Unlike some of you he can be trusted to do that without me needing to tell him.”
”And he’d just tease you.”
”Do not cast your pearls before swine.” Urma replied. (Translator’s Note: This is not a literal translation from orcish, but a localization. The literal translation is “Don’t try to feed a render sweet apples.”).
”That, and if he somehow manages to get lost, he’s the only one who’s actually been to Kurlatai before, and could probably beat us there on Magog.” Temujin added.
”So, with that in mind, I have meant to ask, though that thing was too loud to talk with you.” Urma noted. “We’re obviously going to Kurlatai, but my question is what exactly are we hoping to accomplish there?”
”I think I could hazard a guess.” Orsus said with a creeping smile.
”You hazard a lot of things, whether you’re right in doing so or not.” Temujin grumbled, somehow managing to give the fighter side-eye from an empty socket. “So to your disappointment Orsus, and your peace Urma, no, I am not going there to start a war.”
Orsus frowned. “Tem, war is coming, there’s nothing that can be done about it. We’re at war, have been, and just haven’t realized it. The war is here.”
”Battles are here, war is not. Not yet. It cannot be, yet, for the disunited mass of our people cannot fight a war.” Temujin replied. “And that is what the Ordani rely upon. Faced with our combined might, they cannot stand against us. Therefore, in presenting a united front, such that an attack against one is an attack against all, they will hesitate.”
”Then we can strike, and take our revenge.”
”No.” Temujin continued. “Then, we can speak, and save our people. I will not lead our people into war. I have already burned too many of my brothers for that. If our people are united, there then can be no war, for we are too strong, and the Ordani will fear our strength, and not have the necessary manpower to destroy us.”
”To abandon vengeance, this is not our way. It will never be accepted.”
”The clans cannot fight against the Ordani. However, the clanless, the warbands…” Temujin replied, trailing off to indicate his idea. “Those are not under any clan or tribe’s command, they are independent actors. Much as how the Ordani will claim no responsibility for the adventurers that will doubtless appear in our own lands.”
Orsus smiled. “Ah, clever. I did not think you had the guile necessary to deal dishonestly with the Ordani in such a way.”
”I despise it.” Temujin admitted. “But the Ordani will not deal honestly with us either. There will still be battles, and we must be able to fight them. But there will not be a war, and that will give us time. For the Ordani have not come to our lands without reason. There are things which they want, things which if they cannot take, they must trade for.” He tapped the side of the truck. “Their machines, their weapons, we can take these, we can learn how to make them ourselves. We can grow stronger, so strong that we will never be challenged again. There will not be peace, but there will not be war, because it would be as likely to destroy them as to destroy us, and our people will still prosper.”
”While I’d love to get my hands on more of their technology, and I will be taking this thing apart to see how it works once we make it to Kurlatai, there are at least a dozen different reasons why I don’t think this is going to work. Uniting the clans will be difficult enough even with the desire for revenge behind us. Doing it while asking them to not establish a direct response is going to be nearly impossible, and expecting the Ordani to even sign an agreement is madness.”
”I don’t expect them to sign anything. I expect them to be what they are, cowards preying on the weak, suddenly faced with strength.”
”Tem, I know I don’t need to tell you the Law of the Dark Forest.”
Temujin did not need to be told this law, but unless you happen to be an akarian orc, you likely do. The term came from a commonly told children’s story, called the parable of the dark forest.
There once was a tribe which lived near to a Dark Forest, and the forest was full of monsters. One day, three brothers went into the Dark Forest to kill a monster, for it had been causing much trouble. However, because of the trickery of the forest, the three became separated, and wandered through the forest.
The first brother came upon a shadow in the forest, and called out to it, for he could not tell what it was. The shadow turned, and ripped out his intestines, split open his skull from jaw to crown, and devoured his liver, for it was a monster.
The second brother came upon a shadow in the forest, and struck it without mercy. And he hewed off the head of the shadow, and was pleased for it was a monster, with its fangs and talons slick with black blood.
The third brother came upon a shadow in the forest, and struck it without mercy. And he split open the shadow's belly, but was horrified because he saw that it was his brother returning from having slain their quarry. But his brother only laughed as he died and told him. "It is good that you are swifter than I brother, for I would have hewed off your head if I were swifter instead. For the forest is always full of monsters."
The law of this was taken from the words of the dying brother. It was that, when faced with an unknown entity, the best approach was aggression. For the entity might be hostile, and thus attacking first was the best way to survive. Furthermore, since this approach was assumed to be taken by all rational entities, it also indicated that even if an entity was not initially hostile, if it was also operating on unclear information, they would also try to strike first to ensure their own survival.
”I am aware of it, and it does not need to apply here.” Temujin replied. “This must be accomplished before the winter is out, so that a response may be sent to inform the Ordani of this, and prevent them from acting without information. When lanterns are brought into the dark forest, then all can see who the monsters are.”
”Monsters do not want there to be lanterns.” Orsus countered.
”There are our own brothers standing with them. They cannot be monsters, for no men can make case with monsters.”
”Unless that man is become a monster himself.”
By now both men were on their feet, closer and closer to one another as their argument intensified. Urma stepped in, and stepped between the two. “Enough, both of you, before this comes to blows.” She bade them, and both came to their senses and sat down. “We’re arguing about things far enough in the future to be basically irrelevant. Do either of you actually have any idea how we’re going to convince the clans to follow us?”
Both men looked at one another, then her, sheepishly.
Urma facepalmed. “Maybe you should work together to solve the problem of our people tearing themselves apart before arguing about the most effective way of dealing with the Ordani. Providing of course you can avoid fighting each other in the process. Regardless, one impossible task at a time please.”
Urma was not incorrect to consider the task of uniting the orcs to be bordering on the impossible. The orcish polity was complex, diverse, and infamously fractious.
The orcs are broadly divided into seven "nations", which are divided into about 7500 clans, each of which contains between 1 and 12 tribes, which themselves contain usually between 150-500 orcs, though there are tribes with as few as sixty and as many as fifty thousand, though these are very rare and very extreme.
Tribes are the most definite political unit of orcish society, consisting as almost extended family networks. Tribes will usually have a single leader, almost always a priest of Gruumsh, who is advised by major councilors representing different interests within the tribe. Tribes are generally independent of one another and control their own roughly defined territories, though for most, these territories shift from year to year, often producing conflicts that can lead to war.
Clans are loose organizations of different tribes, usually formed when one tribe becomes so large that it needs to split into two or more. However, clans are also formed through a combination of blood oaths, treaties, trade agreements, defensive pacts, etc. Clans are largely held together by personal ties as much as political ones, and are prone to form and fracture depending on connections. Tribes within the same clan will usually meet at least once a year for regular discussions, to hash out meetings, determine if a Warband needs to be formed, and resolve disputes. A Warband (A temporary tribelike structure typically formed from several different tribes under a charismatic leader) will usually be formed from members of a single clan. Clans usually exist within a single nation, but are known to span nations as well. A single tribe may be a member of multiple clans.
The seven nations were less political organizations so much as they are ethnic and geographic categories, describing a group which tends to share a rough lifestyle, certain ethnic similarities (about on par with the genetic differences between different kinds of humans), and operating in similar geographic areas.
Those seven nations were as follows:
The Riverlands: This is the nation which the godsworn themselves hailed from, living in the riverlands and forests of the northwest. They tended to be hunters and fishermen, and moved seasonally, establishing fortified camps. Those of the nation of the riverlands were currently those most endangered by the Ordani.
The Steppe: This nation describes the orcs who lived in the northeast, the ones the scoundrels met. These ones are more nomadic-herder types, and are also excellent cavalrymen and archers. They were the smallest free nation remaining now thanks to the encroachment of the Ordani on their territory, and many have moved into the far north of the northeast. They were the most nomadic of all the orcs.
The Mountain Orcs: These are the orcs who live in the mountains of the world, mostly inhabiting the mountains which border the desert of Io's Wrath. They are generally fiercely independent and exceptionally technologically advanced, as well as being physically larger than most other orcs due to intermixing with Goliaths. Urz was in part derived from Mountain Orc stock. They were also the second most migratory orcs after the steppe orcs, constantly moving through the mountain passes.
The North Sea Orcs: These were the orcs who live around the inner northern sea and along the coast of Orz. They were generally known for being highly diplomatic and excellent traders, though many of their clans were engaged in perpetual war with the northern elves. Orsus was descended from a grafting of North Sea orcs, who’s occasional mixing with elvish stock lent them occasional occurrences of brilliant red hair.
The Chultan Orcs: The most isolated and ill-known orcish nation, consisting of all orcs living in chult. It was unknown both to orcs and Ordani how many of them there even were or what their lifestyles consisted of. Many clans in this nation were members of the Chultan Alliance, and their clans almost never sent a delegation to Kurlatai.
The Orz Orcs: These orcs were the ones who inhabited the ancient homeland of the orcs, Orz, and contained the largest orcish tribe of Kurlatai, who claim to be the direct descendants of Gruumsh's own clan, and command the great orcish city of Kurlatai, which is supposedly built on the site where Gruumsh ascended to godhood after slaying the primordial known as the two-headed raven. They were generally the most conservative and traditionalist orcs, and also boasted the largest clans and tribes. Their control over the holy city which was used for seasonal meetings granted them outsized political power over the orcs as a whole, contributing to the conservative nature of the orc tribes and clans.
The great political event of the year for the orcs, and the main thing which allowed them to continue to exist as a single overarching culture, was the Kurlatai. This was an annual meeting in the holy city of Kulatai, which saw delegations from a majority of clans arrive over the winter to meet, trade, form new connections, participate in religious ceremonies, tournaments, etc. This event was responsible for largely preventing major inter-clan wars, or else overseeing them to ensure they did not grow out of hand. Not all clans sent a delegation every year, but generally speaking if a clan hadn’t appeared in about five years then others would begin to ask questions. \
Kurlatai was also notable for being the largest gathering of the clannless orcs, those who have no tribe due to some combination of wanderlust, tragedy, or criminal exile. These rogues and adventurers could often be found here, meeting with one another and other clans to find work, new homes, or simply a good time. More than one winter had come and past with new tribes being formed out of these wanderers, which often proved to be some of the most vigorous and dynamic in years to come. The tribe of the godsworn was formed in this way, as Galmor gathered about him many others and set out with them to establish a new home in the riverlands.
Suffice it to say, this vast and diverse portfolio of bellicose orcs would be a rather difficult thing to unite, and only could be united at the great Kurlatai. This diplomatic task was, in many ways, far greater than the military task of facing the union.
It was as they were glumly considering this that Magado returned with his kill, a bull elk with one of his antlers broken. The elk was perhaps a bit less juicy than it could have been, though thick with winter fat. To reduce its weight and feed herself, Magog had opened its throat and greedily lapped down the blood. Her species were omnivorous, and blood was hot and rich in iron and calories, and devouring it lightened the load for her to bear back. However, the far richer prize indeed was found in Magado’s bag, as he had found a crop of late plums, partially fermenting and buried in the snow. He spoke a single word, and the mood was lifted.
”Drot!”
Drot, often mistranslated as “Draught” or more commonly “Orc-Draught” is a core element of orcish food. Traditionally prepared as part of the first meal using a kill, drot is comprised of the remnants of a roast. The cook will roast fatty portions of the kill, along with traditionally the heart, liver, and brain, in a pot which is filled with fruit juice, milk, or ideally alcohol, with sweet, dark wines, something akin to a port, being considered particularly favored. Herbs and occasionally wild honey are added, and the meal is prepared. The solid portions of the meat are eaten, usually with a fire-roasted root vegetable such as a carrot or potato, and the remants of the broth they were cooked in is drunk. It is considered a favorite drink and is particularly well beloved on cold winter nights. It’s also commonly spiked with sprits made from rye, juniper berries, or fermented potatoes and drunk as an after-dinner relaxant.
There are certain variants on drot which are composed by the Ordani, but these are more commonly just spiced wines or ciders. True drot requires the inclusion of animal fats, and thus must be consumed swiftly after consumption. This renders it effectively impossible to commercialize.
The godsworn set into motion with practiced mechanical skill. Temujin set to work with his flensing knives, and in a few minutes had stripped the skin cleanly from the elk. He immediately set to work cleaning it, considering how best to make use of the soft, heavy winter coat. Urma took custody of the bones and antlers, setting at once to fashioning them into useful needles and pins. Magado carved the beast expertly, removing useful organs, and throwing anything not of use to Magog, who he quite frankly spoiled. He set aside several choice portions for the night’s meal, then set to work on it. Orsus took over the carving, butchering the meat into strips and rubbing it with salt and other spices taken from the Ordani. He then hung the strips to begin drying along the sides of the truck, theorizing that the winds of their swift passage would help speed the drying process. As for Urz, he gathered the firewood and built a roaring fire for their cooking, constructing a clever device of thin strips above the flames to catch the smoke and disperse it to hide their presence.
The flurry of activity broke them from their funk, and spirits began to raise. Magado began to sing as the meat cooked, using the length and meter of the songs to time when it was set to turn and season the meal. All soon joined in, from Urma’s surprisingly fair soprano to the deep bases produced by Temujin and Urz.
Then at last it was done. Temujin gave a prayer of thanks, and they set to work in devouring their meal. They feasted on heart and liver and fatty rump roast. They devoured roasted potatoes and carrots on greenwood skewers, and drank deeply of the drot, spiked generously with rum acquired courtesy of the Ordani. They laughed and sang and were merry despite the cold of the day and the long journeys still before them. Even the normally melancholic Temujin laughed heartily, and more deeply than most. Urz was quietly delighted, Madgado joked, and both Urma and Orsus laughed until tears filled their eyes and they gasped for air.
At last, their joviality calmed, and Temujin remarked towards Magado. “I see now how you are always so fair-hearted. If this is how you eat every day, how could anyone not be easily joyous?”
Magado rested back on his hands, cracked his neck, and watched the stars turning above him. “Hunting, cooking well, these things are necessary for life. Not just for survival, but for living. For rich bellies and more than you require, but gained by the work of your own hands. It’s an honest thing with honest reward. But more than that, they keep your spirits up by doing things and reaping the rewards.”
”Many are the wise men who are miserable, for they plan for days they will not see for years yet. And though they do great things, they cannot enjoy them. For their minds are always on the future and they cannot understand the day. They grow weary from constant striving with no reward. Many are the fools who are miserable, for they do nothing and thus rot while they still live. The key is to do just enough. It is to rise each morning, set yourself a thing to do for the day that you can do in the day, and delight in the fruits thereof in the evening. So that each day, you establish for yourself the little victories needed to give you the confidence to pursue the great victories.”
"It's important to do these little, daily things. The world is too vast, too complicated, and plain too mean to let you win every day. You're going to lose, and you're going to have problems you can't solve, or can solve but in such incremental parts that it feels like you're going nowhere. Just because we're going to save the world doesn't mean we can forget the mundane. The mundane is incredibly important for doing the extraordinary. It gives you the little victories you need to keep going in the face of insurmountable challenges."
He cracked one of the bones between his hands before tossing it to Magog. The bat eagerly set to sucking out the marrow, and he watched her with some amusement before setting to work on his own bone. He somewhat resembled a vulture in the firelight, but a cheerful vulture not overconcerned with tomorrow. “That, and living alone, I have to eat my own cooking, so I had best learn to do it well.”
He laid back and closed his eyes. “Get some sleep, we’re not going to figure it all out this evening. Trouble enough will find us on the way and keep us busy with that. Something about whoever’s running the world is funny that way, determined to teach us all not to worry too much about tomorrow, they will give us trouble enough today.”