MONITOR HOUNDS come in many flavors, ranging from the great hulking lizard-things that rove the wilderness with no master, to the small and colorful pocket hounds that royalty and nobility carry with them in their bags and pockets. they were domesticated long ago by the early lizard people, for use as help in the trying times of the VILE MAMMAL AGE (Ice Age). wild populations of the monitors are slowly dying out, due to hunting by hunters of many kinds. domesticated monitor hounds have a hidden semi-government and secret economy, both of which are fraught with deceit and corruption in the mock street-courts of the lizard dogs. wild monitor hounds have a strange government, one that is more chaotic and collectivist than the imitation of noble life that the domesticated monitor society has. Monitor hounds that are truly monstrous in stature are used by the druids, but it is hard to tell whether they are natural wild hounds or shapeshifted nature freaks
RATS and MICE are some of the most common mammalian forms of life, along with SHREWS and other such small creatures. they live in burrows and hideyholes just as they do in our world, and are similarly eaten by many animals, such as serpents and even the great cultures of the lizard people. another common kind of mammal are the many species of BATS which fly through the night sky, eating insects and chowing down on fruit and, in some species, living a sanguivorous lifestyle. the vast majority of mammals grow no larger than these small rodents or their feline predators CATS, and non-rodent mammals are very limited in population. the only true exceptions to this are the ORCAS, intelligent yet brutish and violent aquatic mammals, and the GNOLLS, cunning and intelligent and hungry and sadistic hyena-like creatures that hide in a small part of the southlands, known of in other lands only from what has been told by the crocmen.
CRICKADEES are huge flying crickets that nest up in the boughs of trees, competing with BATS and even the few BIRDS for space. they, along with the BEHEMOTHS, eat the hulking APHIDS that would otherwise destroy great groves of trees and other plant-life. BEHEMOTHS are gigantic insects, easily larger than even the monitor hounds ridden by druids, with mountain-like curved and smooth shells, patterned with many different patterns in different species. they are nearly unstoppable giants, the only things which can defeat and eat the aphids and their ant masters in the wild, and able to stop the destruction of wilderness areas in an instant. when a behemoth wades into an area, pushing the venomous ANT MASTERS out of the way with their bulk and their smooth shells, breaking the bodies of the aphids and snacking on their insides, attracting lesser, vulture-like crickadees to feast on the weaker aphids and even sometimes on the ant masters.
LOOMS are humanoid creatures, nothing more than unintelligent beasts, which will crawl around the edges of towns, scavenging for scraps of food like a bear would on the earth. when the sun sets and the moons rise, the looms can be seen activating their bioluminescent spots that allow them to find friends and mates in the darkness. there are many superstitions regarding the looms, almost comparing them to the obviously unnatural bugbears, but they are nothing more than peaceful scavengers.
on the shores of the ocean, many different animals can be found. PUFFERFLIES are semi-aquatic fish which can fill themselves with liquid or even air, and then shooting out of the water in a great stream, all to avoid the dread attack of some aquatic predator. QUEEN CRABS are more often found on the shores of more northern lands, but they sometimes drift further south and into other lands. they are huge crustaceans, resplendent in the bright crimson shades which color the slight male's huge crown-like crest, but the much much larger females are just a famous, known for their plentiful delicious meat in fishing communities. many species of HERMIT CRABS, coming in many different sizes, gather different materials to hide in, or even sometimes to construct a home for themselves. giant sorts are not too common on the shoreline, but can be found deep underwater, with mysterious room-like chambers in their shell-homes.
LEECHES are found in any wet environment, and they eat many different kinds of things. of course, there are the vampiric leeches of the more swampy lands, which are oftentimes prone to becoming chupacabra from their sanguivorous lifestyle, but there are also worm-eating leeches in hilly lands, coral-like sea leeches, huge many eyed and bloated gutter leeches which have evolved for an urban environment, and snatch at airborne insects and bats with prehensile teeth. SAND WORMS are found in desert areas, with their heavy armor plating protecting their fragile wet flesh from the abrasive sand beyond it. they are common predators, and they will sometimes disguise their tongues as cacti to attract prey. OASIS NEMATODES are small worms that can be found in the isolated pockets of water and life in the desert, which will snag on the flesh of their perfect host, and cause disorienting mental effects, brain tumors, and possibly death in hosts that are of the wrong sort.
tiny PTEROSAURS flit through the skies of the very warm regions near the equator, where some bat species would overheat with their fur and warm blood. they are very colorful, with beautiful crests and bright markings. they run the gamut from predator to prey, from carnivore to omnivore to herbivore. some break open nuts with their strong beaks, while others use snaggle teeth to snatch tiny flying insects and even other, smaller pterosaurs from the sky. it is said that there are huge, larger than a person, pterosaurs hidden somewhere in the wilderness.
CERATOPSI are farmed for their meat by the lizard people, but they once were huge horned creatures that roamed the wilderness in huge flocks and herds, chewing on the grasses and defending themselves from the large predators. they have huge crests, sometimes with eyespots or other coloration in some breeds, and with snipping beaks and piercing horns. cow ceratopsi will tend to have smaller horns than the male ones, but the females are much larger and fatter. there is a very large trade in the huge horns of these beasts.
ROACHES come in many, many sorts and live in many environments, with small URBAN ROACHES sifting through the refuse of civilization, brown and grey and easily missed. the flat CRACKER ROACHES crawl in the dark spots of wet forests, flattened and wide so that they may fit through thin spaces. GARGANTUA ROACHES are large sorts that live within swampy environments, adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle and defended against marsh predators with a hard shell.
more of the ecology of the world with no name is forthcoming
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