#cherufe

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Cherufe

Description: Cherufe is a creature found in Mapuche mythology of indigenous people of southern and central Chile. Described as an evil being made of rock and magma, it is said to lurk in volcanos and magma pools. The only way to abate the monster is to throw a sacrificial person into the volcano.

[briefbestiary]

Oh burning earth. Today comes the volcanic being of Mapuche folklore, the Cherufe, in the style of one of its many depictions: a humanoid being of molten stone and rock.

[spidermilkshake]

Ancardia's Unusual Animals--The Cherufe

Classification: Beast (crocodilian)

Habitat: Volcanically active regions along the tropics, especially on the Isles of Bleeding Rock and on the islands of the Sea of Sibili.

            The Cherufe is a curious species in the crocodile family, one which is adapted to live strictly in the tropics close to volcanic activity. They are a common sight on the slopes of small shield volcanoes and along the sides of solidifying lava flows, and are also a very good indicator of the presence of accessible hot springs when they are spotted in the undergrowth areas away from lava rocks. The beasts are, as you might guess, very strongly magically attuned and are almost entirely resistant to extreme heat and flame, able to walk right across cooling lava flows which still measure in at over 250 degrees Celsius. Cherufe are generally laidback, opportunistic omnivores, basking in the extreme heat of geothermal activity and the tropical sun most of the time and feeding on a variety of things found in the vicinity. They commonly scavenge carcasses of animals which succumb to the hazards of volcanoes or extremely hot springs, and are also known to browse on the fruit and foliage of a number of plants found in greater density around volcanoes—such as coffee berries, ash succulents, air plants, tree ferns, passionflowers and mountain orchids. They are astoundingly comfortable around humanoid presence and attack only when provoked or approached too closely; in many areas, the local group of cherufe become a default source of disposal for kitchen scraps.

            While some cultures regard the cherufe with reverence and forbid hunting or harassing them for any reason, alchemists in the Heartland, Nechola, and the Ayn Coastlands covet various materials from these creatures for a number of purposes. The blood of cherufe is perhaps the most valuable as it is the base ingredient for a potent potion against some of the most fatal inflammatory diseases, but some mages seek out the hides of cherufe for their natural baseline of enchantment—making them some of the most powerful raw materials for items that provide immunity to fire and heat. Cherufe are not easy quarry at all—measuring an average of 3.5 meters in length at adulthood, in addition to their powerful jaws full of large, conical teeth and heavy, scute-plated tails, the cherufe also employs its natural arcana to spout plumes of flames up to 20 meters in length, heat an area around themselves up to ignition temperature to ward off attackers, and emit defensive flumes of heated, toxic ash clouds. In spite of their great strengths, cherufe are nonaggressive and prefer to flee whenever possible from fights.

            Gregarious and social, cherufe continue to be fairly non-violent in their conspecific life. When the breeding season comes around, large cherufe adults contest with each other over idea high ground for nest-building, attracting mates by securing the best sites. If another cherufe attempts to claim the same nesting spot, they enter a ritualized combat that involves rearing up on their hind legs and pushing against each other chest-first; the victor is whichever one manages to push the other one over. Pairs which maintain their nesting spot dig a pit and lay their clutch of eggs within, usually numbering between 12 and 18 eggs, and take turns brooding the clutch and protecting it from various egg foragers for about 26 days until hatching. The hatchlings stick close to their parents for the first year of their lives, often riding on the parent’s heads and backs, learning how to forage and scavenge while also hunting insects and rodents. After a year, the young cherufe are about one meter long, and their rate of growth slows considerably; cherufe reach their average adult size at roughly 6 years of age, and only become able to breed at about 8 years old. It’s unclear what the normal lifespan of a cherufe is due to poor records and a general inability to tell one large cherufe from another—the known record among captive cherufe reached over 60 years of age, so it is assumed most cherufe can reach between 50 and 70 years of age in a normal lifespan.

[spideyladman]

So

*bangs fists into table*

Was anybody going to tell me about Cherufes which are essentially volcano lizards?

[ezarelz]

Halloween on Eldarya ANE - Mathieu's demon

Cherufe

[phoenixdice]

Seasoned, smoked, or even plain, human is Cherufe's favorite food! In fact, a volcanic sacrifice is the only way to calm this creature made of fire and magma! Feel the burn at the shop today!

Phoenix Dice

Dungeons & Dragons Gaming Accessories

[epica-fantasia-ilustrada]

[elvencryptid]

me and @orokay have been talking and I finally redrew my gal Cherufe  The info broker and weapons dealer with a love of the finer things and her girlfriend