crabpigs
So @gryphonrampant had a really clever headcanon explaining why Jaal had a kaerkyn, of all things, as a pet:
Apparently domesticated kaerkyn are a popular meat animal, and kid!Jaal got inappropriately emotionally attached to a meat animal and refused to let anyone eat it, and Jaal was never allowed to help with livestock farming again.
So with that headcanon, we have a fairly large, tough animal that eats absolutely everything. Wild ones are aggressive and will maul you given half an excuse. Domestic ones probably won’t maul you, are a great way to turn rubbish into meat, can probably be left to run around in the woods and eat random woods things without predators eating them, and aren’t normally kept as pets but can be decent pets if you want them to. Doesn’t that sound a lot like a pig?
Anyone want to translate some of their culture’s associations with pigs to kaerkyn? I’m thinking recipes, that mediaeval-European “pigs are where you get meat unless you’re rich! Pigs are so awesome! But kind of scary!” thing, or Celtic-style wild boar totemism (sure, Heleus has animals that are much more badass than kaerkyn, but the ancient Welsh knew about wolves and bears and that didn’t stop them coming up with the Twrch Trwyth - I can totally see a Resistance division that uses wild kaerkyn symbolism, either just as a mascot or as some spiritual totem thing.)
