#lumberjack folklore

[briefbestiary]

A strange man of Maine lumberjack tale. Seemingly neutral by nature, though he's liable to be swayed by an offering of good whiskey.

[victusinveritas]

[spidermilkshake]

Ancardia's Unusual Animals--The Gremlin, or Agropelter

Classification: Humanoid (primate)

Habitat: Throughout the Drakalor Chain, scattered in pockets through Tvearban, the Fallar Wastes, and highland bordering the Buldar Wastes.

            The Gremlin, known in Aynaul dialects as the Agropelter, is the smallest extant species of ape in Ancardia, and also among one of the most notoriously aggressive. Living in large troops, gremlins cluster around water-rich environments and are naturally arcanely potent—and if submersed in water they are known to bud and clone themselves in a relatively rapid process not known to exist in any other mammalian species thus far. It is thought that this is a survival adaptation to large swings in gremlin populations—caused by either scarcity of food for a high number of gremlins, periods of high predation by creatures like rukh, giant arachnids, big cats and other large carnivores, and more recently bounties after them set by humanoids in areas where gremlins are finding their way into machinery, storehouses, and other places where their tendency to pull apart objects and snatch shiny objects. Even in cases where over 90% of all gremlins have been killed or driven out, the remaining gremlins can double their remaining population in a matter of a week through the budding process, though this does produce a genetically limited population and is not the preferred means of reproduction for gremlins in normal circumstances.

            The average gremlin is no larger than the typical small arboreal monkey—weighing approximately 8 to 12 pounds and measuring only 40 to 50 centimeters tall in a bipedal posture. They are omnivorous though they lean towards the carnivorous side, especially during winter and early spring when their plant-based food sources are unavailable. They have stout, strong jaws and tough, very dexterous hands which are their primary tools in acquiring food, usually by tearing open decaying logs, prying up stones, and ripping and cracking open rinds and shells on fruits and nuts. The majority of their natural diet consists of grubs, worms, isopods, nuts, fruits, cocoons, small rodents and various burrowing insects. The troop usually numbers around 20 to 30 individuals in ideal conditions, and are polygamous with multiple females exclusively bonding to one of the males, which each can give birth to and raise a single young each year once they reach a breeding age of at least 3 years. Their lifespan is naturally somewhat shorter than other apes, being an average of only 25, though some have been known to reach the upper 30s in captive environments. Most cultures consider gremlins somewhat obnoxious, if not an outright pest, due to several of their survival behaviors. In addition to their foraging habit of tearing up wood and flipping over objects, gremlin troops have the macaque-like habit of mobbing potential threats that intrude in their home space, which has resulted in the erroneous reputation that gremlins will attack humanoids unprovoked. Their preferred form of mobbing is the source of their high elven name: They will pelt intruders with various objects like pebbles and earth clods while screeching from a distance, while a few of the larger males in the troop will also make blustering charges out to slap and bite at the undefended side of the creature they consider a threat, and the obvious solution to such a display is to quickly and calmly leave back the way one came. Unfortunately, such ignorance about this beast’s behavior often leads to incidents of local humanoids killing and harming large numbers of gremlin troops unnecessarily.

[cryptidmoodboards]

Hide-Behind moodboard for @cosmiccambion.

[nickelarrt]

Day 6: Ball-Tailed Cat

[briefbestiary]

As the lumberjack's mittens would not stop climbing, he found them to be useless and abandoned them on the road. The mittens' last sighting saw them climbing over logs and the like out in the woods.

[briefbestiary]

The voracious and near-invincible gumberoo. Its tough body repels most dangers, though its ashen skin perhaps betrays its sole weakness.

[briefbestiary]

A woodland danger, the agropelter attacks those who dare approach its home tree carelessly. With its distinctive arms, the creature slings dead branches with lethal speed and force.