We're still looking for some Flora and Fauna descriptions for the Crinos home page. By no means encompassing every living thing in Crinos, this should nonetheless add in some local flavor and ambience. What we would like to see is ideas, or even concept sketches of flora & fauna for Crinos, from the natives and people who interact with Crinos most -- you! The flora & fauna can be anything from plants to insects to predators to birds to fish... you get the idea. ANYTHING goes. So come on... send us your ideas! If you have a comprehensive concept for one particular beastie, great! If you only have a vague idea of some kind of insect or flower, that's great too! What we're looking for are things distinctive to Crinos; particularly the lands that are 'built' rooms in Crinos. So deep-sea marine life probably won't be filled out as much as plains-dwelling creatures, for instance. A comprehensive listing for each creature will contain:
Please note that none should be shapeshifting: that's what makes a Verdimm, and we're not classfying Verdimm here. :) Also please note that partial listings are encouraged... if you have an idea for a creature's description but don't want to think of a name, or habits, that's cool, we'll take it! The final list, when we've got it put together, will be included in the Crinos home page (along with the credit to the designers). So email Luna with those beastie concepts! :)
The following submitted by Crimson_Spiral:
Areich (Honeythistle): Found in dry plains and hills. A 3' thorny stalk topped by a green-gold spiky thistlelike flower. Occurs in small clumps. Danger level 2: blundering into a patch can lacerate tender human skins. Klureit-ir (Honeywasp): Found in dry plains and hills. A 2" insect with a 3" wingspan. Resembles a fuzzy purple wasp with black bands. Six legs and six wings. Feeds on nectar from plants such as the Areich; can also consume blood and other bodily fluids from dead animals. Danger level 4: When a Klureit-ir is irritated, it repeatedly stings an enemy; its poison causes swelling and cellular breakdown, and gives off a smell which attracts other Klureit-ir to attack the victim in a swarm. The swarm will then spend a few days consuming the liquefied corpse. To irritate a Klureit-ir is bad; fortunately, they are easily avoided. Tei-tor Bush (Earthpear): Found in northern plains. A low, spreading gray bush with sprays of thin green leaves. Blooms with tiny flowers of orange and red in the spring, then releases drifting dandelion-like seeds during the summer. Grows large, sweet, fleshy brown tubers which are usually dug up and eaten by the Ret-ti-Senek, other Verdimm, and burrowing animals. Danger level 1: Harmless. Charretek (Soil Scorpion): Found in northern plains. A 6" arthropod, with 5 pairs of legs; the first 2 pairs have crablike claws coated with venom. Has a rust-brown chitinous exoskeleton. Found in colonies of ten to fifty individuals, living underground. Feeds on worms, grubs, insect larvae and small rodents. A variant species, purplish-black and up to 1' long can be found in the southern jungles; that species is found in smaller (up to 8) groups. Danger level 6: Wildly aggressive when disturbed; claws are coated with a nerve poison which kills small animals and induces seizures in the larger ones. Often found amidst the tubers of plants like the Tei-tor bush. Some creatures, most notably the Ret-ti-Senek, are immune to their venom; they consider Charreteki to be a delicacy. Merati (Unicorn Gazelle): Found in northern and central plains. Similar to the gazelle, but with a single straight horn. Fur changes color with the season, from green-brown in spring to red-brown in autumn, to white in the winter. Feeds on grasses, flowers, and shrubs. Merati move about in small flocks of six to twenty individuals. They mate for life; young are borne live, and grow to maturity in three years. Few can outrun the Merati on the open plain. Danger level 2: Merati are peaceful herbivores, and will only engage in combat if they have no other choice. However, their horns are sharp and deadly, and can slay an attacker who truly threatens either a Merati or its young. Sursech'a (Stickybush): Found in temperate to sub-tropical environments. Has a stumpy trunk, reaching one foot in height and one foot in width in large specimens. Branches are knotted and twisty, up to seven feet long, with smooth gray bark splotched with bright green. Leaves are green with serrated edges. Has bright yellow, daisylike flowers which stay in bloom throughout the year; these flowers are sticky, and are used to catch and digest small insects. The roots of the sursech'a are long, beige, spicy, fibrous and nutritious. Hard seeds in the roots are indigestible, and in fact survive the digestive process to grow new sursech'a. Flowers, roots and seeds are all used by Verdimm, both for food and for magic. Danger level 1: Harmless, unless you're a small insect. Jhokadi (Hoptusk): Found in plains environments, the jhokadi resembles a cross between an ostrich and a kangaroo, with the tusked head of a boar. Has a light brown scaly hide, small but wickedly clawed forearms, not to mention those tusks. Can lope extremely quickly, or move into a hop over long distances. Omnivorous, preferring fresh meat but able to root about for roots and tubers. Generally move individually or in family groups of two to five, but gathers into large herds during the mating season. Uses a weird, squealing call to communicate. Found in a number of other Black Zone shadows as well, where they are used as war-mounts. Danger level 7: Jhokadi are big, fast, tough, enduring and bloodthirsty. Fortunately, they aren't very bright... but they're plenty bright enough to survive on the plains of Crinos. Vrikkai (Tree Shadows): Found in forest and jungle terrains, the Vrikkai are tarsier-like creatures, perhaps three feet tall, with slender bodies covered with mottled green and black fur. They are omnivores, feeding on fruit, tubers, worms, grubs, and occasionally fish. They are intelligent and know the secrets of the blowgun, the bow, and the sling. Their seers and herbalists are skillful, and they use fire (which is sacred to them) to brew potions and antidotes, and to see into the future. They dwell in the treetops, in family groups of twelve to thirty individuals. They are very shy, and normally avoid contact with outsiders, except the Ekli'in, with whom they share their lore, and the Harcolin, with whom they barter herbs and the like. The Ursum revere the Vrikkai as spirits of the wood, as do the Verachka. Danger level 2: The Vrikkai never attack others, and hide from intruders in the deep woods. If their young are threatened, they will strike back, harrying enemies with darts and arrows until they leave the forest. With their night vision, their weapons and their magic, it would be foolhardy to accost them.
The following submitted by Eslin:
Name : Wiloni (Blighted Rose) Description : A small, non-descript plant, grayish-green in color. The leaves are broad at the base, coming to points; the edges of the leaves are thin and completely gray. Root tendrils are long and thin, but strong. There is one main stalk, from which others branch out; each of the smallest stalks is tipped with a leaf. Most resembles : well, lots of small, leafy plants, actually. :) Size & Statistics : Most commonly found at not over 8 inches in height; specimens lucky enough to find a sheltered place with a great deal of food may grow larger. (Height does not include root tendrils.) Statistics - Game terminology seems inappropriate, but the root tendrils are rather strong, and any given plant has many mobile roots. Habits : This plant is most commonly found in and around the fringes of swamps, as - though capable of defending itself - it is not quick or aggressive enough to compete for better land. Its roots are capable of burrowing into small corpses and, over time, digesting them; it prefers to do so when possible, but it can only rarely make its own kills. It is not, however, by nature carnivorous - it uses the animal nutrients mainly as a supplement. The plant's ideal home, however, is not the swamps - but blighted lands. Earth science would call this plant a 'hyperaccumulator', capable of absorbing poison from the ground and storing it harmlessly in its own system. Where other plants would die, this one can thrive - and, whenever possible, does. In the swamps, the plant survives largely through sheer tenacity, eking out a bare existence. It is not good food, even compared to other Crinosian plants - the leaves are sharp as blades, the roots secrete acid, and even once past those, the would-be diner must contend with the poisons stored in the plant. Danger Level : On the Crinos scale, probably between 2-4, depending on the individual specimen. The plant is not deadly, unless it manages to cut a major artery or root itself on someone's face while they're unconscious - but it _is_ poisonous, and those who nibble on the leaves are likely to regret it.