Crurotaurs (croc-people)

Seldom seen outside Deeper Felarya, the Crurotaurs are a formidable race of aquatic predators with the lower halves of crocodiles, alligators or caimans. From a distance they might be mistaken for one of the larger squamataur breeds, but they can be identified by the ridge of scutes on their human half’s backs, and the fact their arms and hands are also scaled and clawed. Crutoraurs are heavily armoured, extremely resistant to injury and are almost disproportionately strong, in particular boasting a terrifying bone-crushing bite. They can walk freely on dry ground and make very adept swimmers, but unlike mermaids, their dependency on air to breathe and a low tolerance for saltwater restricts them to rivers, marshes and swamps. Some go as far as to say they were far more common in Felarya’s ancient days, until competition with the merfolk drove them away to these places.

Crurotaurs are popularly seen by other races as lazy and listless, but this is not entirely true. While they do enjoy spending most of their time basking under the sun, a Crutotaur is a very cunning, aggresive and observant predator. They are very capable –and willing- to spend hours or even days in the same spot waiting for prey to come, and have the unnerving ability to hide even in places where the water should be too shallow. Slowly approaching their marked victim, they will focus all their strength on their mighty tails for a great burst to lunge or even leap to the air in order to catch the quarry, cripple them with their terrible jaws and wrestle them to the water to drown.

Crurotaurs are sometimes solitary, but in general they tend to form congregations made up of a single adult male –which are larger and heavier- and a harem of up to five or seven females, plus their young. Their territory includes very vast stretches of creeks or marshes, and clans are constantly engaged in brutal wars for domination. This is intensified by the fact Crurotaurs whole-heartedly embrace cannibalism; to eat the flesh of another is to take in their strength and vitality, and hunting younglings not only reduces competition but ensures that the weak will be weeded out and the strong and able will endure. When a male challenges a clan leader for his position, it’s only customary that the loser gets messily devoured.

A Crurotaur usually ignores critters such as humans or nekos in favour of larger game, and in fact will often strike partnerships with smaller scavengers, being allowed to live and given protection as long as they’re willing to pick them clean of parasites. Their eyes tear up to keep from drying after extended periods in the surface, and this makes them seem as if they’re often crying. Which is all the more convenient, for it may fool possible prey into interpreting weakness.

Honestly I think some one already came up with something similar to this, but its buried down the the forum.

Well, this is in itself a very good interpretation. Actually, I was thinking of a species like this and a lot of this is exactly what I thought.

The only difference is that I saw them active outside of just Deeper Felarya, if not in central Felarya - like the Torrential Coast to be specific.

Interesting concept =9
Plus I like the idea that they preffer to chasse larger preys than human sized creatures.
The jungle should be dangerous for giant preds too, else is a bit too easy ><

Jætte_Troll wrote:

Well, this is in itself a very good interpretation. Actually, I was thinking of a species like this and a lot of this is exactly what I thought.

The only difference is that I saw them active outside of just Deeper Felarya, if not in central Felarya - like the Torrential Coast to be specific.

I did think about that, but since the Torrential Coast is pretty much squamataur territory I thought it would feel different if they had their own separate hunting grounds