A little bit of fleshing out for the Oloonde lakeland?

So, I was thinking about setting a story in the Oloonde lakeland area, and noticed that there's not a whole lot of native creatures in the wiki. The zone itself is quite interesting to me, so I thought I'd make a thread dedicated to supplementary ideas relating to it. Since I'm not anything like prolific enough to have an entire thread dedicated to me, everyone should feel free to put ideas here as well.

I mostly focused on creatures, with questionable success, but I also threw in a plant and a sub-zone just for kicks. Feedback/criticism is welcome and highly valued.


Battlefish
Battlefish are a striking yellow-silver color, and grow on average to about 6 feet long. They are highly nutritious, and considered one of the more delicious types of fish, prized by giants and human-sized creatures alike. However, as the name implies, getting one is not at all easy. Battlefish are strong, fast and extremely cautious. They possess a powerful bite capable of severing all but the strongest fishing lines (or hands of human-sized creatures!) and can even tear through nets. As a last resort, they can puff themselves up to a great deal more than their normal diameter, making it quite difficult for most giants to swallow them.

Battlefish are highly intelligent, and have been observed to learn, develop and execute complex plans, possibly communicate with each other, and anecdotal evidence suggests some may even be able to use magic! Just how much intelligence this adds up to is hotly debated in some circles, though their popularity as a delicacy for the wealthy has stifled any serious exploration of this.

A technique known by a few aquatic predators is that a Battlefish can be 'tickled', and if done correctly, they will deflate for easy consumption. Rumor has it that if done incorrectly however, they violently explode, though this is unsubstantiated and seems rather far-fetched, likely the result of some mermaid or other making stuff up.



Silver Racer
A variety of very large snake-like reptile, Silver Racers, as the name implies, are shimmery silver in coloration, and can grow to nearly 40 feet in length. Though often mistaken for one, Silver Racers are not true snakes, possessing tiny, vestigial limbs on their elongated bodies, which are easy to miss from a distance. At home both on land or zipping through the water, these reptiles are consummate predators, going after just about anything small enough to swallow, from fish to the local elves or even young rilmanidons.

It is worth noting that despite their snake-like bodies, Silver Racers cannot unhinge their jaws to swallow larger prey, as snakes can.



Baskosaur
A massive amphibian akin to a newt, usually sporting colorful green, red or black skin patterns, an adult baskosaur can reach over 80 feet in length, including their tail. Generally slow-moving creatures on land, they are still quite dangerous due to a long, sticky tongue witch they can propel to catch prey at long-distance, and have been known to decimate small parties before anyone knew what was happening.

The most unique aspect of the baskosaur is its hibernation cycle. Only active for a few weeks out of every year, they come out of hibernation to mate, and then proceed to gorge themselves until they are barely able to move, at least when ample prey is available (I.E. tourist season in the Lakeland). Once stuffed with whatever it can catch, the baskosaur will find a flat area, usually one that gets plenty of sun, where it will curl up and enter a hibernative state to digest its food. During this time the baskosaur's skin undergoes a strange transformation, hardening to a nearly impenetrable rock-like consistency, shielding it against any but the most powerful and persistent attacks. Upon awakening, this outer skin becomes brittle and is shaken off, making a frightening sight indeed to the adventurer who thought it was a boulder moments ago.

These 'sheddings', while similar in consistency to clay, actually contain large amounts of a unique metallic substance, which if smelted produces a material roughly as strong as steel, but much lighter and virtually impervious to rust or other corrosion, though it does not hold enchantments well. The local elves call it 'Elthium', and much of their higher-quality weapons and armor are forged from it.

It is worth noting that baskosuars digest their food extremely slowly, putting them high on the Felaryan Almanac's famous list of 'worst things to be eaten by', somewhere near the more well-known slug-girl.



Skritter
Smallish, amphibious crustaceans, looking like an odd cross between an ant and lobster. Roughly the size of a human's hand, skritters are technically aquatic, but are able to make extended trips onto land. They generally live in shallower waters, and are found almost exclusively in the Oloond Lakelands area, forming communal hives of up to several thousand, though they do not have castes like ants; all capable of solitary survival and reproduction. Consummate scavengers, skritters pose little threat to living creatures, generally being cautious and quick to flee, with the only exception being when their home is threatened, in which case they swarm over the attacker to drive them off.

Skritters are also notable in that they aggressively dismantle any kind of unnatural structure, especially ones magical in nature, and have even been known to eat unattended magical items or ruin moored boats. Perhaps distant relatives of Tonorions, they are extremely resistant to magic, wards and spells intended to repel pests being completely useless against them. (while a more mundane solution, like a pet Kowo Cat, is often quite effective)

The one silver lining to these pests is that under those hard shells their meat is quite delicious, typically served steamed with butter. The local elves supposedly have a number of traditional dishes that prominently use them as well.



Whispering Creeper
Ironically not native to the Forest of Whispers, whispering creeper is instead most often found in the Oloond Lakeland, but is rare even there. The vines are slender and flexible, with clusters of very small, flat leaves, looking like hairs or sprouts. Mysteriously, the plant is extremely sensitive to the presence of sentient beings, and will wither in areas that are traveled often by them, thus making it quite impossible to cultivate in civilized areas.

A botanical curiosity, whispering creeper has the unusual ability to 'listen in' on the thoughts of others, up to and including telepathic communications! Someone wishing to utilize this need only press the living vine to their ear, and the vine will 'whisper' to them in a faint, unisex voice. More amazing, some specially trained elves are rumored to be able to use the plant to send messages over long distances to another whispering creeper, though obviously someone must be listening at the target plant at the exact time the message is sent for this to be useful.

The plant can even be used to eavesdrop on dryad communication, but for some reason they always sound fuzzy, at best one word out of three understandable. Nonetheless, some researchers dedicate years to hunting out vines and listening in on snippets of dryad conversation, in the hopes of better understanding the deadly and enigmatic creatures. Little of note has been found thus far, other than that most dryads enjoy the taste of humans immensely.


Sub-Zone: Drinwul Caverns
The very impressive rock formations seen in the Lake of Arrows are only the tips of an equally impressive, and considerably larger, geological phenomenon below the water's surface. The bed of the Lake of Arrows is actually covered in jutting rock formations, the vast majority of which do not break the lake's surface. Most are (relatively) small, but become larger nearer to the center.

This matrix of jagged rocks forms innumerable labyrinth-like tunnels, (most too small for anything much larger than a human to traverse) from which many divers have never returned. Some areas are riddled with countless entrances and exits, lulling exporters into a false sense of security, when just a few wrong turns can lead to sections that seemingly twist and turn endlessly in near total darkness.

Drinwul translates roughly to 'uneven-light' from the local elvish, the name coming from the fact that in any given section there are usually at least a few (often tiny) passages leading up, bathing the cave unevenly in eerie, wavering half-light, which can be disorienting, or even dizzying in same cases.

Rumors tell fanciful tales about a hidden, ancient ruin at the very deepest sections of the drowned cavern, near the center of the lake, where some sort of experiment or magic gone wrong created the distinctive rock formations of the area, and perhaps even the lake itself. Of course such stories include tales of priceless treasure and artifacts, but no one has yet been reported to have reached the deepest sections of the caves and returned - alive or otherwise.

Oh great work on those
There is many interesting ideas here, but I especially like what you did with the Drinwul Caverns. They are easy to visualize and this strange light would make for quite an unique atmosphere ^^

Karbo wrote:

Oh great work on those
There is many interesting ideas here, but I especially like what you did with the Drinwul Caverns. They are easy to visualize and this strange light would make for quite an unique atmosphere ^^

Thank you very much!

The idea for the caverns pretty much popped into my head the moment I started wondering what those rock formations in the Lake of Arrows might look like from the perspective of an underwater mermaid.

Not much love for the Lakeland around these parts eh? Well, here's another quick creature addition, because my love knows no bounds.

(And in case anyone was wondering; no, they cannot be tapped for one mana of any color. You're thinking of something else. )


Birds of Harmony
Very rare, these birds stand about 3 feet high when perched, and sport a beautiful green and gold coloration on their feathers. Communal creatures, they always live in family groups of about 3 to 6, and it is notable that the only place they can be consistently found is among the spires of rock in the Lake of Arrows in the Oloonde Lakeland.

Birds of Harmony, unlike other songbirds, do not have songs of their own, instead singing accompaniment, to 'harmonize' with almost any form of music, somehow perfectly matching and complimenting it, lifting the performances of even mediocre musicians to tear-inducing heights. For obvious reasons, most mermaids are quite fond of the creatures (and almost never prey on them), and the duets between them are known to have been so beautiful as to cause some listeners to recklessly approach, forgetting the danger, and thus unintentionally providing a 'complementary' post-performance meal for the mermaid in question.

Birds of Harmony are known to sometimes even sing along with naturally occurring phenomenon, the most infamous being the chillingly eerie song resulting when the wind blows particularly strong through the spires of the Lake of Arrows.

hahaha the MTG card was actually the first thing I thought about

I think it's a nice idea, very original
I must just ask how do they harmonize actually ? is is through an aura of sort or do they sing to accompany the music ?

Karbo wrote:

hahaha the MTG card was actually the first thing I thought about

I think it's a nice idea, very original
I must just ask how do they harmonize actually ? is is through an aura of sort or do they sing to accompany the music ?

Ack, now that you mention it, that is a bit unclear. Thank you for asking though, probably wouldn't have caught that goof otherwise.

So yeah, I intended it to be a singing accompaniment, and I think I'll edit em' a little to make that more obvious.

alright thank you
I'm definitely adding those, the idea is beautiful and somehow would fit just well with this lake. I must just ask if you agree with the disclaimer ^_^

Karbo wrote:

alright thank you
I'm definitely adding those, the idea is beautiful and somehow would fit just well with this lake. I must just ask if you agree with the disclaimer ^_^

Damn, sorry I'm so late to the reply with this, been busy workin' on my group contest entry, and this thread kinda slipped my mind.

In any case; thank you, and I do indeed agree to the disclaimer, most enthusiastically.

I'm late too. I've been through those ideas, and I've found nothing weak about them.

I approve of your ideas as they are, for whatever it's worth.

Damn, I'm trying to be more encouraging, and instead I come off as laconic...