Eoraptor Taxonomy: Scalekin (Raptor) Description: Named for their immense speed, raptors such as these dwell in arborial regions and hunt in packs, employing surprisingly intelligent tactics in their pursuit of prey. Their attacks have been increasingly focused on spoken. Capabilities: These particular raptors were able to emit 'frost breaths', gusts of what seemed to be air and saliva frozen into a harmfully cold haze. Etymology Notes: Eoraptors were real dinosaurs, named for the latin word for dawn, eos. This was in reference to the fact that the eoraptor was one of the earliest dinosaurs to evolve. The Coeurls Taxonomy: Beastkin (Coeurl) Description: Coeurl are beastkin native to the Near … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of Halatali (Hard)
Pit Basilisk Taxonomy: Scalekin (Basilisk) Description: Natives of Aldenard, basilisks are fiercely territorial creatures that have a particularly dark place in Eorzean culture, where they often represent evil. The beasts of Halatali were used as training for gladiators and as part of spectacle fights in the arenas. Capabilities: The basilisks of Halatali were able to unleash the baleful energy of their 'cold gaze' in order to freeze and petrify the bodies of their prey. Pit Wolf Taxonomy: Beastkin (Wolf) Description: Fearsome pack creatures that roam the forests of Eorzea, wolves such as these were previously more or less harmless towards the spoken races and their holdings. With the cataclysmic … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of the Lost City of Amdapor
Demonstool Taxonomy: Seedkin (Funguar) Description: Funguar such as these are considered delicacies in Eorzea for their surpassing texture and taste, although this author struggles to believe it can stand up to the humble yet utilitarian function of the archon loaf. Funguar are widespread across the world, but thrive mostly in forests and moist caves. The name demonstool may be a reference to the malevolence of these creatures, or perhaps the voidsent's influence on the city. Wamoura Taxonomy: Vilekin (Wamoura) Description: Vile creatures, regarded often by Gridanians as symbols of decay and disaster due to their foul existence. wamoura feed using a fanged proboscis, which it uses to drain the fluids of … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of the Labyrinth of the Ancients
The Homunculi Taxonomy: Elemental (Sprite) Description: Essentially a mere conjoining of aether and ideal conditions, a sprite is of no relation to the powerful elementals of the Black Shroud, and are in fact as devoid of reason and sentience as the average weather pattern. The names of these particular sprites imply their artificial nature, likely generated by the Allagans by manipulating aether. Etymology Notes: A Homunculus was a being supposedly created by sealing human sperm into a removed horse’s womb, which would supposedly grow into a miniature human being. The name has later gone on to mean many different forms of artificial life in popular culture. Greater Demon Taxonomy: Voidsent … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of Haukke Manor (Hard)
Altered Wailer - (Demon) Taxonomy: Voidsent (Demon) Description: Commonly referred to as ‘reapers of souls’ by the people of Eorzea, demons are particularly rife throughout the folklore of Hydaelyn. It is a common opinion amongst scholars of the Void that demons were once members of the spoken races of the thirteenth shard, corrupted into mindless soldiers of dark entities when the shard was flooded by the Void. These creatures were once Wood Wailers of Gridania, who were tragically mutated by the perverse rituals employed by the voidsent of the Manor. The Wood Wailers are an organisation of lancers within Gridania that date back to the city-state’s founding. Garrisoned across the Shroud in watchtowers and … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of Copperbell Mines (Hard)
Chalcopyrite Coblyn Taxonomy: Soulkin (Coblyn) Description: What exactly a coblyn is differs depending on who you ask. In Gridania the theory is that coblyn are beastkin who graft mineral to their flesh in order to gain a measure of armament. In Ul’dah, the prevailing thought is that they are instead true soulkin, ore that has taken on sentience and the ability to walk in order to propagate… somehow. The Ul’dahn theory is increasingly the one accepted as fact within the halls of Sharlayan. These ones are evidently spawned from the ore that can be found throughout the Mines. Etymology Notes: Chalcopyrite is a copper-iron ore that is the primary ore used in copper mining, fittingly found in the copper mines at … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of Pharos Sirius
Sirius Leech Taxonomy: Wavekin (Leech) Description: Leeches are amphibian creatures that dwell in water but often hunt on land. They use the leaf-life decorations on their bodies to lure in herbivores before latching on and drinking their fill of blood. Horrifyingly, despite the leech’s lack of eyes they are possessed of countless eyespots all across their bodies. Sirius Elbst Taxonomy: Wavekin (Elbst) Description: Likely a specialized evolution of the land-based peiste, the elbst is a vicious creature with razor sharp teeth and a hunger for flesh. Capabilities: The elbsts of the Pharos were able to emit large gushes of water from their maw in 'flash floods' capable of bruising flesh and … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of the Binding Coil of Bahamut
The Allagan Defense System ☠ Taxonomy: Forgekin (Defense Node) Description: The defense node was a creation of the fevered minds of Allag's upper class, too paranoid to entrust their knowledge to anything but a mechanical creation. Vast numbers of these creations could be found across key Imperial locations, and some scholars believe that Dalamud was essentially a defense node on a grand scale. This particular example of the nodes was a large, defense-specialized node, nicknamed the ADS for short by its creators. Capabilities: The ADS was a mighty contraption, and was capable of employing, amongst other things, a self-destruct protocol heralded by a loud 'click timer'. The device was also capable of compressing … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of Amdapor Keep
The Lambs of Dalamud Taxonomy: Spoken (Various) Description: The Lambs of Dalamud are a vile cult in service to their own divine perception of the lesser moon, Dalamud. The origin of the cult is shrouded in mystery, and although most believe them generated by the mass hysteria produced by the oncoming Seventh Umbral Calamity or planted by Garlean subversives, some scholars hypothesize an older origin, perhaps even dating back to the Fourth Astral Era, known as the Fall of Civilization, spurred on by a mingling of the relatively recently fallen Allagan Empire's history with the religious renaissance of the era. The Lambs hold that Dalamud is a divinity in and of itself, the ferocious hound of the moon goddess Menphina, … [Read more...]
The Bestiary of the Wanderer’s Palace
The Tonberries Taxonomy: Spoken (Tonberry) Description: Tonberries are the tragic Nymians afflicted by the plague of Bitoso, sent to smite Nym down by the Mhachi. Some of these figures apparently date back to the Fifth Astral Era, while others are more recent births. They have been driven quite mad by their fate, tragically, and are very aggressive. A particularly huge variant of the tonberry was apparently found in the Palace, nicknamed the stalker, which pursued foes at a slow pace. This creature was likely swollen due to a wild imbalance of aether, resulting in its size. Treasure Hunter Taxonomy: Spoken (Various) Description: Unfortunately, not all who approach the Palace do so with innocent curiosity … [Read more...]