Creatures

"Drawing steel, I leap forwards towards the lone Oddy, its proud antlers stark and strong as it turns towards me. My blow sends the bipedal beast sprawling, but it had enough time to brandish its horns at me, sending me to the floor beside it. I lash out, aiming to wound it enough it won’t get away, but it has given up on the run. A hoof divides into claws as it strikes at me, and I feel a strange energy jolting my body."

Summary

Inhuman creatures are relatively common in the Outlook, if restricted to certain areas by a policy of watching one’s tribe’s boundaries with a wary eye, and scaring off creatures that get too close. You can expect to have met at least one or two animal-like creatures- more if you character is an explorer of any kind.

Creatures commonly encountered

The main creature types commonly encountered, and hunted, in the Outlook are:

• Oddys- They are mainly hunted by GeneStrains who aim to garner new mutations- antlered, tough creatures, their claws are known to contain a venom which quickens the blood and causes mutation.
• Bars- An odd, wooly beast- mostly docile, although with a raw strength that can be quite threatening to the unprepared.
• Hywels- A pack hunter that can spit dangerous poisons- they will often aim to isolate weaker party members and punish them for splitting from the main group.
• Cores- Feathered creatures that come in a variety of colours- large enough that they can no longer take flight, they are solitary and brooding creatures who watch over their nests with a beady eye. They usually attack for objects that have attracted their eye, and can be very disorientating with their screams
• Yeekoms- Bouncing animals that are so called because of the whining noises they make. No real threat, they get bored and distracted very quickly. Children like to chase them, and they are one of the few species that is commonly allowed in Outlook settlements.
• Nosibs- Milk producing creatures, noted for their fluffiness and slow to anger. Have a tendency to whimper and cry when confronted.

Creatures and Society

The hides and meat of the inhuman creatures of the Outlook are status symbols, and delicacies. Additionally, the Fetcher class AI will make deals and trades of information for such trophies. As these AI often trade in more esoteric facts, and can travel safely in areas others cannot reach, some hunters seek out these opportunities and specifically hunt for what a particular Fetcher wishes for.

Domesticated creatures are pretty much non-existent- most people of the Outlook are Vegetarians out of the ease of finding fruit and vegetables growing wild, and lack of settlement means that there are no real areas for raising and breeding more docile animals. It is also difficult to take animals along with you when you are in constant motion. Even the nosib and simps, the most good-natured of animals, are known to grow rowdy if captured, and the stress of such an event can cause strange and uniquely dangerous mutations.

The Citadel

Of course, there are always tales of Monsters, and some believe this is what the Citadel is filled with; traders willing to claim to any that will listen to them that danger abounds, and other have claimed they hear howling below the humming on darkest nights. One of the biggest rumours, especially amongst the tribes that live closest to The Citadel, is of the Butchered Shambler. It is so called because of the bizarre motions it sometimes makes, like a puppet of meat being jerked around. Kids are warned that if they wander at night, they will be snatched up, and their bodies used to make new parts for the Creature. There is no one who exists who has directly interacted with the Creature, at least no-one credible claims to have done so.