Minor Bestiary
This work is my crowning achievement. Now that my bones are old and weary, I will trade my sword and light for quill and parchment. These are the things I have found in all my years as a Kaia. There are few places in the known world I have not seen, from the cursed Surface above to the Far Deep beneath our feet.
For all I've seen, there are countless sights I will never see. New Kaia walk paths even I fear to tread. It is to them I write this tome of creatures great and small. May you find it useful.
Araea is home to many strange and terrifying creatures, ranging from the mighty Mahu'ca to the ravenous Chiwara. Below are some of the less grand but no less important flora and fauna of Araea; from the useful, to the deadly, to the mundane.
Fauna
Paśu Spiders
These spiders are a common sight in both Inner and Outer Shell. I expect most of my readers to be familiar with their taste, which goes particularly well when seasoned with Sozu.
by Daniel Ljunggren
Paśu spiders are small, dark green spiders that congregate in vast swarms. They grow to the size of a human hand, making them one of the least dangerous spiders in the Inner Shell. With their communal nature and lack of venom, the Paśu are among the most commonly ranched spiders across the caves.
Quar Newt
Never stick anything in the beak of a Quar that you aren't willing to lose.
Snaps like a Quar.
Quar Newts are small, bipedal reptiles, typically found in the dryer and warmer caves in the Outer Shell. Their most notable feature is their powerful beaks, capable of breaking or even severing fingers. They eat insects and the eggs of other reptiles or amphibians but will scavenge any corpse they might happen upon.
Vicious creatures, Quar Newts first reaction when disturbed is attack rather than flee.
Mudarie Pillbug
Finally, proof that Araea does indeed hold life which does not seem specifically out to get you, only your nose.
by Ryan Hodnett
These rat-sized pillbugs are clad in overlapping black shells with a metallic sheen. They slowly crawl around on the cavern floors, surviving on lichen, moss, and tiny mushrooms. When startled, they flatten down to prevent predators from flipping them over and reaching their soft underbelly, then release a foul-smelling secretion.
Mudarie pillbugs are sometimes infected by a cordyceps fungal parasite that slowly transforms the bug into immobile, spore-releasing spires. They are most commonly found in the Outer Shell, where they are regarded as pests.
Tyrant Leech
by Andrew Hou
If there are gods, they must be cruel or crazed to make something like the Tyrant Leech. Be careful to cook them carefully if you kill one, as their eggs are embedded within their bodies... And you really don't want to grow one inside your stomach.
Meter-long annelids of voracious hunger, the Tyrant Leeches make their home in shallow waters and radioactive marshes. Their elastic flesh range in color from deep red to black, with a many-toothed maw at their front. The Leech can flatten themselves against the bottom of waters or hide in surprisingly small spaces before striking prey.
Tyrant Leeches carry their young in cocoons buried inside their bodies and can be seen bulging out of their abdomen. A delicacy in some parts of Araea, a cruel necessity in others.
Knight Beetle
Useful, dangerous bugs - I've seen blades break against their shells. Good for armor, but too heavy for my taste. If you ask me, it's always better to run than fight.
by Ag Data Commons
Knight Beetles are a common species of insect across the Inner Shell, highly treasured for the iron-hard shell that gives them their name. Cadaverurgy practitioners have long used the Beetle to craft armor, shields, plates, and a myriad of other things, but usually send their assistants to rob the creature of their shells. A matron Knight Beetle can grow as tall as someone's shin, and a charge from their horned heads is more than capable of snapping the same in half.
Flora
Blood Algae
Althought it is usually found on the Surface, this red algae frequently creeps into any caverns wet and cool. If such an invasion is found, it should be met as fiercely any raider or bandit, as they strangle the life out of everything else as they expand. While many creatures of the Surface can eat it, it doesn't do much for us, no matter how much you cook it.
by Tarmo Juhola
Red algae grow in the arctic regions of the Surface, favoring ice and snow or within frigid waters as their nest. They feed on sunlight and Blight, which make them largely inedible and toxic for humans. For the creatures of the Surface, the red algae are one of the few reliable sources of food.
Blooming algae can encase boulders or even entire icebergs, leaving them looking splattered with blood once they wilt.
Auxoliths
by Alchetron
Rocks that grow like mushrooms, but still tastes like rock.
Auxoliths are an entire family of stone-like life-forms throughout the Inner and Outer Shell. They come in a variety of forms, tending towards sweeping curves or sharp geometric shapes. Over time, Auxoliths can grow into large clusters, and are some times used as decoration or cultivated in gardens. Dead Auxoliths calcify over time and become brittle, eventually wearing down to dust. Those kept for decoration are sometimes varnished to keep them from this fate.
Some Auxolith-gardeners intentionally infect their crops with parasites that leave pleasing streaks of color or warp their shape, killing the Auxolith once they have the desired appearance.
Araea At A Glance
Araea is roughly divided into four parts; from the blighted Surface to the stark, blasphemous Far Deep. While the spectrum of climate and temperature range within them, some generalizations are accurate.
by Jeff Brown
It is a place that misses no opportunity to remind you how deadly it is.The Surface is an irradiated wasteland, of barren deserts and frozen tundras. The things that live here have adapted to some of the harshest environments in Araea and made it their strength. Some feed on Blight or sunlight, while others feast on whatever they can get their talons on.
Close enough to touch sunlight, deep enough to hide from it.The Outer Shell are the caves and tunnels just below the Surface. These are usually less expansive than those found deeper down. Much is too cramped to house the creatures found elsewhere, including humans. In other places, massive gulfs open straight to the Surface, inviting both sunlight and blight.
Here, between the horrors of the Surface, and the terrors of the Far Deep, is home.Below that lies the Inner Shell. Countless miles deep, life here has adapted to the dark and hostile environment. Larger and more fecund caves support creatures of greater size and ferocity, while cities survive among the mold and mushroom.
The true heart of the world, and we are strangers here.At the very bottom of the known world lies the The Far Deep. It is a realm both vast and majestic, home to creatures terrible and alien. Only a fraction of the Far Deep has been explored, but the further down one goes, the stranger things become.
If there's an end to the world, I don't think we're going to find it any time soon.Beyond the flickering light of humanity, the vast unknown expanse of Araea still waits. For all their searching, mankind is still no more than a child fumbling in the dark, and explorers have only begun to fathom the vastness of the world they inhabit. Adventure awaits in the deadly, treacherous gloom and a whole world to discover.
This is a super neat article! I love the notes and the quotes throughout it and the solid glance it gives into the world! Pasu creep me out. and Mudarie are bug skunks. XD Most readers are familiar with the taste, but what is the taste?! Also, does the fungal parasite like people?
<3 Deliciously crunchy... :D But I might make a meal article out of them. I'm glad you liked it! I decided to make a smaller summary article like this instead of individual articles. Glad to hear it is working out :D The Bug-Skunk Parasites do not like people, but there's others (like the Heza plague-eaters) that definitely do :D
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.