The Piru (PEE ROO)

The Piru is a small Elemental Animal that originates from the alpine forests of Enaskia. It is very popular in Enask and Arros thanks to its elemental abilities, but also because of its cuteness and intelligence.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Body

The Piru is a very small animal, being at least 2 times smaller than a common house cat. They have a small body covered in brown, beige or grey fur.

Head

Their small head is topped with small round ears that they can flip down at will. They have a pink nose and a small mouth equiped with a short tongue and teeth capable of crushing leaves, nuts and fruits. They also have small beady grey eyes.

Legs

The front legs are equiped with a patagium, which is a skin membrane that allows them to glide in between trees, while their back legs are bigger and more powerful and allows the Piru to jump very high.

Tail

Their tail is perhaps their most striking feature however. Indeed, the lenght of the tail mesures twice as much as the rest of their body. Like the rest of their body, it is covered in fur, usualy in bands of dark and pale colour.

Paws

The paws are equiped with short claws, allowing them to climb the trees they live in. They also have little thumb like digit on their front paws, which allows them to grab stuff in a similar way a human would.

Growth Rate & Stages

The gestation period is about 6 months. The babies are conceived in the spring, and are born in the fall. It spends its first winter inside the nests and comes out for the first time in the following spring. They then take around a year to reach their adult size, which is also when they reach sexual maturity and are able to reproduce. After two years of life, they will venture out, using their now fully developed patagium to glide between trees. After around 3-5 years, they develop their innate elemental abilities and are able to venture out much further, possibly creating their own colony.

Ecology and Habitats

Pirus spend most of their life in tree nests. More specificaly, the tall pine trees that make out most of the large forests nestled in the valleys created by the Kheros mountains and the Karakom mountains in eastern Enask. This includes the Masac Pass, which is a vital link through the mountains that cut the continent in two. Encounters with piru while traversing the pass are common.

Dietary Needs and Habits

They forage fruits, nuts, insects, mushrooms, flowers and leave buds as well as rarely bird eggs which they eat and store away in their tree nest for the cold season.

Behaviour

Communal Living

The piru live together in large communities, composed of many families. These communities can occupie large sections of the forest and number thousands of individuals. These communities are ruled by a robust matriarcal social hierarchy.

Threat Evasion

If a piru encounters a threat outside of their own territory, they will quickly escape. If they are at groud level, they will jump to the nearest tree and climb up. If the threat is in the tree, they will flee, using both their patagium and their air control ability to glide to another nearby tree. They wil try to evade ground level as much as possible when they feel in danger.

Territorial Defence

If their territory is invaded, multiple pirus will band together to repulse them. They do this in two ways. The most common is by throwing all kinds of objects at the threat, including pebbles, small branches and pine cones. While these objects are in the air, the pirus can then quickly accelerate them by creating wind with their tails, turning these generaly inoffensive objects into dangerous projectiles that eventualy forces any predator to back away. With a high enough number of piru working together, this air attack can be strong enough to knock a standing adult to the ground.

Gathering food

When food becomes scarce, members of the community may venture outside of their communal habitat and onto ground level. This can happen during any seasons, but is fairly common towards the end of winder and early spring. For humans, this is the best chance for an encounter.

Additional Information

Domestication

The Piru can be domesticated by taking a youngling from their nests, which isn't easy to do. Once domesticated, they like to perch themselves on the shoulders of their caregivers, mimicking how they would perch themselves in the high pine trees of their home region.
They are vey popular amongst the nobility of the The Commonwealth of Kinvalia and Perynoria, especialy in the duchy of Asylia, where they are featured in numerous imagery associated with the ducky, including its old flag.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

While these animals are way more appreciated alive, some also seek them out for their pelt, which is soft, pretty and can be made into a Talismans. It is a very expensive product generaly reserved for the rich thanks to the difficulty of capturing these animals.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

This animal originates from the Karakom and Kheros mountains, located in eastern Enak. It lives in its forested valleys around the central and northern portion of the mountains.

Average Intelligence

Piru are quite smart. They are able to work together in groups sometimes numbering over 100 individuals, coordinated by the female alpha of the community. Even when raised alone, they are known to keep that inteligence. They can recongnise faces, voices and even colours and shapes. They have a very good memories and it is said that a Piru will remember someone 20 years after seeing them only for 5 minutes. However, they are also know to be quite mischevious, even when raised alone as a pet.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Night Vision

The Piru is a mostly nocturnal animal, and they use their excelent night vision to forage for food during the night, while most of their natural predators are sleeping.

Air elemental abilities

The Piru is what is called an elemental animal, which means that it can control one or more elements. In this case, the Piru can control air. They do this mainly via their long tail, which they are able to move very rapidaly up and down to be able to generate wind. Once the wind is created, they are able to amplify it, the same was a Windmage would be able too.

Lifespan

15-20 years (In captivity) ~10 years in the wild.

Average Height

10-12 cm

Average Length

20 cm (40 cm with tail)