Skadeskil

Skadeskil 2 by Salem Gonzalez

A lupine creature, the Skadeskil (Shade Slink in Gnomish) that enjoys insects and is known for camoflauging its fur to meld into the shadows of the tall grass. The skadeskil is a trickster that many visitors have been victim to, chasing and playing with one while its kin steal from unattended packs or bags.

Basic Information

Anatomy

While often compared to a fox, they are actually just as similar to an otter, stoat, or other weasely mammal in appearance. They have soft, medium-length fur that moves with the Everglen's wind not unlike the grass they hide in. They have short but keen curved claws, shark teeth, and are extremely fluid in their movements.

Biological Traits

Skadeskil females tend to be slightly more muted in color, lighter in weight, but longer by up to 6 inches than their male counterparts. They also tend to be more protective and ferocious when it comes to their chuff and burrow, whereas the males are more likely to venture out to find trinkets and treats (and flee from danger rather than engage with it). That said, it is not uncommon for a skadeskil male to bring trouble (or a new friend) home to their burrow so their mate and the rest of the chuff can either make a new friend too or help scare off the danger. Skadeskil primarily fight with their teeth, though at least once instance on record details a skadeskil strangling/smothering its opponent with its long tail.

Genetics and Reproduction

Skadeskil are able to reproduce and are considered adults at the age of 2 years (20 months). Skadeskil kits tend to stay by their family through adulthood, and often a chuff is several generations of family.
Skadeskil are mammalians, meaning they give live birth and suckle their young. The average skadeskil litter (sometimes called a basket) of kits is about 5 young ones and take about 4 months to gestate. The father stays very close to the mother during pregnancy, combining their respective hoard-nests into one for her comfort and proximity.

Growth Rate & Stages

Skadeskil kits are, like most mammals, relatively defenseless at birth. However, by about 5 days old they are able to bump their way around their burrow, meeting their chuffmates and learning to sniff out snacks brought to them by said chuffmates even before their eyes are open.
By a month old, a skadeskil kit is able to do limited hunting of its own. They generally stay close to their burrows, however, as their camoflauge remains unpredictable to control until they're about 4 months old. A skadeskil is considered adolescent from 6 months to a year and a half (15 months).

Ecology and Habitats

Skadeskil are not well suited for extremely hot or cold climates and tend to prefer temperate zones; Illuvia, Tallowwood, and the Grove of the Cat are common recommendations for similar to climate to their own. The City Plateau would also be recommended similarly but skadeskil are generally not considered good city pets as they get stressed out by the hubbub and have a tendency to scrounge up trash that can make them sick.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Skadeskil are primarily insectivores, but boy do they also love a good snack. They are able to eat many pieces of trash and discarded compost but especially love nuts and berries. The only notable Off Limits Entirely snack for a skadeskil are root vegetables like Rockroot; though the tuber is common in the Everglen, skadeskil steer far from them and will often refuse to burrow near where they grow.

Biological Cycle

Skadeskil are most active in the spring and fall when the insects of their native Everglen are stirred up by the Aegises seasonal winds. That said, they do not hibernate and when insects are scarce can resort to eating other things.

Behaviour

Skadeskil are fun, curious, mischevious, silly, greedy, interesting little things. Take the best and worst behavior of a ferret and amplify it by 5 and you've got an idea of the skadeskil. They are vocal in their joy with lots of chirps, pips, barks, and purrs; they are quiet and serious in their hunting. They love to hoard trinkets, treasures, trash, and whatever they can steal from you. They love to cuddle each other, their owner, nearby campers, whatever animal they've adopted into their chuff, or even particularly fuzzy plants.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Skadeskil live in groups of 3-15 called chuffs that tend to be matriarchal. These chuffs will share a large burrow/tunnel system and hunt in tandem, with each skadeskil having its own "room" with found objects it prefers in its nest/hoard. Skadeskil chuffs are not territorial persay, but they don't enjoy sharing campsites they're ransacking and their hoards are strictly off limits, even within their own chuff. Chuffmates are protective of each other and are known to attack larger predators in groups to scare them away.

Domestication

Skadeskil can be pets--and frequently are. However, woe be unto the person who takes a wild skadeskil home with them. (For starters, the Rangers would arrest a person over much less, to say nothing of how uncontrollable a wild-born skadeskil would be.)
That said, there are a few establishments that have the proper permits and ethical training to offer skadeskil that were born and bred in captivity to be used as pets. They are especially popular in farms and gardens for keeping away pests, can be trained to do several tricks and commands, and are considered good finders of lost things (assuming you can convince them to give back what they found).
Captive-bred skadeskil still have the mischievious air and hoarding habits of their wild-born brethren but are known to have more muted camoflauge tones and tend to be more squat and fat (though this could be simply because they have more food and less predators).

Uses, Products & Exploitation

At one point, skadeskil coats were a favorite status symbol, but aggressive conservation efforts mixed with the fact that they're simply not as impressive when their coats stay one color (as they do after death) means this is no longer the case (and one wearing such a coat would likely be ostracized, since many Ostellians are very fond of the little scamps).
Skadeskil can be trained to locate items, dig up herbs, hunt pests, or detect hidden traps and as such can be a common familiar.

Facial characteristics

Skadeskil have extremely expressive eyebrows, long lashes around their intelligent dark eyes, and tend to be very big on eye contact--sometimes with what people swear is a conspiratorial wink. These traits make them seem very emotive and endear many to them.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The skadeskil is the much-beloved unofficial mascot of the Everglen where it has its primary home. Skadeskil can be found elsewhere on occassion, such as in the shallower sections of Demoor or causing problems in Mother's Gift, but this is typically due to someone's pet getting loose or other ill-conceived conservation efforts.

Average Intelligence

Skadeskil are extremely intelligent, taking the wily fox trope to a fantasy level. They are able to communicate in groups, convey complicated plans to each other, and conduct schemes that seem to take premeditation and careful observation. It is often joked that it's fortunate skadeskil only crave snacks, lest they be a formiddable nuisance.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Skadeskil have keen ears and noses, darkvision for night hunting, and their fur is extremely sensitive to atmospheric changes (thought to be tied to their ability to camoflauge). Skaeskil are known to be able to find and follow trails, pay attention to details enough to form plans to avoid or catch something, and generally are very keen at observing. That said, their eyesight during the day is less spectacular and this makes them primarily active at dusk through dawn.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

For the most part, skadeskil do not have many symbiotic relationships. That said, they have been observed sharing burrows with insects of the variety they don't eat, where the insects (usually larger beetles) presumably keep the burrow clean for them in exchange for protection and food. There have also been rare reported instances of skadeskil chuffs taking in orphaned or abandoned creatures of different species, such as field mice or some of the more omnivorous pocket gryphons.

Civilization and Culture

Courtship Ideals

Skadeskils tend to seek out mates based on their skill: the brightness of their colors, the spectrum of camoflauges they can adopt, or how big their hoard of ill-gotten trash is. This is part of the reason breeding skadeskil in captivity can be relatively tricky--domesticated skadeskil have more muted colors, which makes them less impressive to potential mates.

Lifespan

18 - 22 years

Conservation Status

Closely protected and guarded, as the demand for skadeskil pets is high but so too is the risk of catching one wild--or breeding them unscrupulously.

Average Height

15 - 25 inches tall on two feet

Average Weight

20 - 35 pounds

Average Length

3 - 4 foot in length, including a ~12 inch tail

Average Physique

Skadeskil are lithe, slim, slippery little mammalians. They are equipped to slip in and out of small burrows, hide in tall grass, climb trees, and wriggle out of anyone's hands.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Skadeskil at rest are a dusky tan color with mottled darker brown accents, meant to blend into the light-colored dust and dirt of the Everglen's floor. That said, they are known for their camoflauge abilities that can see them adopting dark greys, greens of any shade, a variety of browns, some rare yellows and reds, and even a dark teal on occassion.
Skadeskil typically have rather muted patterns, but some are known to have more vivid striping or mottling and their coloration typically grows more pronounced and dramatic during the summer months when the colors around them darken with new growth.
Some of people's favorite traits about the skadeskil include their expressive eyebrows, mostly-white tummies, and tendency to have "boots" or "mitten" spots on their paws.

Geographic Distribution

• Everglen