Heatbat (hiːt'bæt)

Introduction

Heatbats are a family of chiroptera broken up into two genera, Greater Heatbats or Lesser Heatbats. Best known for their ability to subsist purely on Primal Ash. Every species of Heatbat can be identified by the large fleshy sacks around their necks. While flying, heatbats can open their mouth allowing air to expand the sacks making it easy for them to catch floating ash out of the air.

Diet

All Heatbats are able to feed on soft fruits or sap from cacti if required, but a majority of their diet consists of Primal Ash. Their stomachs are capapble of extracting the heat from the the ash so it can be stored in a specialized organ. Over the time, the Primal Fire is slowly released into the blood stream replacing the need for nutrients with raw Primal energy.

General Information

Geographic Distribution

• Ashlend

Lesser Heatbats

More common than their larger cousins, there are dozens of unique Lesser Heatbat species each calling home to a different region of Ashlend.

Greater Heatbats

The larger variety of heatbat has species that are able to grow up to two feet in length from nose to tail. This immense size requires them to remain constantly feeding on Primal Ash.

Primal Growth

With a diet focused on consuming a Primal element, Heatbats have a tendency to continue to grow throughout their lifetime. This makes understanding their natural sizes a bit complicated. Certain breeds of Great Heatbat can even be fed enough Primal over time to allow them to grow large enough to function as mounts for humanoid sophonts.