Thornback Wolf
Summary
A quadrupedal species with a muscular, capable body built for ambush or medium distance sprint hunting. In a wilderness full of competition, the thornback wolf's claim to fame is its remarkable versatility. An all-terrain predator, their cunning intellect lets them manipulate favorable engagements. What they lack for individually they can compensate with pack tactics, moving by the dozens or more. The titular thornback wolf is the most successful of the wolf families. A veltron-aligned creature, the topside of the thornback wolf (it's 'back') is covered in 'thorns'. A series of hardy shell plates grow from its skull down toward its tail's tip. From these plates grow sloping or angular spikes. The exact pattern, density, and design varies between its various races. The ultimate purpose of the thornback is protection, as it keeps much larger predators from ambushing them. They're likened to large, carnivorous hedgehogs sometimes. They're unusually cooperative with their packs, and create some of the largest among wolves. By employing numbers and their strong defensive advantage, they can overwhelm troublesome prey or other predators. It also makes them significantly more dangerous to people, as they do not see small settlements as something to fear. Spears and the like piercing their (comparatively) soft underflesh is still fairly lethal to them, though. Those with strong arms and blunt weapons can also potentially break through the thornback itself. These approaches can have trouble considering the sizes they can grow to. Generally found throughout all of Veltrona, thornback wolves are more in warmer climates than colder ones. Like all other wolves, though, they range across varied regions. Encountering them is much more a question of 'when', not 'if'. The thornback wolf itself is considered an iconic animal in Lophern, and its border territories toward Aerthen. They play a larger role in the ecosystems there, and unique variants can arise among their elder members. Especially strong or powerful thornback wolves can gain some affinity toward veltron magic. What form it takes varies, but they normally use it to manipulate terrain around themselves or against their prey. A good example is slamming a column of dirt or rock into a creature's underside, stunning and winding it. In other times, they'll create footholds to climb and so scale sheer surfaces. Their packs will use these abilities to reach new areas, or circumvent troublesome defenses. It is a wholly dangerous capability, and especially terrifying in the hands of the Relentless.Basic Information
Anatomy
The thornback wolf is a quadrupedal creature, and is largely similar to other wolf-types. Bony-flesh plates grow along their skull to the tip of their tail, and upon this is where their 'thorns', or spikes, grow. It is the hardest part of their body, and protective of their spinal cord. Breaking through their plate functionally kills the wolf just as much, it's an all or nothing sort of defense.
Their looks do shift between climate regions; colder dwellers have stouter plates and thicker fur, while warm dwellers have finer fur with more pronounced spikes. Thornback wolves as a whole are physically thick and muscular, analogous to a great wolf as their norm for an adult. They're surprisingly not homogenous as a species, though; varied sizes and physiques are more common for them. Scholars suspect the thornbacks don't discriminate against 'runts' or malformed pups, as long as they can still hunt in a fashion. Smaller thornbacks usually coordinate hunts on prey the larger ones are too slow or physically prohibited from going after.
Biological Traits
Hardened Spines – The thornback wolf's spines are meant to ward off truly fearsome predators much larger than it. While its spines can only do so much, they are hardy and nasty. Even if their defenses might ultimately lose, the pain and suffering of being skewered wards off a lot of threats.
Adaptive Huntress – Thornback wolves survived by being clever and capable, working together as much as having inventive problem solving. Combined with their limited magical talent, and they are remarkably versatile animals.
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