Cairn

A Cairn is a Fae beast found in all mountainous regions of the Fae Realm. It is best described as a rock on four legs and is known for its quite adorable appearance. It is also known for its tendency to bite any Fae who gets close enough.
The four variants differ by their location having adopted the appearance of the rock formations in their habitat; the Irm Anore Cairns being covered in moss, the Golden Peaks being frozen and ice covered and the South being volcanic rock and boasting a top of lava that trails wherever they walk.
The only non mountain region it can be found in is the Red Sea where it is believed that some Cairns may have strayed accidentally from the Boiled Man's Pass and never found their way home. They then developed into their own variant, becoming red like the sand they traversed.
Cairns often travel in groups, following paths across and around their mountain every day to one of their resting sites before moving onto the next. It is very rare for any Cairn to wander far from its mountain or its group. The only exception to this rule are the Red Sea Cairns who have no mountains to path and who have too few numbers to find each other to form groups. They wander the red sands of desert alone or in pairs at the most. They are unable to make paths to follow as the sand shifts as soon as they step.
A group of Cairns is called a Rubble.

Irm Anore Variant	Red Sea Variant	Golden Peaks Variant	Southern Territories Variant
by Glumberland Studios - Ooblets	by Glumberland Studios - Ooblets	by Glumberland Studios - Ooblets	by Glumberland Studios - Ooblets

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

It is unknown how exactly the Cairns reproduce but some Fae scholars have speculated that the resting sites they follow their paths to have something to do with it. At these sites Rubbles have been seen rolling around small rocks and boulders in seemingly random movements before they lose interest and move on. It has been speculated that when they do this, they are trying to form a new Cairn and when they are unsuccessful, move onto the next site before eventually returning to try again.
This may also explain why the population of the Red Sea Cairns remains so small; they have no rest sites to reproduce in.

Growth Rate & Stages

There has never been any witnessed growth in a Cairn, given that it is a literal rock with legs. It remains the same size its whole life but the top may sometimes overgrow as the crust that forms atop the rock accumulates. An example of this might be that a Golden Peaks Cairn will always remain the same size but the ice atop it, could continue to accumulate and pile up on top of the Cairn.
At the end of its lifespan a Cairn will simply fall apart as it walks.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Cairns have never been seen eating, they only walk and rest and push around rocks and then walk some more.

Biological Cycle

The Cairns do not seem to notice the change in season in any of their environments. If they do, they do not act upon it. The closest they have been found to do so is avoiding certain paths in specific seasons, those they know the resting site it leads to is unusable to them. For example, in winter some resting sites in the Golden Peaks may be too piled with snow for the Cairns to find any rocks beneath it.

Behaviour

The Cairns do not seem to have any predators nor do they exhibit fear in the face of potential threats. A Southern Territories Rubble was once witnessed in an interaction with a dragon. The beast had seemingly been awoken from something beyond its cave and had emerged to investigate. It found a Rubble of Cairns waddling towards it along their path and roared a warning. The Rubble halted, stared at the dragon for a beat and then carried on. The dragon, it was reported, seemed rather dumbfounded by the creatures and watched them pass with quite the baffled look.

Additional Information

Domestication

Although it is suspected that a Cairn could be tamed, it have never been attempted with any real effort as they can serve no purpose to the Fae not as familiars, attack beasts or even pets since they don't do anything except walk around and occasionally bite.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

The only use the Fae have ever found for the Cairns is in potions. What lies atop of a Cairn's rock, whether it be moss, lava, ice, or crusted sandstone can be powerful ingredients used in many potions. As such many potion brewers will make yearly journeys to mountains to find a Rubble so that they can scrape off each Cairn's top and use or sell it for potion making. 
The Cairns, for the most part, just seem mildly annoyed by this and, although they will bite and struggles whilst being held, seem to feel no pain from the process.

Civilization and Culture

History

Roughly a century ago, a group of Fae attempted to find and relocate the Red Sea Variant Cairns to the Boiled Man's Pass or even further into the South at their volcanic peaks. The effort was a huge failure as the Red Sea Variant could no longer survive the deadly lava and temperatures. All the rescued Cairns died. After this it was considered moving them to the Golden Peaks or Irm Anore; less hostile environments, but it was concluded that this would not succeed either as the Red Sea Variant had adapted to the harsh sunlight of the desert and would not survive the frigid temperatures of the Peaks nor even the more gentle Irm Anore once its winter set in.
As such the Red Sea Variant was left to its desert.

Common Myths and Legends

There is a rumour that the village that borders the Red Sea and the Wastes has set up makeshift hills and mini mountains and that the 'criminals' that live there will always make an effort to catch or at least herd any Red Sea Cairns that they find towards these. The rumours state that the only Rubble of Red Sea Cairns exists here in this jury-rigged 'mountain' environment and that the Rubble spends its days tottering from one mound of rocks to the next following a path around the village.

Lifespan

30 years

Geographic Distribution

• Boiled Man's Pass
• Golden Peaks
• Irm Anore
• Red Sea
• The South