Karnovane

A nightmarish mixture of raving beast and chitinous insect, the horrific karnovane looms above both man and horse as an avatar of the insatiable hunger. Ranging from the size of a laden wagon to that of a small house, the karnovan's large size is not representative of the creature's speed - as witness reports share common threads of karnovanes outpacing even unladen horses over short distnaces. When the karnovane does catch its prey, they rip apart their foes with serrated mandibles or even devour them whole.
The mere sight of a fully grown karnovane is enough to cripple all but the bravest warriors with crippling fear. Chittering and growing with unsettling chirps, the insectoid beast seems to somehow revel in the terror is causes. Often taking time to crush them underfoot or even rip and cut them limb from limb in it's sadistic form of play.
What is perhaps most terrifying about these beasts is that they mate for life, and often enough the presence of one Karnovane means another is lurking nearby in wait. If a group is fortunate enough to slay a single entity of a pair bonded karnovane, the remaining karnovane will stop at nothing to avenge it's fallen mate - with stories of distressed karnovanes tracking a group of soldiers hundreds of miles back to their fortified camp - only to rip down its gates and begin murdering those within. As such, engaging in combat with a karnovane is illegal without proper permits to ensure the beast is not pair bonded. Imperial Law also forbids a person from taking refuge in a populated area if they believes themselves to be hunted by a karnovane - and failure to abide by this law is punishable by death for most species.

Basic Information

Anatomy

An unusual mixture of beast and insect, the Karnovane is an almost incomprehensible assortment of slashing limbs and mouths, with a thick hide of skin protecting the majority of the Karnovane's body from attack. A strong bone-like chitin protects more vital areas of the creature from attack, breaking through the skin at irregular intervals to form jagged horns and spikes.
The creature's power comes largely due to it's internal skeletal structure. The same material that encases the creatures claws and back also extends throughout the creature's body, protecting it's internal organs and reinforcing it's structure against direct martial assault. The skeleton extends out through the creature's rear where it forms a powerful bonelike tail - which of course ends in yet another mouth.
Ranging in size, most Karovane continue to grow over the duration of their mortal lives, with the species reaching maturity at the rough size of wagon before continuing to grow to the size if that of a small house (in very rare cases thankfully) Despite it's large size, the creature is deceptively fast, capable of covering short distances in a matter of paces - regardless of difficulty terrain - due largely in fact to the creature's powerful set of four legs.
Despite the creature's remarkable skeletal physiology, the karnovane is most well known for it's multiple orifices. Beneath the creature's skeleton superstructure exists an incomprehensibly complex digestive system with no less than five separate mouths simultaneously serving as weapons and devices for dietary consumption. The primary maws of the beasts reside at the end of each of the karnovane's arms, where a set of razor sharp teeth are encompassed by a set of powerful pincherlike talons - capable of excerting enough piercing and crushing power to tear the leg off of a military class ironclad.

Genetics and Reproduction

Once they reach sexual maturity (4th year for males, 6th year for females), a solitary Karnovane will begin the process of seeking out a mate. Due to their large territorial borders - a female Karnovane can travel upwards of a thousand miles before finding a suitable male to breed with. Once paired, Karnovanes famously mate for life with the female laying eggs during the spring following the initial pairing and the male fertilizing the eggs immediately afterwards. A Karnovane egg is encased in a thick bone-like chitin that closely resembles that of a mature Karnovane's skeletal structure which ensures the egg is all but impervious to the elements and predators while also lengthening the gestation process for a Karnovane embryo by forcing the creature to develop the muscular structure required to shatter the egg's powerful shell structure.

Growth Rate & Stages

Solitary creatures at birth, a nest of Karnovane typically has anywhere between 1 - 4 eggs in it. Once hatched, a Karnovane will will spend roughly a week (10 days) with its among its siblings and parents before venturing into the world on its own. Over that week, the Karnovane will grow tremendously in size, starting at a size approximately that of a small cat before leaving the nest at the size of a large dog or a wolf. Solitary creatures during their juvenile years, a Karnovane will quickly set up a territory of it's own; often times well beyond the territorial borders of it's parents. Once they leave their nests any bonds between a young Karnovane and it's birth parents are shattered, with the two treating each other as competitors within the first year of leaving the nest. A Karnovane will continue to grow in size throughout it's natural life (provided it is capable of finding food sources to keep it's alarming size growing). A Karnovane will reach full maturity at around its eleventh year, and begin slowing down and laying less eggs each year that passes after that. Once a Karnovane begins its descent its death is often only a few years away as well - as the creature's massive speed and size requires a level of consumption that the creature simpy cannot keep up with once it begins to slow down in age. Eventually one of the Karnovane pairs will pass, either due to illness, starvation, or injury - and once reduced to a single entity a solitary and aging Karnovane is easy prey for juvenile of the same species looking to establish its own territory.

Ecology and Habitats

Most commonly found in the mountans and spine of The Auroch Pridelands, Karnovanes are believed to have originated in that region appriximately a thousand years before the arrival of the aurochs. Prefering the dry and arid climate of the region, the creatures are still common enough in the region to warrant routine auroch hunting parties to target the beasts when they become too aggresive (often due to over population). Karnovane migrated out the pridelands well over ten thousand years ago however, and can be found in many of the dry and mountainous region of Alwaus. Ambush predators, a karnovane prefers areas where rocky outcroppings can obscure it's monstrous size long enough for the creature to pounce from its hiding spot and annihilate whichever species or race that was unfortunate to cross its path.

Dietary Needs and Habits

While most presume the Karnovane to be carniverous, the creature is actually best described as an omnivore. The creature's immense size and frankly weapon like physique make it best suited for hunting, fighting, and devouring other creatures - the sheer amount of calories required to keep a karnovane from starvation means the creature is nearly always hungry - and often is forced to consume plants, roots, and other bio matter in an attempt to sate it's ever present hunger. A karnovane has no observable preference for prey, stalking herbivores, carnivores, and even sentient races of Alwaus with a frequency that implies it gives little to no regard for lives of the cultural races of Alwaus. Despite this however, the creatures seem averse to open engagement against large numbers of creatures - which thankfully ensures assaults against populated settlements are rare.

Additional Information

Social Structure

While a newly born karnovane spends the first week of its life in tight familial unit, the karnovane's rapid growth rate soon places far too much strain on the food resources of the adult karnovanes, and the juvenile karnovanes are quickly encouraged (sometimes by force) to leave the safety of their nest and find territory and food security on their own. Once removed from their nest, a karnovane will search out territory of it's own - often travelling hundreds of miles before the "taste" of other karnovane in the area dissipates enough to where it feels comfortable forming its own home. If a karnovane instead comes into the territory of a singular sick or weak karnovane - it may instead choose to challenge the creature in hopes of killing it and taking over it's territory.
Once successful in establishing its territory a karnovane will spend the next 4-6 years of its life without contact with other members of its species. Once the creature reaches sexual maturity it will begin searching for a mate. Female karnovane will abandon their territory (which is oftentimes less than half the size of a similarly aged male of the species) and begin travelling in an attempt to locate the "taste" of a health unbonded male of the species in the area. To assist in this search, a male karnovane will begin rapidly expanding its own territory in attempts to attract the notice of a nomadic female in the area.
When a female at last locates the scent of a male she will begin tracking him down, will the male doing the same if he is able to detect the female's presence in his territory before she finds him. Once they meet the two begin circling eachother slowly over the course of several hours - even days in rare cases - posturing, hissing, and chirping in a primitive ritualistic dance that is simultaneously a mating dance and territorial display of aggression. The exact nature of this dance is poorly understood, due in large part to to the infrequency with which this ritual has been observed by academic society. If the dance is succesful the pair bond and will lay their first set of eggs the following spring. If it fails, the two will fight to the death - with the survivor continuing their search for a mate from scratch.
Once bonded, a pair of karnovane are mated for life - and will continue to share territory together until one of them dies. In the event that a pair karnovane is killed by another creature the other half of the pair will go into a beserking rage in an attempt to avenge their mate - stopping at nothing from finding and killing whatever it is that dealt the killing blow. Stories about karnovane's "revenge-like" impulse is a common topic for works of fiction (both published and shared over a pint with strangers) however even the fiction often underestimates the lengths to which a widowed karnovane will go to avenge its mate's death. Documented cases show karnovane following parties back to their home cities days after the inital encounter where the karnovane will literally shatter open city gates of major population centers and rip the roof of the building its quarry is hiding in. The manner in which a karnovane is able to hunt it's prey over such great distances is unknown, however leading theories suggest that when the creature dies it releases a powerful pheromone it's immediate vicinity that is only detectable by it's mate. This particular hypothesis is difficult to test however, as few are willing to face a single karnovane in battle for the sake of research - let alone two.

Domestication

Attempts of domesticating karnovane (whether juvenile or taken as a bonded pair) have failed without exception - often with disastrous and deadly results. Early attempts to tame the creatures focused on a variety of techniques to coax and manipulate the animal into calm and compliance - including overfeeding - but none gained so much of a foothold against the stubborn creature's determination to resist captivity. In 6138 AoA a pair of captive karnovane escape from captivity from a tower in the Astorian city of Anderpol, laying waste to the surrounding city district for over six hours before the pair was finally destroyed by the city's military and the assistance of The Collegiate Arcane. After the death and destruction in Anderpol there a few - if any - cities in Alwaus that will even tolerate the captivity of a Karnovane in their controlling region - let alone within their city walls.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

While the risks and rarity associated with harvesting make it an unreliable material, the bone-chitin skeletal structure of a Karnovane rivals the strength and durability of all but the most pure metal alloys. While these components were once used in rudimentary crafting, items crafted from karnovane bone are considered more of an exotic status symbol than an actual utilitarian take on craftsmanship - particularly when used as the foundation for weapons and armour. Despite this however, there is still a market for karnovane bones in Alwaus; as a skilled alchemist is said to be able to use the creature's dense bone meal as an ingredient in potions.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

While primarily found in The Auroch Pridelands, karnovane have long migrated outside of the region with bonded pairs discovered in dry, mountainous areas as far away as the Southern Badlands. An exploration team send into a set of subterranean caves in the north of Cascadia were attacked by a creature that resembled that of a karnovane, however the survivor of the attack perished shortly after sharing her story so verifying the presence of subterranean karnovane will require further resources deployed in the area.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

With no less than five oral facilities on the creature, it relies significantly more on it's sense of taste than more mammalian creatures in Alwaus - instead "tasting" the air with it's sets of tongues in a manner more similiar to that of a reptile. This makes approaching the creature with stealth very difficult, as there is no two dimensional angle that one can approach the creature without facing one its many juttering maws - blinding whipping the air with their tongues in an attempt to detect the fainest whisper of a nearby meal.
The creature's head (for lack of a better term) does still contain a set of eyes and ears, ensuring the creature has capable facilities for percieving the world through sight and hearing - albeit likely with less reliance on these perceptions than most creatures.

Lifespan

15 years

Average Height

11 Feet

Average Weight

11,000 pounds

Average Length

17 feet (Including tail)

Average Physique

Monsterously strong and powerful, with four legs, a spinder tail, and two powerful mandible claws.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Skin tones vary due to geographical and enviromental adaptation. Most have a dark red/brown tinge over their backs to blend into the dry and arid areas they tend to prefer.

Geographic Distribution

• The Kaldari Highlands (Region)