Beinadýr (BANE-uh-deer)

Similar to the whales of warmer waters, Beinadyr are long, finned mammals protected by a thick fat layer and sporting a variety of nose, head, and fin shapes.   What makes the Benadyr unique are the external bone growths they display. Usually running along the spine or growing out from the skull, these impossibly hard structures allow the air-breathing mammals to break, and surface through, thick ice sheets.   The largest species is known as the Mast Whale, which can reach 75 feet in length and boasts a long, sail-like bone protrusion stretching along the spine from the front of the skull to behind the dorsal fin. At 20-30 feet long and up to 12 feet high at the peak, the Mast Whale’s sail is the largest single piece of bone plating that can be harvested from a Bone Whale. The difficulty in hunting, hauling, and processing such mammoth prey explains why it is a rare target, and a rarer sight in marketplaces.   The smallest Beinadyr species is the Ice Whip, a long, comparatively lean creature only 4 to 5 feet in length. Almost resembling a foreshortened eel, the Ice Whip has a bony cap or knob over its nose and skull, which it uses to ram ice (or competitors) at high speeds.

• On the end of its tail fins are barbed fibres, trailing up to a foot behind the whale as it swims. In self defence or to stun prey the whale might race past and twist suddenly to deliver a terrific strike with these tendrils, which dig in and rip at the flesh of the unlucky target.

 

• This whale is also the only one with venom. Each barb on the tail tendrils also secretes a paralytic enzyme which can render small prey immobile, or larger creatures slowed as it prepares its next move.

  On humans, a solid tail full of these enzymes could cause partial or total paralysis. Processed, concentrated doses can cause longer lasting effects, and even give the appearance of death as the victim slips into a coma.

Most pods have migratory paths running around the Eastern side of the continent, where they go to give birth and raise pups before returning to the fields of ice kelp the rest of the year. Pods can range in size from a dozen to a hundred whales, and sometimes even contain members of different species.

Most of the larger Beinadyr species subsist on the nutrient rich ice kelp that grows in vast fields below the Northern ice floes, and on tiny shrimp and fish swarms that they swim through with open mouths. A few of the medium and smaller size species, including the Ice Whip, have sharp teeth and feed on fish, seals, and other sea life.   Meat-eating Beinadyr often use their bone plating and protrusions to burst through ice sheets to surprise and grab prey. Birds and seals (or unfortunate humans) resting and moving on the ice may find themselves airborne, and then underwater before they can realize what’s hit them.

Beinadyr generally live in family-based groups. Loyalty within these groups is generally tight, with adults working together to protect their young from their few natural predators. Most subspecies are benevolent creatures of medium intelligence, though a few meat-eating groups can be aggressive.