Shagreen dog

The shagreen dog is a large and formidable predator of the vast Madini Desert on the continent of Erana. Other than its name suggests it is not really a dog, but rather a representative of the fur reptiles.

It can reach lengths of about 3.5 metres and its shoulder hight is about 1.6 metres, though males can in rare cases reach 3.8 metres in length and 1.7 metres in height. Their fur is reduced to some hair to prevent sand from getting into their ear cavities as they lack auricles entirely. A shagreen dog's head is massive and has long jaws equipped with scythe-like sabre teeth for canines and sharp, bone crushing teeth for molars. Their main senses are the sense of sight and sense of smell. Their skin is thick and robust as to deal with the harsh desert or steppe conditions of their distribution area. They are well camouflaged sporting a brownish yellowish skin colour with a light variegated pattern.

They live as solitary hunters of mostly large size game which they attack either on the flank or the throat to tear massive wounds with their sabre teeth only to retreat and have the prey bleed out. It can be observed that their prey grows along with them, meaning that juvenile individuals hunt smaller prey than adults but still keep to sizes close to their own or slightly larger. They keep close to waterholes, rivlets and clusters of trees and shrubs to take advantage of grazers comind there to drink or feed. Due to their acute sense of smell they can smell carrion over large distances and make their way there during the dim hours of the day.

They may be mainly solitary but don't bother much having fellow shagreen dogs around as long as there is no scarcity of food, water and shadow. They can either be migratory of occupy a teritory of a certain size with individuals changing lifestyles during their lifes without obvious reason. When fighting over a source of food with other shagreen dogs both sexes show off their teeth and make wheezing and hissing noises to deterr the other as they are incapable of producing a full sound. These conflicts seldom lead to a fight as the smaller individual regardless of sex normally withdraws. In case a fight ensues it's often fatal for one of the competitors.

When feeling threatened by an animal of a different species they employ no display of power or warning behaviour whatsoever. This makes these animals very unpredictable since some individuals feel provoked by people within a range of 500 metres whereas others tolerate distances of only 80-100 metres.

Some local communities keep track of these animals and memorise their colour patterns or other traits to assess how safe it is to be around a specific individual. Other than that no efforts have been made to employ shagreen dogs in any way for use as a domestic animal. In rare cases bonds can be formed between a shagreen dog and one of those having the Gift of Reason.