Fiends

No two fiends will be identical. Almost all possess two arms, two legs and a humanoid shape, though there is great diversity in the proportions and scale of their bodies. Most come equipped with sharp claws on every appendage and a maw full of pointed teeth, these are all that is required for attacking prey and fending off threats.

While not flesh and blood like regular animals, their bodies have the uncanny ability to adapt to and mimic the environment it is surrounded by, whether it is ice and snow, pools of lava or deep, dark caves. Their body temperature changes and they exhibit symptoms that resemble their surroundings in terms of colour and texture, e.g. chunks of ice, fungi, etc.

While the range of environments fiends can be found in varies greatly, from boiling volcanic caverns to icy mountain peaks, the fiends will usually try to find somewhere that is isolated and easy to hide in. Plains and barren hills offer little to fiends in the way of camoflage or shelter; fiends require places with more texture.

The fiends' diet consists of anything they can get their hands on. This includes meat and insects, bones, wood, vegetation, even rocks with mould growing on them.

Fiends are seemingly basic creatures with only animalistic impulses, namely the ability to hunt, kill and feed. They are adept at using natural camouflage to hide in their environments and can lie motionless for hours or even days, waiting for their prey to come into their domain. They are immediately aggressive to any person or animal they come across, who they deem could be prey. Fiends have also been observed holding tools and are capable of using them to fight with, such as rudimentary clubs or pointed sticks.   When encountering species that present a clear threat to them, such as the Wyrm or Mountain Giants, they will either remain camouflaged or flee to a safer corner in which to hide.   Many fruitless efforts to communicate or reason with fiends have been attempted. It seems like they possess only a base intelligence that enables them to communicate amongst each other with their only their body language, and an instinct for when potential prey is near, possibly through the detection of pheramones or heat signatures.

There does not appear to be any social organisation to their clusters, merely that they tend to gather and there is strength in numbers. When one attacks potential prey, they all attack together, bringing it down. Once this is done, however, it is a free-for-all and a feeding frenzy begins. Other fiends will fight each other off just for a bite.