The Ghillie Beast

The jungles of Pararongo are home to some of the most dangerous plants and animals on Az, so much so that even the mages of the Scion-students are hesitant to research its mysteries. Of the many endemic species found with this place, the ghillie beast stands out the most, an exceptional creature with a truly unique biology.  

Physiology and Anatomy

  From the specimens recovered from Pararongo, it is immediately apparent that the ghillie beast is special: a large mammal standing about three meteres at the shoulders, with a distinct, shaggy furred appearance that has been described as "Uncertain if it wishes to be an ape or an ungulate" by one of the first ecologists to study it. With a sturdy, compact frame that is somewhat reminiscent of a rhino, it is not until one closely observes the feet and head of this creature, that the strangeness of this animal is realized. Beginning with the skull of the ghillie beast, the top half is quite similar to that of a gorilla, with a large cranium that flares outward and a nasal bridge that is quite flat relative to a human's, but unmistakably primate in its visage. The lower half of a ghillie beast skull is very different, with the jaws jutting out past the nose in a fashion akin to a hippo, housing a set of teeth undeniably belonging to a herbivore. However, these teeth are yet again very unusual, due to the presence of sharp canines in a maw mostly made up of thick molars towards the back of the mouth and incisors at the front.   The legs of the ghillie beast continue this strange trend of hybridization, being strong, stocky appendages that terminate in bizarre, almost human-like hands. While not anywhere near as dexterous as any primate's fingers, the thick digits of the ghillie beast nonetheless exhibit an impressive degree of mobility for a creature its size, able to peruse through vegetation and grip onto trees in order to climb upwards. When walking, the ghillie beast seems to prefer placing its palms on the floor, which are protected with a thick node of fatty tissue that protects them from stones and thorns.   This general mix and matching of primate and ungulate traits is what led to the wide-spread belief that the ghillie beast was a result of magical tampering, with some mage attempting to merge the two animals. This assumption would be proven false, after several tests were carried out on the animal, using methods such as scanning it for quantities of foreign soul-force and exposing the flesh to void-steel. The results of these tests were clear: the ghillie beast as a species is a completely natural occurrence, only showing a residual soul-force produced by the animal itself and being completely unaffected by the presence of void-steel. To further compound this evidence, the eyes and ears of the ghillie beast are rather unique compared to other mammals. The eyes are placed close to the front of the head, despite the ghillie beast being a herbivore, and feature a similar amount of rod and cone cells, allowing for the seeing of colour while still functioning in the dark. The ears are fairly large, splaying downwards at an angle, something which is not generally seen in large grazing animals.  

The Walking Garden

  With all this being said, none of the ghillie beast's astounding anatomical quirks can compare to its defining feature. Growing a thick lining of fatty tissue along certain nodes as it approaches adulthood, the ghillie beast is the only known animal that has evolved to seek out flora to grow on its body. The sight of the ghillie beast draped in mosses, flowers and even carnivourous plants, is regarded with awe by all who witness it.   Not to be confused with how a sloth might gain a coating of moss as it slowly moves through the trees, for ghillie beast actively select their species of passenger, finding a type of plant which suits its needs ,before allowing the seeds to embed into the fatty linings found across its body. This may at first seem counterproductive to the survival of the ghillie beast, as allowing plants to eat into its flesh and drain nutrients from itself poses many challenges. Despite this, the ghillie beast has evolved a complex system for managing such a symbiosis, with the space between the fatty nodes and the vitals having a high concentration of chemical signalers that prevent the roots of growing plants from breaching the lining.   The benefits for the plants are numerous, gaining protection, food and a mobile platform from which they can reproduce and spread more efficiently. So too does the ghillie beast gain much from this relationship, depending on what type of symbionts it chooses. For ghillie beasts who prefer to stay protected at all times, allowing iron moss or the ambush plant to proliferate on the body grants them an almost unrivaled degree of defense, with the former acting as a cushion against attacks of all kinds and the latter specie able to expel venomous spurs when stimulated. Other individual ghillies may take a different route, letting the bio-luminescent star flowers spread, in the process becoming highly toxic towards predators and able to intimidate them with vivid warning flashes. Most ghillies take a measured approach, cultivating a highly diverse selection of passenger plants on themselves, turning them into walking gardens as a result.  

Social and Breeding Behaviour

  Intelligent creatures, ghillie beasts live together in tight-knit family units charmingly called a thicket. Raised from birth in these thickets, young ghillies are taught how to interact with others of their kind and are protected by the elders in the group, as ghillie beasts are not able to defend themselves properly until they grow to adolescence. By the first few years, the young ghillies will have begun to develop their fatty linings and will observe the adult's choice of symbiont plants, influencing their own future body gardens. A thicket of ghillie beasts is lead by a matriarch and is composed only of female adults, with male ghillies being ousted from the group around the time they reach sexual maturity. This fact means that male ghillie beasts have a hard road ahead of them, with the countless dangers of Pararongo resulting in more than half of male ghillie beasts dying before reaching full adulthood.   To increase odds of survival, males will form their own bachelor thickets, travelling together and ensuring that none of their group is left behind. By the time the males are fully grown, they will be significantly more muscular than their female counterparts, standing half a meter taller and weighing as much as a full ton heavier.   This leads into the topic of mating, with the breeding season occurring sometime every five years, when thickets of male and female ghillie beasts converge. Mate selection between ghillies is a complex affair, starting with males sparring against each other in an attempt to showcase their physical prowess. Before the victorious males can begin mating, the females will then start their own selection, factoring in the prospective male's size, strength and above all else, choice in symbiont plant species. Allegedly, a female ghillie beast will be highly unlikely to mate with a male if they carry a species of plant that they have shown a distaste towards, preferring males who have a similar "taste" in passenger plants and ones whose dressing will not cause complications while mating.   Once the mating has concluded, the male and female will stay together for the duration of the gestation period, which lasts more than two years. This is due to the passenger plants on the female draining nutrients away from the developing calf, so to counteract this, gestation in ghillie beasts lasts longer than even mammoths and elephants. Once the calf is born, the male will soon leave the female's thicket, returning to his own group or going alone now that he is large enough. Upon the next breeding season, a previous pair of ghillie beasts is likely to mate again, however if one of the two has died or has undergone an extensive rearrangement of their garden plan, they may move on to a different mate.  

Relationship Towards Humans

  While rarely seen outside the jungles of Pararongo, Ghillie beasts have been captured and raised in captivity by several villages and cities on the countries border. These animals are then subject to two fates; to be paraded around by the wealthy as status symbols within their zoos, or are implanted with specific types of plants that would be difficult to grow otherwise.   In particular, the growing of psychedelics and drug producing plants on the backs of ghillie beasts is a rampant issue in many areas of the North of Yddian. The potent stimulant known as Rapture is known to become especially potent when farmed from plants that are grown on ghillies, something that drives even more drug-lords to capture these animals. However. since the ghillie beast is endemic to Pararongo, its biology is adapted only to support plant life found within that area, so plants like Rapture cause many health complications if implanted on their body. These include disease, malnutrition and foreign plants often breaching the boundary between the growth nodes and the internal organs of the ghillie beast, causing severe internal injuries.   Despite these terrible conditions, several organizations such as the Warlocks of Aarehk (More information found at The Warlocks of Aarehk), are committed to rescuing and researching the ghillie beast in a humane manner, and have seen some success in recent years in preventing further abductions of the animals. In regards to how ghillie beasts react to humans, they are extremely cautious and will become aggressive if approached too quickly, especially if it is a female with its calf present.  

Affinity for Magic

  Due to the rarity of the animal, sightings of ghillie beasts using magic is consequently scarce. Yet, due to demonstrations of high intelligence, mage-scholars predict that ghillie beasts are capable of simple applications of magic and perhaps even some more advanced techniques, such as enhancing the growth of passenger plant species. Currently, the ghillie beast is ranked as a "Significant Arcane Entity", grouped with animals like dogs and cats. This rating is only speculative, being subject to change when a magically gifted ghillie beast is able to be studied.