Fauna

Animals on this list are fairly unique to the Pentagonal Dominion. They may be based on mythological creatures or real-world animals, but there’s a big enough different between them and their real-world equivalent that I feel they deserve a mention. However, the PD does have a lot of ‘real-world’ animals with slight differences, usually in regards to intelligence. Many animals that are low intelligence/sapience in our world are quite a bit more advanced in the fantasy world. These include sea slugs, capybaras, flamingos, alligators/crocodiles. Some animals that we consider ‘intelligent’ are also more domesticated/‘friendly’ than their real-world counterparts, and as such are able to be made into common pets. These include dolphins, elephants, octopi, and crows/ravens.

The PD also features different ‘breeds’ of common animals like dogs and cats. For instance, the Zulidor (plural: Zulidorok) is an even larger version of a Komondor with resistance to cold temperatures. A quad cat is a four-eyed cat that comes in many fur colors.

Also of note, every animals in the PD lays eggs, so even things that are otherwise mammalian in appearance still lay eggs.

Cotza: Resembles a cross between a camel and an aurochs. Short-haired, humped, horned, has big tufts of fur on their legs like a Clydesdale horse. They live in deserts and are numerous enough in the wild to be hunted for meat. Spiritism allows some to be domesticated for milking and slaughter, but most must be allowed to remain in the wild. The ones who are domesticated may evolve into near-sapient animals later, which would forbid people from eating them. They are notorious for being a pain in the ass to work fields. “Cotza” is a Solue/Sounite insult for a lazy person. “Attention span of a cotza” is also an insult for someone easily distracted or not paying attention.

Ulega: a white shrew-like animal that lives in the arctic regions and buries itself in snow. They are thought to be clumsy because of the way they waddle when they walk across ice, which has led to an idiom “as clumsy as an ulega.” Ulegas are prey for Zulidorok, which are kept on farms to hunt the pesky creatures.

Raduga sheep: A wooly animal that produces vivid colors of wool. Some are a solid color, some are multicolored. Coat color is easily controlled via breeding. Although initially put on Aloutia, they have been brought to all corners of the dominion. Symbolic to many people, though mostly the Winyans.

Winged lion: A griffin. They primarily live in the Slevango Mountains of Aloutia where they hunt mountain goats. Yosoe communities may drive winged lions away or hunt them, for fear the lions will snatch up their children. Winged lions are often the ‘villain’ in fables told to Yosoe children.

Susi: Two different animals which go by the same name. In Ruomi, susi is ‘wolf’, specifically the animal-wolves, as opposed to the sapienti Wolves. In English, susi is a boar-like animal with an exoskeleton on its head so it looks like it’s wearing a second skull. They are hunted for meat. It is forbidden in Spiritism to domesticate them because they may evolve into near-sapient pigs, which cannot be consumed.

Wingish: a type of fish with Wind elementrons in its wing-shaped fins, allowing it to fly for extended periods of time. The name may have once been ‘wingfish’, but everyone just calls them wingish now. They can be eaten, but aren’t very tasty to most. Windesoar doesn’t permit consumption of Wind elementrons, so Wind elementals aren’t allowed to eat them. This, of course, has led to certain people like Requiem eating them out of pure spite.

Oko: An aquatic animal shaped like a jellyfish, but with a flesh-and-meat body and tentacles. There are two sexes of okoes: ball okoes, and torus okoes. The balls are round while the tori are shaped like donuts. When they breed, the torus goes around the ball. They impregnate each other. Okoes are farmed for their meat and are a staple food for many aquatic people. Okoes living in Deep Sea taste different from river okoes. Although Deep Sea okoes are considered to taste better, because they are so common, it’s more ‘refined’ to eat river okoes.

Kesshoku-gyo (血食魚): a lamprey living in the lakes of Ophidia. It’s body is sleek, slimy, and looks like a ‘dark rainbow’ (think like what you see in an oil spill). They can detect blood and will hunt down hurt/bleeding prey. The name means “blood-eater fish.”

Blue-claw crabs: As the name suggests, they are crabs with blue claws (but red bodies). They live in the far northern oceans of Aloutia and in the lakes of Ruomi. They are prevalent in Ruomi diet, where a common method of eating them involves using one claw to scoop out its own meat.

Hippocampus: Aquatic horses. They are a near-sapient animal and raised as pets or for racing. There is an intense culture of hippocampus racing on the planet Blue Home.

Fan and Pen Mollusk: These exist in real life, but they are bigger and more prevalent in the Pentagonal Dominion. They produce byssus threads, which creates sea silk, a common fabric among aquatic species, but expensive on land. Some land-dwelling people consider byssus-wearing the epitome of snobbery.

Pink gull: A pink bird that will live near any body of water – sea, lake, or river. The bird itself can be eaten, but the real delicacy comes from their eggs. The yolk of their eggs are pink and delicious.

Ribbonweavers: A creature that flies like a ribbon aloft on the wind. Colorful, and with a chime-like voice. They will fly in circles around tree branches or poles when scouting an area. They live primarily in the Whistling Plains, Singing Mountains, and the Trachea of Aloutia. They are technically insects.

Songbird trio: Vily, gamayuns, alkonosts. Three birds with beautiful singing voices. Legends state that the three birds are ‘rivals’, though they only act that way in the wild if there is a shortage of food. In captivity, especially if they’re being trained by a merchant of song, they’ll behave and even learn to sing together.

Zmey: A massive, winged, dragon-like creature inhabiting the Olivian Desert. It’s the apex predator of the desert and the ‘villain’ in many myths and legends. Also symbolic to the Queendom of St. Pristis.

Leshiy: A deer with leafy antlers, native to the Jukalyan Rainforest. An ancient Jukalyan religion featured two gods—one evil, one good—who were both leshiy. As such, they have been portrayed both ways (horror spooky-deer and god-of-the-forest deer) in art. When the Jukalyans first converted to Spiritism, they would depict Lucognidus wearing a helmet with leshiy antlers.

Kikimora: Predators of the swamp, found in The Garland. Bipedal and clawed, they have a feminine appearance. In ancient times, they were considered the ‘wives’ of the Domovye. Since the Domovye have become sapient, folktales now place the kimimory as being married to various other animals, most commonly the bolotnik.

Bolotnik: Giant, colorful, poisonous toads found in the swamps of The Garland and in shroomeries. They produce a hallucinogenic toxin from their backs. People can get high by licking their backs. They are large enough to be ridden by most species, so the idea of ‘licking a bolotnik’s back’ is more akin to jumping on its back rather than catching one and putting it up to your mouth.

Lightmites: Small bioluminescent mites that live in parts of the world that are dark for long periods of time, though most notably in the Aureole Forest, which got its name from the way lightmites will swam to particular trees and give them a glow light an aureole.

Coatl: Enormous feathered serpents of the Mu. They can fly to the highest floating islands, which many use as dens. They are an apex predator of the Mu, along with the Nue. Coatls feathers were one of the most expensive and revered items to the Mujin.

Nue: A horrifically large beast like a lion with a snake’s tail and a monkey’s head. They fear nothing and will even hunt large groups of people. One of the top predators in the Mu’s food chain.

Hollow Void spider: A massive spider living in the Mu that makes webs large enough to trap human-sized prey. Their abdomen is black, with spots and streaks resembling Cosmo’s Hollow Void. Demon Lord Hollow Void is also associated with spiders, so their name comes from both sources.

Monoceros (various): several unrelated animals with a single horn are often called monoceros. These animals include:

-shortfur: unicorn

-longfur: almiraj, a fluffy rabbit with a slightly curved horn.

-roughhide: rhinoceros

-scale: centrosaur, a dinosaur

-wooly: sheep with a jagged horn, also called xiezhi.

-aquatic: narwhal

Shroomwolves/shroomhounds: wolves and their domesticated counterparts, the dogs, who inhabit shroomeries. These animals look like wolves/dogs and generally act like them, but they reproduce using the mushrooms on their backs.

Shubin: A fungivore found in the shroomeries and in fungal caves. A quadrupedal animal with a lot of mushrooms and fungus on its body. They may reproduce asexually, in which case their bone marrow is rich with chemicals to ‘reverse’ one’s biological sex. A person wishing to reduce their sexual traits may do so by eating their marrow.

Possessed morgrugyn: You know that fungus that will take control of an ant? That fungus is pretty much the same, but the ant is the possessed morgrugyn, a purple-colored ant which exists to serve its fungal master. They live in shroomeries and can grow exceptionally large.

Dinosaurs (various): Some of my dinosaurs are big lizards, whereas some take the “was actually a giant chicken” approach. So some are colorful and/or feathered. Some noteworthy ones, though, are the tro-odons which are near-sapient, and thus make for wonderful pets. They’re large and fairly feathery, but can’t fly. Many of my dinos have names with ‘man’ at the end (tallman, longman, baldman), but they were named in the Wynndalic language where ‘man’ just meant ‘person’, not an indication that they’re male (but also where the idea of ‘person’ included near-sapient animals.)