For this challenge, we were tasked with creating a new creature type. This caused me a lot of problems - we've had the prompt for two weeks, and I only decided what I was going to write last night.
In the deepest parts of the Wasteland, long past the point where no living thing could survive, the impossible exists: A vast forest, grown in only a few decades. It is populated by all manner of strange creatures, but perhaps strangest are the Leshy. A new intelligent race, the first generation, now the elders of their young nation, seem to have sprung from the forest fully formed. They believe that they have been created by the world itself as a defense mechanism. As such, they have begun making plans to raid the smaller cities.
On average shorter than a human, they are stocky, outweighing a much taller human. They have skin that appears to be tree bark, growing rougher and thicker as they age, they also have hair that has the consistency of thorn bushes. There is very little sexual dimorphism in the Leshy. On average, females tend to be slightly taller and have less coarse and lighter colored skin, but there are few other differentiating features. They are exclusively herbivores.
Leshy display little sophistication and almost no grasp of tactics when it comes to combat. On those rare occasions when they fight amongst themselves, it almost always amounts to little more than a wrestling match to submission. In their first true war against The Order, they will use magically grown clubs as melee weapons, with similarly grown javelins as ranged tools. In addition, they have shown an aptitude for plant magic, which will be their greatest strength as it has not been seen on Tyranix in generations.
The Leshy will be the true wild card in the war between The Order and the rebels.
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I was initially inspired by the Leshy of Slavic mythology, though the end result is something that has diverged significantly. I decided to make them shorter and stockier mainly because I'm tired of the Fae look that is dominant among intelligent forest creatures - Elves, Dryads, etc. Without the inhabitants of this world knowing it, they are a form of primeval Treefolk. The first intelligent creatures to be born on most planes, they would eventually evolve into the Treefolk we all know and love when the other intelligent forms of life evolved. However, given the atypical circumstances surrounding their creation on Tyranix, it is unclear whether this will occur hear.
I like!
ReplyDeleteDiamora742