Alien beasts

Alien beasts are extremely dangerous, magically augmented canine creatures.

Physical Traits

Alien beasts are pseudo-mammals; they are magically warped versions of wolves. They have six legs and extremely muscular bodies. Their necks and jaws in particular are able to twitch extremely quickly, which allows them to quickly shred soft tissues with ease. In addition, fully grown alien beasts may, rarely, develop a poisonous bite.

Alien beasts are unable to survive as a species without magical and intelligent aid, as they are unable to breed and must be grown in special habitats. The strongest of the beasts fight for the right to lead the pack, and are often seen at the front when hunting.

The Plagues

Rentar-Ihrno engineered a particularly devastating strain of alien beast to quickly and totally defeat the human forces in Footracer Province. Had Empress Prazac not ordered the whole of Footracer Province surrounded by a stone wall, the alien beasts would have spread outward and consumed all of Valorim. They were exterminated after the Surface Explorers entered the Keep of Rentar-Ihrno. However, many survived and had to be killed or captured by special squads of mages and soldiers.

Empire Research

Several years later, secret Empire experiments, a century old, were exposed in the Skylark School of Magery. The mages there had obtained several specimens and were trying to breed weaker versions that they could control. When the School of Magery was shut down, these altered beasts were not properly contained and were able to escape. They ran rampant through the caverns deep below the School of Magery despite the toxic atmosphere.