February 28th – The Chupana
February 29, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Okay, So I’ve been a bit haphazard. Done thinking, done writing – but haven’t posted up. Gonna be a slight flood today as I put them up. The other participant’s stories can be found here: Allie, Tara, Pinky, Olivia.
Prompt: Draw a picture of a creature, then write an encyclopedia entry about that creature.
Any ruminant and hollow horned paradae* related to the mundane genus Capra. Similar to the goat devils of the lower Stygian rungs, Chupana are characterized by their fine hair, curving horns and heavily padded feet instead of horns. Male Chupana are often bearded, the hair smoldering with age, and are called heads. Females produce thicker layers of wool and are called coats. The young are called teeth.
Chupana are descended from the primitive Agregarus* paradae, which were known for their great size as they aged and the vivacity of their borrowed mundane forms. During the first daemon wars, the agregarus were utilized as weapons. The species was wiped clean, but many Agregarus offspring with mundane species produced viable new strains. The Chupana were one such and, when relocated into the Tanaden hells, flourished.
Chupana are kept for their silken wool, which takes well to enchantment and providds considerable natural protecrion against most elemental threats. Unlike mundane goats they do not produce milk, instead requiring an outside supply which mothers mix with blood and holly – smearing the mixture into the grooves of their horns* and presenting them to their teeth for feeding. Adult Chupana feed primarily on grass soaked in or risen from blood, and wild specimen can frequently be found near battlefields.
*Paradae- Morally ambivalent creatures made entirely of spiritual matter grounded in corporeal, mundane based, forms.
*Agregarus- One of the three ancestor paradae species, a wormlike creature that bonded to mundane or semimundane animals – enhancing them to abnormal extremes.
*Chupana Coat Horns – Coat horns from certain species of chupana are sought after for use in sorcerous devices, particularly wands. Their use in defensive, healing and blood magic make them versatile and well rounded magical tools.
