Lessevehnes

Most animals of the blue forest strike the traveller as odd, but lessevehnes have made some think they inadvertently landed in the Area. Lessevehnes have incredibly long legs and necks, and flexible antlers, with which they gather fruit, and make noise as well. The water-blue fur is so soft it can barely be felt. Always do they look as if the wind could take them away, and they never run, only walk. Lessevehnes are not hunted, but their antlers are used for a special musical instrument in the blue forest.

"The bard played wonderfully on her instrument, but when we met a living lessevehn weeks later in the forest, and heard what it could do with its antlers - the bard's skill really paled to insignificance."
— Hafjim, traveller

Artists' notes
I painted a creepy giant beast ages ago for a surreal card game, and the basic idea stuck with me until I could make it work for these beasties. It's fun to make animals stick to the general impression of the single coloured forests.

Golbehls

A golbehl ist a Gderan animal that feels so unloved it's become a proverb. Golbehls are slender, long-legged animals with grey fur and red ears, the markings in the whiskered face make it always look sad. Golbehls quickly approach humans to become friends, but are so easily startled and so emotionally fragile that they just as quickly leave their would-be masters; only to try again with someone else days later. Only in the ninth year of being a pet do golbehls quite suddely evolve into loving, perceptive, and hard-working companions. Then they have unmatched qualities as guards, are smart and quick on the uptake, and can learn surprising tricks. Always do they need much love and appreciation. Golbehls are only kept by few, envied trainers, but many try training a golbehl.
Golbehls live in the lesser green forest and can become fourty years old in the wilderness, and much older in captivity.

"Golbehls are so hard to train it's always a suprise seeing somebody with one, and I've met them as companions of people from adolescents to elders and soldiers to housekeepers. Even the romantic raganaj have no advantage in training them; but a surprising amount of brownforesters are accompanied by golbehls."
— Kihpabe, traveller

Artists' notes
I've been typing 'til my fingers bled inventing animals and plants for all regions lately, and now it's high time to sketch some and make them public. Simple sketches will have to do for many, however.

Bans

There are many breeds of bans, who can be used as pets, hunting beasts or even beasts of burden, or as guards for house, family, or herds. The best-liked ban breeds are plushy herderbans, whose fur is also worn; hunting bans in all sizes, from small energetic tunnelbans to the mighty surabans with their powerful jaws; and of course the affectionate and intelligent kalagrenos, who make excellent pets and learn many tricks. Wild bans are rare, although some small packs of domesticated bans that run wild exist.

"Between my orla, ban, yaaf, and myself, I think I'm the worst hunter. But at least the best cook, and I swear they are going for the fat prey first because it tastes best when roasted."
— Chrekor, hunter

The most basic build of bans is slender with long legs, thin horizontal ears and a narrow snout. They are omnivores but prefer meat, and hunt for smaller animals like amphibians and rodents, but also eat up insect states. The bans in northern Gdera specialize in catching birds. Preferences and character often depend on breed; some dislike water while others won't get out again; some are husky and lazy while others won't stand still. The appearance is equally dependent - from plush, multicoloured fur to being covered with wire, and from flat, shortlegged hunters to gracious, fragile runners, everything goes.


Artists' notes
Bans take the place of dogs in Genius Loci. After some consideration I threw out all Earth names for creatures, and have them look differently. It's just too tempting to make all kinds of weird animals that do what well-known animals do normally - mounts, cattle, pets. Now there are pervons instead of cats, wempons instead of camels, bans instead of dogs, and I'm happy.

Suras

Of the greater predators in the great green forest of Gdera, suras are probably the largest - animals that are bigger still usually are herbivores. Suras are six meters long without the tail, and have a powerful jaw. Their thick, saggy, blue-grey skin has a small mane of greenish brown fur. Hunting sura is dangerous and needs well-trained surabans to accompany the hunters; but several parts are considered delicacies, and the skin is a great trophy.
Suras are perfectly aware of their place at the top of the food chain, and are often impolite to travellers by striding into camps, taking food and scaring pets. But, suras will not usually openly seek trouble, and the greatforesters have taken to wearing sura bells; small bundles of bells worn at the ankle, to announce themselves to the predators and make them take a different route. Suras are true to their homeland and easy to expect.

"Our nearest neighbours exiled their head hunter last year. It turned out that she had not, as she claimed, hunted and killed the sura alone, whose skin she wore; but that she had bought it from nomad traders. Sentries say she made a hut up on the fallen sky fig; we tell the children to stay away from her."
— Haamhile, Greatforester

Artists' notes
Suras aren't even that important (but how can any animal be, when there are so many), they are mostly the reason for a local custom of wearing bells to make suras go elsewhere. I do believe however, that some animals will quickly learn that bells in the forest mean food, toys, and easy prey. And the choice between meeting a sura, and being pestered by nureewings may just go the way of not wearing bells; at least suras don't attack without provocation.

Burrmo

The burrmo are large predators of the Great Forest in Gdera. They are about three meters long, with a plushy tail, long head, and dirty-looking greenish fur. Burrmo are man-eaters - literally, in a group of people, they'll go for the humans first. Otherwise they hunt appropriately large quarry. The burrmos' ferocity is infamous, and being allowed to wear any part of them is an honour; most wanted are the thick fur and hide, claws, and teeth. Several body parts make a festive dish for hunters. Only skilled and extremely shrewd hunters will get a burrmo, however.

"Korr the mage invented burrmo-steel, that is all but indestructible. Entirely appropriate, but the good joke didn't bring my arm back."
— Kalvemar, hunter

Burrmos have been long known for stealing children from humans and other species, and also other animals. Rrani, gubras, even pervons have been seen hunting alongside them and obvioulsy been part of the pack. The best known abductees are the burrmo princes Darous and Darem, elven twins that have been their spokesmen for years, and are taken as bad omens by travellers these days. The actual lord or lady of the burrmo are not publicly known.

"They dropped down from the branches, struck down everyone but the humans, ate the iunas, and fled with their victims. Nine days later two of them emerged from the forest again. They never said how the got away from the burrmos, but they had been given provisions and pointed the way. I later heard they left the Forest for good."
— Ninkang, Greatforester

Artists' notes
I love inventing animals, and burrmo are among my current favourites, from their spelling to the abduction habit, but sketching them was hard. This is often the case for especially my critters since there are so many possibilites and my descriptions usually come first; but writing and drawing work differently, and sometimes I describe things that are really hard to get across visually.

Funi Oldjor

The funi oldjor are creatures of legendary might. In A'ruhs, the rhu'khach language, their name means "king of honour". Funi, as they are called for short, live in the Lozirian wilderness. They are hunters, and it is said they choose one opponent whom they hunt down, to challenge them to a duel. And that there's no escape from them. The duel need not end in death, but there is a certain etiquette to follow; it's considered impossible to hunt a funi outside of a duel it chose itself, and on the few occasions it was tried, the funi created terrible devastation. The few survivors swore the funi could whisper.

"Then it bowed to me. And then it came charging. I parried, I struck, I jumped aside; it bit, it kicked, it tumbled me like a ball. Finally, breathlessly, I came to stand again, but only just; it bowed again. I bowed back. Then it left. I have never come home from hunt without quarry again."
— Eralin, Lozirian hunter 

A funi oldjor is as tall as a human, slender, and white with dark saddle and mouth, and has a red-tipped tail. It's said this red colour was the blood of its slain enemies when it swishes through it.
Funi have recently gained even greater renown when their rulers, Lord Giva and Lady Tchiboyé, came to human society to teach them shapeshifting.

"The speakers think one of them is a human, but don't know which one. So human shapeshifters never died out after all? Or is shapeshifting a gift a beast lord gives their love?"
— Genarha, Lozirian

Artists' notes
Ah, mythological beasts, I could invent them all day. These are rooted deeply in the history of Genius Loci already, since their lords came forward to teach the lost art of shapeshifting again. And they are the first who were a couple, almost all other lords I invented are single. Except for the burrmo, who stole children.

Hillers

It's said that each continent or element has its own biggest animal, which are so attuned, or incredible, that they function outside the normal workings of living creatures. Hillers are considered the embodiment of the powers of the earth, and thus to be Lozirian animals, although there are some in Sawa as well, and nobody knows what hides under the canopy of Gdera's forests.

"Some of the hiller tribe spoke to the hiller by waving flags. They said they used them to talk about which way to go, but from what I saw, their conversation was much deeper than that."
— Sasi, traveller

It's said that they are born under mountains, and when they are big and strong enough, lift the mountain up and walk away. Their gargantuan bodies are covered with rocks and sediment, and they are big enough to house a large tribe. Hillers move very, very slowly, nobody knows what they eat, and there's barely a way of communicating with them, although those who live on them can tell if the hiller is happy, sad, or calm. Hillers seem to generally enjoy the company of humans, especially when they decorate their mobile home.


Artists' notes
The original German name is Berger, which would translate to mountainer, but it lost its whimsicality in the translation, and I went with hiller instead. Walking mountains are a wonderfully fantastic idea,  and they make several appearances in Genius Loci. I haven't even invented all biggest animals yet, but the horr in the seas and the clouders in the skies are of similar incredulity.

The horr

Horr aren't normally mentioned in singular, because there seem to be no individual swimmers among them. The gigantic sea beasts instead only appear as swarms, or more specifically, as one swarm, so large it would emcompass an entire continent if they swam in a line. A horr is far over a hundred meters long, has four flippers and four eyes and thus is able to see below and above him. They are dark greyish blue in colour, with a dull red stripe on the side.

"That was a day to remember, when the horr pushed themselves into the fleet parade and dwarfed the ships that had seemed majestic and huge moments before. They are given their own holiday now, and seem to greatly enjoy the attention; they even take a small detour to come by our coast."
— Ordjugral, Sawan

The horr swarm is not very well researched. Their enormous size makes it difficult to get close; while horr are quite gentle creatures, they go about their business trusting that smaller things (like ships) will make way. They seem to like the Summerstar Isles in southeast Ryaq, and are said to know paths between oceans not known to mankind. Horr are not hunted. Aside from the incredible effort it takes, the last time a horr was killed in Lozir, the swarm stayed away for a Great Quarter and with it, most other sealife as well.


Artists' notes
Whales have always held great fascination for me, and never cease to amaze me with their intelligence and integrity. Horr are my chance of mystery on top of it. Because they're so difficult to travel and opportunities so different, many fantasy worlds leave out great parts of the sea, but I intend to give Genius Loci a lot of ocean adventures as well.

Art on deviantArt: Segrame race

I'm trying to get away from only showing concepts of Genius Loci, and provide proper paintings instead. Of course, they take much more time, and sometimes it simply takes too long to keep up the speed of three or four blog entries per month, especially since some need more than one image. Such is the case with the coming article on mounts. For now, there's the zehgraams (German: Segramen) on deviantArt: http://ranarh.deviantart.com/art/Genius-Loci-Zehgraam-race-563588823
And also with some WIPS and sketches on cgsociety.

Lord of gubras Gahatenge

Gubras are popular if difficult pets. They are hard to tame, and have a reputation of being grumpy and only moderately child-friendly. Most famous today are the gubras of eastern Lozir. Many tribes hunt them for trophies or to keep them as pets; when one hunter's spear broke off in the proud gubra lord's flank, Gahatenge urged his kin to leave the treacherous humans, and return to the wild.

"Why I recall my kin? I am their lord, and you show so little respect for me - what will you do to them? I fear for my people. And as I see that some will not heed my command, I was right to."
— Gahatenge, to a listener

Some of those who followed immediately had to fight their way out, and since the command, meetings between wild and tamed gubras are even more difficult. While Gahatenge has a temper, he is a wise and far-sighted ruler, and it was expected he would forgive those who stayed; that he has not done so, observers find unsettling.
The lord appears as a muscular, tall southern man neglecting his hair, his elongated neck and pronounced teeth giving away his origin. He has been reported to hunt with his kin alongside humans, but not since his return call.

"I wonder why something as simple as a spearhead drives Gahatenge to such grim measures. He is a powerful warrior, and judging by his scars, surely he must have endured worse?"
— Wanailaka, wizard

Artists' notes
I like giving animals characteristics, reasons, and arguments that people simply can't follow. Animals might argue, why build a cathedral when a hut serves the same purpose, and at the same time insist a certain flower mustn't be eaten for obscure reasons. 

Hallromms

Hallromm butterflies have thick pelt and long antennae, the six wings have a wingspan of half a meter, and the six legs are equipped with flexible toes that let them cling to nearly any surface. They are generally friendly and easily trained.
Dustships started using hallromm butterflies as messengers long ago, but nowadays they are popular everywhere, especially after new breeds proved to be more cold resistant. They carry letters in strap-on belly bags, and in some places heavy in short range messages the air is fluttering with hallromms. The butterflies insist on their own bushes to which they return faithfully - dustships keep those on one of the floating rocks.
Hallromms enjoy having their bellies stroked, leave tiny marks on elvish skin, and are mildly intelligent, at least enough to play with the omnipresent bugfairies.

"The bugfairies have painted the hallromms again. One almost lost an antenna trying to clean itself, but washing isn't a solution either, I'll break them to pieces. I'd ask the fairies to fix it, but I'm scared of what they'll do - probably paint the original colours back or something."

— Hetcal, Lozirian

Artists' notes
Originally hallromms (German: Hallrömm) were only found on dustships, but somehow a few years passed in Genius Loci while hallromms were around, and then they were popular on the ground as well. This is actually the first painting of them, I had just a few scribbles of their anatomy before.

Umarvas

Umarvas are creatures with rusty red fur, a dark dorsal stripe, and dark paws; they are about thirty centimeters high, have large bright eyes, and seem plump in their thick pelt. In the wild, these nocturnal animals are very shy; around humans, they can only be found in voice halls. Here, they are peaceful co-dwellers of the voices, ostentatively ignoring visitors. Umarvas can be found everywhere except southern Sawa.

"As if the voice hall wasn't creepy enough, around midnight all the umarvas got up, gathered in the garden and silently stared up to a dwarf woman in a frock, who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, then collectively turned around and returned to the hall. I've never slept in a hall again."
— Enipomor, mercenary

As mysterious as the umarvas are is their unnamed queen. As all her subjects, she seems to only talk to voices. She can be seen travelling with them and is most often spotted in northern Gdera. As a human, she has the appearance of a dwarven woman with umarva-coloured hair, in simple clothing and hairdo. The queen has a habit of quietly standing at the path's edge and observing, but leaves when others than voices come near. She has been reported to behave the same way in the Area, where she has been spotted frequently.

"Maybe it's not important what she's called when she hasn't introduced herself. I think you'll know when you call her her right name."
— Huun, voice

Artists' notes
Another animal lord, or rather, lady. Umarvas are another strange addition to the voices, who harbour so many secrets - from what makes the world go round to why only left socks ever go missing. I also enjoy quiet animals in games that you meet in the wild and for a change do not want to eat you.

Animals and animal lords

Animals are not mindless beasts. The dwellers of Gdera's Lower forest maybe know this best - their beastly neighbours are smart, some even wise, and have a mind of their own; some are tricky, others helpful, yet others ignore people as long as they can have their way.
The animal lords are not their masters - as many examples have shown, beasts are strong-willed and individualistic. But they all acknowledge the undeniable power of their lords, and follow most commands. Gross mistreatment of a species may result in their tribe declaring war on the violators.

"I will not tolerate you mistreating my kindred so badly. You will release them by dawn. Fail to do so, and I will swear my people to follow and harm you any way they can, for as long as our brethren's suffering lasts. Do not test me."
— Asgaan, queen of the orlas

Bug fairies all know animal speech, and gladly act as translators. As most people don't understand beasts well, fairies help in repelling them from fields and houses, guard flocks, and protect children from being harmed by animals, but also talk beasts into becoming pets, not always to the joy of parents.

"Oh, for crying out loud. Get the fairies here, the naddis are ruining the vegetables. And make sure they don't use them for jousting this time, the poor things didn't give milk for two days after their last brilliant idea."
— Laqihe, farmer

Famous animal lords are the proud lord of the gubras Gahatenge; the mysterious umarva queen; and Eonorora, the sad and gentle lady of the neribrees. Most can take human shape but show features of their kind, like colouring or strength.
Not all lords are known (some even regard a lortsen lord as a ridiculous idea). Neither is it known if there is a hierarchy, or just one lord - or pair thereof - to each species. There seems to be a difference between the Crowned and the Uncrowned Lords, but what it is, remains unclear.


Artists' notes
I very much love stories that tell of the times when people and animals still lived together and humans knew they were just one kind of animal too, and understood the language of animals. So given the opportunity of my own world, I put Kitas in that era.

Moochs

Moochs are peaceful flying animals found mostly in and around Lozir, but also wherever the air is favourable. Moochs aren't fast and glide slowly around in small flocks or sometimes singledly. They are held up by gaseous bags in their bodies, and it's said that larger moochs don't touch the ground at all. They are covered in eye-like spots and vary greatly in size, from the Pillar Street mooch spanning almost six meters, to the pocketsized arrowmooch. While peaceful, they can defend against attacking birds of prey well enough. Moochs are not hunted by humans.
Although they are docile and come to be fed and get attention, they don't bond and show no interest in the affairs of people, and there are no domesticated moochs. What they eat when they don't get vegetable treats is unknown; some think they don't eat at all.
Moochs are the only known creatures to go to the seraph cities, but scholars are puzzled as to why and how.

"Our hallromm tribe showed the moochs what they thought of them getting all the attention from smut Fresian. We had to patch up half of them, but the moochs didn't come back. Which made our cargo hold goldfairy cry. The disorder of the cargo is unbelievable, and I'll need to fix the fairy's mood somehow."
— Sefinama, dustship captain

Artists' notes
The German original, "Much", is a difficult phonetic translation; speak "mooch" with the same ending as Scottish "loch". So, yeah, flying rays, I couldn't stop myself, although it's a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi trope, but I love the shapes so much. There are places (in Africa, I think) where actual rays come to the shore to play with children and be petted, which is very, very cute, and I brought some of that into moochs' behaviour.

Flight

Flying is a popular travel method and sport in Lozir, the land of earth and air, but just as well in the Gderan blue forest and parts of the Ryaq's island realms. The few flying animals that can be trained into mounts are rare and often expensive or difficult to keep, but technology - thanks to the efforts of the Bargassian engineers - is quite advanced on materials and techniques and makes flying possible for many folks.

 "I heard the rrani lords raid dustships. Don't know if it's true, but I wouldn't put it past them, and it certainly would explain why dustships are such a rare sight here in the Ryaq - or at least better than some weird notion about our weather."

— Kenaha Chimeen, Ryaqer

The most widespread version of flight is done with sailflyers, which are used throughout Lozir; the blue forest has very similar equipment. A triangular rigging is fitted with a sail, and pilots need to jump off heightened positions for takeoff. The flats around the Lozirian rock island were difficult to travel by air before the denizens erected the sailtowers, which are climbed to gain the necessary altitude.
Flying with animals is an entirely different matter. The large, docile dur birds of Gdera carry passenger baskets, while the fierce rrani are flying predators of the Ryaq, prestigious but difficult to manage and seen almost exclusively with the rrani lords' tribes.

"... and then I almost lost a finger in the hinge when the spring suddenly slammed shut. Other than that, this new foldable sailer is ingenious, I will definitely have one made."
— Onbimgi aht Runar, Bargassian

Finally, there are the dustships with their ever so secretive crews, and sometimes a garden ship can still be found in Gdera. Garden ships grow an enormously large garden of gaseous plants and hang a handful of tiny huts below, where little more than a large family lives, and the ships are very fragile. Few are left, and their dwellers are considerd a peculiar lot.


Artists' notes
Oh, flying, mankind's oldest dream. Seriously, it's one of the coolest things in fantasy to make up flying creatures and airships and things that will never work with our physics, but are so wonderful to imagine having. Of course in the blue forest people can also just jump off the next tree and float down slowly, because the air is so light there, but that's not flying, that falling with style (end of quote ;)).

Orlas

"If any of my orla pups turns out to be half as good a tracker as Senbror's Gray, I'll make him the father of all my following breeds. Although, their colouring could be more distinct."
— Krinor, orla breeder

Orlas are large warmblooded reptiles, about a meter and forty long including the tail. Their skin is blue with brown stripes; the netorla breed has a netlike pattern, the waterorla breed is greyish blue with a pale belly. All orlas have a small collar and a spiky crest on the head and shoulders. Orlas are fantastic companions for hunting, they're flexible enough to fit into most burrows, they can swim, run, and climb, and so it doesn't matter that they're too quickly fatigued to run down prey. They're friendly and happy to learn, and their favourite treat are the heads of dried amfas. Orlas are quite popular pets, and much friendlier and easier to keep, breed, and train than gubras.
The most known orlas - aside from their queen Asgaan - are the two companions of the wizard Senbror, creator of the famous collar, Gray and Catcher, who are the stuff of legend, and it's the ultimate goal of any breeder to get just one orla like either of those two.

Artists' notes
I imagine orlas to be the frolicking happy kind of companion animal, like the mount of Obi-Wan in Star Wars Episode III, similar to border collies. I've always liked reptiles and have seen them to be quite amiable sometimes, being happy to be scratched and taken care of, and wanted orlas to be just like that. 

Awlies

Awlies are a kind of livestock that's popular worldwide. They are large herbivores that never really stop growing but usually are slaughtered by reaching the human knee. Awlies have grey forelegs, chest, and head, a red spot on the forehead and red ear insides. They are easily satisfied and lay about ten small round eggs a day, their soft fur is made into clothing, and the meat is good for eating, although it quickly takes on a sweetly taste. The skin is made into leather or parchment.
Young children love the quiet awlies who happily let them play among them and don't mind them cuddling in the soft fur. Unlike with many other pets, bug fairies don't mind awlies going to the block too much.

"After my second marriage, we became vegetarians, which was good for the children because the awlies would live, and better for the awlies themselves because they grew to my shoulder. Then one night, they broke out of the pen and vanished into the forest. My son swears he still sees them wander by our well."
— Nevenur, farmer

Artists' notes
There is an entire Genius Loci bestiary by now. Animals are so important to fantasy settings - with so much wilderness, there must be wildlife, too, even if awlies better qualify as cattle. I wanted to have as few Earth animals as possible. I'm not entirely decided if there will be any creatures we know at all - for now, there are bears and dogs, but maybe I'll change that.

The burrmo princes

Burrmos, huge predators of the Great Forest, are known man-eaters. Less known is the fact that not all their prey dies - sometimes, people who were believed to be long lost reappear, now servants of the beasts, devoted to their protection. Darous and Darem were stolen decades ago; legend has it that the burrmo king and his wife could not have children of their own, and the twins were his gift to her to dry her tears. They have made some gruesome appearances as the "princes of the burrmo", as they are now called. Elven twins are only one person in two bodies, and the edge this gives them over trespassers in their territory frightens off most who might try - the traveller meeting just one of them should be wary.

"Do not enter our lands, traveller. The path will snap at your feet."
— Darous, the burrmo prince

The brothers live on the motto "an eye for an eye", and are less than friendly with the wild tribes of humans in the lower branches of the Great Forest.
On occassion, however, Darous and Darem appear not as frightening guards of their pack's territory, but lonely wanderers caught between two worlds, longing for company. But their coldness always gets the better of them; they have never made any friends among the peoples of the Great Forest. It is a mystery how they were introduced into their pack, and whether or not they must be regarded as cursed.

"And we will be the teeth. Turn back."
— Darem, the burrmo prince

Artists' notes
I love elven twins. So scary. I also love the idea of animal princes, either of animal or human origin, since they add so much folklore mysticism to the world of Genius Loci. I usually invent things in groups, so there are several more animal kings to tell of.

Creatures: Perwons

Perwons seem to have no other use than being loved. They have a snakelike body covered in fur, a pointy snout and large ears. They slither, using their single pair of legs to hold food, scratch, and climb. Perwons come in rusty red or shades from pearl grey to jet black, always with a white tailtip set off with a black stripe. They love heights, greasy food, and skin contact, can jump surprisingly high and are nice to wear as clothing as well.

"Keep that hairy beast out of my study or I'll wear it for a hood! No, I won't stop eating my 'fat-dripping' garnais there - teach it not to beg instead, for spirit's sake."
— Hfaie Pangaror, mage

Perwons have no use in the household. They are cute pets for children and people with time to react to the nudging and to clean the hair away. Sometimes they are bred for fur, but need good treatment to develop nice pelts which makes them mainly luxury goods. Wild perwons are also hunted or trapped for it. One only needs to feed them to get them into the house, and parents enjoin upon their young to not share their snacks.




Artists' notes 
It was interesting to learn that polynesian cultures wore dog furs, and here we have small animals used as pets, which can also be worn. Perwons are much like cats (they don't purr, though), but the main inspiration for the physiology of two-legged slitherers are medieval wyrms.