Animal Life
While the region’s plant life is unquestionably interesting, local animal species usually invoke much stronger shock and awe (given the fact that even the most common rats grow here to the size of a small dog). When I am asked about what Chapters of my work would usually be read first, I alway say that it would most probably be the Chapters about the magic Beyond the Wall and this Chapter about the grotesques of Valyria.
Dragonkin
Let us start with the dragonkin.
As we know, Septon Barth’s book “Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History”, usually simply known as “Unnatural History”, was supposed to be a go-to book about dragons, wyrms, and wyverns. After witnessing the horrors of the death of Princess Aerea Targaryen, Septon Barth began the research and investigation that would lead him to write this most intriguing book. Unfortunately the Citadel condemned the book as "provocative but unsound", and on account of Barth's alleged practice of the higher arts and his studies, King Baelor I Targaryen ordered the book expunged and destroyed. Although some fragments have survived, and we know that in his book Septon Barth considers various legends examining the origins of dragons.
From the few surviving fragments of the book (generously rented out for copying by the late Lord Paramount Tyrion of House Lannister) we know that firewyrms are creatures that breathe fire but have no wings, and are possibly related to dragons.
They can bore through rock, soil, and stone. According to old tales, firewyrms were in the Fourteen Flames of the Valyrian peninsula even before the dragons came. Their young are not much bigger than a child's arm, but as they age they can grow to immense sizes. They have no love for men. Fortunately for us, very few of the firewyrms can still be encountered in the periphery lands of the Broken Peninsula, namely on the small isles of Elieperzys (the
First Fire) and Izuleperzys (the
Fourth Fire).
In his book Septon Barth also wrote about wyverns, species of animal that live in Sothoryos, kin to dragons, although they do not breathe fire. Wyverns have great leathery wings, "cruel" beaks, and an insatiable hunger. They are more ferocious than dragons, if smaller in size. Wyverns are called "the tyrants of the southern skies", and are one of the reasons why Sothoryos is thinly populated. Varieties of wyverns include brindled wyverns, swamp wyverns, brownbellies, and shadow-wings. Brindled wyverns have green-and-white scales, and grow up to thirty feet long. Swamp wyverns may grow larger than that, but they are mostly inactive and rarely fly far from their lairs. Brownbellies, though not much bigger than monkeys, hunt in packs of a hundred or more, and so are far more dangerous than larger breeds. The shadow-wing wyvern is nocturnal, with black scales and wings that make it invisible in the dark, and therefore is the most feared.
Septon Barth speculated that Valyrian bloodmages may have created dragons using wyvern stock. It is worth noting that the dragons actually do highly resemble a hybrid of a firewyrm and a wyvern, both living today and especially the ones depicted in Maester Thomax’s “
Dragonkin”.
Flight Does Not A Dragon Make
While the wyvern is universally acknowledged as being the close kin to the dragons, they do not live in the Broken Peninsula, so the title of “the tyrants of Valyrian skies” is rightfully claimed by another leathery-winged family of monstrosities, although their relation to the dragonkin is disputed.
The long-tailed cliff racer (
KōzBratsi - "Wicked Gull") is an aggressive, dangerous flying creature with a large vertical sail along its spine.
Cliff racers are commonly thought of as invasive pests and are universally hated. They are individually weak, but appear in large numbers to harass larger creatures. They can bring down vermin on their own, but prefer to band together and drive a predator from their kill. Cliff racers have driven most of the native avian creatures to the margins.
The Nuqiri even claim that these creatures in their sheer numbers drove out the last dragons who supposedly survived the Doom and dwelt in Valyria not that long ago. They also claim that there was another variety of these creatures, but at the time of our arrival they were all long gone (exterminated either by the Doom or by the Racers, depending on the teller).
Cliff Striders were a species of large winged reptilian creatures. They were related to Cliff Racers and Cliff Darters, and the three species coexisted contemporaneously. Unlike Cliff Racers, Cliff Striders had great difficulty flying despite their wings, and consequently spent their lives on the ground, while using their wings to glide from cliff heights.
But this did not stop them from being a successful predator, as a carnivorous species, they would prey on much of the local wildlife, including man. Several breeds existed but shared a commonality with their loud screeches and terrible smell. Their young were known as Cliff Skippers and were hatched from giant nest piles.
Despite their aggressive nature, they were admired in the Nuqiri folklore and some were allegedly tamed as pets.
Lizardkin
We do not know if Septon Barth wrote about any lesser dragonkin or if he even knew about them as it is unclear exactly when did these species emerge, but apart from the already known firewyrms the Broken Peninsula host a variety of lesser dragonkin and lizard-like species.
I am speaking, of course, about guars, alits and kagoutis.
Guars are but the most common species from a large native family of bipedal, non-flywing, lizard-like creatures. The guar has small forelimbs, a rounded mouth and teeth.
(Found randomly on
Pinterest. If anyone knows the author, please contact me)
The guar is the workhorse of the new-Valyrian agriculture (literally; the Broken Peninsula’s native grasses are mildly poisonous to horses, so they require their own feed at all times, making them too expensive for most roles). They serve as beasts of burden like oxen and as slow mounts like mules. A local farmer will plough his fields with a guar one day and load up his goods on it the next day to go to market.
Nuqiri society idolises the guar, symbolising loyalty, piety and work ethic.
Guars are content to graze with their lower jaws for tubers and roots just under the surface of their ashland home. Wild guar are mostly docile, but have been known to become feral and attack in the wilds of some lands. Guar are fierce if provoked, and have been known to kill.
Their closest relatives are the Alit and Kagouti, also common in the lands of the Broken Peninsula.
Alit are close relatives to the guar, with far sharper sets of teeth. Their snouts are pointed like a lizard-lion’s, and their saliva is mildly corrosive. Without a tail to speak of and with a massive head, the appearance of the alit is almost comical, a mouth on legs.
They are omnivores and while they do not hunt in organised packs, they have been known to attack other creatures and even people for an opportunistic meal. Alit supplement their nutrition by rooting and with an occasional small vermin.
Kagouti are large short-tailed bipedal armoured cousins of the guar and the alit. Their most distinctive features are their two massive tusks and head crests.
They are territorial, fierce, and hostile. It's the largest and most dangerous of its family, known to gore unwary travellers who intrude on their territory or get too close during mating season. They hunt in packs and have been known to be able to flip a full-grown Norseman in the air with ease. Like the alit, they inhabit an ecological niche much like that of a bear, mixing grazing with hunting small animals and defending its territory with superior size and arms.
Scuttlers Gonna Scuttle
Along their much larger counterparts, there is a group of little creatures found in abundance around the region.
Cliff darters are feathered, bird-like reptiles with aerial capabilities. They possess talons on their feet and clawed digits on their wings.
Cliff darters belong to the same family as cliff racers, cliff striders, scuttlers and bantam guar. As such, they are also known to be the more distant cousins of guar, alit, and kagouti. Unlike their cliff racer relatives, cliff darters are more docile. They do not attack upon being approached, and instead prefer to fly away when disturbed. Darter plumes are used locally as decorations for garments and household goods.
The scuttler is a small, docile species of biped lizardkin the size of a common housecat. They have no apparent forelegs, and survive on eating smaller insects and groundworms.
Having completely different reproductive and growth cycles, they are not related to the guar or alit. Scuttlers are more similar to the cliff racer family of leathery flyers than their form would suggest. The Nuqiri use their guts for fishing bait. There had been worrying reports of smugglers selling them as pets in ports from Slaver’s Bay to Leng.
Bantam Guar, or "Pony Guar" as nicknamed by the outsiders, despite their name are not guar at all and classify as a part of the scuttler family. Many have described them as "ugly chickens," as they have a distinctive body shape and behaviour that remind many of the common bird. They retain the vestigial wings, and unlike their cliff racer and cliff darter cousins, they cannot fly.
Not well known outside of the Ashlands, they are mostly held as pets by the Nuqiri, but some do raise them for their eggs, meat and skins.
Creepy Crawlies
Apart from the dragon and lizardkin, the Broken Peninsula host a variety of insects, some unique only to this land.
One of them is shalk. Shalk are large black generally docile beetles common in the Ashlands and Grazelands of Gelios, known for their hard shells and defending themselves with gouts of fire.
Shalk Resins are the tough, soluble substances extracted from Shalk hides. Shalk resins are used as glues and stiffeners in manufacturing bonemold and chitin armors.
A common mild local disease known as collywobbles may be contracted from a diseased Shalk. The sick report generally being poorly, lacking strength to do their everyday tasks and easily becoming fatigued.
Hivemind
The most unique, twisted and disturbing of the region’s animal kingdoms is, of course, the Kwama.
The kwama are a group of insect-like creatures found exclusively in the Broken Peninsula. They are a hive organism with a strict hierarchy and are a crucial part of economics in the region where they are usually kept for their eggs (or "mined", the biggest mine being the one near the Egg Hill on Gelios).
Kwama work in an underground colony similar to ant hives. These colonies are called egg mines due to their size and structure: egg mines are consistently large enough to allow entrance of miners, and some egg mines are obviously man-made or man-maintained due to supports that have been erected. Egg mines are typically labyrinthine and can have several separate chambers depending on their size and importance.
In their underground communal colonies each kwama has a specific role.
At the top of the colony's hierarchy is the Queen. Kwama queens are the "leaders" of kwama egg mines, found in the deepest chambers of egg mines. These areas are often referred to as "queen's lairs." A kwama queen is the most important part of an egg mine, as she is the only egg layer. If a queen is killed, the mine is effectively killed as well.
Kwama queens are quadrupedal, brown and have what looks like a kwama forager in its mouth, similar to a kwama warrior. As stated before, they are extremely large and bloated, with an off-white eggsack on the rear.
The queens are huge, bloated and unable to move to defend or even feed themselves, so all their needs are attended to by the Workers.
Kwama workers are brown, striped with darker and lighter areas of the same colour, and quadrupedal.
Drones dig the colony's tunnels and chambers, tend the queen and the eggs and produce and distribute food (although what kwamas eat is
uncertain). The workers also produce a pheromone unique to their colony. They are accustomed to human presence, so will not become aggressive unless provoked. They are usually docile, but not completely helpless.
Different colonies compete over resources, making them natural enemies. Kwama Warriors are the martial arm of a kwama nest, defending the colony's tunnels and participating in inter-nest warfare. Kwama warriors resemble a bipedal, slightly larger kwama worker, with what appears to be a kwama forager in its mouth, however the mouth is upside down compared to the worker.
They are aggressive and dangerous, with poisonous attacks. They will attack anybody not covered in the right kwama pheromones that enter the nest.They usually don't attack the miners because they are used to their odour, but will assault outsiders without hesitation.
Kwama Foragers are brownish tan cone shaped wormlike jumping creatures, with a round mouth and several small teeth. Kwama foragers move with a distinctive squishing sound and are usually found outside nests hunting for prey and scouting for natural underground passages suitable for new nest locations. Foragers are aggressive, but not very dangerous.
Scribs (or squibs) are a late larval form of the kwama, often found wandering the surface. They resemble large whitish bugs with eight jointed legs.
They feed on other small insects, and are eaten constantly by larger scavengers. Scrib larvae can sometimes be found in rotten meat, and will eat their way out of the victim's stomach if consumed. They are not very aggressive and their sole defense is a weak paralytic venom, lost as it grows up.
Kwama Eggs are a rich, nutritious foodstuff and a principal agricultural commodity of Gelios Island. The eggs come in two main sizes, large and small, with the large eggs having more nutritional (and alleged alchemical) properties than the small ones. Kwama Eggs can be eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and remain fresh for weeks. They are popular throughout the region, and becoming a major export.
Scribs are known to have a pupal stage; these pupae are sometimes harvested and roasted over an open fire by Nuqiri. The flesh of scribs is crushed down into the soft Scrib Jelly, a nutritious but sour-tasting gelatin with an unpleasant texture that is popular with the natives. Scribs can also be cut into strips and dried in the sun to produce Scrib Jerky, a practical foodstuff for travellers as it doesn't spoil.
Kwama Cuttle is a tough, waxy substance that comes from the beak of kwama beasts. Kwama Wax expands and hardens with heat, making it useful for plugging leaks or mending furniture. It is also sometimes used to dress armour.
The Blight, a very dangerous local disease, is a major threat to eggmines, making it unsafe for miners and killing the Queen if she is not cured. Once the Queen is cured, the colony will recover. Kwama can also become infected with droops, a common disease.
Kwama are exploited by both the natives and the newcomers. The miners protect the kwama from poachers, predators, and raiding kwama foragers from other colonies, and harvest the eggs judiciously, leaving enough eggs to sustain colony growth. Due to the importance of egg mines, villages and even towns began to spring up near them. Dromon Hill and its Fort Darys is an example of one such town, as its entire economy and well-being depend on the mine.
A symbol of a scrib is used to signify an inn or tavern around the Broken Peninsula, and one can usually be found hanging on a banner outside of the establishment. Scrib Cabbage, a domesticated plant found in the region, is named after the larvae.
Rolling in the Deep
The Broken Peninsula has a vast variety of marine wildlife, but only one solely unique to the region.
The Slaughterfish, silvery streaks with flashing teeth, are extremely aggressive and will go after larger prey, even unsuspecting travellers and swimmers, both in open waters and subterranean pools. They generally appear as a school, stalking unwary prey before attacking quickly and lethally all at once with their razor sharp teeth
Slaughterfish tend to prefer foul waters, but can thrive in a variety of aquatic environments across the Broken Peninsula and their population is diverged into several distinct breeds. The slaughterfish of the Straits is known to be average around six feet in length, although some specimens have been known to grow at least twice as large than average due to plentiful meals. Even larger variants such as the Blind Slaughterfish can be found in underground rivers, and the Electric Slaughterfish that thrives in the hot waters of the Smoking Sea where most other fish species had been rendered extinct. The Nuqiri tell stories about a rare breed of slaughterfish known as the Crab-Slaughter-Crane, that is said to be big enough to "swallow a mudcrab and a crane in one gulp".
With this fish being so prevalent, slaughterfish bites are a somewhat common occurrence and dangerous enough to maim limbs. This has led to a lucrative market for slaughterfish preventatives and cures, with products ranging from alchemical slurries marketed as repellents, to books full of remedies, the success of these products have been mixed.
Another health risk associated with the fish, is that it is a carrier for the Greenspore disease, which can cause mental issues such as dementia.
The meat of the slaughterfish is mealy and noisome, but dried slaughterfish scales are said by locals to be 'a crunchy treat' when prepared in the native manner.
Various parts of the slaughterfish have been found to hold value.
Their scales and eggs are prized by alchemists for their alleged alchemical properties, while their sharp teeth prove useful when used to enhance grappling hooks.
They are also fit for consumption and due to the species' widespread range, there are numerous culinary traditions involving slaughterfish. Among the Nuqiri, the scales are dried and consumed as a "crunchy treat", whilst disdaining slaughterfish flesh, describing it as "meally and noisome". However among the newcomers the stone-cooked splayed slaughterfish is considered a delicacy, and the seared slaughterfish and the slaughterfish pie are a common meal. Sailors both native and new are also known to smoke slaughterfish to take out at sea.
Happy Tree Friends
While the lives of pigs and monkeys on the Isle of Cedars are certainly unique, the pigs and the monkeys themselves are unfortunately not.
Who is unique to the region, however, is the flying fox or the fruit bat of Elos (
GerpaMassa - “Fruit Bat”). A small shy creature with a wingspan of about 4 and a half feet and a forearm approximately 5 and a half inches long, it weighs less than a kitten. The body of this bat is covered in long hairs, making the body seem almost woolly. The bat is reddish brown and has a yellowish white nape. Its ears are small and pointed, and are difficult to see beneath its thick fur. Its flight membranes are dark brown in colour.
It is a nocturnal species, usually solitary roosting in trees during the day and foraging at night. It is mostly frugivorous, consuming the fruits of more than fifty plant species, the flowers of twenty plant species, the leaves of more than five-and-ten plant species, and the bark of one plant species. It has also been observed consuming eight different species of insect. The Valyrian Cedar trees are an important source of food year-round.
Not long before the Sea-Devil’s arrival on the island, many Cedar islanders believed that the flying fox is a pest that should be managed by culling. Fortunately for the furry, they seem to finally have found the balance and joy in coexisting.
Most of this Chapter’s information about the animals was taken from the words of the natives (later compiled into “
A Distant Chime: Beasts of Valyria”, “
Unofficial Valyrian Pages” and the “Valyrian Chapters” of the
Grand Gūrēntir).
For more detailed (and also very poetic) information on the Broken Peninsula’s animal life please consult with the most recent and most thorough works of my other esteemed colleague and dear friend, Archmaester Ormond.
Laying outside of the scope of this work and scattered throughout the land are countless caves, eggmines, Old Valyrian ruins and odd towers of uncertain origin. If dear reader would feel interested in learning more about them, I would highly recommend the works of my colleague, Archmaester Axel.
If one would find interesting the written documents found throughout the years or more thorough and detailed accounts on the oral tradition of the Nuqiri, I urge them to acquire the works of Archmaester Tyler. I will however advise caution around some of his most recent works however as he might have overexerted himself with his studies and does not seem to be of right mind as of late (his takes on the hidden meanings in ancient prophecies and the inner, probably dark, magic of the High Valyrian language are definitely controversial, but highly entertaining).
