Bestiary
A vinesnake. Art by SilveryStormWing.
Name: Vinesnakes, Living Vines
Appearance: Vinesnakes generally resemble long, leafless vines draped with moss. As they are quite scaly underneath, vinesnakes drape themselves with moss or mud to help camouflage themselves. The only indication that these vines are not what they seem are the two shiny black eyes located on their faces.
Diet: Carnivorous creatures, vinesnakes feed off of anything they can kill. They are not picky, anything that brushes against them gets tackled and bitten.
Size: Vinesnakes can range in size from the size of a garter snake, about 2-5 feet as fresh hatchlings to 30ft+ as fully-grown adults. There are rumours to be larger ones, as the snakes never stop growing, but at that point camouflage becomes ineffective and they are generally killed on sight.
Temperament: Vinesnakes are exceptionally crabby. They are ambush predators, and will fight anything and everything that touches them, swallowing it whole. They have very sharp teeth that can cause a surprising amount of damage, and all variants have at least some form of toxic saliva, and some have developed venom sacs.
Interactions: As they primarily live in Padwell, vinesnakes generally only interact with the people there. Padwellians have gotten quite adept at noting when the end of a seemingly innocuous vine has two eyes, though they do encourage them to live along the border by relocating any they find to that area. Xocrians have only been successful at finding the larger specimens, so it is a game for some daring Padwellians to attempt to drop the smaller snakes down a knight’s armor.
Other Notes:
Appearance: Vinesnakes generally resemble long, leafless vines draped with moss. As they are quite scaly underneath, vinesnakes drape themselves with moss or mud to help camouflage themselves. The only indication that these vines are not what they seem are the two shiny black eyes located on their faces.
Diet: Carnivorous creatures, vinesnakes feed off of anything they can kill. They are not picky, anything that brushes against them gets tackled and bitten.
Size: Vinesnakes can range in size from the size of a garter snake, about 2-5 feet as fresh hatchlings to 30ft+ as fully-grown adults. There are rumours to be larger ones, as the snakes never stop growing, but at that point camouflage becomes ineffective and they are generally killed on sight.
Temperament: Vinesnakes are exceptionally crabby. They are ambush predators, and will fight anything and everything that touches them, swallowing it whole. They have very sharp teeth that can cause a surprising amount of damage, and all variants have at least some form of toxic saliva, and some have developed venom sacs.
Interactions: As they primarily live in Padwell, vinesnakes generally only interact with the people there. Padwellians have gotten quite adept at noting when the end of a seemingly innocuous vine has two eyes, though they do encourage them to live along the border by relocating any they find to that area. Xocrians have only been successful at finding the larger specimens, so it is a game for some daring Padwellians to attempt to drop the smaller snakes down a knight’s armor.
Other Notes:
- Territorial insofar as their specific branch is concerned.
- Generally natural colors, colors are generally influenced by their surroundings as a hatchling. (See: anise swallowtail chrysalises)
- Small ones will insist on attacking dragons, even though they can't do anything to them.
- Some padwellans will pay dragons to wander through an infested area and harvest the small ones that stick to them to drop onto knights/relocate the rest to the border