Tenteraten
patreon
Vilous | Talyxian Forest / Mountain Leeches
🕑 Added 2020-03-09 20:12:49 +0000 UTCHello, Dear Vilous fans and readers~!
Today's mini lore Update will feature previously seen art snippets, alongside a small bit of lore, which is already known by the vast majority of fans and enthusiastic readers, however, this time it is accompanied by a neat and often overlooked perspective and insight on Talyxian Forest / Mountain Leeches, the threatening and horrible creatures which can be seen in Gathering Herbs, The Vilous Manga Episode 1.
To start with, there are some complicated misunderstandings formed with regard to this creature.
Talyxian Mountain Leeches, as their name refer, are hosted within forest or mountainous areas. Desert or Sandy areas are never part of their host array of habitats.
Some folks will still believe them to be akin to "giant worms of the desert", most likely, this belief may originate from the trope or stereotype of giant sand worms which can be seen in Scifi masterpieces, such as Tremors or Dune.
However, these ideas are actually far off from how the actual Talyxian Mountain Leeches function within the Talyxian ecosystem and environments surrounding them, even when compared to the setting of Dune for example.
Because of various reasons, an environment composed of desert areas on Planet Tal will generally provide very few to no compatibility elements for Talyxian creatures which are hosted by Forested areas. There are still some species that have wider habitat ranges and are able to traverse and live within both forest and desert areas, such as Dondokos, however, in these cases, their desert species usually have different features and behaviors from their forest counterparts.
Generally, the nature of Talyxian creatures that live in desert areas is considered milder when compared with their regular counterparts.
Due to these reasons, they are not identical to that of your stereotypical "Sand Worms."
Leaving the sci-fi stereotype aside, and instead focusing on the similar features which can appear across the universe to refer to Talyxian Forest / Mountain Leeches: Large and lumbering, long, crawling predators of the forest - Almost comparable to a niche species of anacondas.
Talyxian Forest / Mountain Leeches
Talyxian Forest / Mountain Leeches are a species which belongs to the Talyxian organism group. They are one of the most feared predatorial wildlife on Tal, found in the depths of the Forests or Mountainous regions such as Nevrea and Lyvank.
While they are often misunderstood as Sand Worms or desert creatures on the internet, however, Desert or Sandy areas are never part of their host array of habitats. Due to various reasons, they are not identical to the stereotypical "Sand Worms."
Biology
Their bodies are comprised almost entirely of red muscular structures, capable of flexibly undulating around akin to snakes and leeches in order to move around and about.
They possess a set of four-pointed, bone mandibles which serve as a mouth guard as well as a delivery system for their venomous needles.
The Talyxian-Leech can draw in a breath of air into its lungs, inflating itself in the process and exhale it out forcibly through the bony mandibles, effectively performing the function of a pressurized blow dart, spewing out numerous venomous needles toward its prey in order to subdue it via paralysis.
In addition, the venomous needles are also hollow and laden with holes in order to aid in bleeding the victim out if paralysis does not occur fast enough.
They eat their prey whole and preferably alive, descending upon them and extruding their sticky, muscular structures that serve as their esophagus, drawing the prey in for digestion. They have numerous sets of eyes spread out across their head giving them ample vision. As well as a keen sense of hearing.
Ecology
They are completely carnivorous, commonly being found in the woods with higher elevation and generally thicker fauna or mountainous regions.
Talyxian Leeches can be found preying on both Talyxian and Eltus species alike.
Relation with Eltus people
Highly aggressive and territorial, they stalk the forests for prey, often traveling together in loose groups of two or three, hoping to be easily able to corner and catch prey by working in tandem, making use of their paralyzing needles if they need to give chase.
