H E G E M O N
- Intent: To fill the world of Vandemar with interesting and diverse life that is intriguing to roleplay with.
- Image Credit:
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Vandemar
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: Vraek
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Origins: Vandemar; temperate forests, open woodland and grassland margins
- Average Lifespan: 18–26 standard years
- Estimated Population: Planetary; several million individuals across Vandemar
- Description: The vraek is a large, flightless scavenger and opportunistic predator recognisable by its hooked beak, powerful hindlegs and long balancing tail. Usually encountered in small roaming groups, vraeks haunt forest roads, battlefields and the edges of settlements, following the scent of blood with unsettling patience. Though rarely inclined to attack healthy adults, hunger or territorial aggression can turn an apparently cautious animal into a blur of claws and snapping keratin.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
- Breathes: Type I atmosphere
- Average Height of Adults: 1.3–1.7 metres at the crown
- Average Length of Adults: 2.4–3 metres, including the tail
- Skin color: Grey, dark brown or muted green beneath sparse feathering
- Hair color: None; neck and dorsal filaments range from black to rust-red
- Distinctions: Vraeks possess muscular hindlimbs, smaller clawed forelimbs and a narrow body held forward over a rigid tail. Their hooked beaks can sever flesh and fracture smaller bones, while backward-facing ridges inside the mouth prevent struggling prey from escaping. Flexible sensory filaments along the neck detect ground vibration and changes in air pressure. Males are generally larger and develop brighter facial markings during the breeding season. Older specimens display pale scars across the beak and thick, irregular keratin growth around the feet.
- Races: None formally recognised. Northern vraeks are generally larger and more heavily feathered, while lowland populations possess longer legs and lighter builds.
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
- Powerful beak and rapid short-distance acceleration
- Excellent vibration sensing and ability to locate wounded animals
- Highly adaptable omnivorous diet
- Poor manoeuvrability while moving at full speed
- Relatively exposed neck and lower torso
- Easily distracted by fresh carrion or competing vraek calls
CULTURE
- Diet: Omnivore. Vraeks consume carrion, small animals, eggs, roots, fungi, insects and exposed organs from larger kills. They are strongly attracted to blood and decomposing meat. Certain bitter forest fungi are toxic to them and are sometimes used in settlement deterrents.
- Communication: Low booming calls, sharp beak-clicks, hissing and movements of the tail and sensory filaments. Groups can communicate over considerable distances through rhythmic stamping.
- Technology level: None.
- Religion/Beliefs: None.
- General behavior: Vraeks live in unstable groups of three to twelve animals, usually centred upon a dominant breeding pair. They rarely hunt through prolonged pursuit, instead surrounding wounded or exhausted prey and attacking in sudden bursts. Nests are built in shallow earth depressions lined with bark, cloth, bone fragments and stolen insulation. Both parents guard the eggs, while older offspring remain near the group until displaced. Vraeks are naturally curious and often investigate machinery, campsites and newly abandoned structures. This curiosity has led to limited training by foresters, though even hand-raised animals remain unpredictable after maturity.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The vraek is believed to have evolved naturally on Vandemar's open forest margins, filling the role of both scavenger and minor pack predator. Fossilised remains indicate that its ancestors were smaller woodland runners before the spread of large migratory herbivores favoured greater size and a stronger carrion-breaking beak.
Early Vandemarian settlers considered the species a persistent nuisance and attempted several regional extermination campaigns. These efforts produced severe increases in carrion-borne disease and smaller vermin populations, leading to the vraek's eventual protection as an ecologically useful predator.
Modern settlements control rather than eradicate them. Sonic fences and poisoned scent markers keep groups away from populated districts, while authorised foresters occasionally capture juveniles for tracking work. Along the remote roads of the deep forests, the distant clicking of vraek beaks is still taken as a warning: something nearby is bleeding, and the flock has already found it.