Always quirky, sometimes sweet speculative fiction

Tag: Bestiary

Embarrassment

When I made my word count calendar available I’d made a mistake in one of the formulas. I’ve fixed it now and also made it into an .xls file, not an .xlsx which only works in newer copies of Office. I’ve updated the file on the original post, or you can just download it from here.

At the time of posting this I’ve written 5229 words for the day (10,481 words in total). I know, holy wow! Three days in and I’m one fifth done, fingers crossed I can keep this pace.

As for the bestiary, only one addition:

Peglings: Smaller than a cow but bigger than a sheep, peglings are mostly piggish in appearance, but are covered with a sheep-like wool. They have a boar’s tusks and a club tail (like anklyosaurs) for defence, but are a generally passive beast, happy to be herded, though the herder needs to be known to the group, or at least accompanied by someone familiar (herding dogs count in the herd’s opinion).

With their extra defences it is harder to kill the beasts for meat; generally they are shorn for their wool. If one wants to eat pegling meat the chosen beast must be herded into a different shed for sleep and either drugged via water with anissimon juice(strong sedative with pleasant taste) or bespelled then taken care of. The killer MUST wash and clean themselves thoroughly so the peglings cannot smell the blood on them or they may attack out of fear for their own lives (or perhaps in vengeance, it is disputed as to the intelligence of peglings).

Well, back to work, I’m sure I can tap out a few more words before bedtime.

The Bestiary Begins

The first day of NaNoWriMo was super productive for me. I wrote 4,000 words in the novel and an extra hundred into the bestiary. Today was not quite so good, I was at work all day and forgot to bring my computer along. There’s still a bit more night, I hope to pound out a thousand at least.

To liven up my word count updates I thought I would welcome you all into my novel’s world a little. The story is set in a semi-medieval world rife with bizarre beasts, some cute, some dangerous. So as we meet new creatures I thought I’d post them here in a bestiary for people to read along with my word count, more fun right? I hope to have a chance to sketch a few even.

So what new beasties did we meet these first two days?

Fair-haired Volements: Also available as spotted and shaded volements.

A rabbit like creature in face and body, no ears and a small cat-like tail. Sharp claws that retract like a cat’s and broad flat teeth like a horse’s for the consumption of grass, twigs and bark.

Ridged Herrback: Also can be found in hairy ridged and smooth.

Bi-pedal, dangerous and carnivorous. Human eater. As tall on back legs as a mounted man. Hunch backed, dull tan leathery hide (fur covered in ‘hairy’ breed). Four eyes, two a side. Large ridged brow (smooth in smooth variety), large mouth with sharp fangs. Large claws on hands, smaller on feet. Territorial. Blood is muddy brown in colour. Thick neck to hold its massive head up.

 

So a cutie and a man eater. Sadly you have to have the cuties so the man-eaters exist in numbers large enough to be seen, but without being a threat to all mankind.

Oh, and if you’re looking for an excerpt check out he snippet I uploaded to my NaNoWriMo page.

© 2024 Storybook Perfect

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑