Following is a list of creatures known to inhabit the region near the characters' home. Whether some of these beasts are naturally-occurring, or were brought there deliberately and then allowed to go native, is a mystery which only the druids and the gods may know.


Bloodscatter (horned lizard)
These small, fat, broad lizards are quicker than they appear, but decent eating if they can be caught. They have a disconcerting but harmless defense mechanism, however: Against predators they cannot escape, they will spray blood from their nostrils in an attempt to create a distraction, or to give the impression that they are perhaps too sick to be eaten. For those who recognize and understand that the display is nonlethal, though, spearing supper can be a worst-case scenario ordeal involving nothing more deadly than a stubborn stain.

Deathtail (scorpion)
Perhaps not technically a greater danger than sandsnappers (see below), deathtails are certainly a more common one. Prone, like all vermin, to crawling through unshuttered windows or under doors, where they can subsequently cause havoc by lairing in empty boots or at the backs of cupboards, deathtails are probably responsible for more sickness and death than anything in the region, save the salt mines, themselves. Their venomous sting can drain the strength from a creature's limbs, seize its muscles, and send them into painful shudders and fever—which only compounds the already deleterious effects of the local environment. They're considered a bad omen and are killed whenever they're found, in large part because—ironically—their sting tends to be lethal in inverse proportion to their size...at least, to a point. Stories abound of giant deathtails out in the deep sands and in the most dangerous canyons, though such creatures—if they exist—must surely be thankfully rare.

Quickhorn (pronghorn)
Stout and fast, the quickhorn is easily domesticated and hardy enough to eat just about anything green, including cacti. Every part of the animal is useful, from its hide to its meat; its stomach and bladder are used in the manufacture of waterskins, its antlers in adhesives, and its milk in butter, cream, and cheese, processed and stored in cool underground cellars to keep from spoiling. Herd beasts by nature, quickhorns are not customarily rowdy, but do startle easily—a survival trait, in such a dangerous region. Herders must be swift to react when their quickhorns sense trouble, whether real or imagined; the creatures are speedy, more than able to outrun a person, but not really much good at jumping, so fences are often employed to help control them. It can be dangerous to simply leave them penned in one spot, however, since doing so invites hungry predators (and the quickhorns have to move so as to prevent overgrazing of precious plant life, anyway).

Sandsnapper (crocodile)
Known to grow with regularity to six paces in length—sometimes over seven paces—and to reach weights of over two tons, the sandsnapper is the most dangerous of desert predators. While they prefer damp areas when they can find them, sandsnappers are perfectly content to burrow into shallow layers of loose sand or soil and lie in wait for prey to pass; their eyes and nostrils are difficult to spot when the rest of the creature is concealed, given the beast's uniform dun coloring and rocky scales. While sandsnappers typically have little truck with people, they can be territorial, and turn aggressive when hungry, sometimes leaping up to savage whatever happens closest by. Thankfully, once they have had their fill, they tend to enter a state of torpor in order to conserve energy and moisture, and can sometimes become sedentary, if not completely inactive, for days—or even weeks, if they have eaten well.

Scurryfang (tarantula)
Shy creatures that appear far more fearsome and unsettling than they truly are, scurryfangs are harmless to anything larger than themselves—the caveat being, of course, that they can sometimes grow to great size. Their bite is painful, but their venom is practically useless against anything on the scale of a quickhorn or similar; they spend most of their time in or near their burrows—shallow tunnels where they can hide from predators—leaping out only to grab prey and drag it inside. If the stiff, irritating hairs on its outer skin are burned away, a roasted scurryfang can provide a substantial meal, once its husk is discarded in favor of the soft meat inside.

Shieldback (tortoise)
Large, slow, heavily-armored creatures that live only to trudge endlessly from one leaf to the next—ever in search of water and shade—shieldbacks are dangerous to no one, save those foolish enough to put a hand directly into their beaked mouths. Seemingly ageless, some ancient shieldbacks wander the region, returning again and again to the same spots to bury eggs and growing ever larger. Although they are torpid and undemonstrative, they can also be kept as crude pets, for company's sake.

Swallowscale (snake)
Swallowscales are long, slithering, legless lizards, venomous and sometimes deadly to the unwary, but mostly of a retiring and reclusive nature. Usually growing no more than a single pace in length, swallowscales, like scurryfangs, help to keep down the population of small, harmful critters that might otherwise interfere with existence in the wastes. Larger ones make a welcome break from quickhorn meat, for those lucky enough to kill a venomous example before it can kill them, typically in unconscious reflex for putting their foot down near its head without seeing.


Unlike those above, these beasts are foreign, discovered only beyond the boundaries of the known dust.

Silentwing (owl)
Silentwings are nocturnal predator birds whose soft plumage makes them absolutely noiseless in flight. While they vary in size and pattern, all have dun-colored top feathers and a dark underside—the better to camouflage them against their rocky nests when they rest, during the day, and against the night sky when they're out hunting. Their heads are capable of turning nearly all the way round to aim their keen eyes in every direction, and their talons are large, sharp, and offset in the perfect configuration for snatching and holding hapless prey.

Tallback (camel)
As tall as a full-grown person at the shoulder and with a hump (or humps) towering even higher, tallbacks are hairy, foul-smelling, and bad-tempered. They are sometimes domesticated and used as pack animals thanks to their strength and endurance; the mutable lump(s) of fat on their backs actually store water, enabling them to cross large areas of desert that might otherwise kill a different sort of animal without careful management of supplies.