Bog

The Bog is a quadrupedal creature on Ximizhlum, existing in just about all lands. Though they used to live predominantly on the surface, centuries of being hunted have driven them underground, and by the 11th century it was almost impossible to find a bog outside of a deep cavern.

The main reason for this are their bones, which are made entirely out of copper, a valuable and versatile metal, save for a filling of marrow.

Another reason is its skullplate, usually called a mask, on its head, which is often used for decoration as it, too, is made predominantly out of copper. As with any copper, the mask will tarnish and eventually become green. That is one of the ways to tell the age of a bog at first glance as the older ones have green bones and masks.

The "face" on the mask is often mistaken for being its face, however, it is merely a pattern. The real face lies below the mask, with a beak at the bottom, and its two eyes further along the sides, facing outwards and watching for predators.

The rest of its body is covered in black skin similiar to that of a human, including short hairs. Occasionally, its limbs may be of a different colour, such as brown, grey, or white.

Its attack consists of charging and bashing with its powerful skullplate, slashing with its frontal limbs, or stabbing with its beak.

On the surface it would eat fish and small animals. Once driven underground, food was far more sparse, and they adapted to eating larger insects and mushrooms, which lead to their bodies becoming thinner and their bones more profused. In addition, the lack of food lead to each bog growing smaller. While on the surface they were, on average, around 180 centimeters tall and 200 centimeters long, the underground variant was only around 150 centimeters tall and 160 centimeters long.

As bogs adapted to life underground, they had to change many fundamental things about themselves.

A bog's eyesight was never particularly good, but it became near useless underground. In turn, their hearing strengthened to the point where bogs can use rudimentary echolocation to move around.

On the surface, bogs would generally try to scare away any attacker or flee. If a herd is strong enough, they might even rush the invader out.

Underground, they adapted a more aggressive stance. When a herd of bogs hears a threat closing in, they will start emitting low rumbling noises, similiar to the earth moving before a cavein, afterwhich they will start throwing rocks in the general direction of the trespasser to further convince them a collapse is about to happen. The herd then either lays low or runs away after the attackers have fled.

It does not always work, however, and so the herd will behave as its surface dwelling predecessors did; fight or flight.

Surface bogs lived in herds of no more than ten individuals, with an alpha leading, followed by his harem, and a few others. Below ground, bog behaviour became more extreme, where a herd is usually an alpha, few of his wives, and their children. As underground bogs tend to be quite separated, it is not uncommon for one of the children to take over the alpha's position, kick out or kill all of his siblings, and mate with the last one's wives, including his mother, resulting in higher inbreeding rates.