Cervidae - deers
Delv Ihoo consist of several deer species. Many of these are part of Delvihen wolves their diet while some might be less likely to be hunted. Several deer species do have elemental powers and some have even adapted or changed so drastically that they no longer represent a deer such as the Vonara. They have always had a prey and hunter relation towards wolves so most species will avoid communication and encounters with Delvihen wolves. It's believed that some species will even go as far as to trample young wolves to death as to them these wolves will become future hunters. Others such as the Cosmic deer have been known to guide lost wolves.
Creature:Spotted deer / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-30 / Status:Common
Spotted deer are common on Delv Ihoo and come in two color variations with one being darker than the other. Seeing herds featuring both is common. Their name was given due to the spots they have on their back as little fawns. While females maintain a darker patch with spots, males will lose this overtime. When born they have a lot more fur on their stomach as this protects their vital areas from predator attacks giving the parent more time to protect it's offspring. They live in medium sized herds up to 12-16 individuals. Their herd exists mostly out of females and is guarded by one male. The male will fend of any young bucks trying to win over the herd. Wolves will often hunt these type of deer as their
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meat is known to have huge amounts of calories filling a wolf up for several days. Even so they will always avoid hunting males as their antlers are sharp, and if the herd is not driven into a panic the male will attack the wolves as the deer will form a defensive line. They will kick with their front feet as one heavy blow can cause heavy damage if hit. They are not known to use elemental energy offensively but rather passively. It seems that their pelt has an elemental resistance as they take less damage from elemental moves. Even if by law wolves are not to use their powers during hunt, this evolutionary trait has likely grown due to how many wolves did use powers when hunting them down. While rare, collectors will reward a wolf greatly in return for mutated pelts of spotted deers. Especially albinism seems to be treasured.
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Creature:Floe deer / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-40 / Status:Common
Floe deer are common in the Ice lands alone. Coming in two variations the common one is often hunted by Ice wolves due to their large size making a good meal for the pack. Floe deer are generally known for their calm and rather docile nature. Even if they manage to kick the attacking wolf they will actually choose to run away instead of trampling the wolf to death. Female floes are known to even guide out lost wolves back to the main path in the Ice lands that guides them away from these parts. They are said to value the circle of life and therefore show no hostility to wolves as running is always their first option. Their elemental energy comes in form of defense, as they are resistant to icy temperatures
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even being able to stand in freezing water for hours if needed to make the hunt for wolves more difficult. They live in herds of several females guided by one male. The male has antlers that are completely made out of ice. Interestingly male floes will never fight one another with their antlers, as they are to fragile. Instead the largest and most impressive ice antlers will win over the females so competition is all about standing out. This is why many males will actually carry fruits or vines to decorate their antlers. A variation that came to be a long time ago lives a very different life style. Known as the bison pelt, these deers chose to stray away from their usual way of living to seek protection from the "Ice bison". Over time their colors altered to match that of these very bison, and even their mane grew larger covering their heads as well. They also decreased in size as males lost their antlers. It's believed that the reason both male and females are so similar is so they can be mistaken for baby ice bison. Ice bisons aren't the most intelligent and their young have no horns. Because of this during a wolf attack the floes of this variation will run into a bison herd for cover. The herd then will actually protect the floes not always realizing they are floes among them. Unlike the common floe they actually live in mixed herds similar to the ice bison. So finding several males and females together is not unusual. But unlike the common floe the male will headbutt and fight for a female. Over time it happens often that Delvihen wolves mistake them for ice bisons or don't realize there are deer among the herd of bison.
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Creature:Hidromis / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Omnivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-30 / Status:Common
Hidromis are small and nimble creatures that take advantage of their claws in order to easily climb up ledges and rocky area's. They have long fangs and features plated gem like scales on their body. During the day they will dig and use their claws at tree's, logs and rocks in order to find food. As omnivores they feast on fruits and plants, but dig for insects and grubs to eat. They are opportunistic and have been seen eating eggs of birds, and even consume meat of corpses. Being elemental their scales release a sort of deflective wave that counters the metal based element of the Delvihen wolf species of metal. This means that far ranged metal attacks will never hit them and go of course last second. Some
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believe it to be an evolutionary treat caused by metal wolves who went against the Delvihen law that prevents elemental use on prey animals. Even so they are still a favored prey by metal wolves. Metal wolves are cautious as especially females can leave nasty wounds. Not only can she release and shoot of the quills on her back backwards to the following wolf, but if grabbed she will use her sharp and long dewclaws to leave deep cuts usually aiming at veins. It's not the first time a female hidormis actually succeeds in escaping as the wolf realizes they need a healer to prevent bleeding out. Because of this Delvihen wolves will usually aim for the males. Hidromis is however favored by wolves on the black and shadow market for it(s shiny plated scales. This drives many fire wolves to hunt them down using their element at their advantage. They will prefer to live near area's that consists of long rocky ledges and terrain in order to make swift escapes.
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Creature:Kojiku / Class:Mammal / Power:None / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-40 / Status:Common
Kojiku's are among the smaller deer on Delv Ihoo. They are quick and nimble and originated from Hayyo Mountains. While some mammals grew large as a defense against wind wolves, the Kojiku's over time grew smaller. While this comes with disadvantages it also comes with advantages. They do not climb mountains but instead live between the rocky area's. Due to their size they can easily force themselves between small gaps as so a wind wolf cannot follow them. Their smaller size also offers a larger survival chance if thrown of a ledge in comparison to large mammals. Both genders nearly look identical, with few differences such as longer fur for the females and a spotty back. They live in
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mixed herds of both males and females and actually do pair bond. They have a more "fawn" like appearance and this itself has given them a huge advantage. Due to how scarce food could be in the mountains, they ended up spreading to different area's on Delv Ihoo with great succes as their population continues to grow. Some wolves do seem to mistake them for a fawn of the "spotted deer", because of this wolves quickly assume that there is no way the little animal can run away or run for long. Because of this many resort to chase instead of using stealth to get closer. This gives these speedy little deer the opportunity to run away at max speed leaving wolves confused that a "fawn" is that fast.
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Creature:Vonara / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-50 / Status:Rare
Vonara's are native to the "Poison Forest" only, and are among the most peculiar looking deer on Delv Ihoo as most wouldn't even believe this to be a type of deer. It's believed their ancestors used to be common prey to wolves and especially those that evolved to become poison wolves. Many of their sub-species went extinct and as poison wolves became stronger and elemental, the ancestors of the Vonara had to adapt or die. They are intelligent and quickly realized that while poison wolves were immune to poison they were not to spores. They began to consume foods that released spores, their ancestors started with those that had mild effects until generations passed and allowed them to consume
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more deadlier plants and mushrooms that normally would flatten most animals to the ground. In time they became elemental with a complete immunity to spores. It's believed as they became immune to spores that one group moved deeper within the forest while the other moved towards the lakes and river systems causing a variation known as the "lake vonara". They live in small herds with one male and several females. A male will fiercely protect it's herd from predatory animals or competitors. The standard variation developed sharp claws which they use to cause bleeding wounds, aside from that they have a tail they can smack around and fangs for biting. Males have additional quills which protect their backside. The lake variations differs as they have areas with longer fur, and rather than sharp claws they have paddle like toes, allowing them to easily move around in deep water. They have a fluffy tail which they use to smack flies away from their back, as those are very present at the lake. Males lack the quills their counterpart has, but instead they evolved gaining a horn on their muzzle. Both variations feature a movable crown like structure on their head. The lake variations is known to have a much larger and more impressive crown while the standard variation has a smaller one, despite the smaller one the standard variation does have similar structures on it's tail that also function. It is their crown however that does most work when predatory animals attempt to hunt them. They can release spore from these as the effects is either drowsiness causing a wolf to pass out, or paralyzing causing them to temporarily be incapable of moving. This caused them to no longer be a favored prey. When attacked females will split up as it will be the male his task to fend the attacker of, if not successful he too will flee and release spores, the females that left do the same. If a wolf is affected they will generally not go after the wolf, but it's the environment that will turn against the attacker. A giant type of lizard is known to carefully watch the Vonara's, as they are aware that predatory animals will attempt to hunt them. When their spores did it's job, these lizards are known to hunt the attacker. For the lake variation drowning is a high risk if hit by their spores. If a female has young and she spots that a wolf is affected by the spores, then she will turn back in attempt to kill it. They are a rare species despite being very successful, it's believed their ancestors whom ate spore plants and mushrooms might have caused a poorer fertility rate resulting in females not becoming pregnant or males not being able to reproduce. They are also known to release piercing screeches in order to lure slower predatory animals simply to let the poison wolves know there is a huge risk if they hunt them. If a male does a poor job protecting it's herd, it can happen that females will turn against him.
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Creature:Cosmic deer / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-100 / Status:Rare
Cosmic deer have a unique relation towards cosmic wolves. As cosmic wolves are known to rarely hunt them or not at all. These deer do not live in herds and instead form pairs which last till one of the two dies. As they pair bond they also care and raise their young together. They are gentle and calm, known to guide lost cosmic pups back to their parents. Tracking them is possible, as small dust particles of cosmic will be left behind. They are elemental and therefore can protect themselves. Males have a constant floating ball of energy in between their antlers, from this they can release powerful beams of cosmic energy. Both can light up the gemstone on top of their head. Females cannot shoot cosmic beams but
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they can release after images, confusing enemies to where she exactly is. While gentle, both will work together if threatened. They are known to have rarer color variations, but one that is most treasured is the "starlight mutation", as cosmic wolves refer to it as a gift of the dragon goddess. Like all creatures that reside within the Cosmic Valley, they require to be there as outside of it's natural environment they will quickly perish. When they pass they will become dull in color. Because of this, they are not generally hunted by those who seek to trade them as upon death they alter visually.
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Creature:Tanlin deer / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-30 / Status:Common
Tanlin deer are often seen as the wolves of the deer world, not because they behave like them but mostly because they resemble the actual light species. Especially the females do. They live in medium sized herds, but the herds themselves are not similar to most herds of deer. Females are more dominant than males and will either tolerate a male to be part of their herd or chase it of. If a male is accepted they will have to prove themselves by keeping other males away and by defending the herd of potential predators. Being a common prey to light wolves they are cautious and will usually stay near the lake where they can stand in deeper water thus making it harder for light wolves to hunt. When grazing or
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feeding males will generally stay on high alert in case of danger. Similar to light wolves a rare variation can occur for females only, this variation has thicker fur and is much larger in size. It's even believed that these individuals grow much older in age and if present are always the lead female. This variation therefore was named the "royal variation". Both possess a high elemental resistance and can power up elemental energy within their hooves which can lead to devastating damage.
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Creature:Shidira(blue wisp) / Class:Mammal / Power:Elemental / Diet:Herbivore(omnivore) / Family:Cervidae / Lifespan:1-50 / Status:Common
Shidira's are good natured animal that are native to Seishi Mountains. For a long time wolves weren't quite sure to what animal family these creatures belonged to, but eventually it was discovered that their closest link was that of the cervidae family. Having claw like backfeet and hooves on the front, they have quite an unusual appearance. They have an eternal wisp which can be seen on the tail and horns, for the female it's only the tail. This wisps keeps moving but will fade out if the creature dies. They live in medium sized herds which is accompanied by one male. Rather than fighting for the herd a rival male will show of by adding more elemental energy to it's wisp. The horns and tail will become larger, the one
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male that impressed the herd the most will be the lead male. They will wander the fields to graze and will seek fresh mosses in the mountains, as their back feet give them great grip. Being a food source to Ghost wolves, they have a unique relation towards them. As Ghost wolves will never hunt a mother and her calf and will pick a lone and stronger male over an easy young calf. Ghost wolves observed an unusual situation when hunting down a calf. A female Shidira will become extremely depressed for months on end. If she bred with a male her offspring will be heavily affected by her emotional state. The female will fail to nourish herself properly while the young calf will take all the nutrition the mother needs to survive. Upon birth the mother will usually die while the calf is all alone. The calf itself looks nothing like it's mother and features a bright white pelt with markings. It's muzzle changed alongside other features. Rather than a purple wisp they will have a blue wisp and one that is also constantly visible on the eyes. After the young one is born it is very independent and will move out on it's own. They do not feel any connection towards the standard Shidira and will seek a pack of fellow "blue wisps" as that is the variation name given to them. Unlike the regular, they are smaller but faster, more nimble, hostile and omnivorous. They will actively hunt any predator nearby no matter if it's a baby animal. They do not hunt Shidira's nor herbivorous animals. They live in packs of mixed genders and have been documented to be able to produce more blue wisps. While ghost wolves protect their natural wildlife, they have worried for outsiders who actively hunt the Shidira. Their fear is that one day the blue wisps will fully replace the original. Because of this they do hunt the blue wisp if spotted.
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