Nemorsa

The fierce predator stalks the long empty barrows, caves, and lest traveled grounds of the desert protected by shade. They commonly prey on its fellow predators for subsistence, waiting to strike only once its quarry finds itself gorging itself on its own victim.

Origins

The Nemorsa can find itself written down upon the worried scribbles of literate villagers or the oral tales of Uruks. With its long horns, sickly crimson eyes, and its distorted form covered in a rough black leather hide. Giving itself to the lore of many tales to scare children to the point of staring at the stars all night rather than sleep. The beast prefers to hunt and abide in its lair alone. Only exception to this way of life is when they reach their upper years and then seek a mate.

Behavior

It’s most common way of bringing down its prey is gorging its long claws into the creature and plunging its teeth into its victim’s neck, specifically seeking its jugular. Once it finds the life draining from its prey to be sufficient it quickly goes to devouring it whole. Then dragging its prey’s victim back to its cave if it assesses it being worth the trouble. While preferring to strike on the distracted, the fierce beast finds no problem upon extinguishing the flame from a weak and easy mark, if it is directly threatened, or it has suffered from hunger for more than a half a day.

The creature actively avoids sentient life, only striking upon one if being aggressively approached on. Only the elderly of the species actively hunts sentient prey. This being due to their failing vision and them having become more feral. Upon their peak of feralality the beast finds itself shunned by its own species, and itself in a war with them. Both seeking the death of the other if encountered.