Hydra is a deadly cave, environmentally treacherous and unforgiving of the slightest mistake. Its Lesser Gembound inhabitants, as a result, are equally dangerous, much moreso than anywhere else in Origin. They can be fatal for even a Greater Gembound to encounter, and attempting to link to one of Hydra's carnivores as a Familiar is likely to be deadly. See the end of this guide for more information on Familiar Forge and the creatures of Hydra.

Eyehook Vulture



The Eyehook Vulture is a ubiquitous scavenger and predator whose range covers all of Hydra's treacherous reaches. With a wingspan of nearly twenty feet, it can carry off even deer-sized prey. The Eyehook Vulture is known for being extremely aggressive, and extremely dangerous--and for good reason; it's named for its propensity for gouging at the eyes of potential victims. These vultures vary widely in appearance. Some are fully-feathered, some with leathery wings; some have short, fan-feathered tails, others long and whiplike. Many are dusty brown in color, but others are red, pale buff, or even black, or combinations of the above. These birds nest in the highest plateaus of the Crucible, but circle the Dead Marsh, the Dunes and the Salt Flats in search of food. Even they, however, must often rest in the shade through the worst heat of the day, and cannot circle for long at midday.


Spire Spiders & Sand Spiders



The cave spiders within Hydra are hairy, with their bristles able to break off into an attacker's skin. Once stuck, the bristles are difficult to remove, often working their way in more deeply and causing irritation, pain, infection, or worse. Both varieties of spider range from fist-sized to the bulk of a medium-weight dog. Both have large, painfully venomous fangs--but there, the similarities end.

Sand Spiders are fast-moving, quick-reacting spiders that are usually active during the day. They actively hunt prey, and are aggressive when disturbed at close range, though they will flee enemies approaching from afar. They focus on smaller prey, and their venom--though very painful, and even temporarily debilitating (causing stiffness, infection, swelling, and cramping), is rarely fatal to larger Gembound. At times, the Sand Spider even covers itself in a thin layer of desert sand, ready to spring out at passing Quill Mice or occasionally, Bone Hares. The Sand Spider sometimes falls prey to any of the other predators in Hydra, though it sometimes preys in turn on the scorpions there.

Tending toward the larger side, and dark grey to black in color, the more sinister Spire Spider is named after both the iridescent blue shimmer to its bristles and its affinity to magic. The Spire Spider is mostly found in the Crucible, where it hides itself in the darkness of cracks and niches during the day. Nocturnal, it emerges at night to hunt, seeking out living prey and, whenever possible, sources of magicka. Upon finding prey, it lifts its abdomen to display the pattern there, which glows and shimmers and--reinforced by arcane suggestion--hypnotizes its target. Even large creatures fall prey to the Spire Spider; at times, the last thing a Gembound will see is the entrancing play of aqua and cobalt over the bristles, and then slip into a daze. Mercifully, the Spire Spider's bite--though generally extremely painful--is painless to its hypnotized prey, and unconsciousness usually follows within minutes. The target will then remain asleep, the Spire Spider feeding at its leisure--sometimes over days. If the spider is interrupted, and forced to leave its prey, the prey can sometimes awaken--though in pain and greatly weakened. Strangely, even a slight bite from a Spire Spider can drain its target almost entirely of its magicka--seemingly empowering the spider in the process.


Sand Worms



Sand Worms, or Sandworms, are massive, carnivorous Lesser Gembound that live beneath Hydra's Dunes region. They burrow there beneath the soft substrate, and lie in wait, sometimes quite deep and still. Though blind, they can easily sense the slightest vibration from the surface above: even a Quill Mouse gently pattering over the grains will have them lunging up from beneath and sucking the prey down into their maw. Even the displacement of sand as they move is enough to topple deer down into their grasp. The Sand Worm is slow-growing, but can theoretically become infinitely large. In reality, most of them prey upon one another--a very large worm is slow, and is often devoured by those smaller. Smaller Sandworms, too, who venture to the surface sometimes fall prey to the other carnivores of the cave. The largest Sandworms tend to be ten to twenty feet long, though it's always possible that a truly massive behemoth lurks in hiding somewhere within the cave.

Sand Worms are covered in hard, sandy-colored plates and scales, and with stiff bristles running down their spine. Bony protrusions erupt haphazardly from their thick hide: these are calcifications, as the Sand Worm turns the calcium from the bones and carapaces of its prey into spikes. Therefore, the more spikes an individual Sand Worm has, the more prey it has killed and consumed. Rows of lamprey-like teeth point inward down the throat. Two massive mandibles grip larger prey, like pincers, pressing in and often breaking bone as the creature drags this prey down into the sand to suffocate. The mandibles and mouth double as a burrowing device: the Sand Worm spends most of its life entirely beneath the surface, passing massive swathes of dirt and sand through its body as it tunnels. A Sand Worm can lie dormant for years, only coming active to eat--and can survive without food for decades.


Scorpions



Cave Scorpions are highly-venomous predators. They primarily hunt down and feed on Quill Mice, young Bone Hares, and Sand Spiders, taking unaware Spire Spiders where they find them. Scorpions are one of the only creatures that an Eyehook Vulture will generally avoid. Cave Scorpions have hard exoskeletons in shades of tawny, buff, grey and, rarely, black. They range in size from only a few inches long to nearly three feet long, and at this size--though rare--they can prey upon cave deer and even hold their own against smaller Sandworm attacks. The venom of the Cave Scorpion, injected by the tail tip, causes first sharp pain, then numbness, leading quickly to paralysis that spreads from the affected site. If the venom is survived, extreme pain, cramping and necrosis at the bite site can follow. Approximately one third of Hydra's scorpions have two tails; in extremely rare cases, a scorpion may have three.


Prey Species



Scale Deer are small (goat-sized) deer, invariably under one hundred pounds in weight. They are sturdy and wiry, blindingly fast in a sprint but moreso, exceedingly agile. They are excellent climbers, and spend their lives hiding and climbing among the crags of the Crucible's ravines. The Scale Deer is preyed upon by Eyehook Vultures from above, and by Spire Spiders at night on the ground, and so have developed a few defenses. Beneath their tawny coats are broad, plate-like scales, providing leather-like protection against scrapes and lacerations, though direct punctures still pierce through. Likewise, tufts of spines grow haphazardly along their bodies. These provide dual protection: first, they help camouflage the deer as the scrub brush upon which they feed, and second, they can easily impale an unwary predator. The deer's sharp hooves can also give a nasty kick, though the males' tusks are only for display.

Bone Hares are gentle, shy herbivores, weighing up to fifteen pounds. Lean and exceedingly swift, they generally also live within the Crucible and, like Scale Deer, feed upon the scrub brush there. Extremely sharp hearing and eyesight and a strong sense of smell warn them of danger well in advance. A Bone Hare's first defense is to camouflage itself: its agouti tawny coat is marked with pale markings reminiscent of bones. The Bone Hare lies flat or falls limp, eyes closed and ears flattened back. When venturing into the edges of the Dunes, this tends to work well against circling vultures. The Bone Hare's scent is nearly nonexistent, aiding it in escaping the Cave Spiders within the Crucible, though they still fall prey to all of Hydra's predators. As a last resort, their exceptional speed and agility can carry them away and into tight crevices to hide. However, the Bone Hare's main survival mechanism is simply through fast, frequent reproduction: the more Bone Hares there are, the harder they are to wipe out.

The Quill Mouse is a very small rodent perhaps double the size of a chicken's egg. It is very common throughout Hydra, though it lives primarily in the Crucible. While the Quill Mouse is primarily herbivorous, it is also opportunistic, eating anything it can come across--insects, carrion, and bones. Its main defense is a thick bed of long spines along its back, which the Quill Mouse coats with toxin: Quill Mice each periodically travel to the Dead Marsh, or use dead Scorpions and Spiders that they might find, and instinctively find and groom the venom into their fur. Quill Mice are also highly resistant to all forms of toxin and poison. A careless predator can easily find themselves badly wounded, infected, poisoned, or even dead--but all the same, the Quill Mouse is frequent prey for the more experienced carnivores of Hydra.

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Familiar Forge & Hydra: Hydra's Lesser Gembound are physically tough, single-minded, and often very fierce. In order to Familiar Forge a Lesser Gembound predator native to this cave, one would need a spell roll of 20. Any other roll will result in an attack, and possibly more Lessers joining the fray.* Familiar-Forged Hydra Lessers will not thrive outside of Hydra, and may grow sick very quickly in other caves. They are also impossible to control, but are likely to follow their forged leader, and not attack unless provoked. A Forged Sandworm, Eyehook Vulture, or Spire Spider will be extremely dangerous even to its "master," while Sand Spiders and scorpions are a little more manageable.

Note that none of this applies to Hydra's three Lesser Gembound herbivore species, who will flee rather than fight back, and require only the normal Familiar Forge to "tame," as well as being able to safely wander the rest of the caves.

* When attempting to Familiar Forge a Hydra Lesser Gembound, please tag a GM. Note that this is an extremely dangerous action that can potentially result, along with simply entering this cave, in character death.