The World Of Khoras - Fauna and Flora - Fauna - Desolation

The Horde

The horde creatures come up once each year. Same time every year, but it varies by a week or two. So no one knows exactly what day the Horde will come. The Horde will emerge quickly, in a matter of hours. It then moves across land consuming anything organic. They ravage the land for one month. Then they return to the center region of the Desolation, mate, lay eggs and die. The egg clusters are buried in the ground.

Horde Senses and Behavior

All types of horde creatures have difficulty seeing the color red. In general, red does not show up in their field of vision. It appears as a "hole" in their vision. Most tribes of the omarin will carry red cloaks with them and, during Horde season, will wrap themselves from head to foot in red, to remain unseen by the horde.

Sight is only one method by which the horde hunts. They also track prey by smell. Each horde creature excretes certain pheronomes to identify themselves. The omarin have learned that if this gland is removed from a dead horde creature, the oils can be squeezed from the gland and used to coat themselves and thus "hide" their scent from the horde creatures.

Horde Eggsacks
Horde egg sacks are huge black, shell covered things buried in loose soil. They are oblong, about 20 feet long and 10 feet in diameter. Each eggsack is a cluster with between 40 and 100 eggs, all of the same type. Each eggsack has eight legs and is a semi-sentient creature. If disturbed or attacked, the eggsack will pull itself out from the soil and walk away.

Types of Horde Creatures

There are five different types of horde creatures. In general, all five types have subtle insectoid characteristics. They are multi-legged and have a black, chitinous exoskeleton.

Lesser
The "Lesser" horde creatures are the smallest and most common horde creature.  They are vaguely beetle shaped and weigh only about 50 pounds. They have voracious appetites and will scour the land of plants and grass. They are fairly mindless and will attempt to overwhelm prey by sheer numbers. They attack with a bite. The other types of horde creatures will usually herd the lesser creatures by the thousand.

Greater
A more advanced version, one step up from the Lesser horde creatures. They are also beetle shaped, but have an upper segment with four appendages and stand and walk more upright. Greater horde creatures weight about 300 pounds and stand erect about 5 feet tall and 6 feet broad. They attack with two large crab-like pincers.

Reaper
The reaper is probably the most feared of all the Horde creatures. These tall, spindly creatures stalk on four long legs and attack with four long arms that each ends in a single long curved claw. The creature has a number of long spines that sprout from its shell. This type of horder is particularly dangerous because it has lightning fast reflexes, is a very fast runner and can slash at opponents with multiple claws at once. A single reaper can take on three armored soldiers at once and seems to be able to see in all directions simultaneously.

Flyer
The Flyer is the only type of creature that can fly. It is a cross between a beetle and a dragon fly. It has two pair of large, broad semi-transparent wings. It is a strong flyer and is able to carry very heavy loads. In fact, one tactic that the horde employs a great deal is to have flyers carry reapers over enemy groups and drop the reapers into the midst of their enemy. Less than one in a 1000 horde creatures will be a flyer. Due to their scarcity, Garreon's Wall is still a very effective detriment to the horde. Every year a few dozen flyers will attempt to soar over the wall and attack people on the other side. Most are shot down in flight by soldiers on the Wall.

Flamer
The Flamer type of horde creature appears as a huge, hulking upright beetle-like thing that walks on two massive legs and has a massive shell on its hunched over back. The Flamer is armed with a front proboscis which can spray forth a thick, sticky gelatinous liquid. The body of the Flamer is taken up mostly with a single large reservoir which stores the creatures supply of this "flaming jelly". This substance is highly corrosive and burns fiercely when exposed to air. While burning, it can dissolve through metal, wood, bone and some types of stone.

This page last updated Monday, October 08, 2007. Copyright 1990-2008 David M. Roomes.

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