#Pseudomonoceros Tyrans ferox

[jj-baruch]

A Brief Description of the False Unicorn (Pseudomonoceros Tyrans ferox)

While true unicorns and their near cousins can be quite dangerous enough on their own, the false unicorn, Pseudomonoceros, is a unique case of mimicry by an entirely unrelated family of animals. Indeed, it is recommended that one treat a unicorn encountered in the wild as if it were a false unicorn until proven otherwise. Among the true unicorns, there are well-documented cases of this mimicry for all types except the Arctic unicorn (Monoceros arktos). With regard to related genera, there are only a very few poorly-documented instances in the Old World generally and none at all in the New World, Australia, Oceania, or Insular Southeast Asia. That said, when any variety of true unicorn has been imported to a new geographic area, reports of false unicorns, some well-attested, inevitably follow.

Referring to true unicorns as “true” is more a matter of custom and convenience than of genetics or actual relationship. Their phylogenetic history remains elusive with respect to one another and with respect to the other animals they superficially resemble. It is uncertain if there even is a relationship. False unicorns are similarly obscure with respect to one another, true unicorns, and the other animals they resemble. What is certain is that the earliest fossils of a true unicorn (the poorly named European unicorn, M. monoceros) come from the arc of mountains north and east of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and somewhat eastward on the Iranian Plateau. False unicorn fossils, though considerably rarer, also appear here first.

What follows is a description of Pseudomonoceros Tyrans ferox, which mimics M. monoceros. This is considered the type species of the group and other types mimic their respective true unicorns in almost identical ways. T. ferox is also the most aggressive of the false unicorns and, as such, presents a special danger.

T. ferox, like other false unicorns, represents one of the most extreme cases of sexual dimorphism among terrestrial vertebrates. Like certain deep sea fishes, the male and female are vastly different in size and morphology, with the male eventually merging into the female body and becoming little more than a sperm-producing appendage.

A single pregnancy may result in several hundred young, male and female alike. However, the females are carnivorous and cannibalistic even within the womb. As they reach parturition, they begin eating one another and, eventually, eat their way out of the womb, bursting the mother’s body which provides them with one last meal. At this point, the sexual imbalance may be as high as 25 males for every female. As the females mature and compete for territory and/or dominance, this ratio increases dramatically.

Males are herbivorous in nature. Upon birth, they range from 0.5 to 0.75 cm in length, their main body concealed within a shell that will, in time, grow to a horn 25 cm to 100 cm in length. At birth, the poison sac at the tip of the horn already exists and is a danger that may be fatal to children, the elderly, or those with compromised health. At maturity, the poison is invariably fatal to human beings, leaving them in agony for approximately nine days at which time death follows. It is important that anyone who dies by this method, especially if a female T. ferox is at or near sexual maturity in the region, be cremated. Religious considerations must be set aside at all costs.

Males will do battle for access to mates, jousting with their horns. As these growths are enervated and vascularized, even a nominal winner in such contests may be so badly injured as to die in the aftermath. There is no established correlation between length of shell and reproductive success but rather strength in surviving impacts from other combatants. The strength of the male’s shell along with its poison, combined with the physical mass of the female with which it later unites, is one of the principal defense mechanisms of the species. Sexual maturity is generally attained in the first two to three years but may be delayed in colder climates.

Upon birth, a female T. ferox appears indistinguishable from a fully grown normal horse (Equus equus), albeit small enough to fit in the palm of a human hand. Actually doing so is inadvisable as they are carnivorous from before birth and will eat human flesh as readily as any other. Over the next five to six years, they will maintain this form as they reach sexual maturity. At full size they are the same size as a regular horse, if not somewhat larger than average. Sentience slowly grows as the body matures and, at full maturity, they can begin to control minds of other animals, including humans, around them. Young people, especially pubescent or pre-pubescent youth, and those who have died due to poison from the male are especially vulnerable to this control. While those who are still alive at the time of contact may resist for a greater or lesser period, those who are dead have no such protections and are often used as lures to gather in more food for the female T. ferox. This process accelerates after mating.

When ready to mate, a female will send out a signal, it is uncertain if this is pheremonal or mental in nature, to attract all nearby males. Males will then compete for access. Survivors will unite their bodies with the foreheads of the females, thus producing the classic true unicorn appearance. If a female later decides, for any reason, to rid herself of the acquired mate, she can break it off and find another. Upon union, the nervous, circulatory, and other systems merge and the male loses any identity. If separated, it dies.

During the early stages of pregnancy, the female remains mobile and able to forage but increasingly becomes sessile as the reproductive tract expands and all internal processes become geared toward advancing the pregnancy. Legs disappear within the expanding torso and the mental control function becomes a necessity rather than a convenience. Servitors in this period function to lure others to the den as food for the pregnant female and, at the end, become food themselves. The precise nature of this mechanism is not understood, only that it is extremely dangerous and thus requires the extermination of all false unicorns, male and female alike, as thoroughly as possible. Servitors, especially the dead, will try to prevent this, which is why they must be destroyed. Living servitors who survive the death of their mare are forever mentally damaged and will seek out another mare to serve.

There are advocates for the conservation of these creatures, pointing out that they are even rarer than true unicorns in the wild today. This is true. However, such advocates should be examined for previous mare service. As for the false unicorns, if allowed to go unchecked, they will consume all life, plant, animal, and otherwise, in a district before moving on. They have been known to turn lush forests into wastelands in relatively short periods of time. As with humans who have died from the male’s poison, females are able to control other dead false unicorns for the purposes of foraging and defense. Cremation, dissolution in acid, and other similarly thorough disposal methods are the only known ways to prevent this postmortem control in any species taken as prey.

They must be rooted out wherever encountered.

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