#khrathnu

[silverhart-makes-art]

For this week's Bestiary Posting the main things that struck me were 'it can make sharp high-speed turns' and 'it likes to roll around in dirt'.

The mention of the Khrathnu's swiftness and tendency to zig-zag while running made me think of a hare. And everyone loves killer rabbits, so a carnivorous rabbit seemed the way to go. It's just fun to imagine what a herbivorous animal might look like if it evolved to eat meat and vice versa. The mention of it rolling in dirt brought to mind animals like pigs, who roll in dirt to protect their skin. So I went for something that looked like a pig-hare. Specifically, the pig I had in mind was the babirusa, hence the sparse hair and grey, wrinkly skin. I gave it long legs and hooves so it could run more like an antelope if it had too (but I like the idea that they still walk/hop like rabbits) and tusks (though not as extreme as the barbirusa's), and of course wild hare-like eyes that point forward. I also made it's jaws long, all the better to snatch it's prey in.

Kind of ended up looking like a weird marsupial if it lost all it's fur and went on a murder spree, but I like 'em.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Khrathnu

We've got kind of an interesting-yet-vague entry and a variety of responses to it, so let's get into that. Please forgive any sloppiness I am slightly inebriated.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, please see https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry from which our artists are working in this post can be found here:

And if you want to join in, the next entry is here:

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn something in the enjoyable genre I have taken to thinking of as "nonspecific mammal" -- i.e. a creature design that is clearly mammalian and entirely plausible-looking without being any specific known animal. The action shot is very well-executed I think, and I encourage the reader to check out the linked post to learn more about the inspiration for the various aspects of this animal.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has a very good rendition of some kind of canid playing dead as described in the entry -- note the single open eye to allow it to spring its trap. Again very good and quite believable -- the linked post has a few more details regarding the thought process behind this design. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has another good Nonspecific Mammal, stylized in a way that I find interesting. I don't know enough about art to describe it, but it looks super cool, and they've also provided these nice close-ups and some alt text (thank you for that). There's some additional explanation in the linked post -- I think this one has a certain flair that I really enjoy.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has an interesting concept here where the art itself seems to give the Khrathnu the "nothing to see here" treatment -- after all, the bird (which long-term readers may recognize as a Lumchagg) is more colorful and closer to the center of the image. However, the clever Khrathnu is the true star here, luring its prey to its doom. Very good composition, check the linked post for inspiration, explanation, and an interesting link.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has done a solid weasel-like critter here, clearly playing dead in the interest of luring in some prey. In the linked post you will find a brief in-universe-perspective description of this animal, and as usual I encourage you to go back and read all of Strixcattus's posts in this project.

Okay, so this is the fox.

I feel like between the illustration and the thematic elements of the entry, this is an "oh, that makes sense" kind of situation. Of course the fox is crafty and deceitful in its methods of catching prey. And sure, the artist here got pretty close to an accurate fox depiction. It's canid at least. All good, no problems.

Things I cannot explain:

What's with the other foxes in the burrows there? Yes foxes like to live in burrows, but (a) that's not in the entry and (b) weird way to depict it.

Why is there one (1) magpie present in addition to the various generic birds of prey?

The world is full of mysteries, but please speculate at your leisure.

[wendievergreen]

Khrathnu

I tried for equal parts possum (playing dead), fox (sneaky rep, orange), and rabbit (playing dead, good at running, tricksy rep).

The final product is Krathnu 2.5. My first draft I didn't use any references and wasn't happy with the pose. Then I drew the figures you see above, didn't like the background and color scheme, cut them out, and glued them on an new background. I really like the depth this added! A happy accident.

At various points my playing-dead Krathnu reminded me of the big evil rabbit from the Digimon movie, the Kiss Weasel Pokemon, and one of American McGee's creepy plush.

Caption alternatives: "I'm just a little guy, just a dead little guy," "heeheehee teehee"

[cheapsweets]

The Guileful Khrathnu

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge, from @maniculum

Quick one this week. Pencil sketch, then lines in Sailor fude nib fountain pen, using Diamine Sepia ink.

Thought process under the cut…

"It is fleet-footed and never runs in a straight line but twists and turns. It is a clever, crafty animal. When it is hungry and can find nothing to eat, it rolls itself in red earth so that it seems to be stained with blood, lies on the ground and holds its breath, so that it seems scarcely alive. When birds see that it is not breathing, that it is flecked with blood and that its tongue is sticking out of its mouth, they think that it is dead and descend to perch on it. Thus it seizes them and devours them."

Not a lot of info this week. This reads as a Beast to me from what little we do have, though it could be a Serpent too, since there is no mention of fur or hair.

As such, we have vaguelly dog-shaped creature. Having rolled around in some red earth it lays with its tongue lolling out, waiting for one of the birds circling above to take the bait...

Given that we really don't have much of a descrption, I didn't want to make it too fluffy (particularly the tail, as in some previous creature descriptions the author has definitively mentioned when a beast has an excess of fluff!

[coolest-capybara]

This week, the Maniculum Bestiaryposting Challenge gives us a very brief description of the Khrathnu:

It is fleet-footed and never runs in a straight line but twists and turns. It is a clever, crafty animal. When it is hungry and can find nothing to eat, it rolls itself in red earth so that it seems to be stained with blood, lies on the ground and holds its breath, so that it seems scarcely alive. When birds see that it is not breathing, that it is flecked with blood and that its tongue is sticking out of its mouth, they think that it is dead and descend to perch on it. Thus it seizes them and devours them.

All the behaviors described, but especially the twisting and turning and playing dead, reminded me of this video of mongoose pups playing with a hornbill:

So that pretty much informed all my decisions for the creature design. It is seen here with a Lumchagg, whether they are playing or one of them is about to be eaten is left up to your imagination.

[strixcattus]

The Khrathnu

Been awhile since I've managed to get one of these in. It's a quicker sketch today but I'm glad I've got something (and maybe this one is on time? hopefully?)

The Khrathnu

Khrathnu are a genus of small mammals, the largest being about fourteen inches in length, with various species found across nearly all of Europe. All species have long bodies and legs, giving them a gangly appearance, and their fur ranges in color, pattern, and length between species.

Khrathnu are carnivorous, preying on all animals smaller than themselves and some larger. They are excellent at climbing, jumping, and burrowing into crevices, and while they are largely solitary, they will work in groups when hunting to take down larger prey and share the meal amongst themselves.

The main predators of Khrathnu are birds, though wolves and foxes will also readily prey on them. A Khrathnu's twisting, zigzagging run makes it difficult to pin down, but in the event it cannot quickly find a narrow space to hide in, it will resort to playing dead, making a dramatic show of thrashing in the dirt and foaming at the mouth before falling limp. If the pursuer is fairly small, and curious enough to approach despite the display, the Khrathnu may retaliate by attacking its would-be predator, usually striking at its eyes, and resuming its flight.

Female Khrathnu raise their kits alone in burrows, usually the abandoned nests of other animals. Litter size ranges from three to six, and the kits reach maturity at three to four months.

[pomrania]

Here's my rendition of the khrathnu, from @maniculum's Bestiaryposting. My progress thread for this image can be found here.

This was overall based on the opossum, for two extremely valid reasons: a) opossums are widely considered to play dead, and b) I think opossums are cool. There's also influences from snakes, because at least one type plays dead, and I tried to get some killdeer in there (since they feign injury) but since I refuse to look up reference I was just going off of a very vague memory on what they look like so I don't think I managed it.

This creature has belly scales, originally to evoke "snake" but then I realized that if its hunting strategy involves having its belly exposed, then it only makes sense for said belly to be more protected. Not shown in this image, but there's also a long thin tail, with pale stripes.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting -- Khrathnu

As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting .

It is fleet-footed and never runs in a straight line but twists and turns. It is a clever, crafty animal. When it is hungry and can find nothing to eat, it rolls itself in red earth so that it seems to be stained with blood, lies on the ground and holds its breath, so that it seems scarcely alive. When birds see that it is not breathing, that it is flecked with blood and that its tongue is sticking out of its mouth, they think that it is dead and descend to perch on it. Thus it seizes them and devours them.

Remember to tag posts with #Khrathnu so folks can find them.

[maniculum]

Missed one! (I blame the alcohol.)

@pomrania (link to post here) has added to our collection of excellent Nonspecific Mammals. The scaled belly is a clever idea, and I think the neck ruff and forked tongue are also good touches. Additional discussion of this design and its inspiration can be found in the linked post.

Bestiaryposting Results: Khrathnu

We've got kind of an interesting-yet-vague entry and a variety of responses to it, so let's get into that. Please forgive any sloppiness I am slightly inebriated.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, please see https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry from which our artists are working in this post can be found here:

And if you want to join in, the next entry is here:

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn something in the enjoyable genre I have taken to thinking of as "nonspecific mammal" -- i.e. a creature design that is clearly mammalian and entirely plausible-looking without being any specific known animal. The action shot is very well-executed I think, and I encourage the reader to check out the linked post to learn more about the inspiration for the various aspects of this animal.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has a very good rendition of some kind of canid playing dead as described in the entry -- note the single open eye to allow it to spring its trap. Again very good and quite believable -- the linked post has a few more details regarding the thought process behind this design. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has another good Nonspecific Mammal, stylized in a way that I find interesting. I don't know enough about art to describe it, but it looks super cool, and they've also provided these nice close-ups and some alt text (thank you for that). There's some additional explanation in the linked post -- I think this one has a certain flair that I really enjoy.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has an interesting concept here where the art itself seems to give the Khrathnu the "nothing to see here" treatment -- after all, the bird (which long-term readers may recognize as a Lumchagg) is more colorful and closer to the center of the image. However, the clever Khrathnu is the true star here, luring its prey to its doom. Very good composition, check the linked post for inspiration, explanation, and an interesting link.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has done a solid weasel-like critter here, clearly playing dead in the interest of luring in some prey. In the linked post you will find a brief in-universe-perspective description of this animal, and as usual I encourage you to go back and read all of Strixcattus's posts in this project.

Okay, so this is the fox.

I feel like between the illustration and the thematic elements of the entry, this is an "oh, that makes sense" kind of situation. Of course the fox is crafty and deceitful in its methods of catching prey. And sure, the artist here got pretty close to an accurate fox depiction. It's canid at least. All good, no problems.

Things I cannot explain:

What's with the other foxes in the burrows there? Yes foxes like to live in burrows, but (a) that's not in the entry and (b) weird way to depict it.

Why is there one (1) magpie present in addition to the various generic birds of prey?

The world is full of mysteries, but please speculate at your leisure.

[cheapsweets]

These are all excellent creatures, and I absolutely love the variety of styles and mediums we're seeing here :D

(I had a bit of a suspicion about this one - mostly due to it being a crafty critter - and was trying hard to get the balance right between not being too influenced by that suspicion, while also not overcompensating too much either... I know there have been enough times that I was pretty sure I knew what animal a particular description related to, and I was completely off-base!)

It took me a few moments to realise that one of those generic birds had hold of the Khrathnu's tongue... Think we know which bird will be getting munched on first!

Bestiaryposting Results: Khrathnu

We've got kind of an interesting-yet-vague entry and a variety of responses to it, so let's get into that. Please forgive any sloppiness I am slightly inebriated.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, please see https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry from which our artists are working in this post can be found here:

And if you want to join in, the next entry is here:

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn something in the enjoyable genre I have taken to thinking of as "nonspecific mammal" -- i.e. a creature design that is clearly mammalian and entirely plausible-looking without being any specific known animal. The action shot is very well-executed I think, and I encourage the reader to check out the linked post to learn more about the inspiration for the various aspects of this animal.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has a very good rendition of some kind of canid playing dead as described in the entry -- note the single open eye to allow it to spring its trap. Again very good and quite believable -- the linked post has a few more details regarding the thought process behind this design. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has another good Nonspecific Mammal, stylized in a way that I find interesting. I don't know enough about art to describe it, but it looks super cool, and they've also provided these nice close-ups and some alt text (thank you for that). There's some additional explanation in the linked post -- I think this one has a certain flair that I really enjoy.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has an interesting concept here where the art itself seems to give the Khrathnu the "nothing to see here" treatment -- after all, the bird (which long-term readers may recognize as a Lumchagg) is more colorful and closer to the center of the image. However, the clever Khrathnu is the true star here, luring its prey to its doom. Very good composition, check the linked post for inspiration, explanation, and an interesting link.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has done a solid weasel-like critter here, clearly playing dead in the interest of luring in some prey. In the linked post you will find a brief in-universe-perspective description of this animal, and as usual I encourage you to go back and read all of Strixcattus's posts in this project.

Okay, so this is the fox.

I feel like between the illustration and the thematic elements of the entry, this is an "oh, that makes sense" kind of situation. Of course the fox is crafty and deceitful in its methods of catching prey. And sure, the artist here got pretty close to an accurate fox depiction. It's canid at least. All good, no problems.

Things I cannot explain:

What's with the other foxes in the burrows there? Yes foxes like to live in burrows, but (a) that's not in the entry and (b) weird way to depict it.

Why is there one (1) magpie present in addition to the various generic birds of prey?

The world is full of mysteries, but please speculate at your leisure.