Design a Darkspawn!

[The Lace of Ages]

Thank you for signing on with Evil! Inc, a Moghedien/Seanchan operation. We welcome all mad scientists, evil biologists, and twisted naturalists interested in developing the nightmares of tomorrow, today. If you would like to participate in our incentive program, please fill out the following for each monstrosity you'd care to unleash upon an unsuspecting world.

Name: The name of the creature.
Purpose: Whether the creature is a Darkspawn or a tame Seanchan exotic, used by the Seanchan Empire
Type: Flora, fauna, or some unholy combination thereof
Size: Units or description are fine
Description: What it looks like/what it does

You can supply as many entries as you'd like as a response to this post (if you'd like to add more after submitting, please edit your post.) Submissions will be closed on 6/12, and staff will select their favorite by 6/15. The winner will receive a forkroot tea blend courtesy of The Creator, and the winner and other select entries will be canonized in site lore (and set free to cause untold destruction.) Happy brewing!

EDIT: As announced on our Discord, the Shadow Cat won the grand prize! Tseia will be getting some forkroot tea blend, courtesy of the Creator. Everyone's contributions were fantastic, and have been canonized as a result; they will be getting badges to reflect their worldbuilding. Thanks for participating!

[Tseia]

Note: In true nerd fashion, I have converted all “real world” measurements to their WoT equivalent as per this.



Name: Ka’cour (from kakamo and cour, meaning quick and trap, respectively)
Common Name: those blasted trap spiders (this usage is strongly frowned upon by their creator)
Purpose: Seanchan Exotic
Type: Fauna
Size: Very Large (1-1.5 Spans, Females are Larger than Males)
Description:
These creatures are not so much tame as they are relatively controllable, as they are remarkably docile when not ensconced in a burrow. They rarely leave their underground homes willingly, save for the split second when they emerge to snatch prey. Males will leave to seek out females, but as they are the smaller of the two sexes, the females are largely preferable. The Seanchan use them as a natural bolster of the defense of clandestine locations, such as the place where they were bred. The burrows where they hide are incredibly well camouflaged and most never realize they were even near one until the creature has attacked. Even the smallest ka’cour is capable of taking down prey twice its size, due in part to the potent venom they produce. The venom itself, however, is not fatal, but rather a powerful paralytic, as the ka’cour feeds exclusively on live prey.



Name: Velarei (from velin and darei, meaning feather and spear, respectively)
Common Name: Shrikes
Purpose: Shadowspawn
Type: Fauna
Size: Large Avian (Body is 1 Foot, Wings are 1 Span)
Description:
At some point in their genealogy, and as is true for many of their Blighted brethren, these creatures were once normal birds. Their progenitor species primarily feeds on insects and small mammals, and while their tainted offspring are capable of taking on larger prey, the key trait of the species that inspired its common name, has been preserved. These birds will take the corpses of their prey and impale them on anything sharp and readily available. The original purpose of this was to simply store food in a location that was hard to access for competitors, but given the proclivity of the velarei for doing so in locations where the speared bodies will be easily seen, it is theorized that it now serves the additional purpose of marking territory.
The Shadowspawn variant’s name was additionally derived from the fact that the foremost feathers on their wings are as razor sharp as their beak and talons. While a single individual is usually not enough to kill a grown man, especially one that is armed, that won’t stop it from trying. Fending one off isn’t impossible, but it will deal quite a bit of damage in the process. The best defense against the velarei, therefore, is a ranged offense. A harder feat to accomplish than say, however, as their usual mode of attack is to dive bomb their prey, aiming for the back of the neck, where the spine is most vulnerable.



Name: Moriou (from moridin and miou, meaning death and cat, respectively)
Common Name: Shadow Cat, Shadar Torm, Sha’torm
Purpose: Seanchan Exotic
Type: Fauna
Estimated Size: Large, Estimate as no Live Specimen has been Observed/Captured
Actual Size: 2 Spans and 15 Stone (Male), 1.5 Spans and 12 Stone (Female)
Known Information:
These are a relatively new discovery, as none who have actually seen one has lived to tell the tale. The majority of reports come from soldiers near the Blight border of the Seanchan continent and all are the same in one unique detail: the creature’s bloodcurdling scream. In areas where the screams are heard, a handful of bodies with unusual injuries have been discovered, and attributed, to this predator: deep lacerations on the back, a broken spine as if a heavy weight had fallen on it, and a crushed skull. From the examination of these bodies, scientists have concluded the moriou is a nocturnal ambush predator. Yet on top of that it has proven to be highly intelligent, which is why many Seanchan believe it to be a torm that has been tainted by the Shadow’s evil. For the creature, whether truly a cat or otherwise, appears to utilize its reverberating cries to herd its panicked prey toward a suitable location where it can make the kill.
Actual Description: to be determined once someone successfully captures one
The moriou is not, in fact, a tainted torm but it is incredibly cat-like. It is best likened in appearance to a mountain lion, albeit with dark fur, aside from the spiny protrusions that sprout all along the creature’s spine, with the greatest number around its neck and head. The length of these spines, the longest of which are no more than a hand, are coated in fine barbs that continuously dig into any flesh they pierce. Their claws are sharp enough to dig into rock, enabling them to climb sheer inclines. The final notable feature would be the moriou’s twin tails, although those don’t appear to serve any practical purpose, save perhaps to balance out the weight of its head as it stalks its prey from the high cliffs where they hunt. The moriou’s jaws are clearly its primary weapon, as the heavy bone structure grants it an incredible amount of crushing force of two hundredweight per square inch. The prevailing theory of its origin is that one or more escaped creatures from a Portal Stone interbred with the native great cat, resulting in this deadly hybrid.

[The Dark One]

I have some ideas, but not all of them are as fleshed out as Tseia's.

Name: Dovie' Muaghde (From the old tongue: Dovie, meaning "luck" and Muaghde, meaning "meat")
Common Name: Burr Bug
Purpose: Shadowspawn
Type: Fauna
Size: Using the guide provided by Tseia they can get as large as a WoT inch [Image]
Description: A Burr Bug is a tiny parasitic worm which invades a host by burrowing into their skin. A painless round, firm, ulcer appears at the spot where the worm entered the body. The wound is painless because of a numbing agent secreted in the bug's saliva. The burr bug feeds on fat and can occasionally do very little damage to it's host if it implants itself into a large supply of visceral fat. However, the bugs often travel to fatty organs such as the liver and even the brain.

Name: Se'ya (From the old tongue: Se, a reflexive pronoun, meaning themselves and ya, meaning my own)
Common Name: mirror-me
Purpose: Shadowspawn
Type: Fauna
Size: Human size
Description: They are human-like creatures that start out human, but later, through the use of a ter'angreal, gain the ability to change their form to look like anyone they want, living or dead.

The ter'angreal used to transform a human into a mirror-me becomes a part of the mirror-me. It is a tattoo created in the mirror-me's skin with the One Power. To transform into another person's appearance, the mirror-me must have direct contact with the person they want to turn into, on the tattoo itself. This can be achieved by having the person touch their tattoo, or by rubbing their bodily fluids on the tattoo.

The tattoo is the only thing on the mirror-me that remains constant, and if removed, it would lose the ability to change forms.

When a mirror-me takes the shape of the person they choose, they shed their old skin, teeth, and nails. When they change into the person's physical appearance they can also mimic their voice, posture and movement, and wounds - even very serious ones. As they change their form easily, Mirror-mes can heal wounds quickly, making most wounds non-fatal. They can even replace small body parts such as ears or a big piece of skin. They possess quicker reflexes than typical humans, and have greater agility and speed. They can be sensed by animals however, as most beasts (wild and domestic) become increasingly agitated in their presence.



Not fleshed out Ideas:

1) Intelligent Trollics? Maybe the ones who survived the last battle evolved, or maybe the new ones are improved? I don't think all trollics should be intelligent, and I'm really only talking Narg level intelligence here for those that are, but I think it could give them some more dimension.


2) Some sort of plant that infects those who touch it to become corrupted like Ash's hand in the Evil Dead movies?

[aj]

Name: Souvra'zintabar (Old Tongue, Mind Poison)
Purpose: Darkspawn
Type: Flora. 
Size: Normally one hand in size. Varies depending on age. 
Description:
This mould grows naturally on trees in the blight, though can be cultivated using the spores in a controlled environment. For those that have already given their souls to the Dark One, the spores have no effect. Normally the mould, when inhaled, makes the victim more susceptible to the Dark One's touch. It makes people more rebellious and gullible, easier to sway with words.

The spores, as they latch on to the mind of the subject, react poorly if that person is linked to another, such as the Warder or Aiel bonds. The mould causes a range of symptoms including headaches, fever, memory loss, immobility, then death. Without treatment it is usually fatal, though they are only infectious to those that share their bond.

It is possible to heal this using the One Power, though doing so destroys the mould and makes it far more difficult to trace it. Anyone that survives the dangerous effects Souvra'zintabar through mundane means cannot be infected again. 

[Arani]

Name: Sweet Death
Purpose: Darkspawn
Type: Flora
Size: Around the size of an average tree

Description:
Known as the Sweet Death, this tree is a living carnivore that uses its outward beauty and sweet fragrance to lure in its prey within the Blight. Although most flora living within the Blight are sickly and diseased and have a tendency to attack all intruders, the Sweet Death particularly seeks out the unwary traveler to feast upon their flesh.

All who travel within the Blight for whatever reason would do well to stay away from even the faintest hint of colour within the Blight that does not look diseased. However, as this tree has never been seen outside the Blight, there are very few (and likely none among the Light) who even guess about the existence about this particular abomination, and therefore few know how to defend themselves from it.

Although carnivorous per se, what the Sweet Tree does is that it paralyses those unlucky enough to draw close enough for its tendrils to touch. The red filaments then proceed to dissolve and slowly dissolve flesh that can be injested by the tree itself. The merest contact with its leaves or flowers cause paralysis, leaving the victim easy prey and defenseless against the Sweet Death as it closes in.