Post #2819091

#ScribesAndMakers 23. If you were going to tell a story about a cryptid, which would you choose? Technically, Shadowpaw is a cryptid on his own homeworld. On a Hazard 6 planet (where everything is trying to kill/eat you) his kind are considered the boogymen to frighten pups who don't listen to their elders about not playing in the long bloodgrass. Shadowhunters look like any other Tyrolean, except they're about 50% larger, covered in even more horns and spine, and fall squarely into the not-Tyrolean (not-deer) cryptid space for other Tyroleans. They kidnap young hunters on their rite of initiation and corrupt them in mind and spirit while defiling their bodies, or so the stories go. Shadowhunters are pretty much unkillable monsters, by lore, but they are also really both solitary and loenly. They're among the most peaceful creatures on Tyrol, as nothing can actually harm them, and so there is nothing for them to fear. The youths they "kidnap" are brought to their lairs for conversation, a nice meal, and a trophy they can bring back to their village along with the story of how they managed to just barely get away from their captor. Both Tyroleans and Shadowhunters are descended from chaser stock, though Tyroleans are pack hunters while Shadowhunters are solitary stalkers. One sees themselves as the apex predator on a world of predators, while the other actually does occupy that slot.