Megaloceros & Megatherium

And we’re back!  Thanks for bearing with me this past week, hooray for warranties honored and hard drives fixed, and hello to you new followers!

The megatherium is one of the ultimate symbols of the Age of Mammals—nothing you know about modern sloths can really prepare you for the size and power of the giant sloth.  (Even just the bones in the Smithsonian seem oversized and gargantuan.)  And the megaloceros and man actually cohabitated in the Ice Age, so these beasts are perfect as the mighty stags of legend in your game.

Typically peaceful, megatheriums grow dangerous during mating season.  Vanaras know this and will lure suspicious intruders into their midst, counting on the beasts to stun them with their Awesome Blows.

Megaloceroses are found in pockets throughout the North.  In Greenest Ire only a few remain in the Kings’ Woods and poaching is punishable by death.  Nevertheless, the prices paid by Turmish lords for their racks inspires some foolhardy peasants to recklessness.  White king stags are known in the Near Forest; gnomes regard them as brothers.  Big game hunters chase the mighty great elks of the taiga in Firsa, but few come back alive; those hunters not gored by the elk themselves are finished off by the neanderthals who ride them.

The monstropolis of Kimerax is legendary for its diverse population of humanoids—monstrous and otherwise—and its towering blocks of tenements.  When the Spurfoot halfling tribe requested to settle there, the hobgoblin hierarch assented, provided they be of use to the city—as lamplighters.  His mirth at the diminutive halflings’ expense was stifled when the halflings leapt at the opportunity, riding through the streets on their giant sloth steeds bringing light to even the poorest districts.  Now the halflings are honored servants of the city, and their riders have earned acclaim not only as lamplighters and town criers, but also for riding their megatheriums into battle in the city’s defense.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 187

I’m sure there are some disappointed megalania fans out there (I know, right; how could you not be?) but since it’s filed with basilosaurus we’ll have to wait till we swing round the alphabet.

After my snark a week or so ago, Will comes to the defense of the bull-like gorgon here.

Radio show! With a Los Campesinos! Christmas tune, even more new Dungeonesse, Stars, Nite Jewel doing Michael Jackson, and a Rostam mashup I can’t get enough of.  Full disclosure: The headphone jack was busted this week, so volume levels are a bit all over the place. But the music was choice. Download it!

(Music start about 5:30 into the file. If the feed skips, load in Firefox or Chrome, Save As an mp3, and enjoy in iTunes. Link good till Friday, 12/21, at midnight.)

And stay tuned for next week’s The New Indie Christmas!