Remorhaz

Remorhazes are skittering contradictions—worms the size of giants, creatures that live in the ice that nevertheless burn with their own internal fires.  This allows them to live in the most extreme quarters of the polar regions, from windswept tundras to ever-smoking volcanoes.  Their resilience and enraged strength likely makes them objects of fear and reverence for most other arctic races.  One imagines they would be common totem animals for the Northern tribesman, especially for their skill at hunting frost worms, and a frost giant who allies with a remorhaz earns great status.  Perhaps their greatest rivalry would be with white dragons—immune to cold, they can shrug off the whites’ icy breath, and the heat of their bodies makes them dangerous opponents in close quarters.

Your average adventuring party will likely know none of this, unless they come from a polar region.  But they’ll soon find out that remorhazes are integral to both the ecology and the culture of the Poles.  One thing, at least, is certain: They will soon find there is no such thing as a neutral opinion regarding the beasts.

Guiding the wooly mammoth herds from their summer to winter grazing lands is arduous work.  Going beneath the shadow of the volcanic Fire Peaks saves several days, but risks drawing the attention of the remorhazes that live on the border between lava and tundra.

Hoarwythivark Blizzardbite, as she styles herself, is a white dragon who rules over Seal Neck Bay.  Recently remorhazes devoured a clutch of her newly hatched young.  For her revenge she turns to human adventurers, promising the pick of her hoard.  She claims to be too large to follow the worms into their burrows, but really she is terrified of the tight confines and the remorhazes’ terrible heat.  Of course, the reward is a lie—consumed with anger and shame at losing her young, she plans to devour the adventurers even if they succeed.

Chief Aelferd Worm-Friend no longer keeps company in his great hall nor worships at the rune-carved alters of his ancestors.  The only visitor he admits into his presence is a black-masked yeti that the rest of his tribe abhors.  But they dare not move against the ape shaman or their lord, so long as Aelferd’s pet remorhaz remains loyal.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 233