Shoal linnorm
Gare linnorm
Shoal linnorms, or gare linnorms, are ferocious aquatic linnorms native to icy rivers and lakes in the far north of Avistan.1
Appearance
Like all linnorms, shoal linnorms are serpentine creatures possessing only two limbs, a pair of short but muscular forearms. A shoal linnorm's hide is smooth, unlike that of other linnorms, to allow easy movement in the water, and tends to be blue-green with a paler underbelly. Shoal linnorms' heads are crowned with a pair of short antlers and with sharp, hard ridges.1
Shoal linnorms typically grown to be sixty feet long, and can weigh up to 11,000 pounds.1
Ecology and Society
Shoal linnorms are ambush predators, and prefer to hunt large, land-dwelling animals due to the small sizes of most freshwater creatures found in the rivers where they live. When hunting, a shoal linnorm attempts to surprise its prey by surging from beneath the water or ice and poison its target with its bite, before coiling around it and dragging it underwater. Shoal linnorms typically take creatures such as elk and moose, but also target predatory animals like bears and dire wolves when these come close to their rivers. Eyewitness reports describe shoal linnorms attacking prey as large as mammoths and woolly rhinos, sometimes taking whole herds at once by attempting to use their different means of attack on multiple separate creatures. For instance, a shoal linnorm might poison one target, while crushing another in its coils, and killing others with its scalding breath.1
Shoal linnorms are strictly solitary, as their aggressive tempers and immense appetites make it difficult for them to share a territory. Reproduction is achieved through the female leaving an egg within a hole dug in the ice on the edge of a male's territory, which she watches over until it becomes frozen over. Male linnorms can sense the egg's presence, and use their breath weapon to free and fertilize it before depositing it at the bottom of a river. The infant shoal linnorm, already the size of a crocodile, is born after six months and is already capable of fending for itself. Young shoal linnorms subsist on smaller prey such as fish and birds for the first few years of their lives, after which they become large enough to hunt larger, land-dwelling creatures. Barring accident, a shoal linnorm can live for up to 1,000 years.1
Despite the danger they pose, shoal linnorms are often hunted by prospective Linnorm Kings and by frost giants. The latter focus on capturing young specimens, which they raise into fearsome guardian creatures with which to protect their forts.1
Shoal linnorms do not seek out large settlements, but sometimes prey on fishermen or follow their ships back home to assess the town's defences and plan a raid.2
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 . “Bestiary” in Night of Frozen Shadows, 84–85. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary 2, 164. Paizo Inc., 2020
