Sceazir

Sceazir

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(extraplanar)

CR

9

Environment

Any (Void)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Sceazir

Source: Last Watch, pg(s). 86

Sceazirs are a species of flying beasts native to the Void, cousins to the sceaduinars, who employ sceazirs as mounts and beasts of burden.

Appearance

A sceazir is a winged, wolf-headed creature made of dark crystal. Its gaping mouth is unnaturally big and shows rows of jagged teeth. Its six legs are spiky, many-jointed, that bend in bizarre ways, and end in wicked claws. When flying, its wings vibrate at an indiscernible speed, and the sceazir appears still even as it swoops down on a victim. Sceazirs are unnaturally fast, both when running and flying. A sceazir is typically 11 feet long, six feet tall and weighs around 900 pounds. It is rumoured that the dark corners of the Void are home to even bigger sceazirs, but their existence has never been confirmed.

Ecology

Sceazir eggs form spontaneously from the geometrical errors in the crystalline knots in the Void, where the negative energy concentration is greatest, and hatch into fully-grown sceazirs. They only have animalistic intelligence, but instinctively hate all forms of life that are not native to their home plane, especially those capable of harnessing positive energy. Sceazirs can understand and perfectly obey telepathic commands issued by sceaduinars; scholars attribute this to their shared heritage.

Wild sceazirs roam the Void in search for prey both living and undead. Although they have no need for food, they eagerly track down all of the rare intruders that appear in their territory, and gleefully tear apart and devour them. These sceazirs often form packs, led by the strongest member, without any other defined roles.

Habitat

Sceazirs build nests shaped like caves or pits from the Void's entropic substance. These can be identified by swirling patterns of claw marks, which are unique to each pack or individual, and induce vertigo on living creatures who gaze upon them.

Society

Due to their speed and tracking skill, sceazirs are used by sceaduinars as mounts and beasts of burden, and sceaduinars tend to have a bigger influence on sceazirs than their own inclinations do. Sceaduinars that live near where sceazir eggs form usually tend them and ensure that they hatch, in the process bonding the newborn sceazir to its caretaker. A sceazir is loyal to its rider, and also obeys other sceaduinars as long as their commands do not conflict with those of its owner. Sceazirs almost never accept non-sceaduinars as riders. It is rare to see multiple sceaduinar and sceazir pairs at the same time; when they gather, it is almost always to combat a significant threat.

Sceazirs fear nightshades, to the point that they will never approach one, even when their rider commands them to do so. The reason for this is unclear. Some scholars attribute it to simple practicality (as nightshades far outmatch sceazirs); but others have more fantastical hypotheses, such as sceazirs cannot tolerate the energy given off by nightshades; nightshades defeated sceazirs in an ancient war that resulted in their regression in intelligence; or nightshades can command sceazirs but employ this ability to keep them away.