Mustinine Ref

My entry to 's Creature Creation Contest.

Argothia: Prepare yourselves, this description will be looooong!!!!

Info

Name: Musti (Plural: Mustinine)
Scientific Name: Carus Mortifer
Lifespan: 500-700 years
Average Height: 6 feet (at the withers)
Diet: Mammalian blood
Habitat: Conifer Forests

Terminology

Musti: the term for a single beast (though it is being used as both singular and plural recently)
Mustinine: the correct term for a group of beasts (though it has fallen out of favor in recent times)
Ori: A Musti under the age of two.
Oriin:A Musti above the age of two but under the age of twenty.
Tein: A Male Musti above the age of twenty.
Roa: A Female Musti above the age of twenty.

Description

Mustinine are large, hemotophagous, warm-blooded quadrupeds native to almost every conifer forest in the northern hemisphere of the planet Bakmaya. They originate though on the northwestern continent (yet to be named).

They have a somewhat deer-like build with bird-like talons and long split tails. Their heads are very deer like and sport ears that are very large and resemble those of a fennec fox vaguely. Despite this their keenest sense is, in fact, their sense of taste, which seems to act as a substitute for their poor sense of smell. It is not uncommon to see a musti standing with it's mouth wide open and it's tongue extended to 'taste' a strange/interesting scent. They register tastes like dogs register scent, so when two mustinine meet the will lick each other instead of sniff.
Their canine teeth are hollow except for a small tube which leads to their throat, when they bite into their prey to drink it's blood they swallow to initiate the suction needed to draw the blood into their throats.

They often sport partial, chitin-based, very strong armor each musti's armor is different. They can have enough of it to cover most of their body or as little as a partial 'helm', this depends upon the individual and the amount of blood they consumed during the growth of this substance. Adults almost always sport two black horns protruding from the back of their heads, these horns grow about a micron every time the musti feeds, so a strong health pair of horns often dictates whether or not the musti is strong and healthy themselves, thus these horns are often an indicator to potential mates of whether or not they are a suitable candidate. Domesticated Mustinine's horns are usually artificially stunted.

They have no fur or hair and they are primarily bald. What appears to be a form of hair on their head is actually a chitin based substitute. It looks like hair but feels like very soft leather.

Mustinine are the fastest creature on Bakmaya, land, sea, or air, very little can outrun a musti running at full speed, and unlike Earth's cheetah, Mustinine are long distance runners. Their toes are very strong and the bones in the digits are exceptionally strong, so when they reach speeds exceeding a lope they switch from running on their whole foot to running on only their toes.

They come in black, gray, or white with paint, mottled, or dappled markings (also in only black, gray, or white).

Diet/Feeding/Hunting

As mentioned previously, mustinine are hematophagous meaning they feed primarily on blood, in this case mammalian blood, though when very young they do require more nutrients and thus are more carnivorous. Once they spot a potential meal they chase it down nip it with their incisors which contain a paralyzing venom (to which the mustinine themselves are immune) and grab hold with their sharp for talons. Once the prey stops squirming they drain it of as much blood as they need then leave the remains for the scavengers that inevitably follow the hunt.

Vocalizations
Mustinine make an array of sounds some less notable then others, most of them loud, but each one distinct.

Screech/Scream: Sounds similar to a human scream only significantly louder. The Screech when performed at full volume is powerful enough to break stone. It is generally used as a defense mechanism, when properly directed the pressure from this vocalization can snap bones or, if at full volume, completely shatter a persons skeleton. The sound of it alone is usually enough to drive a person insane, or simply kill them. Mustinine themselves do not appear to hear the sound, but the attack of the sound waves from a directed attack is enough to fight them off.
Wail: This sound is the loudest sound any Mustinine can ever make, it has no real comparison in our world, it is a sound of total defeat. This is the sound a Musti makes upon the death of their mate. It is completely heartbreaking, any person who has heard (and lived) it has never been the same. Unfortunately, it is not just a noise it is a suicide attempt, the force of this sound causes their hearts to rupture, although not before their eardrums and they begin bleeding from their ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Once they begin they cannot be stopped. This, as you may imagine, is a sound that most mortal creatures cannot take, so people that own a mated pair often separate them when one or both draw close to death.
Moan: Despite the name it is a pleasurable sound made between mated pairs before breeding. It basically sounds like a soothing hum. This is the quietest noise that mustinine make.
Snap:So called because it sounds vaguely like the noise made when something sets of an empty mousetrap. This is the most common vocalization.
Croon: A sound similar to a snap but more drawn out. Used by parents to a call their young.
Roar: A deep, very loud, growling sound made exclusively by males and only made in response to a female's courting call.
Shrill: Similar to the Screech, only much quieter, this is an exclusively female sound, only made when they are searching for a mate.
Hiss: The only sound, besides a Screech and a Snap that very young mustinine make make.

Behavior

Mustinine are quite social with any creature they don't see as a threat. They are very curious and easily tamed, it's said that they domesticated themselves, willingly, becoming pack animals, pets, and entertainment for the Lunids (a tribe of people native to their area).
Still most mustinine will spend the majority of their adult lives with only one other musti, their mate. All mustinine mate for life and if one dies the other will follow shortly.

They are Cathemeral, sleeping for six hours (not counting naps), then spending most of the next eighteen hours either lounging about alone or with their mate or hunting.

Mustinine individuals each have territories of a sort, but their boundaries are loosely guarded and more often the territories of two or more Mustinine may drastically overlap.
Mated pairs, obviously, share a territory, this may be composed of only the male's territory (especially if the female had to travel a ways to find a suitable mate), or they may merge their territories.

Breeding
It should be noted that 'casual' or 'natural' ranches often allow breeding to occur naturally. Larger 'corporate' or 'big' ranches tend to force their Mustinine to skip the courtship process and mate with a different partner every time.

Courtship
A female who has become sexually mature will search out a male, (They can walk around for months with their mouths wide open tasting the air for the scent of a male) when she finds the scent of a suitable male she will begin shrilling, if the male likes the sound of her shrill and isn't already taken he will respond with a roar. The pair will then meet and spend another a up to a month together, with a daily routine of nothing more then waking up, hunting together, playing, exploring, and generally just getting to know one another and becoming accustomed to the other's presence. At any point during this time either or both may decide that they don't like their partner and leave, but if they stay together long enough then they will eventually move to the next stage.

Mating
After living together, for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month or more, they will mate multiple times until the female becomes pregnant. This is particularly important for more then just the survival of the species but for the individuals themselves since they will then be spending the rest of their lives with this chosen partner.

Gestation, Laying, and Hatching
The eggs spend about three months developing within their mother, who then lays one to three eggs in a dark, dry cave. It will take them another two months to hatch. Both parents will fiercely guard the eggs during this time (Note: The symbiotic relationship between mustinine and zinzin birds shows strongly here for, a mother Zinzin bird will almost always lay her eggs in the same place as the musti eggs and, in exchange for the parent mustinine's protection of their eggs a mated pair of Zinzin birds will alert them to any potential threat to the eggs). After they hatch they, much like a foal, be able to stand and walk within hours (a throwback to the Mustinine's herbivore ancestors), but they will remain in the cave and be fed by their parents for another month and a half. During this time they will grow an incredible amount (the gap in size between the egg and the young musti on the far right, is the gap they cover before they are six weeks old)

Ori
At six weeks old the mustinine babies (called 'ori') leave the cave and accompany their parents on explorations into the wild, where they learn all the skills necessary to survive on their own. They will stay with their parents until they are two years old (corporate ranches 'can't afford' to wait that long so ori's are often taken from their mothers at about a year old).

2-5
At two years of age young mustinine leave, their own curious nature drawing them out into the world rather then their parents driving them off. At this point they will almost always stick close to their siblings (if they have any). All they do at this point is explore and investigate.

5-20
At this point the sibling pairs/trios will go their separate ways, and begin set up their own territories. (Notes: This is when most musti owners begin racing/showing their pets).

20-500
At 20 years old Mustinine reach sexual maturity and females begin looking for mates, often forsaking their territories completely to go in search of a male they may never find. Males and Females that don't find mates often don't live as long as those that do.

500-700
At this point Mustinine are considered elderly, and, in captivity, they are retired. Eventually, as all things do, they grow old and die.

Relationships with the Civilized Races of Bakmaya
Many races keep Mustinine as pets and working beasts, though they are far less popular then the more dangerous and intelligent Omnicorns [link]
Mustinine, though are built well for riding since their flexible chitin armor is a wonderful substitute for a saddle when it grows on their backs (and it almost always does in domestic Mustinine because they were bred particularly for that trait) and, unlike the Omnicorns, their gaits parallel a horse's closely as does their anatomy making them a somewhat more comfortable ride then an Omnicorn (In many cultures Mustinine are considered beginner's mounts).

Lunid
(No ref yet)
Lunid's use Mustinine the most, and are the ones to leading in the decline in usage of the term 'Mustinine'. Many Lunids prefer 'Musti' over Omnicorn steeds. Perhaps this is because they have lived alongside 'Musti' the longest.

***

And there you have it, now you know just about everything I do about the Mustinine.
Enjoy.

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