Civet Beasts

Below Guildtown, the de facto capital of Thistleland, deep below it's basements and cellars, even deeper then the brickwork sewers, lays the Undercity. While Guildtown was built around the shattered husk of a Cracked Temple, it was also built on top of the access tunnels, service ducts and utility rooms stretching far below the giant ruined structure.

Though the builders, architects and planners of this city build cellars, basements and subterranean routes below the city, few of these manage to dig deep enough to connect with the labyrinthine voids far further down, and those that did only invited trouble. Things of many nature have made these dark recesses their home, creatures from the wilds of Thistleland both natural and monstrous. 

One such creature is that known as the Civet Beast. Created by the Roofection as one of the uncountable number of monsters they spawned in their efforts for immortality and survival, the Civet Beasts are as successful as they are unstable. Appearing like monstrous Civets, they come in a great number of shapes with as many different features to match. Unstable due to the tinkering with their very essence, it is often claimed by Mages that Civet Beasts are not even true creatures, likening them more to some sort of summoned monster that can barely hold on to their physical nature. Direct bright light and sunlight is known to cause them to instantly sublimate and when they cross-breed with other creatures, their preferred method of reproduction, the offspring show traits of the victim species in their civet features.

While it is unknown where exactly Civet Beasts were first created, they have been infesting the Undercity of Guildtown for longer then anyone can remember. With a lack of people living in such forbidding places, the Civet Beasts have engaged the other creatures and monsters that lurk, sometimes for food, sometimes for territory and sometimes to mate. Due to this a great many types of Civet Beast are known to exist. Common and frequently encountered types have been well documented, but there are also rarer types that appear infrequently, or only exist for short periods of time. In the Undercity survival of the most monstrous is the law of nature. In modern times Civet beasts have been discovered to be in nearby Cities, living and breeding in the sewer systems. How they got there is not yet known.

Civets adore coffee beans, and Civet Beasts are no exception. While this may make for an excellent throwable distraction, it is also the cause of problems for Guildtown. Samuel and Samantha Provisions may be the best coffee and chocolate shop in all of Thistleland, but being in Guildtown it makes it a prime target for Civet Beasts for many reasons. Kidnapping both coffee beans and the coffee-scented Asian palm civet Samuel Port as he processes the coffee beans, many Adventuring parties have been sent to retrieve him from the Undercity, hired by his sister Samantha. 

Considered low level dangers on their own, Civet Beasts can be tricky to deal with in larger numbers, especially when the more pronounced types such as Tailtums, Siklys, Horkers, Civetacles, Hypnocivet, the hulking DireCivet and far more beside are added to the mix. As such they are considered excellent low level and starting quests for newer Adventurers, giving excellent experience in return for surprisingly low risk. Thankfully they only usually venture closer to the surface to cause problems when the population in the Undercity has grown large enough to spread out, a situation the Adventure Guild usually resolves with a few Adventurer Groups being sent down to clear many of the tunnels.

Those defeated, captured and restrained by Civet Beasts will usually be taken back to nests and restrained, either physically or by special methods unique to some Civet Beast Types. After this the Victims can expect to be well fed by the Civet Beasts and used as breeding stock, either to lay eggs inside, or to provide genetic material to breed hundreds of new Civet Beasts, which will also have some physical traits of the victim. Another fate different from this is to become food for the Civet Beast when defeated, a process that lasts a number of days due to the unstable and weak nature of Civet Beasts physique and usually long enough for another Adventurer to rescue the person who was eaten and stewing in the stomach.

This Civet Beast is a fairly typical looking specimen for the species, having a shaggy mane of a ridge along the tail and back, thick bulky legs and a heavy set body shape. They are Quadruped creatures, though can sit on hind paws with some breeds able to walk on their back paws. Unable to speak regardless of their intelligence, they usually communicate with growls, grunts and other Civet noises. Their paws are mostly animalistic, though retain enough control to operate doors after a few tries. They are very beastual in their nature, their minds often preoccupied with the desire to hunt, mate and enjoy pleasure.

This artwork was made by OliverFOX and the original can be found here.