Appearance: There are no distinct differences in height between male and female Junchas. They average 2m in length and 1.6m in height. The face of a wild boar, two large tan tusks protruding from its upper gum, the tusks juts downwards, the sharp tips coming to a stop at the bottom of its lower jaws. Another two tan curved tusks extends from where the head meets the neck, angling slightly outwards, enabling it to injure targets standing at the sides. Upon its head are two goat-like horns the colour of their coarse hair – absence of those features means the Juncha is female. Its body resembles that of a wolf, with sleek fur and huge powerful paws. Each limb possesses four claws, each one deadly sharp. Colours of Junchas ranges from dark grey to silver, or brown to golden. The coarser hair that grown around their paws, tail and head are usually darker in shade compared to the softer fur growing at the body.

Habitat: Juncha can be found almost anywhere in the wilderness, from wide open plains to rocky mountains, the exception being the desert. Granted, the rockier the land and the higher in altitude it is, the less Junchas you would be able to find. Although their fur allows them to withstand colder climates, tundra biomes usually sees significantly less Juncha compared to tropical environments.

Behaviour: As omnivores, Junchas eat literally anything they come across as they move in herds across the land. They rarely stay in one place for long, preferring to move as they graze and hunt for food, as doing so increases the chances of not starving to death. While they may travel in large numbers, they hunt alone or if mated, then in pairs.

Unless provoked, Junchas don’t attack aimlessly. If one keeps silent and stealthy, one would be able to make it through the herd without mishap, as they have bad eyesight and average hearing. Keep away from their young and they wouldn’t attack even if they know you are there. However, threaten a member of a mated pair and you will find their other half charging at you without forewarning.

Junchas are surprisingly nimble and agile despite their fairly large bulk, and are as powerful as grizzly bears in terms of raw power. Together with their deadly claws and various tusks, surviving a head on charge is but a distant dream. However, their hides are not that tough and is susceptible to ordinary weapons.

Breeding: Junchas reach sexual maturity at the age of two, and female Junchas go into heat once every six months. When they do, there’s a chance of inducing compatible males to go into rut, and the pairs are then mated for life. The females then carry their young for five months before giving birth. Each time, there’s a chance of having one to five young at a time.

Life cycle: When the infants are born, their eyes are closed, their body pink and furless. The membrane covering their eyes separates two weeks later, and fur will start to grow all over their bodies. During this time, the female stays with her young, relying on the male to bring them food. If their mate is dead, then another female would be obliged to perform this task. At birth, the infants measure around 30-40 cm in length and 20-30cm in height. When they hit sexual maturity at the age of two, most would have doubled in size, sometimes even tripled.

Full maturity is reached in another one or two years, depending on their diet, and if they have enough to eat. This is marked by the full growth of the side tusks in females and horns in males. The average lifespan of a Juncha is nine to ten years.

Appearance: The average male Grakhim measures 1m from one end to the other, and is around 60cm in height. Females are 1.4m in length and around 75cm in height. A hybrid of spider and centipede, it has the head and eight limbs of a standard huntsman spider, but the abdomen is replaced with the long, segmented body of a centipede, together with the short, sharp legs attached to each segment. Thick exoskeleton covers its entire body from one end to the other, forming a sort of plate armour sturdy enough to protect against an average swing of the sword. However, this plating does not extend to it underside. Colours range from black to dark green and brown, some spotting coloured stripes and spots along its body, others a simple solid shade.

Habitat: Grakhim resides in a forest, sticking to dark, moist places and low ground. Some might even make a home amongst detritus on the forest floor while others like to dig a burrow and lay under the earth. The deeper one travels into the forest, the more Grakhim there will be. The boundaries of their territory is marked with long clumps of dead leaves bundled together with thick, grey saliva.

Behaviour: Detritus-feeders, Grakhim typically keep to themselves and their chosen home, seldom venturing past the edges of the forest. However, they will attack anything and everything – the exception being their kin – that enters their marked territory, regardless if the perceived foe is stronger or weaker than they are.

They always attack in a group numbering no less than four, with one at the head, one at the tail and one on each side. Their saliva can be spat out in a thick, sticky spitball from between their mandibles to blind the foe, and the two spines at the end of their tails whip out at their targets as they are blinded. The eight spider limbs are not as sharp as the shorter legs of their abdomen, and is typically for pinning preys down to bite them with their mandibles.

Fire is the best way to scare them off, and burning away the boundary marks completely will drive all residing within to come out and group together. The average iron weapon will not be able to pierce their exoskeleton, but their unprotected underbelly is a large weakness. Their young are more vulnerable as their exoskeletons have yet to fully develop, but they bite is able to induce mild paralysis. This ability disappears the moment they fully mature.

Breeding: Female Grakhims are one and a half times larger than males, and mating season is an entire month from the start of spring, when the air is dense with moisture and the weather is neither too cold nor too hot. A male’s mating call is a series of clicks, and one has to dominate the other males looking to mate with the female before the pair can breed.

Life cycle: The female carries the eggs within her for two weeks. During that time, she makes a nest out of leaves glued together by saliva in a hole in the ground. Once the two weeks are up, she lays her clutch within the nest and goes away, leaving them to survive on their own. Each egg is milky white, the size of a human child’s head and takes another two weeks to hatch (if they survive that long). The average clutch numbers thirty, but usually only half survives, the other half either dying in their egg or eaten by predators.

The infant emerges from the egg and measure about 20cm in length and 10cm in height. At this stage, although one would be able to see the colour of the infant’s body, it hasn’t developed the slightest bit of exoskeleton, and is translucent. For the next three to five days, it competes with other surviving infants and gorges on the nest their mother built. Once they eat their fill, they sleep and moults the next day. Now, their mandibles is the first to develop an exoskeleton as they need it to improve their survival rate. Every month, it moults, and by the end of the year, they are fully matured, ready to breed next spring. Grakhims have a life span of two years.