Giza Plains

008: Hyena

Genus – Beast Classification – Wolf

Observations: A gifted hunter, possessed of sharp horns and fangs, reputed never to spare its quarry once sighted.

The larger variety of these is known as the alpha hyena. They consume all manner of things from wee beasts to the largest of behemoths, and do not turn up their noses at the carrion flesh of similar.

The horns growing from their snouts are used to impale larger opponents, and are sharp as well-honed blades.

They excel in slipping past a foes defenses, whereupon they deliver a most telling blow to the vitals.

Sage Knowledge (40 of 78): Lowtown: Lowtown lies, as its name would suggest, beneath the city streets of Rabanastre. Great pillars standing throughout Lowtown support the soaring edifices above. Prior to the war with Archadia, many merchants used Lowtown as a place to store foodstuffs and wares for sale.

With the defeat and occupation of Archadia, many of the former residents of upper Rabanastre were relocated here, leading to its gradual transformation into a residential area. No natural light shines on Lowtown, save where there are passages to the streets above, making it perpetually gloomy.

Many orphans from the war have adopted Lowtown as their new home.

009: Wooly Gator

Genus – Beast Classification – Gator

Observations: Formerly inhabiting tropical climes, the bodies of these fierce predators have begun to adapt to deteriorating climatic conditions by growing a thick coat of spindly hair.

Known to spend much of their time in the water, except during their mating season when they are sometimes sighted furtively going about their business during the Rains in Giza Plains.

Their jaw, being split into two halves, is well suited to keeping a tight grip on prey, allowing them time to administer a finishing blow as and when they see fit.

Sage Knowledge (17 of 78): The Shiva: No. 1 Light Cruiser Class Airship

Belonging to the 8th Fleet of the Archadian Imperial Army.

Ordered to return to Rabanastre after the nethicite fragment known as the "Dawn Shard" was recovered, but sank in an explosion thought to have been caused by the relic before she could make port.

010: Happy Bunny

Genus – Beast Classification – Dreamhare

Observations: Being a fiendish creature taking the form of an adorable bunny (for which, indeed, it is all the more fiendish), living in the dry savannah lands, such as can be found in Giza Plains during the Dry, or Ozmone Plain.

The name of the beastie is given to change according to its location, so that those of Giza Plains are called giza rabbits, and those of Ozmone Plain called ozmone hares.

They are wont to migrate during periods of inclement weather, and one may find that, depending on the season, a given specimen may be found in Giza Plains or Ozmone Plain.

Sage Knowledge (48 of 78): Giza Plains: A vast savannah spreading to the south of the Royal City of Rabanastre, the environs of which vary drastically between dry and rainy seasons.

Large dark crystals lie scattered here and there across the savannah. During the Dry, they absorb the sun's radiance and glow with an auric brilliance. A village of nomadic herders is located near the middle of the grasslands. During the Rains, the villagers relocate to the mountains. While they reside in the grasslands, the menfolk rarely return from their herding, leaving the women and children to their own devices in the village.

These nomads know the art of capturing the energy of the dark crystals in chunks of magicite, called sunstone, which they then bring to market to sell.

The animals by which they make their living are primarily of cockatrice stock.

011: Great Tortoise

Genus – Beast Classification – Titantoise

Observations: Being a sizeable tortoise with a massy shell of broad circumference.

Customarily living in the deep places of the earth - caves and the like - save during the Rains, when they are known to emerge and forage in the vicinity of water. Tortoises, newly spawned, are wrapped in a thick shell, protecting them after the fashion of an egg.

Upon their growing, the legs and feet break through the shell, this being the adult form, whereafter they continue to grow until such growth is arrested by illness or incident.

Sage Knowledge (18 of 78): The Leviathan: No. 1 Dreadnought Class Airship

Being the flagship of the 8th Fleet of the Archadian Imperial Army.

The 8th Fleet was assigned to the Galtea Tactical Force of the Western Armada, under the command of Judge Ghis. Fitted with a skystone made to resist the effects of Jagd, the Leviathan was a linchpin of the Imperial army's main force.

Sunk in an explosion caused by the uncontainable reaction of the nethicite fragment known as the Dawn Shard.

012: Sleipnir

Genus – Beast Classification – Sleipnir

Observations: Being the result of much breeding in a now long forgotten land, the aim of which being the creation of a superior war charger around which to build a cavalry without equal in all Ivalice.

In this time when a cavalry's strength meant victory or defeat, there was one knight whose feats in the saddle shone above all others. This hero among men named his horse "Sleipnir", a name later given to those steeds chosen by his disciples.

In more recent days, the great cavalries of old are gone, their once proud steeds grown wild and feral at heart.

Sage Knowledge (29 of 78): Ivalice: The region consisting of the three continents of Valendia, Ordalia, and Kerwon, blessed throughout with verdant natural landscapes and climatic conditions supporting a great variety of life.

Regional climate trends are thought to be determined largely by the density of Mist present in the air, though this correlation is as yet not well understood.

Many humanoids call Ivalice home, each belonging to a distinct cultural sphere. By far the most prevalent of these are the humes, and it is around their civilization that affairs throughout the rest of the world revolve.

013: Silicon Tortoise

Genus – Beast Classification – Titantoise

Observations: Being a variety of giant tortoise spending its infant stage quietly beneath the soil, only to emerge upon maturity.

It is a quality of the giant tortoises that, depending on how deep down in the earth their youth was spent, the composition of their shell, and thus the particular species to which they belong, comes to differ.

Of their ilk, the silicon tortoise has spent its youth in the deepest of tenable places, being born with a thick layer of fat inside its shell so as to sustain its growth without the need to eat.

Talk About Town: Armor, once sundered, requires Repair, and that costing more dearly when such is of High Quality. Why? Fool! You must use Materials of like Strength lest all Assays at Repair be entered into vainly.

Nor is the Procurement of such a mean Task. Stories abound of hale Warriors venturing forth to obtain Shells tough as Iron and ne'er returning, having run afoul of said Shell's Occupant.

Kana, White Mage

014: Wildsnake

Genus – Beast Classification – Serpent

Observations: Being a curious creature having a serpentine body wherefrom grow six blades. They are known to dig holes in the ground and to lie in wait for prey therein. In antiquity, these were said to possess large mouths decked with prominent fangs, these having since receded in concert with the gradual flattening of the creature's form, and after splaying sideward to form the aforementioned blades.

Indurate scales covereth the snake's body, which are so shaped to permit rapid movement over all manner of terrain.

Sage Knowledge (39 of 78): Rabanastre: Capital of Old Dalmasca, and before that, many other kingdoms stretching back into the storied history of the Galtean Peninsula.

Rule by the Dalmascan royal family lasted for several hundred years before the city's fall to the Archadian Empire two years past. Now an Imperial territory. The story of the city's people is the story of three cultures, those of Valendia, Ordalia, and Kerwon, who bore trade goods along the many well-frequented routes leading to her welcoming gates.

The town proper of Rabanastre is divided into four sections by the cardinal directions of the compass. The east and west are merchant districts, the streets lined with shops and stalls of every description. In the north, the streets widen into a large piazza facing the palace, and to the south can be found three gates leading beyond the city walls to the Dalmasca desert and Giza Plains.

The aerodome can be found in the western outskirts of town, surrounded by numerous privately operated airship docks.

In the northwestern part of town stands a splendid cathedral built in the Galtean style, the bell of which, when rung, sounds through every hearth and home in the city.

015: Werewolf

Genus – Giant Classification – Behemoth

Observations: The story of this strange, man-like creature began it is said, when a group of bandits ate the corrupted flesh of a wolf, becoming infected and changing form. Indeed, like the wolf, these afflicted beings are known to feed with relish upon rotting meat.

As carrion-feeders oft develop strong resistance to illness, some natural philosophers have urged detailed study of the creature in hopes of culling reagents for medicants from their flesh.

Talk About Town: You've heard the famous saying that a good steak is worth ten-fold its weight in potions? Of course you have!

Now, that saying's older than I am, and potions and philtres have come a long way since I was a lad, but you have to admit it still has the ring of truth about it!

Eat a quality steak, look me in the eye, and tell me it doesn't invigorate you!

Irrim, Apothecary

016: Urstrix

Genus – Beast Classification – Urstrix

Observations: Being the progeny of wildfowl taken into the magicite mines to ascertain the presence of noxious fumes. On occasion of a mining accident, these birds would be exposed to great quantities of Mist, under the influence of which they would at length give birth to chicks with stunted wings of most peculiar shape.

Perplexed, the hens discarded their unwanted, flightless brood, these becoming the feral urstrix.

Sage Knowledge (30 of 78): Ordalia: Continent on the western edge of Ivalice.

The vast plains in the interior are home to the great Rozarrian Empire. To the east of Rozarria the land is arid and largely desert.

The Galtean Peninsula on the eastern portion of the continent is a crossroads connecting to Valendia and Kerwon both, and a strategic prize sought by empire and kingdom alike.

Though Dalmasca controlled the peninsula for the last several hundred years,it was lost to the Archadian Empire in an invasion two years past.

017: Storm Elemental

Genus – Storm Elemental Classificaton – Elemental

Observations: Being an elemental of lightning, traveled to our land on a bolt from the sky.

On this subject, the old tomes speak much of the wrath of gods made apparent in the stormlights, and their anguished cries in the rolling thunder.

Even today, when knowledge of the elementals and the natural order in which they occur is widespread, these superstitions endure, such that many disdain harnessing the power of the bright element, fearing to profane the teaching of the gods. These "sacred" activities are reserved for and entrusted to priests of the highest orders.

Aletap Rumors: One o' my mates, he has this funny habit o' takin' the fine materials you might use for buildin' manses and the like and poundin' 'em into plain ol' pebbles with his bare hands!

He's a famed pugilist, he is. Says that smashin' all that quality stone makes for great trainin', and gives him somethin' to take his frustrations out on. I dunno why he don't take 'em out in the ring, though. If you ask me, it's a shameful waste o' gil, as well as some half-decent stones!

Gusten, Merchant

018: Slaven

Genus – Giant Classificaton – Slaven

Observations: Valued through much of history for their size and great locomotive power as beasts of burden, recent advances in transport tecknologies have seen this noble beast fall by the wayside.

Rare have their trainers become withal, such that only a few still remain alive in Ivalice today.

While some argue that the breed should be preserved as part of our cultural heritage, most modern specimens are thoroughly feral, beyond pacification by even a skilled trainer.

Sage Knowledge (25 of 78): Marks: Beasts – scourge of the common peoples of Ivalice. Foul creatures who take the greatest relish from inflicting the most gratuitous harm.

Of these, the worst are identified as a public menace and made "marks," for the slaying of which a bounty is offered. Most mark hunting petitions come from commoners or local officials, though kingdoms have been known to issue requests for the slaying of particularly malevolent menaces.

Mark hunters range from professional hunters to casual adventurers. The unwary be warned: though mark hunting is imagined by some to be a short road to fame and fortune, it is oft-times found to be a short road to an early grave.

019: Mardu Entite

Genus – Mardu Entite Classification – Elemental

Observations: Tales of the people speak oft of the wrathful gods visiting Man with lightning, and the remorseful gods weeping the rain that follows. For this did peasants once light fires, sending smoke up to the heavens in hopes it would cause the eyes of the gods to water, irrigating their crops.

Yet these fires did naught but incur once more the gods' wrath, and in a rage, they sent rainless lightning down to blast and scorch those who had offended.

It is said these bolts gave birth to the mardu entite.

The Entite Pact: How better to quell the lightning's blind rage, to still the mindless roar of her answering thunder, than by drawing a veil of ice around it, cold enough to freeze passion itself?

So will the dark clouds part and let shine through a light as brilliant as
the sun: the light of electrum.