Splendiferous Brawler 

This guest entry was written and illustrated by the Troll Men...

During the late hothouse era, the southern continent of Serinaustra is dominated by tentacle birds. Not merely the vast herds of huge lumps, but the much older and more basal group which had originated on the landmass from even before its glaciation, the squorks. Most terrestrial species have remained small predators or omnivorous generalists, but there is one branch which has managed to achieve enormous size, exceeding even the largest land trunkos in mass. These, the solitary bogbeasts and the closely related, but much more social brawlers. Brawlers are a strange animal, ecologically, with no real equivalent on Earth; they are large, but also social and omnivorous, capable of hunting large prey, but just as happy to passively browse vegetation alongside animals it would just as quickly devour. Their size and numbers are their advantage, as there are few other predators or prey species capable of fending off their combined might, but being able to feed on vegetation allows them to congregate in numbers otherwise unsustainable for predators of such size.

Brawlers are polygamous, with intense competition between males for control of female harems. The splendiferous brawler is a species that has evolved extravagantly elongated wattles and combs on the male's face, which have vividly coloured, in order to impress the females. Males are about a third larger than females, weighing up to sixteen-hundred pounds, and heavily-built for fighting other males; because the fleshy caruncles that adorn their heads are delicate, males will avoid using their faces during duels, and attack with body slams and kicks to the chest, legs, and flanks. Their rib cages are thickened for such forceful attacks, but most confrontations are settled non-violently through ritualistic dances, which is also how they court receptive females. Females like a male that is well-groomed, so males will spend much of their time not spent sleeping or eating keeping themselves clean; in such a damp and buggy climate, self-maintenance is a constant chore.

Splendiferous brawlers live in groups in open forest and swampland regions, generally consisting of one or two males and between three and eight females, although up to fifteen is possible, especially for particularly large males or male siblings. All female groups and all male groups are also not uncommon, the former not having picked a suitable male, the latter made up of bachelors unable to secure a harem. Despite the males' larger size, females are dominant in a group due to their numbers and choice over mate preference. Usually the oldest female in a group is the de facto leader of the group by default, although it varies. Males must work to keep their interest beyond simply keeping themselves maintained, which they will do via social grooming, feeding, and helping to protect their offspring. Females do the lion's share of nest brooding and parental care, but males will nonetheless still defend his young from predators. Care beyond that varies between individuals, some males are playful fathers, others avoid their young and are annoyed by them, while most tend to be tolerant, but make no real attempts to initiate interactions. Young are born with a highly-contrasting, banded colouration that helps them hide in tall grass or forest undergrowth, but this fades to a duller adult body colouration within a year. Male adolescents leave soon after they begin to develop bluish colouration around their face at around three years, while females take longer to mature, becoming independent at closer to four years old; this discrepancy helps prevent potential inbreeding between siblings. Newly independent females may choose to join another harem, a process which may take several weeks as the older females gradually accept them, or establish their own group, the former being more common with single animals or two sisters, the latter choice occurring more often with larger group of sisters leaving at the same time.

Adults are large enough to hunt all but the biggest contemporary herbivorous megafauna, like giraffowl and trunkos, although this behaviour is almost entirely absent in males due to their extreme facial ornamentation being a serious handicap when hunting, limiting them to scavenging, much smaller prey, or mooching off the work of the females. Although they lack any sort of specialized killing weapon like razor-sharp talons or tooth-like spikes lining their tentacles, females will use their numbers and strength to isolate and overwhelm their prey, grasping with muscular tentacles to wrench off limbs and other appendages, or working together to literally pull the victim apart. Just as often they are also happy to bully other predators from their kills, an act which males will also take part, and are much more successful at thanks to their larger size and display structures. Both sexes possess vibrantly blue mouths which are used for intimidation displays; the intimidation display of an entire group of bellowing brawlers is enough to see off any animal, save another group of brawlers... or just one of one other, specific type of brawler, that not even these fierce creatures will challenge...