The Duke

The towertree taiga is one of the final hold-outs for forest life as the Mid-Ultimocene ice age bears down on the world of Serina. This region is named for its dominant tree species, the towertree, a gigantic, primitive relative of cactaiga with branches which grow around its tall, upright trunks in a spiraling pattern. These trees survive along the sea coast of southwest Serinarcta, where temperatures are kept just slightly more mild by the influence of the flowing icebox seaway. They provide shelter from the snow, and a place to live for a variety of animals that can no longer be found anywhere else, in particular some of the final refugees of the equatorial forests, those sparse few which were not immediately obliterated as their jungle homes turned to frigid boreal wastelands.

Though other carnivores may sometimes enter from the surrounding steppe, the largest predator endemic to this forest is a glove, one of the last two species to still maintain a tenuous hold on survival in this refuge, both of them descended from the grapplepard. Known as the duke, it is a large, terrestrial hunter, with some individuals capable of reaching a weight of almost 400 pounds, and a formidable predator of antlear circuagodonts, forest trunkos, and small boomsingers. With feathered feet to protect from the snow, it walks nearly silent and sneaks up on its prey, taking advantage of low visibility conditions to further hide it from sight; rain, snow, fog, and the dark of night are all its friends. A solitary ambush predator, it has little endurance, but can attain speeds over 35 miles per hour in a short sprint to chase down its victims. Prey is wrestled to the ground in the five talon-like facial tentacles and killed with a vicious slicing bite to the throat with the sharp beak that is normally hidden beneath them. In many respects, especially its robust size and manner of hunting, it mirrors the terror glove. It has effectively evolved in its stead, as that animal was less adaptable to climate change and did not persist long into the ice age.

Dukes have acquired a variety of traits which benefit their survival in a colder world. Their feet and their faces are both now insulated by feathers, and they have started to fold their tentacles together at rest in a way that prevents heat loss - it also gives them some passing resemblance to a fist, and so lends them their common name. They are powerful predators and very well-adapted to this forested remnant of the once vegetated world, but are now poorly-suited to step outside it. Without cover to shield them from prying eyes, they struggle to approach or keep pace with their quarry. Outside these final forests, hunters of the type of prey the duke requires must be both fast and able to keep up their pace to follow the migrating herds. Otherwise, all that is left for the picking are the equally fierce and well-defended thorngrazers, generally too large and strong for even the duke to subdue. So despite its hunting prowess and its impressive abilities as a hunter, the duke is - like all life here - dependent on the towertrees' continued presence for its own survival.

And, to the detriment of all, this refuge now becomes a little bit smaller each and every passing year.