[✗] [Creature Lore] Battle Ferrets

[VoidTermnia 259]

Battle Ferrets

 

 

Physiology

 

Battle ferrets are cute critters that are akin to normal ferrets, save for just how large they have gotten. Battle ferrets, over the course of years of breeding with the largest ferrets around, gradually grew bigger and bigger. Now they are roughly the size of a large dog. Battle ferrets at their largest, can become 5 feet in length and 2'6 feet in height. These critters can range in any colors a ferret can. Save for their size, they resemble normal ferrets. Battle ferrets also tend to have thicker and fluffier fur, but not neccecarily. Though too small to be ridden by your average decendant, somebody who is Halfling or Musin sized may stand a chance riding these cute creatures. They have rather sharp teeth and claws, able to pierce flesh, regular clothing, and weak armor such as thin leather, but not much else. Battle ferrets do not have any magical properties, and can be communicated to by Druids like any other animal. They can grow to be at maximum 20 years old. They can wear leather armor, and thin metal armor, though it can't cover their bodies completely, or else they wouldn't be able to fight due to the armor restricting their movements.

 

Spoiler

Redlines

 

-Cannot be over 5 feet in length, or 2'6 feet in height.

-Cannot be ridden by anybody over Halfling size.

-Cannot come in any unnatural colors (i.e. purple)

-Cannot bite/claw through or damage any armor that is high quality leather or tougher.

-Cannot grow over 20 years old.

-Can wear leather armor, or thin metal armor. 

-Metal armor cannot cover most or all of their bodies.

 

Behavior

 

Battle ferrets are adventurous, rambunctious creatures that require near-constant upkeep. They are mischevious and curious about everything, which often gets them into trouble. Of course, battle ferrets may have ranging personalities, some being more quiet and reserved. In terms of mentality, they are roughly as smart as your average dog, being able to learn commands such as sit, stay, heel, etc. Battle ferrets cannot be taught to understand full sentences. Battle ferrets are usually friendly towards decendants, especially if socialized from a young age. They are sociable, and in the wild often form groups of battle ferrets referred to as a 'bundle' of up to 20 individuals at maximum, but the average bundle has roughly ten battle ferrets. They are quite loyal, and will most likely stay someone's friend as long as they can. They are quite playful, loving to wrestle around with anybody they deem to be their bundlemate. They enjoy excercise, exercise and hate to be kept in confined areas where they cannot properly explore. They also often mimic how their owner, or bundlemates feel towards others. If their owner or bundlemate likes any said person, the battle ferret is much more amiable towards said person. Battle ferrets can indeed be used in battle, hence the name, but they often require constant supervision and guiding on what to do and who to attack, making it difficult for whoever is commanding the battle ferret to fight and control the battle ferret. If the person has more than on battle ferret during combat, the other battle ferrets will scamper off to hide, leaving only one to fight with their owner. Battle ferrets dig burrows to sleep and have kits in, though they generallt are above ground.

 

Spoiler

Redlines

 

-Cannot be used to metagame information. (i.e. having your battle ferret spy on a conversation)

-Cannot be taught overly complex commands (i.e. medical skills)

-Only one battle ferret is allowed to fight in CRP situations.

 

 

Habitat

Battle ferrets live in a variety of places, but prefer to stick to wooded areas, with plenty of flora and fauna. Due to their thick coats, they are not well-suited towards warmer enviroments such as deserts. They are found in forests, or occasionally romping through sunny meadows.

 

Spoiler

Redlines

 

-Cannot survive in the desert or equally warm areas naturally for extended periods of time.

 

 

Taming

 

Taming battle ferrets is fairly simple on paper, but in the act, a fair few difficulties can show up. Battle ferrets are often in bundles of around 10 ferrets, so one would first have to single out a battle ferret to tame. It is highly reccomended to take a battle ferret as a kit, or find somebody who breeds battle ferrets and buy an already tamed battle ferret from them. Mother battle ferrets are highly protective over their kits, and make burrows underground to have litters of 4-6 kits. If one manages to take a kit with all their fingers still attached, it is then a fairly simple process of raising and bonding with the kit. If one wishes to tame an adult, they must first seperate the battle ferret from their bundle, and slowly gain it's trust. This process can take anywhere from a week to a few months, depending on how stubborn any paticular battle ferret is.

 Battle ferrets were not actually originally meant for battle, they merely got their name from their size. Commanding a battle ferret in battle takes [1] emote to tell it what to do, and [1] emote for the battle ferret to actually attack.

Spoiler

Redlines

 

-Wild battle ferrets cannot be instantly tamed.

-Takes 1 emote to instruct to attack, and 1 emote to attack.

 

 

Origins

 

Battle ferrets, unsuprisingly, originated from normal ferrets. However, the ferrets had quite a few natural predators. These predators included the Porculon Bear, a massive bear like creature with spikes covering it's backside, and the Shardspine Raptor, a dinosaur-like being with shard-like spikes on it's back. The solution? Grow bigger. Battle ferrets, over the course of who knows how many years, gradually became much larger than their normal ferret friends. Now a good 5 feet long, and 2'6 feet tall, battle ferrets are omnivorous creatures, though they tend to lean towards eating more meat than plants.

 

 

 

 

OOC Purpose

 

Just some silly critters to have as pets, or maybe provide a helping hand in battle!

 

 

 

 

Credits

Writer- VoidTermnia

Edited December 27, 2023 by VoidTermnia
Added an origins section!

[PanicZealot 206]

We need battle ferrets as soon as possible

 

[hemomancy 2850]

yes please

 

[ShinyB 115]

These are amazing. I would sell my soul to have them in my life.

[Turbo_Dog 1432]

If battle ferrets has million fans, then I'm one of them.
If battle ferrets has one fan, then I'm THAT ONE.
If battle ferrets has no fans, that means I'm dead. +1 I love this!

 

Questions though, can they be given light armor like leather wrappings or thin plates tied with leather straps around them? What’s their carrying capacity if they hold anything? 

 

 

[VoidTermnia 259]

5 minutes ago, Turbo_Dog said:

If battle ferrets has million fans, then I'm one of them.
If battle ferrets has one fan, then I'm THAT ONE.
If battle ferrets has no fans, that means I'm dead. +1 I love this!

 

Questions though, can they be given light armor like leather wrappings or thin plates tied with leather straps around them? What’s their carrying capacity if they hold anything? 

 

 

aa thanks for the support! they can wear armor, and probably heavier armor like steel. they can also probably hold roughly 10 pounds of stuff? (im bad at guesstimating weight)

[Benleft 887]

Creature bloat is not a problem as-is... If there are too many lore pages, they can just be compiled into AWESOME creature compendiums. 
 

That being said, I feel like “big, semi-obedient” ferret would not be a staple of the setting… I feel like a  “general battle animal pet” piece with VERY good (restrictive) redlines would save lore reviewers a lot of time…

[Tabby64 1295]

15 minutes ago, Benleft said:

Creature bloat is not a problem as-is... If there are too many lore pages, they can just be compiled into AWESOME creature compendiums. 
 

That being said, I feel like “big, semi-obedient” ferret would not be a staple of the setting… I feel like a  “general battle animal pet” piece with VERY good (restrictive) redlines would save lore reviewers a lot of time…

@SmmerGive him a timeout on the forums. He is giving feedback to lore on Christmas eve

[PanicZealot 206]

20 minutes ago, Benleft said:

Creature bloat is not a problem as-is... If there are too many lore pages, they can just be compiled into AWESOME creature compendiums. 
 

That being said, I feel like “big, semi-obedient” ferret would not be a staple of the setting… I feel like a  “general battle animal pet” piece with VERY good (restrictive) redlines would save lore reviewers a lot of time…

is there anything you would explicitly change to help this get approved?

 

[Laeonathan 3970]

Hmpf.

 

Admittingly I'm really not a fan of the idea of battle-pets in general, since we've got magics centered around that already.

 

Both Druidism and Life Evocation go (somewhat) in that niche. A creature this size would be considered "large" by life evocation lore standards, meaning for combat, you would need five (!) emotes to summon it (T5 Life Evocationist casting Terrestial Conjuration). Even for a druid, who are quite literally centered around animals/nature would need two emotes to convince a creature that size to fight for them (T5 Druid casting Beastspeak). However, both the druid and the conjurationist need to keep focus on said animal.

 

If you look at the creatures immense size - this is way to overpowered, especially since you'd not need to focus on the animal...

 

4 hours ago, Benleft said:

Creature bloat is not a problem as-is... If there are too many lore pages, they can just be compiled into AWESOME creature compendiums. 
 

That being said, I feel like “big, semi-obedient” ferret would not be a staple of the setting… I feel like a  “general battle animal pet” piece with VERY good (restrictive) redlines would save lore reviewers a lot of time…

 

The druidic communion lore says:
 

Quote

"A Druid’s animal companion must adhere to ST guidelines concerning pets, if used in combat. As such any companion larger than a golden retriever is prohibited from combat scenarios."

 

Quote

"Current ST policy concerning summoned, independently-acting animals requires them to be no larger than a golden retriever. This means any animal called to fight for the Druid must adhere to this."

 

...so apparently such a guideline does exist? (I can't find it though)

 

Looking at this statement within the druidism which cites some guideline by the ST I admittingly cannot find would really make the lore obsolete - since you can just downsize it into a reasonable size and then go on.

[VoidTermnia 259]

4 hours ago, Laeonathan said:

Hmpf.

 

Admittingly I'm really not a fan of the idea of battle-pets in general, since we've got magics centered around that already.

 

Both Druidism and Life Evocation go (somewhat) in that niche. A creature this size would be considered "large" by life evocation lore standards, meaning for combat, you would need five (!) emotes to summon it (T5 Life Evocationist casting Terrestial Conjuration). Even for a druid, who are quite literally centered around animals/nature would need two emotes to convince a creature that size to fight for them (T5 Druid casting Beastspeak). However, both the druid and the conjurationist need to keep focus on said animal.

 

If you look at the creatures immense size - this is way to overpowered, especially since you'd not need to focus on the animal...

 

 

The druidic communion lore says:
 

 

 

...so apparently such a guideline does exist? (I can't find it though)

 

Looking at this statement within the druidism which cites some guideline by the ST I admittingly cannot find would really make the lore obsolete - since you can just downsize it into a reasonable size and then go on.

Thanks for your feedback! I've downsized the battle ferrets, and made it so that ordering them to fight is a major emote.

[Digit_005 245]

A big noodle dog that can fight beside me?! Sign me up for one (or four) of these little guys!

 

+1

[ClassyDryad 1733]

@Benleft((My phone won't let me quote)) I've actually done a bit of work on a "Dire Animal" lore piece for pets/mounts/event monsters that are just an IRL animal but big. I never pursued it because I figured it would be abusable/ST would shoot it down though.

 

@VoidTermniaIf they are only four feet long and unable to get through most armors they probably don't need a major action to command. They would fit within the basic independent companion rules.

 

 

 

 

 

[Benleft 887]

17 minutes ago, ClassyDryad said:

@Benleft((My phone won't let me quote)) I've actually done a bit of work on a "Dire Animal" lore piece for pets/mounts/event monsters that are just an IRL animal but big. I never pursued it because I figured it would be abusable/ST would shoot it down though.

Balance and submit it… Don’t lose hope… LT are only a mental road block (review compiles are a helpful resource). You are stronger, better…

[VoidTermnia 259]

40 minutes ago, ClassyDryad said:

@Benleft((My phone won't let me quote)) I've actually done a bit of work on a "Dire Animal" lore piece for pets/mounts/event monsters that are just an IRL animal but big. I never pursued it because I figured it would be abusable/ST would shoot it down though.

 

@VoidTermniaIf they are only four feet long and unable to get through most armors they probably don't need a major action to command. They would fit within the basic independent companion rules.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh epic lol, first time trying to write any sort of creature lore so I'm trying not to make them too OP y'know?