These beings are an entire species of elemental fae beasts. They are occasionally known as qwachi. Though they look somewhat like mammalian predators, any resemblance to mammals or any other animals is entirely superficial. They are not regular mortal animals at all, but rather elementals with a beastlike form. They are fully sapient and have their own language, but are largely instinct-driven. They stay wild and have no civilization or complex society to speak of. They usually stick to remote wilderness areas.
Each beast reps a single element. The known elements and their rarity are as follows:
Common - Fire (Heat), Ice (Cold), Water, Earth, Plant
Uncommon - Poison, Electricity, Metal, Wind (Air)
Rare - Dark, Light
A few of the above types have 'subtypes' such as: Earth beasts can be ground, rock, crystal, or a variety of gems. Metal beasts can rep almost any single metal, from ferrous to precious.
Their horizontal ungulate pupils look quite uncanny on a creature with the forward-facing eyes of a predator, giving a hint to the supernatural nature of these beasts. They look almost like a mockery of a normal animal, with their front-facing goat eyes and sharp uniform teeth.
Each of a beast's four paws has four digits, and these end in razor-sharp and fully retractable claws like those of felines. The tail tends to be long and flexible, and often seems to have a mind of its own (it seems to twitch and lash about at random, and can even react to threats when its owner is asleep or otherwise distracted)
There is no fleshy nose capping the short muzzle, just a pair of small round or slitted nostrils. Within the jaws are sharp and "primitive" teeth that aren't differentiated; no advanced dentition here. Instead, these teeth are all uniform in shape like that of a crocodile or piranha, though they can vary slightly in size.
Their metabolisms do not require them to breathe, though most do have a heartlike pump that circulates fluid through their "blood" vessels, though instead of blood the liquid coursing through their veins is a medium for elemental energy. This fluid is often of a similar color to the individual beast's skin & internal flesh, and thus rarely red unless those are also red (such as in some fire beasts)
Although all of these beasts are carnivores who can digest meat (with a preference for warm-blooded prey and, in the case of water beasts, fish & cephalopods as well) they can also obtain nourishment from absorbing their own element. For example, an electric-beast might feed on natural lightning and snack on batteries. A cold beast might eat snow or glacial ice. An earth beast might nibble on stones, pebbles, or dirt. And so on.
The crocodile-like dentition of these beasts does not allow for efficient chewing, so most tear off and swallow chunks of meat without doing so.
Each qwachi can both emit/breathe their element, absorb external sources of their element for sustenance & healing, and even shift into a pure form of their energy type temporarily! The latter is most often used for rapid escape or quick travel.
Their most potent/taxing ability is their power to "summon" a storm of their element. For example, a cold beast could summon a blizzard. An electric beast can summon a lightning-heavy thunderstorm. An earth beast can summon an earthquake. An air beast could summon a tornado or hurricane, depending on the individual beast. A water beast can call upon a massive tsunami or rainstorm, and so on.
Although all of them have decent vision in dim light, only the dark-elementals see perfectly well in complete darkness.
Their gender distribution is uneven: 60% of individuals are male, 35% are female, and 5% are nonbinary.
Only about 10% of them are capable of reproduction, while the rest are sterile for their entire lifespans.
Though they have internal genitalia that usually remain concealed, it's easy to tell the sexes apart because of their ears: males have erect "prick" ears, while females have floppy "hound" ears. The rare nonbinary individuals can have either ear type, or even one of each.
All of these beasts have certain physical features in common to their species as a whole. These include the approximate size and general shape of the body and head, those goatlike eyes with horizontal pupils, a long tail, sharp retractable claws on all four limbs, and sharp piranha-like teeth.
An individual beast's appearance otherwise depends on its own element. This affects coloration and hide, fur, or scale texture.
Some elements are more likely to produce beasts with certain traits. For example, very ample and fluffy fur is most common in fire, light, and wind beasts. Water beasts often have webbed paws, scaly skin, finned tails/ears, or cephalopod tentacles. Wind beasts often have feathery plumage instead of a coat of fur. Electric and poison beasts often have quills or spines. Poison beasts often have stinger-tipped tails and hollow, venomous fangs and spines. Plant beasts can have giant flowers tipping their tails, have a pelt made of moss or leaves, and give off a sweet floral scent. Earth and metal beasts can have tough, armored hides like an armadillo or the scales of a pangolin. Dark beasts can have a wispy coat of ghostly shadow "fur", while light beasts can have a "pelt" of radiant white, yellow, or pale gold light.
Horns are most common in metal, earth, plant, dark, and light beasts, but any element can possess them. These horns can take any form, from curling ramlike spirals to tiny spiked nubs, and are unique to the individual.
All of these beasts can have a pelt of real fur, but some (namely water, earth, and metal) are more likely not to.
Some elementals (namely fire, electric, and light) leave behind glowing pawprints as they walk. These are usually red or orange for fire beasts, yellow or cyan for electric beasts, and often a brilliant white for light beasts.
Others also leave behind unique pawprints-- dark beasts leave smoky black or dark purple pawprints that dissipate quickly. Plant beasts' prints often cause grass and other plants to grow where they tread. Ice beasts leave cold white or pale ice-blue prints that can freeze the surrounding area. Some (not all) poison beasts leave behind sickly green or purplish-mauve prints that seem to ooze with poisonous slime.
Wings are only possible for wind and poison beasts. Such wings can be either fully functional or tiny and vestigial. Wind beasts can have any wing type (bird, bat, or insect) or patagia for gliding, while poison beasts can only have insectlike wings (from wasp to butterfly). None of the others can have wings.
Males (and nonbinary individuals with one or both male-type ears) have much better hearing than the lop-eared females do.
This species is oviparous. When two fertile individuals mate and conception occurs, usually just one egg is laid about eight months later. The egg must be incubated for six months, which is typically done by both parents. From that egg a single pup hatches. On occasion a pair of eggs will be laid and twins will hatch. The pups take about two decades to reach maturity.
Beasts of opposing elements tend to dislike each other, and in the rare chance they'd get along well enough to conceive, that pregnancy is likely to end in miscarriage, as the elemental egg never forms correctly. Even if the pup of such a union survives, the pregnancy that produced it will have caused significant physical distress to the mother. Surviving pups will usually be of the mother's element.
A list of which elements oppose which, and whether one has an advantage over the other:
Fire & Water, water wins
Fire & Ice, fire wins
Fire & Plant, fire wins
Electric & Earth, earth wins
Electric & Water, electric wins
Wind & Earth, tie
Wind & Metal, tie
Water & Earth, tie
Water & Metal, tie
Plant & Poison, poison wins
Plant & Earth, plant wins
Dark & Light, tie
Light & Plant, plant wins
Dark & Plant, dark wins
Opposing elements with advantage do more damage to the opposite element, and that damage regenerates much slower than normal. But even "tied" opposite elementals have a strong instinct to detest and avoid each other.
These beasts frequently mate for life and live in pairs or small family groups. They tend to be territorial, but otherwise their natures vary by individual. Certain elements are more likely to have specific personality traits, but there are exceptions.
Fire beasts are often hotheaded and temperamental, yet also warm and passionate. Ice and dark beasts tend to be more shy, reserved, and stoic. Earth and metal beasts tend to be more grounded and serious. Electric beasts are often nervous, high-strung, and jittery. Wind and water beasts are often moody and fickle. Light beasts tend to be good-natured, yet think too highly of themselves to the point of arrogance. Poison and plant beasts don't have any specific personality traits associated with them.
This is my sona’s species! Hashmal is a female electric qwachi, and in fact her name means “electricity” in Hebrew (my native language)
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