Arathax

The Arathax is a winged, reptilian creature about the size of a small horse. In fact, the head and body of the Arathax are almost identical to that of a draft horse. The wings and tail of the creature are more like those of a bird than a reptile, having long coarse feathers. Arathax usually have and plain, metallic grey color, while the wing and tail feathers boast a wide variety of colors which vary with each individual.

Combat: The Arathax fights with its forelegs and teeth. When forced to fight, they will do so in large numbers. After the second round of combat, there is a 10% chance per round, cumulative, that 1-6 additional arathax will come to help fend off attackers. They will generally avoid ships.

Habitat/Society: The arathax are native to the asteroid clusters of wildspace, and they have been encountered in many spheres. In some spheres, arathax have taken to living in the mountains of earth worlds and in air worlds where floating islands are available, but these cases are so rare that they do not warrant further discussion. Sometimes a spacefaring human or elf will take an arathax as a mount. The agreement will be a mutual partnership, however, as an arathax will never act as a simple beast of burden.

Ecology: Arathax are similar to pegasi in their behavior. They travel within asteroid clusters feeding off the various lichens that grow there. The packs are nomadic, and travel wherever there is food. In general, they try not to bother humans and other space travellers. The Rock of Bral would be a perfect place to find arathax, but the creatures do not attempt to eat the vegetation on the Rock. They do, however, feed on the nearby ones. An arathax has tight breath control, and it can last four times as long as most creatures on its own air envelope. They have excellent senses, and they always seem to know if a given asteroid will have edible food and/or breathable air.