Exotic Animals

Brought from parallel worlds after the Breaking of the World, the exotics are believed to have played a vital role in almost eradicating Shadowspawn from the Seanchan continent. While animals such as the great, grey s'redit or the horse are well valued in the armed forces, the exotics are ranked far higher. A handler of an animal is called a morat, Old Tongue for 'one who handles', a more senior trainer, a der'morat, 'master handler'.

There is a complex social order between the handlers and trainers of different animals: a der'morat's seniority counts within their discipline, but a morat of a different exotic may well rank above them.

This social order is as follows, from higher to lower:

der'sul'dam
sul'dam
der'morat'raken
der'morat'to'raken
morat'raken
der'morat'torm
morat'to'raken
der'morat'lopar
morat'torm
der'morat'grolm
morat'lopar
der'morat'corlm
morat'grolm
morat'corlm

The exotics, in alphabetical order, are:

Corlm

The corlm is a bird-like carnivore, reaching a height of up to eight feet. Its long neck holds an oblong head with a powerful, hooked beak and two long, mobile ears. Standing on two hind-legs, it possess an additional two fore-arms that are used primarily for feeding or nest-building, and a large tail that flattens for speed while running.

Corlm are used singularly (as they do not appreciate the company of their fellows), principally for tracking purposes. They can pursue their prey by sight or scent, and their keen hearing allows them to receive commands vocally or by a high-pitched whistle.

An unmatched hunter, they are covered with striped or mottled hair in browns, greys, and blacks. The fur helps to break up the corlm's figure, acting as camouflage to help it in its hunting.

Torm will strike at a corlm should they be near each other, and the morats must work hard to ensure it does not escalate into full combat. As a result, a corlm will never be used in conjunction with torm, and they are kept as far from each other as possible.

Corlm females lay a single egg at a time, but it often does not hatch.

Grolm

The rough size of a bear, the three-eyed grolm have vicious beaks and immensely tough, almost armoured, reptilian hides. Working often as pack animals, the grolm – graceful at high speeds – are used to puncture holes in enemy lines and rout lightly armed troops. Their ferociousness and appearance easily frightens horses not trained to cope against them, and their hardiness makes it difficult for human troops to bring them down. The key place to attack would be in its eyes.

It is fortunate they heel quickly and are not easily incapacitated by non-fatal wounds, as litters of grolm frequently fight amongst themselves and it is rare for more than one per litter to survive to adulthood. While generally pack animals, grolm often consume their dead and may devour their injured if their handlers do not avert it.

Grolm can be commanded by gesture or spoken commands, although high-pitched whistles are used by the more experienced handlers as a matter of pride. Their keen hearing and sense of smell makes them good guard animals, as they quickly learn who has the right to enter an area.

Lopar

The large, big cat-esque lopar is one of the most intelligent of the exotics, and usually is quite placid. When necessary, however, it is an excellent, fierce fighter. They can rear to a height of as much as ten feet on their hind legs in order to sweep a rider from their horse, or to engage in dominance play with others of their kind.

With no fur but brown- or red-hued leathery hides, lopars are often bought by the rich to guard themselves or their children. Fast sprinters and very calm when not ordered to fight, they often gain a close attachment to their charges, and can refuse to eat if kept away.

Lopar-mating is a very rough ordeal, with both participants frequently coming out with injuries. Lopars are without fail born in pairs, although there is a quite high mortality rate. When used in battle, a morat'lopar will cover their animal's hide in a leather-and-steel armoured coat to protect their spine and chest.

Raken

The raken is a reptilian, flying scout, with a long, slender neck, and a dexterous, tapered tail. It achieves flight using a pair of very large, bat-like wings. While awkward on the ground, the raken's aeronautical performance is unmatched. Very agile, the raken can surpass threefold the speed of a horse over short distances, and can range up to four hundred miles at lower speeds.

Morat'raken are typically women or lightweight men, as they are required to ride the raken without impeding its flight to too great a degree. If pushed, a raken will ride despite its injuries, but morat'raken must be careful not to ride the creatures to their death.

Raken are invaluable as scouting units, being able to give their riders, colloquially referred to as 'fliers', clear vision over many obstacles that impede ground-based scouts. They are also used to deliver messages rapidly, as not only is their speed greater than that of human messengers, even on horseback, they can take a direct route over forests, ravines, mountains or lakes.

Morat'raken direct a raken via reins, much in the manner of a horse, from a special, lightweight saddle. The saddle will often have two seats, although outside of scouting missions it is rare for a raken to fly two fliers at a time.

While omnivorous, raken are often kept on all-plant diets, and are not suitable for transporting heavy cargo or personnel.

Torm

A horse-sized, cat-like reptilian, the torm is one of the most highly intelligent of the exotics. Its three-eyed gaze resembles that of the grolm, however the intelligence in those eyes is found very disconcerting. Tests that have been conducted on the grolm conclude that it has adequate problem solving faculties; for example, grolms are able to navigate their way through mazes with little difficulty.

Interestingly, another form its intelligence takes is the inability for morat'torm to put the carnivore to hunt: the torm hunts what it likes, and will not track a specific animal. They can be kept off meat for several days, but they become more and more desperate for it and will eventually become impossible to control as it tries to hunt.

Torms develop a unique bond with their rider: when choosing a morat, they will decline many for no apparent reason, but once one has been chosen, they will not let any other ride it. This causes some problems should that morat die, but given time torms can be retrained to accept a new rider.

Torms are ferocious and powerful fighters. Their bronze-coloured scales serve as a very effective armour, and their powerful claws make awesome weapons, but its not just their rarity that makes them more favoured as scouts rather than fulfilling their potential on the battlefield: when exposed to the fighting for too long a time, they enter an uncontrollable riotous fury where they will attack all those around them, regardless of their personal safety. Interestingly, the only one safe from the torm in its rage is the morat'torm riding it.

A torm will, without fail, try to attack any nearby corlm. As morat'torm and morat'corlm must be extra vigilant to keep their respective animals' strikes from leading to a full scale fight, corlm and torm are never used together and are housed with as much distance between them as possible.

To'raken

When the Seanchan need to transport large cargo – up to around a thousand pounds in weight – quickly, to'raken are often used. While related to the raken, mottled brown to'raken are much larger than their grey cousins, but otherwise visually similar.

To'raken are slower and much less agile than raken, but can still travel airborne at twice the speed of a horse. On the ground, to'raken are similarly awkward in movement, and require an additional run-up to raken in order to build up the momentum needed to get their large frame from the ground.

The maximum range of a to'raken is far greater than that of a raken – with just one morat, a to'raken can travel over a thousand miles without a break. When fully loaded – carrying one morat and a thousand pounds in cargo – they can still make two hundred miles.

Their use as cargo or personal transportation far eclipses their occasional used on the battlefield. Archers and crossbowmen on the back of a to'raken require the animal to fly slowly and low over the battlefield, making them vulnerable to ranged counterattack. When injured, unlike their smaller cousins, to'raken often refuse to fly and will make haste to the nearest safe landing spot should they be flying at the time. The to'raken, when hurt, cares little for the safety of its passengers or cargo when choosing such a spot, however.

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