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 Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 10:22 pm
(All below info was written by Leena-chan with the help of Rabid & Kitara to expand the knowledge of the banthi species.)
What is a Banthi?
Banthi are a perfect combination between a wild canine gene and a wild feline gene. There are hints of gazelle DNA through their horns, but mainly a feline and canine structure is their structure of anatomy.
The beginning stage is a small gem, holding the soul of a banthi within. Once this soul is awakened and sees things are safe enough, it will emerge into its second phase, a cub. The cub will grow among it's clanmates for an undetermined amount of time, some taking a lot longer than others. The eventually grow into a mischievous teen and after experiencing life outside the cavern, will grow into a full-fledged adult.
Genesis of The Modern Banthi
The Banthi have been a legend since time began, but like most legends, they are often forgotten. Rabid and Kitara both deeply believed these creatures still existed but lacked any proof. After having studied the Banthi legends and myths for years, they both set out in search of them.
They soon arrived at an abandoned and secluded cave, the only clue to where the beasts once dwelled. Journeying farther into the cave than any human had ever before, Rabid and Kitara found old, petrified claw-like stands that held different colour gems. Convinced they had found the Banthi, Rabid and Kitara started to make the cave home and spent several days trying to pry the gems from the claw's death grip. Luckily, the cave held more than just the gems... It held shelve upon shelve of old records of Banthi legend and mystery.
After reading all they could, Rabid performed the very first calling. Both were amazed when the stone claw shattered and the gem itself formed into a small, helpless Banthi. After such, Kitara called her own gem and both began to raise the small beasts in the safety of the deep caverns, making sure to produce the best of the rare species.
World Of The Clan
Banthi are social creatures. They follow a wolf and lion order of society but retain many individual characteristics that these two species do not have. An example of this would be their mating. While in wolf packs only the alphas are supposed to mate, and in lion prides the alpha male mates with all the females of the pride, the banthi find their own mates. These creatures will stay together for life.
The top rank of the Banthi society would be the alphas, each having their own strange mutation to represent their status. The alpha male and female are the top fighters or philosophers of the pack, holding the highest responsibility by trying to ensure the safety of their clan. In this society, the alphas find their own mates. The next in the chain of command would be the elitist fighter, this is the hardest rank in command because it is the second in command when neither of the top fighters can be located. This is due to their great fighting skills. After the elitist rank, there are the Intermediate fighters. This is a rank of some of the toughest battlers among the clan. Next is the Moderate fighters, whom hold very well during battles but are usually ones who prefer not to get in the line of danger. After this command post would be Novice which are the newest battlers of the pack. They prefer peace over war but will fight if need be.
As you can obviously see, it is fighting that gains banthi respect among their peers. There are few banthi who prefer not to battle at all and they still hold an important place in the clan but stay completely free from ever being able to gain higher respect and rank in the society.
However, all clans are different. So far only The Feral Clan have been known to use battling and strength as their means for higher ranking and respect. All clans are different.
There is also recent proof that genetics do not always matter to this species. Cubs that are awakened without a mother of their own, many females take it upon themselves to raise them. It is seen as well with even the alpha that they will take on other banthi as family even if there is no blood connection. This has come to form a very strong pack.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:38 pm
Birth This is how all banthi start out life, sealed away within a precious gem. The stone claw that holds the gem itself was once the Banthi's original body, but after death the body petrified itself and broke apart. The remnants formed into a stone claw-like stand that supports the gem containing the banthi's soul or spirit, a physical manifestation of it. The size of this stage is about 14 inches tall. The soul within needs to know the environment is safe before they can awaken and emerge from this dormant state.Growth At this age, theres no real difference in appearance of the banthi, males and females look very similar with a small size difference. Each banthi as it awakens develops it own personality. They are about the size of a bear cub, making them rather big babies, but that doesn't stop them from having fun! This is one of the most important cycles of life because this is when these creatures learn all their necessary skills. Newborns are rather helpless and must learn everything from the beginning.Reaching Maturity  As a adolescent your banthi will start to show signs of it's gender: the males growing muscular with a pair of stubby gazelle-like horns and the females being more stocky with a long, flowing tail used for superb balancing acts. Both normally reach to your thigh at the shoulder, females of course still being smaller in size. At this stage your banthi will begin to explore the world outside of the cavern, hunt, and perhaps even start being interest in the opposite sex.Maturation Banthi males are the size of a small draft horse. They can be just as heavy too but this is mainly muscle, making them fierce fighters and stronger than the females in most cases. The male you see before you is the usual appearance of full grown male banthi.
This is the normal form of adult females. Within this form, they now gain the ability to hunt large game and battle, and also find a mate and have their own cubs. The female figure is smaller than the males but this gives them an advantage with speed and agility.Mutations Being the evil little tinker that Rabid is, she developed a special serum that accelerates cell growth in certain areas of your banthi, causing drastic changes to their appearance. She chose to call it "Acridulent Blue". Once injected into an adult Banthi, it will undergo a wide variety of physical changes. This is for both adult genders and the mutations can range from multiple wings, multiple horns, multiple tails, large fangs, spikes on the body, and much more. In other words, it accelerates cellular growth in certain areas of the banthi's body. Once the mutation is complete it's irreversible and can only be performed once. That means you can only buy the serum once and once your banthi has mutated, there's no turning back.
Using this serum is a huge risk and you can never know what will happen until it does, so use it wisely. It might be useful, it might be useless, and it might be crippling. A banthi has to be really adventurous to take such a huge risk.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:43 pm
Skin Covered In Fur
As adults, their skin has reached its full development and is very tough. A banthi's skin matches that of a wolf's, but has the same fur development (smooth and flat) like a panther. With fur designed such a way, this makes it a great source of warmth that is not too heavy for swift movement. With such a tough hide, breaking through the skin for serious damage is very difficult. The hide is thickest at the shoulders, down the back and the haunches. The weakest area of course, being the underbelly.
Muscles Make the Banthi
Animal experts will tell anyone who asks that muscles make the power. Banthi hold the most muscle within their legs, making them the most powerful devices on their bodies. For each different type, this could be a weakness or a strength (ex.: equine bloodlines carry strong legs while avian bloodlines will not get the same power). The hind legs contain slightly more muscle than the front, which can allow for a banthi to rear up for battles and propel them for fast movement and leaping. As stated before, different types can master different techniques easier than others but there is potential in every banthi for the same movement to some degree.
Tail
The tail of a banthi is very strong, the skeletal backbone and muscle structure much like a leopard or kangaroo. The rest is merely long, lavish fur that gives the tail a thick and fluffy texture and feel. However a banthi's tail cannot be used to strangle an opponent, hang from, or to pick up objects. The tail is there for balance mainly, and any other use a regular feline or canine creature would have for it.
(Note: There are always exceptions. Banthi that have mutated or somehow inherited different tail types may be capable of a variety of movements and uses a normal banthi can not perform)
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:50 pm
Collarbone
Though most people don't realize this, canines and felines have very different collar bones. When a creature has a lack of, or an under-developed collarbone, it only allows their legs to swing forward but not to the side. A feline's collarbone however is developed like a humans, which allows for this movement to occur. Thankfully, the banthi were blessed with this ability as well. They can also turn their wrists, a feature that can make them a very dangerous creature to cross.
Skull Design
The banthi are very lion-like in most of their structure. This becomes very evident when taking a look at the skull. What makes this creature unique are the horns. We will cover every inch of the skull from top to bottom. Starting off with the horns of course! Design Of The Horns: These bone structures may seem very gazelle-like in appearance but do not let their looks fool you. Though you would think these horns were like those of the bull (designed for sharp piercing) they are actually much more. They have an incredible density that is found within a ram's horns. This allows for heavy impact and rough head butts if need be. This does not mean they cannot also pierce as well.
Jaw of Stone: The gape of a banthi is equal to the size of the creature. Most banthi have the potential to open their mouths at a 90 degree angle which is just 10 degrees from how far a bear can open its mouth. So of course, smaller animals don't stand a chance against consumption.
A Dentist's Nightmare: The teeth are incredible... within canines, normally their top canine teeth are longer and visa versa for the feline with their jawline. But with the banthi they get equal length between the two (please keep in mind, we speak for a natural banthi, not taking into account of bloodlines or of mutations). There is a set of 30, just as thick and powerful as the ones found within a lion's mouth. The back molars are sharpened to indicate a very strict carnivorous life, but just like their feline relatives that live within many people's homes, they sometimes are found chewing on vegetation to help with digestion.Paws With Claws
The paw of a banthi is actually very simple but unique to the species. It is very heavy and entirely covered with fur, holding four digits on each paw on all four legs. The point and curve of the claws resemble an eagle's talon and are incredibly long, taking up nearly the entire paw with its length. With such sharp edges, this makes them able to climb trees and lock onto prey very easily with a very difficult grip to break. This also makes such a weapon more for slicing than powerful blows, though some banthi, with training and their particular types, can indeed make up for this lacking weakness.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:59 pm
Coming To Their Senses
The banthi all have the regular senses that all animals of feline and canine express. But this is where the canine really takes a role. Sight: These creatures display a sight range much of a feline perspective. They can see in full color and whats more, can see in the dark too! This makes them dangerous at any time of day.
Sound: They can produce a range of vocal sounds, having speech through telepathy between one another which humans cannot hear. But they also make a range that humans can here as well. The roars and growls released, depending on the force behind it, can be heard for miles if need be. Their forms of howling, however, can only reach short distances and not very usual in comparison to some animals. They also possess the ability to grumble, mumble, snort, hiss, spit ('ffft' is the sound), and purr as well.
Hear: The hearing capabilities are incredible with this creature. They can easily match that of a dog's hearing range. This makes it rather easy for them to track their prey.
Touch: As most animals do, banthi do have whiskers. For most though, these can barely be seen as they are short stubbles, much like what is seen on a dog's muzzle. This leaves them to often lose that extra sense that can come with longer whisker length.Leaps and Bounds
The ability to leap and the distance and height of which often depend on the size of the animal. With the size of this creature, this can leave it to be a great length. It is estimated that the average banthi can leap about 9 feet in one bound (thats 3 meters). They can get about 6 feet (2 meters) in a straight vertical leap. But as we have stated before, some bloodlines can surpass this ability.
Run As Fast As You Can
A banthi without any special given ability still does have great speed. Upon observation, we have seen them match the speed of a lioness in a hunt. This makes them very fast runners and even greater designed for the hunt. But as with the case, certain bloodlines can defy this.
Strength of the Paw & Jaw
When you look at the strike force of the bite and of the paw, you must first take a look at the animal. The banthi has a gape of 90 degrees, allowing it to have a large bite and just as powerful. It is thought to compare the bite of a banthi to that of a lion... a place no one wants to be. With such large creatures as well, their paw strikes are very powerful. But the strike of their paws is not powerful enough to snap a backbone as the claws are merely designed for slice and dice techniques. Do keep in mind, much muscle still backs up the paw, leaving their blows to be strong and a force to be reckoned with.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:06 pm
Why Talk About The Land?
Well, most people will tell you it's the enviroment that can help develop a body. The banthi are especially designed for the world around them. From predators to prey and even those who are merely there, here is a listing of all the animals within their territory. With such food sources around, it helps to give an idea of why the banthi hold such a unique structure.
Below the Surface
Here is a listing of all the aquatic creatures and those who prefer the water to land.
Bluegill Fish - plentiful - prey
Trout Fish - rare, found only upstream - prey
Salmon Fish - very rare, found far upstream - prey
Koi - plentiful - neutral, Kitara and Rabid like them as pets or decoration
Small Guppy Fish - plentiful - neutral due to terrible taste
Tadpoles - plentiful - neutral due to terrible taste
Frogs - plentiful - neutral due to nasty taste
Salamanders - plentiful - neutral due to nasty taste
Crawling On The Land
Here is a listing of all the reptiles that can be found throughout the land crawling on the soil.
Garder Snakes - plentiful, found in the meadow - neutral, considered harmless
Small Snakes - plentiful, found in the meadow - neutral, considered harmless
Rattler Snakes - plentiful, found in rocky terrain - neutral, poisonous! avoid them they avoid you
Viper Snakes - very rare - neutral, avoid them they avoid you
Pythons - very rare - neutral to adults, predators to cubs
Flying The Friendly Skies
Here is a list of bird creatures that love to soar in the skies right above the territory of the banthi.
Sparrows - plentiful - prey
Gulls - plentiful - prey
Crows - plentiful - prey
Turkey - rare - prey (yes they can fly but not very long or very high)
Hawks - rare - neutral for adults, predators for newborn cubs
Falcons - rare - neutral for adults, predators for newborn cubs
Warmth of Blood Warmth of Body
Here is a listing of all the mammals in the area.
Bats - very plentiful - neutral due to leathery taste and hide
Squirrels - plentiful - prey
Chipmunks - plentiful - prey
Possums - rare - prey
Porcupines - slightly plentiful - neutral due to prickly coat
Skunks - plentiful - neutral due to bad oder
Rabbits - plentiful - prey
Prairie dogs - plentiful - prey
Ground hogs - plentiful - prey
Moles - plentiful - prey
Mice dogs - plentiful - prey
Deer - plentiful but slowly moving farther away - prey, main source of food
Elk - rare - prey; one can be taken down by high ranking battler or group of banthi
Cougars - very rare, only found in mountainous regions - neutral due to their solitary nature. Caution!
Wolves - plentiful - neutral as they stay to their own kind. Caution!
Wild dogs - plentiful - predator to lone banthi or cubs; mischievous and easily scared away
Coyotes - plentiful - predator to lone banthi or cubs; mischievous and easily scared away but more dangerous when in numbers
Bear - extremely rare - predator; cannot be taken down unless in a large group of banthi
Rival clan banthi - extremely rare - predators
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