Personal System Calendar: Year 00015, Day 1-28, Month II: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6859, 1st to 28th day of the 2nd Month
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The Talon Survey Team
August gave the order before spring had fully established itself.
Talon One and Talon Two, the village's two elite field units, were assigned with the survey task. The scope was broad: identify viable land along the buffer zone stretch near the river crossing that connected to the village via the imperial highway, assess natural resources, evaluate soil stability, map the terrain against potential construction approaches, and produce enough data for a proper feasibility assessment. The survey would cover areas beyond the one crossing they already knew about. There may be other viable locations along that stretch of land that nobody had looked at carefully before, because nobody had been looking for a port site before.
The units were instructed to treat the survey as a year-long commitment. First pass in the third month. Initial findings by the fifth. Then an observation cycle that ran through the seasons to capture what the land actually did when the weather changed — water levels from the river in wet and dry periods, soil behavior after rainfall, the structural properties of whatever ground they identified as promising. A single survey was never enough for construction planning. It was enough to identify where to focus the longer observation. The longer observation was what told you whether you could actually build there.
Aerial reconnaissance would cover ground faster than any land team could. The problem with their current aerial coverage was that only two people in the village were currently capable of it. But Bren was in the capital and only August was here. That reduced the aerial team to one person on one eagle for the foreseeable future.
The Mighty Peregrine Eagles were not creatures who extended their trust easily. No candidate among the village population had yet shown the kind of companionship and bonding that had developed between August and Finnester, or between Bren and Kirpy. The eagles themselves were the ones that made that decision, not any human administrator. August had looked at the numbers and thought about a formal aerial reconnaissance cavalry unit to complement the Grimfang Cavalry, but the precondition for that unit was that the eagles had chosen their riders. The village's population was generally more cautious around the eagles than around the Grimfangs, a dynamic that Rexy had apparently encouraged on some level to the broader wild and even semi-wild Grimfang pack. The eagles on the other hand maintained a more colder distance and people respected it.
For now, one aerial rider and two elite ground teams would handle the survey together.
Sibus Dino had already been consulted about this. He already had his preliminary thoughts but he also acknowledged that a riverside construction in an unknown terrain like this went beyond what he could confidently design from theoretical principles alone. External technical expertise would be needed when the survey produced enough specifics to make the conversations useful.
The two Talon units were briefed, provisioned, and were ready for next month's mission.
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The Forest Explorer Escort Squad
Looking back, Terrence had spent the good remainder of the months before winter had settled in the forest.
He had been out there regularly since August partnered him with May-belin and gave them both a formal research mandate and the accompanying people to support it. The escort arrangement had taken some organizational thought. Two researchers with very different habits and interests, both with a demonstrated tendency to become so absorbed in what they were doing that they would immediately lose track of the dangers their surroundings pose, they needed security coverage that could keep up with them without restricting what they were actually trying to do.
August had called for volunteers from across the village's military and patrol infrastructure. Soldiers, patrol unit veterans, and especially hunters who had recent injuries and couldn't return to active hunting duty but were fit enough to act as a guide, track and do escort work. The resulting team of twelve was divided into two groups of six. Terrence and May-belin each had their own group. Terrence served as the nominal thirteenth member when the two groups operated together on the same route.
The Forest Explorer Escort Squad operated on a simple mandate. Keep both researchers alive. Support their work. Report back to the patrol division at regular intervals and check in at whatever patrol camps they encountered along the way. If the team went silent for more than a week, a Grimfang Cavalry unit or an eagle would be dispatched to find them.
The team composition split roughly forty percent veterans and sixty percent newer personnel. The veterans came from the patrol units or the hunting sector and served as guides and route advisors in terrain the newer members hadn't encountered yet. The greenhorns learned fast. The consequences of not learning fast were visible enough in the first few weeks to make that clear without anyone having to say it directly.
May-belin was fully committed to the plant life of the territory, which was extensive and largely undocumented beyond the areas near the established paths. She had a way of finding specimens that required moving well off those paths, which meant her escort group spent considerable time in terrain that was less predictable and less mapped. The eagles and Grimfangs had found her in compromised situations more than once. She acknowledged this without much apparent concern and then went back to doing the same thing the following week. It kept her escort group in a permanent state of alert readiness that was probably good for their overall competence.
While Terrence was tracking something different entirely.
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The Velvet Mantarach
He had first spotted the traces near the southern to western section of Maya's territory. High above the tree canopy, there he saw webbing that didn't match any creature in August's existing bestiary. It was not the ordinary construction of a web-spinning species. It was something that had used silk for movement and restraint rather than for catching prey while waiting. He had started following the traces back toward whatever made them.
The creature he eventually documented was this:
Velvet Mantarach — The Silent Scythe of the Forest
Classification:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Order | Mantarach |
| Species | Velvet Mantarach |
| Threat Rank | High (Adults) Soldier to Expert Ranks / Extreme (Elders) Expert to Boss Ranks |
Description:
The Velvet Mantarach is a rare predatory beast Terrence believed to have descended from ancient magical arthropods during the Age of Divine Calamities. Though it may be commonly mistaken for a giant spider, it represents a distinct lineage — characterized by mantis-like forelimbs, extraordinary vision, and a heavily armored, velvety exoskeleton. Unlike web-spinning arachnids, Velvet Mantarachs are active hunters that rely on stealth, patience, and explosive leaps to overwhelm prey. It was something that had not been seen before so not much was known of it. But Terrence noted that the greatest warning sign was not hearing one — but noticing it had already been watching you.
Appearance:
He noted their appearance: dense velvet-like hairs covering a hardened exoskeleton. Eight luminous eyes, with two large forward-facing eyes that appear almost expressive. Large scythe-like forelimbs folded beneath the head. Six muscular walking legs capable of remarkable leaps. A retractable venomous stinger beneath the abdomen. Silk glands used primarily for mobility and restraint rather than web construction. Adults stay low to the ground but their leg span when threatened makes them appear considerably larger than their resting profile suggests.
Behavior:
Terrence argued that unlike most beasts, Velvet Mantarachs exhibit genuine curiosity. They commonly spend several minutes observing unfamiliar creatures before deciding whether to attack, retreat, or simply ignore them. Terrence believes they possess intelligence comparable to trained hunting beasts — capable of remembering safe routes, recognizing recurring threats, and adapting their tactics after failed hunts.
Hunting:
The Velvet Mantarach is an ambush specialist. It stalks prey silently through trees, cliff faces, and dense undergrowth before launching itself in a single devastating leap. Once airborne, it uses silk anchor lines to adjust its trajectory mid-flight. Its mantis-like forelimbs pin victims in place while venomous fangs or the retractable stinger deliver the killing blow. Terrence also noted that only a few creatures he observed had managed to survive the first strike, but even if you survived the initial ambush your fate was likely sealed.
Habitat:
Terrence noted that they did not appear to be a species found anywhere outside the great forests, making this a first of its kind discovery. As he had seen during their exploration however, they could also be found inside giant fungal caverns, mountain woodlands, and ruined structures reclaimed by vegetation — essentially anywhere they could make themselves difficult to detect. Each adult also maintains a solitary hunting territory and drives rivals away aggressively outside of breeding season.
Ecology:
Terrence noted that although they are fearsome creatures, the Velvet Mantarachs are essential apex predators that live outside the formal Beast Lord Territorial structure. They regulate populations of oversized insects, magical vermin, and lesser beasts. One of his theories, given that he had only observed them here. Was that a region where they disappeared from their predator role would more than likely experience ecological imbalance, leading to surges of destructive creatures. He therefore recommended that indiscriminate hunting or killing of the species be discouraged outside of legitimate self-defense.
Magical Traits:
Their dense velvet hairs naturally absorb and disperse ambient mana, making low-grade spells significantly less effective against them. Some elder specimens develop faintly glowing markings that pulse during active stalking — a sign of mana flowing through specialized sensory organs that heighten their already formidable perception.
Notable Traits:
These are observations Terrence made during his brief study of the beast. Exceptional eyesight. Explosive jumping power. Scythe-like grasping forelimbs. Reinforced velvety armor. Retractable venomous stinger. High intelligence. Strong territorial instincts. Silk-assisted aerial maneuvering.
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First Discovery
The Velvet Mantarach they followed for those months was a solitary adult. It may have crossed into Maya's territory from a different section of the forest's broader range, or it may have been here all along in the deeper areas that the hunters' established routes never reached. The first sighting had been near the southern to western edge of the territory. After that, tracking it became a sustained exercise in reading traces it left without the beast realizing that anything was following it.
It was a smart creature. That was the most striking thing about observing it over time. It selected prey it was confident it could kill and avoided confrontations that offered uncertain returns. When the escort team got too close on two occasions it withdrew immediately rather than engaging them in a multiple direction frontal battle, it was watching them from a distance before moving on. It did not appear permanently threatened by the group. It was making calculations and acting on them, which was not the behavior of a creature operating purely on instinct.
The creature had been here or passing through for who knew how long without anyone in the village managing to notice it. The hunters who operated in this general direction ran their established routes, which had been worn down by repetition into predictable paths. The Velvet Mantarach, being exactly the kind of creature that avoided predictable paths, had simply never intersected with them in a way that produced a clear sighting. Terrence had accidentally found traces of it by going into the ground between those routes, into the space that nobody had yet made routine.
Maya Village's mapped and explored territory currently represents somewhere between ten and fifteen percent of the full 8,100 square kilometers of forest land under the village's claim. The established paths, the patrol routes, the hunter camps — all of that was understood ground. The rest was unexplored domain. Nature had been left to itself in the broader territory and the broader territory had continued being itself without any concern for what the humans near its edges were doing.
For Terrence that remaining eighty-five to ninety percent was the most interesting thing he had encountered since arriving in the village. August's existing bestiary was a solid starting point. He had clearly spent real time in the field to produce what was already there, which was not a small effort given how many other things the village administrator was running simultaneously. But it was a beginning, not a complete record, and Terrence had now proven to himself that creatures lived in Maya's own territory that weren't in that record yet.
He spent the winter months compiling the Velvet Mantarach entry from his field notes. At some point during that process he found himself wondering how August had written as much of the original bestiary as he had while managing everything else. The answer he arrived at was that August simply did not stop, which tracked with everything Terrence had observed directly. It was less an explanation than a description.
The first entry to his own section of the new book was finished. The field guide had its new opening page.
He and May-belin and their escort teams had retreated back to the village for winter, they had also restocked their supplies over the cold months, planned for their next routes and were basically ready for what came next.
The forest was still too large and was mostly left unexplored and with the snow already at its edges, the call of another adventure excites Terrence's still budding explorer soul.