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Persian Manticore

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Description

Manticores come in two distinct and completely unrelated varieties, much in the way that a European robin is not related in any way to the American robin.

The more familiar Pliney's Manticore has a human head and a great spiked tail. It bears three rows of teeth, and its exudes a potent venom from its spikes, claws and fangs. Some, more often males, have horns and sometimes a mane as well. However since the Dark Ages, the numbers of Pliney's Manticore have been in a steady decline as they have been outcompeted by wyverns, dragons and humans for resources.

Far more numerous, enigmatic and dangerous are the Persian Manticores. About as large as a lion, borne aloft by a 15-20 foot wingspan and highly aggressive, Persian Manticores are top predators by land or by air. Thir scorpion-like tail delivers a deadly neurotoxin that immediately kills prey. It brings its formidable weaponry, in the form of talon-like claws and serrated fangs, to bear against other monster immune to its sting, such as leucrottas, other manticores and various serpents that inhabit the unknown tropics. Like a leucrotta they can mimic human speech, and use it to lure unsuspecting prey into an ambush. By far they prefer humanflesh to all other forms of meat, but they can and will eat nearly anything that had, at some point in the recent past, been alive. Persian Manticores are usually solitary, meeting only to breed during the monsoon season. The female rears one to two eggs, which hatch after about a month of incubation. Manticubs are totally dependent on their mothers for about four months before they are fledged. If trained from an early age (a feat that involves stealing a Manticore egg from an enraged mother) Persian Manticores make splendid guard animals for those living in the warmer parts of the world, as they do not abide cold well.
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zerry's avatar
Excellent description, and love the airborne pose =D