Svalbardian wildlife

The Harshagov family are commonly confused for spiders in appearance, however the simplest way to tell the two apart is that harshagovs only have four legs which bends up to allow it to lift it's small frame off the ground. Harshagovs are docile creatures, herbivourous in nature; and whilst it may look like their two long claws are used for catching and ingesting prey, they in-fact serve the opposite purpose. Harshagovs protect themselves from predators by using their claws to pick up objects - sometimes multiple thousands of times their own weight and size - and imitate them. Due to their tiny size - only a few centimetres tall and wide at most - compared to some of the massive and heavy objects they can pick up, they can go unnoticed very easily. Should this fail, the harshagovs will activate their desperate defense mechanism: an organ inside of their tiny frame is capable of spewing out protective projectiles, usually related to the harshagov's environment; for example harshagov's that live in the far north of Svalbard secrete incredibly cold particles capable of causing loss of function in limbs they come into contact with, which may lead to a potential predator briefly losing the ability to chase it; whilst those that live in the south by the sea have found a way of expelling irritating liquids that lead to temporary loss of vision, allowing the harshagov to escape whilst its predator is blinded. Although harshagovs originated from Svalbard, due to their subversive nature they have managed to spread to almost every area on the planet - the majority of this travel likely happened in the age of the Trondelang Republic, where merchants would bring their products on to boats, not realise that their was a harshagov underneath it.

The nuclear and mechanical ages have brought about the potential of species becoming greatly altered, or evolving rapidly, in a very short span of time. A bizarre example of this came about in the late 1800s in Svalbard: a colony harshagovs were living inside of a munitions factory, and one day one of them came to imitate some of the weapons in development. Somehow or another, many of the harshagovs fused with these half-complete weapons, creating what we now call wondering loose cannons. This strange branch of the harshagov family now permanently imitates the weapon it picked up, seemingly unable to naturally die thanks to it's half un-living agent, and it fires this weapon when threatened. The reason for this is unknown, as harshagovs are naturally docile creatures, and even the wandering loose cannons do not have specific targets they hunt; leading some to theorise that it was in fact the machine that offered to symbiotic relationship with the parent harshagov.

Due to the internal body temperature required for maintain flight, bats are commonly known to carry numerous diseases dangerous to humans. The spores emitted by mushrooms inside the caves of the Kalsavys mountains flip the script on these bats, infecting them as a parasite and forcing the bats to find breeding grounds for the spores to produce more mushrooms. These bats fly brainlessly, with dead-looking eyes as they have lost all functions to their parasite, unable to free themselves from its clutches.

Robins are small, migratory birds that travel across the Svalbardian channel at the onset of Winter to find warmer climates in Wasaru or Wasari. However, these robins have needed to differentiate themselves from their continental counterparts; so over time they have evolved multiple significant differences from them. Firstly; while a usual robin's breast in a shade of red or orange, these robins have fluorescent yellows or blues splashed over their chest. This chest is also noticeably larger than the usual robin's, as fluorescent-breasts grow much taller than standard robins, averaging in at around ten to twenty centimetres taller than normal. Furthermore, these robins also have gained extensive deep-red plumage that flows from their head down their backs; however in contrast to this snazzy appearance, their bird songs have developed to be much less interesting and in-depth than their regular counterparts - likely a trade-off for their significantly more fancy appearance.

One of the most evolutionarily advanced species on the planet, the Meandering Montúzaiku is a fearsome predator from the deep swamps south of central Svalbard. It's body consists of equal biological and mechanical parts - like the Wandering loose cannons. It has two long, thin legs for movement in the thick swamps it lives in, which balances a bulky body, with a dark green shield protecting a fleshy underlayer. A chamber inside of this core gives it the capabilities of launching bio-pellets rapidly, and the long tails flowing down it's back actually acts as the counter-weight which allows it to fire: meaning if this is cut off the creature is neutered - a common method used to hunt them. The Meandering Montúzaiku will shoot these bio-pullets at its prey, attempting to either kill them or prevent them from walking away, as it is very slow itself: it then walks, or 'meanders' over to them to eat its victims with it's long, extendable mouth.

Little is known about this illusive creature that apparently lives in the depths of the deepest caves of the Kalsavyan mountains. Due to the extensive and dangerous journey required to even reach their habitat, very few in-person sightings have ever been attempted - the few that succeeded always gave a similar descriptions: a slimy, phantom like humanoid creature that walks on two legs; calmly at first, but seemingly becomes frightened when it detects humans nearby; leading to it sprinting around with its various appendages flailing, all the while letting out a guttural roar. Once this happens, all who saw it report similar symptoms, ranging from arm and leg spasms and severe headaches or chest pain, loss of vision, or extreme nausea; to more psychological effects such as seeing apparitions, feeling excessive amounts of fear or anxiety for no reason, or more rarely, persistent insanity or loss of brain functions and memories. Disturbingly, although multiple unmanned missions have been made with the use of drone technology, none of them have been able to see the wraith. This has led some to believe that the stories about it are completely made up, however there is real historical and psychological evidence of the symptoms really happening, so the most popular theory is that the fear from knowing about what had happened to people who saw the wraith made people who tried to go down and see it really believe it was there, and they really had these symptoms: a mass psychogenic illness. Of course, there is all the chance it really does exist, however not much science exists to back this up.