Fauna of the Lakelands, Part 1
Much of the wildlife in the Lakelands has not changed since the Arrival: beavers still industriously dam rivers, ducks migrate seasonally, and bumblebees sleep in flowers. However, the substantial decrease in human development has had a number of effects. Feral populations of once-domestic animals have established themselves here and there: colonies of cats, packs of dogs, sounders of pigs, flocks of chickens and goats, gaggles of geese, and herds of cattle, horses, and llamas have all found niches. Species like grey wolves and black bears, meanwhile, have moved back into their historic territories, where once they had been driven out by human encroachment.
Der Wolf. Alfred von Wierusz-Kowalski, 1915.
Some post-Arrival wildlife, however, is quite different. Species from other planets now compete for a place in the Lakelands' forests and swamps, while native plants and animals are transformed by the Weird, becoming unfamiliar and, often, quite dangerous. Biologists try to keep up with the profound changes to the local ecology, but the task is monumental.
Mammals
The mundane pre-Arrival mammal populations are all still present in the Lakelands, though some populations struggle to compete with invasive species. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are widespread and their western moose relatives (Alces alces andersoni) roam the Lakelands' northern ranges. Eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), white-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii), North American beavers (Castor canadensis), common muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), southern bog lemmings (Synaptomys cooperi), groundhogs (Marmota monax), and assorted moles, voles, mice, rats, shrews, and squirrels (including three species of assapan or flying squirrel) make up the region's lagomorphs, rodents, and insectivores. Assorted mid-sized mammals make their home close to human communities, notably coyotes (Canis latrans), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), Virginia or North American opossums (Didelphis virginiana), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), and raccoons (Procyon lotor). Other distinctive mammals of the region include bobcats (Lynx rufus), Canada lynxes (Lynx canadensis), grey wolves (Canis lupus), eastern black bears (Ursus americanus americanus), North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum), and mustelids like North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), American minks (Neogale vison), American badgers (Taxidea taxus), fishers (Pekania pennanti), and various weasels. Many bats also live in the area, including but not limited to little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus), silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis).
Some of these animals have been transformed by idols and dreamzones, becoming less predictable and potentially much more dangerous.
Among the most unnerving animals in the Lakelands are the batlings, toddler-sized bipeds that hunt in packs at night. Probably descended from long-eared bats, they are now starting to migrate out of their original roosts in the Bruce Peninsula. It is not just their nocturnal habits and eerie clambering gait that discomfit those who stumble on them in the dark; the batlings are smart enough to throw rocks at predators and club their prey with stones. Their wings can no longer bear them in flight, but their claws have developed into rudimentary hands. Fortunately, the batlings are not clever enough to bring rocks with them on a hunt, to prepare caches of stones, or to choose battlefields with ample throwable objects – yet.
Not all of the new additions to the Lakelands are aggressive. The erethizon is a pig-sized ground porcupine. Quite capable of defending themselves with their enormous quills, strong bite, and claws, they are nonetheless placid herbivores, content to eat from bushes and fallen trees. They remain in woodlands and are more common in the northern parts of the Lakelands.
No one knows whether it's the Howling Rustic or the Hallowed Instar who's responsible for trying to reconstruct prehistoric entelodonts using the DNA of boars and hippopotamuses. Either way, massive hooved predators, called hellpigs by locals, now prowl the Lakelands. Standing almost six feet at the shoulder and capable of running over nine meters per second, a single hellpig can terrorize a small village. Their meat tastes foul and has too high a concentration of heavy metals to be eaten regularly; Lakelanders hunt them only in self-defense or for trophies. Hellpigs, however, are quite willing to hunt Lakelanders.
Even before the Arrival the star-nosed mole was a strange-looking creature, with pink tentacles growing around its nose. The star-faced condylure, or just grabber, is its post-Arrival descendent, a dog-sized creature whose tentacles are now two feet long, strong and dextrous enough to seize prey and bring it to the mole's razor-sharp teeth. Until recently it was believed reports of condylures grabbing people's ankles and dragging them into culverts or ditches were exaggerations, since the moles prefer to eat prey smaller than themselves. Human remains have been found in condylure burrows, however, and eyewitness accounts are beginning to add up.
Although far from deadly, the tree bandit is one of the most frequently-cursed creatures in the Lakelands. Cleverer descendents of the common raccoon, these procyonids now have fully opposable thumbs, allowing them to more easily steal supplies from travellers and homesteads. Regular raccoons can work zippers and buttons, but tree bandits can untie knots and open buckles and clasps. What's more, they have learned to mimic human voices, though they do not understand what they are saying. Many work in pairs or trios, one causing a distraction while the others steal food.
Why exactly some domesticated dogs have started displaying rudimentary psychic ability remains unknown, but it seems to have happened several times independently throughout the Lakelands and beyond. Did their millenia of co-evolution with humans allow them to learn from us? Or did dogs' importance in North American culture mean dreamzones were especially likely to give them powers like our own? Regardless of the answer, otherwise normal dogs who have some small psychic talent are widely called wise dogs, though in general they are no wiser than usual, and those who can read human minds are limited by the fact that they are still no better able to understand speech. A wise dog's puppies are almost always wise themselves.
Unfortunately, the puppies of a wise dog and a wolf also inherit psychic traits. In the Lakelands psychic wolfdogs are called wargs, and they are much feared. Perhaps the wargs can sense this fear and know that scared humans often resort to violence. Or perhaps, as regular wolfdogs are unpredictable because of their mixed parentage, so some strange alchemy in the wargs causes unnatural behaviours. Maybe they simply clash with humans on the edge of their territories. Whatever the cause, while a warg raised by humans is often friendly, feral wargs are far more aggressive toward humans and humanoids than any regular wolfdog would ever be. It is not unusual for wargs, with their penchant for psychic manipulation, to lead packs of regular wolves, dogs, or coydogs in campaigns against small towns, or to tear down warning signs along roadways, leading travellers into danger.
As with all Lakelands posts, the contents here are provisional.