Mistavi

Lurking in the unseen areas of the land, burrowing into caverns, Mistavi are tailed, clawed quadrupeds with extremely soft reddened bodies protected by many layers of hardened carapace. Their heads resemble that of a large reptile, and lack eyes. Newborns are hatched from violet eggs, and at birth lack any form of protective armor, requiring the guard of a female until roughly one year of age. At which point, layers of milky white carapace begin to grow upon the backs and the top of their head yearly, building up onto one another - as such it is rather easy to tell the age of such a creature by simply counting the layers. Despite the fact that naturally their protective shell is white, the Mistavi bear the innate ability of near-perfect camouflage when they are close to the ground and curled.

Habitat
Mistavi prefer low and forested areas, particularly damp ones, but dislike swamps due to their poor ability to traverse any form of water - its long-term exposure causing their unprotected lower body to overgo swelling by mitosis as a result of how frail and thin it is. Their prowling and stealth based nature means they prefer prey to come to them rather than the opposite, and they rarely back off of a hunt so long as they are unseen, regardless of the size of their opponent. Nesting is usually done in small caves that would be hard for any large beast to enter, utilizing the Mistavi’s ability to creep close to the ground and lower their profile.

Biology
The Mistavi’s body is made for prowling and stalking prey. They use rapid clicking to communicate with others of their kind, utilize echolocation using the same technique. In order to avoid being located when doing so, the organ responsible for the clicking has a specific structure, causing a phenomenon rather similar to crickets, making the clicks seem as if they are coming from different directions than they actually are. Alternatively, Mistavi may project their clicks in such a way they seem to originate from all directions.

While Mistavi possess an innate ability to camouflage using tightly packed chromatophores within the carapace of their armor. The older a Mistavi is, the better its camouflage gets, owing to more layers in the carapace. Even so, it remains imperfect unless they are in their prowling stance. In such a stance, their carapace lowers to flatten against their body, covering the entirety of their form and thereby allowing their camouflage to become near imperceptible to the naked eye, especially in forested and shrub-filled areas. When prowling, they tend to bend their legs until a certain threshold, at which their bones and muscles snap into a natural mechanism similar to a wound up spring, keeping them close to the ground as they move, though with a severe reduction to their speed. When they pounce, the wind-up releases and launches them forwards in whatever direction they were facing with great speed, leaving little time for unsuspecting prey to react.

Their intelligence is similar to that of crocodiles, giving them the ability to anticipate places where prey may gather, and cooperate with other Mistavi. Furthermore, they require meat to grow and develop properly, though can survive on flora in desperate times such as droughts. Mistavi bear rather short lifespans and large litters, ranging between ten and fifteen eggs per female every year. The oldest of Mistavi live until eight years old, yet some stories speak of gigantic elders that possess twenty or more layers of armor atop their bodies. What the accuracy of these stories is has not yet been confirmed, as there are usually little to no survivors to tell the tale, and many think it to be a case of post-traumatic exaggeration.

Behaviour
Aggressive and territorial, Mistavi will not hesitate to attack anything they perceive as a threat. Their honed ears and echolocation allows them to pinpoint the location of unwary travelers and creatures that cause large amounts of noise. Depending on whether or not the Mistavi has already fed, they will either release a series of warning clicks towards the invader that seem to originate from every direction, or begin prowling and stalking their newfound prey.

Despite the large amount of eggs laid per year, only one of every ten Mistavi reach adulthood due to how ill-protected they are in their early years, making the females indifferent to the loss of many of its offsprings’ lives. Even so, they do not take kindly to the death of their own kind, however due to their limited sight have a hard time holding any form of grudge.