Physical Description

Wickedly sharp hooves click against the concrete, their front tapered to such a fine point that it seems evident as to what natural weapon has become the creature's best method of attack. Never mind the spur that juts out from behind; the finely-polished keratin of preltyas hooves are clearly suited for stamping and tearing both. In addition to this, the bottom of the hooves have gecko-like pads at its base, allowing preltyas the ability to walk on walls and thus easily ascend to high vantage points.

The claws upon the tucked-up alligator paws between their hooved legs likely help assist them to tear flesh even further, in addition to helping their speed when the preltyas crawls around the floor.

Primarily equine in anatomy, a preltyas can be most easily described as akin to a pegasus. With two pairs of eyes and three pairs of legs, these predators aren't likely something one would want to cross with.

Behavior

Herd animals, this omnivorous species lives in packs. With their diet mostly comprising of meat, and having evolved on a planet where their prey was inevitably predators much bigger than they were, the species learnt to communicate to one another in clicks and whistling whickers to take down their food.

While seeing a preltyas can be cause for concern, especially since generally seeing one means there are even more waiting in the wings, the equines do not usually hunt most sentient organic species as they tend to be much smaller than their instinctively preferred prey. However, this is only on their homeworld Vuierra, where one would have to worry about all the other deadly fauna in any case.

Visiting species are initially generally regarded by the preltyas with mild caution upon a herd first encountering them, which quickly transforms into indifference when it becomes clear that the strange newcomers are not a threat like the native creatures already around. Unless they are, in which case the herd will likely remember and avoid them.

Wild preltyas anywhere else can and will attack sentients for food, but are generally easily pacified if one throws edibles at them.

If one is injured without cause or provocation however(i.e. A herd of preltyas are nibbling at a field of dandelions and berries when you shoot one of them, even though they are obviously not hunting you, as they are eating their greens.), the entire herd will likely retaliate as ferociously as possible to destroy the threat — in this case, they will most certainly not be mollified by being fed.

Having an equine glide down to drop on top of you with sharp hooves, claws and spurs is generally understood as an unpleasant and unwanted occurrence, even disregarding their teeth.

Tamed preltyas usually consider their owner as a part of their herd, and will therefore attack with the same vehemence as their feral fellows when someone attempts to hurt them. Other than this, as they are hopefully regularly fed, the preltyas will have no particular inclination or reason to attack anyone.

Tamed preltyas do not necessarily consider their owner the leader, but rather tend to listen to their guidance as their herd-mate told them to do something. They trust that, due to commanding them to do some sort of action, the other has an idea of some sort in mind and likely knows what they're doing.

As a result, they will consequently likely become frustrated if the owner never seems to listen to the preltyas even when the owner has not told them to do anything and therefore, as far as the preltyas can tell, does not have any ideas on the matter either.

Preltyas that have been abandoned by their owner often become anxious and depressed, panicking when they cannot sense their new herd members out of fear of being left behind again. Such a thing as this does not happen in natural, wild flocks, even when the individual is permanently injured or otherwise unable to contribute very much to hunting. Thus, the preltyas cannot understand why this has happened.

Preltyas with owners that have died, on the other hand, generally take it well so long as they are aware their flock member has not left them behind while being clearly alive, and is in fact deceased. There is usually a period of mourning, with the preltyas standing vigil at their body for a while and guarding it in death.

They will usually recover from their grief and can thereupon be given to a new owner with no adverse effects, unlike an abandoned preltyas.

Please note that preltyas are not particularly forgetful, and if they are aware that you killed their previous owner they will not treat you as a pack member, but a threat.

Subspecies

None / Unknown.

Special

None.

Trivia

• Originally found prowling in the various ruins of long-abandoned cities on their deadly archaeological marvel of a home planet, Vuierra, quite a number of preltyas were taken aboard ships with the hopes of using them as guard pets. While this proved to be a success, a number of them escaped and ended up being spread across various different planets.

• Curiously, the cultural relics upon Vuierra suggest that the preltyas may have had some sort of connection to the extinct dominant species of the planet.

• Despite the wings that jut out of every preltyas' back, they cannot truly fly; only glide from high places. This is likely the reason why they prefer the habitats that they do.

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