LORE24 ENTRY #22 – Valefari Raptors

Category – Creature

One of the first creatures encountered when explorers and settlers first established communities on Valefar V were the fierce Valefari Raptors.  As farmers and ranchers began to grow, these creatures made themselves known, attacking livestock and their minders with ferocity.  The Valefari raptor is a small to medium sized predatory reptilian, standing between three and seven feet tall, with the alpha males tending toward the larger end, with brightly colored hides in shades of green, red, and orange, often striped, with angular heads with mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth and powerful legs with wicked talons on their foreclaws and feet.  

These vicious predators will attack in well-organized packs of three to twelve, though much larger groups have been observed, numbering two dozen or more, though these are typically smaller creatures.  The raptors possess a very keen intelligence, much greater than your average animal, and are capable of creating ambushes and attack plans, often striking and retreating only to come back when least expected.  They rarely if ever show fear, and will attack with a ferociousness that some have described as bordering on a berserker rage; they have even been known to attack vehicles.  Making them even more difficult to deal with, unlike most wild animals, the Valefari raptors have no fear of fire, as they are mostly immune to it.  It has been theorized based on analysis of remains and captured live specimens that these beasts have a demonic heritage.

The most effective means of dealing with the raptors have proven to be vigilant scouting and monitoring of the frontier, backed up by automatic weapons and explosives.  The more successful ranchers have even taken to using small VTOL craft with mounted machine guns to sweep the borders of their property and keep the raptors at bay.  Thankfully, it seems to be working, as raptor attacks have been drastically reduced as the creatures have moved on to easier hunting grounds, though they are still quite terrifying to run across in the wilds.