Mountain Spinepig
The mountain spinepig is a small rodent-like creature, found across the Blessed Isle, Scavenger Lands, and Inner Sea coastal regions. It is covered with a set of sharp quills that serve as an effective defense against predators, with the creature curling into a spiny ball… though some predators such as raptors and owls have their own means of unraveling the creatures so they can be devoured.
Mountain Spinepigs are not, in fact, alpine creatures, spending much of their lives living in the brush eating a diet of mostly insects. They do, however, have significant interactions with humans: their flesh is cooked in many peasant dishes (though rarely considered for the tables of the ruling classes), and both Threshold hedge-witches and the Realm’s Apricot Ministry concoct an incense of their quills as treatment for male impotence or urinary illnesses.
The tendency of spinepigs to hunt insects amidst the hedges and topiaries of Dynastic gardens has also seen them occasionally adopted by the children of the Realm aristocracy as pets or playthings, though they are not considered ‘proper’ animal companions by society and breeding programs are limited next to those of Mospids or Martial Mantises. For some Dynasts, their childhood spinepig is treasured and smuggled with them to Primary School, though the Realm’s scions also produce examples of cruel children visiting tortures upon the little creatures for dark amusement.
The god of the Mountain Spinepig, Chakii the Irrepressible, was once a relatively minor divinity before the Great Contagion claimed vast swathes of the Bureau of Nature and left Creation without spinepigs save his own upon the Blessed Isle. Even back then, however, Chakii was known and well-liked by his peers for his friendliness and determination, and in the dark post-Contagion days these traits made him something of a shining light in the shaken Bureau. He was elevated to the post of spinepig Daimyo, though as his particular variation was the only one remaining this was little more than a formality, but to this day he wields influence far greater than the power of his post due to friendships and favours he can call upon amongst his fellow animal gods.
Amongst his initiatives, Chakii led the way in the acceptance of the Soaring Spinepig as a native creature to Creation, and the appointment of his predecessor Rapacious Ascent (whose own spinepig breed had been wiped out) from unemployment to become its god.
