Librarianon

i drew my mouse character

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The route to Darksoil, as Ink-Talon explained it, wound north-by-northwest (“72 degrees right of duskward,” in native terms), mostly parallel to the Short-Deep that ended (appropriately) at Deep’s End. However, Darksoil itself was situated to the northeast of Deep’s End, relatively speaking, requiring the route to make a hard swerve to the east later on. The reason for the roundabout path was twofold, with first obstacle making itself known on the second day.

The reason was about the last thing any of the humans could have anticipated. These grasslands were home to large herds of feral bison, sparking a good few questions that Steady-Step had to scramble to answer. As it turned out, some species of animal were simply near-guaranteed to be feral. Most of the smallest animals, things like insects, mice, or small songbirds, were often feral, but there were a handful of much larger animals exempt from sapience as well. Which creatures were excluded seemed arbitrary overall, save that many provided valuable, morally tolerable food sources for carnivores, which lead to the wide-spread belief that a deliberate, ancient intelligence had made those decisions. Rarely, however, “Gifted” creatures would be born to feral parents, and such exceptions cast doubt on these theories.