Sloths of Kaimere (5e Creature)
Sloths of Kaimere[edit]
Megatheres[edit]
- Thalassocnids (Use the thalassocnus statblock as appropriate)
- Reaper Sloth (Use the megatherium statblock as appropriate)
Megalocnid[edit]
Mylodonts[edit]
Eionalothere[edit]
Excavator Sloths (Lestodontini)[edit]
Gopher Sloths (Mylodontini)[edit]
Scelidotheres[edit]
Simiomorphs[edit]
One of the most surprising animals to have such a long and storied history in Kaimere are the sloths, being among the most abundant and species rich mammal clades in the Known World and a few relics even beyond it. Sloths are generally divided in Kaimere the same way as they are on Earth: megatheres and mylodonts. Megatheres are closer relatives of the three toed sloths, have slow metabolisms, and are fairly picky eaters, being strictly herbivores. Mylodonts are closer to two toed sloths, have fast metabolisms (though still slow compared to other mammals), have a pair of fang-like tusks, and a more generalists diet, with larger mylodonts in Kaimere being bulk feeders of anything in their environment, including carrion. It is sometimes said that sloths proliferate in Kaimere because of luck, but the truth is much more complicated. While there was some chance involved, in the harvest 6 million years ago brought them into a habitat that had very little different from the one they were taken from, sloths did have significant advantages over other animals that poised them for success.
Humble Beginnings. The first harvest to bring sloths to Kaimere was the South American harvest around 13 mya, the same harvest that brought New World monkeys. While some larger taxa may have been brought at the time, most of the taxa harvested were small, arboreal species that thrived in the dense jungles that made up about 90% of the land area at the time. While these sloths were extremely successful, most of them died out when titanosaurs returned to the Known World and dramatically reshaped the composition of the forests, which coincided with a general trend towards climates becoming more arid. That said, the recently discovered cougar sloth of Crescent Mountain jungles to the east of the Known World is believed to be a relict of these basal sloths so they are not completely extinct.
The next harvest to bring sloths to Kaimere would not be from South America, but North America about 8 mya, at least 6 million years before the continents would converge. Sloths overcame this by island hopping across, as sloths are quite proficient swimmers, allowing them to get a head start on the faunal interchange and giving their clade an advantage. These pioneers then harvested for Kaimere were mylodonts, likely Thinobadestes[1] {"beach walker") or a similar species, and while most of the fauna harvested were cursorial, following an extinction in the Known World that impacted open territories, the sloths were ponderous and protected by two key traits: subdermal osteoderms and a substance secreted from sebaceous glands in the skin that dampened their ultraviolet signature. As most predators in Kaimere, notably cockatrices and megaraptorans have excellent ultraviolet vision, this meant sloths were preadapted to deal with theropod predators, an advantage few mammals introduced to Kaimere possess, and these mylodonts thrived in the, at the time, recently arrived southern Arvel.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race. Around 6 million years ago, Ni'Khar was devastated: triggered by volcanic activity from the convergence of Arvel and Pakardia toward the Known World, a phosphorus runoff unlike any seen before or since in the Known World and triggered a bloom of algae and magic to choke out the Seridic Wetlands and Crescent Sea, the very water itself toxic to any who would drink from it. Once the surplus of nutrients diminished and the region recovered, the Portal harvested from the place on Earth that had a climate almost exactly the same as the Known World at the time: late Miocene South America. The fauna harvested found such great success that they would go on to stabilize the entire Known World and for the next 5 million years, a time known to Kaimeran paleontologists as the Anchored Period, no harvests occurred at all. And among the greatest success stories of this harvest were the sloths.
Largest of the sloths brought at this time was a 4 ton sloth believed to be related to such icons of the Pleistocene as Megatherium ("Great beast") and Eremotherium[2] ("desert/steppe beast"). They were especially successful in the grasslands of Ni'Khar, although with their narrow snouts these megatheres were mostly browsers of the mosaic forests on the prairies which allowed them to coexist with the grazing gomphotheres that were so successful at this time. Thescelosaurs[3] also vied for this niche although they and the sloths seemed to have niche partitioned in some way, perhaps preferences in food, time of day, or some combination of the two. During the Anchored Period, megatheres would be among Ni'Khar's most abundant large mammals. In Arvel however, a different clade of sloths grew large: a burrowing sloth believed by Kaimeran naturalists to be the ancestor of Earth's Lestodon [4] ("robber tooth"). These sloths had a more demanding metabolism which, along with facing competition from the earlier mentioned, Thinobadestes descended mylodonts, they compinsated for by being bulk feeders on a wide range of plants. Like the earlier mylodonts, they were burrowers although they were much more specialized for the task and in addition to growing in size, the complexity of their tunnels also increased. While the North American lestodonts continued to diversify, other mylodonts harvested at this time were smaller generalists and quickly adapted to a wide range of niches, with many becoming burrowers but some becoming arboreal. Two species of tree sloth, two and three-toed sloths of the same genera as seen on Earth, were also harvested and still found in the Crescent Jungles today.
Although megatheres mostly established themselves in the grasslands and forests of Ni'Khar, one surprising habitat that they thrived in was the newly formed Trakaiam Sea: Thalassocnus[5] ("sea sloth") was a species of megatherioid, either descended from stem-megatheres or belonging to a sister clade, that took to marine habitats and was reaching their heyday at the time of harvest. These sloths were driven extinction on Earth due to the cooling climate reducing sea levels and therefore the seagrass meadows on which they relied, coupled with the convergence of North and South America altering the currents and quickly cooling their habitat. In Kaimere however, Thalassocnus came to a world where the seas were warm and the meadows covered enough territory to fill half the Indian Ocean, although they did face competition from sirenians[6] and desmostylians.[7] In this regard however, the sloth's slower metabolism, meaning they needed less food, gave them enough of an advantage to hold their won. Despite that though they were not the only sloth harvested to have a semi-aquatic lifestyle: Eionaletherium[8] ("Shore wonderer beast") was a mylodont that, while not nearly as specialized for the aquatic lifestyle as Thalassocnus, found success in the tropical freshwater habitats of Kaimere and had herds that were quite abundant.
From Disaster Begets Success Throughout the Anchored Period sloths were some of the most successful large, herbivorous mammal clades, and spread far and wide thanks to their keen smell, comfort in water, and their ultraviolet dampening secretions giving them camouflage against the theropod predators that dominate. This eden however, was not the last: the Anchored Period came to an end 1.5 mya, as a minor yet widespread extinction event occurred when Kaimere tilted on its axis causing the southern hemisphere, which the Known World is firmly nestled in, cooler and more arid. This triggered a harvest from Southeast Asia and Australia that was one of the longest harvesting events in recent history, likely due to the Known World experiencing two extinction events at the same time: one in the Arvelith highlands and one in Ni'Khar's prairies. Another reason this harvest lasted so long and had such a wide area of Earth to take organisms from was the myriad of diseases incoming animals brought at this time, only further destabilizing the Known World.
While South American ungulates[9] either went extinct or were pushed to the fringes by these changes and competition, sloths were by miles less effected. Mylodonts in particular saw virtually no change in their populations, if anything they became more successful: the climate changes simply prompted them to grow more fur and eat different foods, while the cursorial predators brought from the new harvests were no issue to the slow, armored mylodonts, especially the burrowers who were especially successful as they have proliferated in the past million years in species number and diversity. Such sloths are among the most abundant large mammals in the Known World, with a wide assortment found on all the continents and in just about every environment, much to the frustration of the local peoples who see them raiding their pantries and even attacking people themselves.
Megathere sloths however did not fair so well: by this time, the vast majority of them were extremely specialized in particular trees of the grasslands prior to the cool and arid period that caused these changes and the introduction of new competition proved too much for them, with the clade being reduced to a single species in Ni'Khar that survived another million years but was among the casualties of the invasion of Houzie grass. Arvelith megatheres were largely replaced by incoming mammoths and native mastodons, but much to the surprise of the Assembly are survived to this day in a single species: the reaper sloth (Therizinocnus omega “Last scythe sloth”) is only found in the western reaches of the Arvelith highlands, before the region transitions to a vast, scorching desert. Reaper sloths have a more versatile diet than one might expect for most megatheres, no doubt a key to their survival, although it is believed they are endangered though this hasn't been verified. Despite their name and fearsome appearance, reaper sloths are generally timid creatures that prefer to use their claws for browsing rather than combat.
Although the seagrass meadows decreased due to a drop in sea levels, somewhat surprisingly, this context was greatly in favor of the sloths: the slower metabolisms of Thalassocnus meant their descendants could get larger and support larger herds on much less food than the sirenians and desmostylians who need a lot more. Sirenians still have several species and desmostylians two species in appreciable abundance, but the Trakaiam is so populated by sloths that it is often called the Sloth Sea. Thalasssocnid sloths fall into two clades: swimmers which live like manatees, using their claws to secure themselves to the sea floor, and have six species in the Known World; and bottom punters which sink to graze for an hour before needing to climb back to shore for breathing and have three species.
Sloths are a testament to Kaimere's wonder and mysteries. While often lambasted as failures of evolution and thought to survive only by luck, they were among the most successful animals in South America for 30 million years and even manage to push their way into North America with similar success. This abundance is maintained in Kaimere, being so abundant and diverse that Kaimerans view their rarity on Earth just as strangely as birds being our only surviving dinosaurs. This more than with any other clade in Kaimere is proof of the profound lesson that should be taken when looking through deep time and at evolution: context is king.
Variant:Ultraviolet Dampened[edit]
As stated previously, sloths in Kaimere secrete a substance that dampens their ultraviolet signature. This trait is described bellow:
Ultraviolet Dampened. Creatures with Keen Sight roll Wisdom (Perception) checks made to see a sloth with disadvantage and the sloth has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide from them.
Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Creatures
 |
|