Known Creature Details
Ssaels
Pronounced: Ss-ale
These wild animals bare no distinguishable features when it comes to gender, it's anyone's guess whether ssaels even have sexes. They migrate north during the summers, and come back south in the winter! Whistler Crest is lucky enough to live in their overlap range, potentially seeing them all times of the year, though sightings are most common during their summer migration.
Appearance
No bigger than a child's outstretched hand, ssaels are star-shaped gliders with prominent dorsal fins and two rudimentary rudders on their bottoms. They naturally float in the air, gliding with the faintest flick of their wide wings. They have darkly-coloured backs and pale underbellies, with almond-shaped eyes placed along their medians. These eyes can glow quite brightly when the creatures are startled or looking to attract others of their kind to flock.
The noses and tailspurs of these creatures are hard and metallic, boasting an alloy of conductive metals that are local to the area. The richer the ores available to the creatures along their migrations, the more sensitive they are to electromagnetic currents. The almost feline, ear-like protrusions on their "brows" are sensory organs that assist in sensing reflected electrical currents.
Floating behind their tails is a star-shaped bit of charged metal, carried behind them with an electromagnetic current. In the event of danger, ssaels have been known to extend the trailing distance of their stars to distract predators from chasing them, this causes the magnetic currents to attract magnetically-charged particles, forming elaborate clouds of dust! Ssaels with new offspring are conspicuously missing their stars, instead trailing a kit- or sometimes even two - behind them instead.
Diet
Ssaels are avid insectivores, most active at night. They are adept users of lightning magic, using their natural abilities to sense even tiny fluctuations in the air that would indicate a spark of life. They adeptly sense the difference between larger sparks - life-forms larger than they are, and that they should therefore avoid, and those that are of a manageable size to hunt down!
Ssaels are also attracted to the natural sources of metals, feeding on veins of ore-rich earth during the daytime when they hide in caves.
Breeding
Not much is known about the breeding habits of ssael. They are very mysterious!
Abilities and Skills
Ssaels, being naturally buoyant in the air, fly with simple flicks of their wide wings, and by manipulation of electromagnetic currents. They have the ability to sense the electrical currents of lifeforces around them, and use that to hunt and to be aware of larger creatures around that may pose a threat. They can also attract electromagnetically-charged particles to follow them around as a distracting cloud, and in times of danger, may even shed their stars completely.
To communicate with other members of their species, ssaels allow their eyes to flash with bright glows during times of plenty. They flock and frolic together when the summer nights are full, or when their young are fed and sheltered during their overwintering.