Name: Deserteye or Monosafaira
Category: Monsters, Mounts, Useful
Type: Mammalians
Size: Medium
Region: Desert
Rarity: Rare
Lifespan: Unknown (less than 3 years once in captivity)
Appearance
Slightly taller than the addax found on Earth, the Monosafaira stand between 120`-150cm at the shoulder, with a weight to match. The Monosafaira have slender legs ending in broad splayed hooves. The flat soles and dewclaws they possess enable them to move swiftly across the desert sand.
Their body is covered by a wiry undercoat and a short smooth one over that. The colour of their coat always matches the surrounding sand, and can vary from dark brown to light beige. As sightings are rare, it is not known if Monosafaira have the ability to change their coat colour in the wild, but the few Monosafaira that have been kept in captivity are not known to do so.
Their horns are prominent, typically 70`-80cm in length and covered in very short and stiff hair. They curve upwards in the same manner as antlers, ridged with the rings wider towards the base of the horns. The horns are covered in stiff dark hair.
The most definitive characteristic of the Monosafaira is the one which they are named after. Be it 'Deserteye' or 'Monosafaira' (Single-Orb), their name references the fact that all Monosafaira possess only a single eye, around which many myths are built. Large and placed in the center of their heads, the eye of a Monosafaira is thickly lashed to keep sand out. The pupil is elliptical and upright like that of a serpent or feline, and the iris is usually of a deep bluish hue. And if the light hits the eye just right, light silvery markings resembling a butterfly can be seen.
Behaviour
Monosafaira are generally passive creatures, if a little skittish. Highly alert, the Monosafaira almost always notice whenever it is being approached. When this happens, the antelope will normally fix their gaze upon the moving person as if in consideration, before running off. Due to their speed on sand, this usually marks the end of the encounter. Only in the rare event that a beast master or hunter gets close enough to attempt to capture or kill them will the beast show its dangerous nature and deadly abilities.
More often, it is the travellers of the desert who find themselves being watched instead. The feeling has been described as unnerving, as if the creature's gaze was able to look so deep that it was able to read their souls. Most put it off to a guilty conscience, but rumours of the Monosafaira's mind-reading abilities persist.
Breeding: Sightings of Monosafaira are invariably of solitary ones, thus it is assumed that the Monosafaira do not move in herds unlike most equine. Intra-species interaction is a mystery, as those kept in capitivity seem to ignore each other's presence, making breeding impossible. Also, nothing remotely resembling a juvenile Monosafaira has been seen.
Diet: Wild Monosafaira have only ever been spotted doing two things -- watching and running away. As such it is not known what the creatures feed on, though there are speculations that they eat sand, grass, insects or in a grisly rumour, dead bodies.
Habitat: The Monosafaira are found exclusively in the Scorpion Desert?, where they are given a wide berth by the fearsome predators inhabiting it.
Special Information
Strengths/Abilities:
- Air Manipulation? -- Whenever a Monosafaira is on the run or in the process of being captured, a hellish sandstorm is never far behind. Some chalk it up to coincidence, but veteran hunters of the Scorpion Desert will tell you otherwise.
- Mind-reading (speculated)
Weaknesses:
- Captivity -- Monosafaira tend to fare poorly in captivity, even when kept in conditions identical to their original environment, never surviving past 3 years. A key factor is that no one knows what the Monosafaira eat.
Uses:
- Eye -- Highly sought-after, the eye of a Monosafaira is said to increase the potency of empathic or related potions. Due to the butterfly motif present on the iris, the eye is also valued by many a religious organization for its association with Xanth. It is also said to ward off evil, and to increase one's sensitivity to the thoughts and emotions of others. Whether or not any of this is true is up for debate, however.
- Antlers -- Most often mounted and kept as a trophy, powder from ground antlers is also said to cure impotency and is used in expensive remedies that many a rich folk swear by.
- Coat -- Similar to the antlers, their primary use by Elysians? is in decoration, be it as a wall piece or a throw rug. Frequent travelers of the desert will have another use for it: keeping the sand at bay. In this case the coat is used as an exterior piece of clothing.
- Mount -- Monosafaira make swift and intelligent mounts on desert ground once they have been tamed. Unfortunately, their short lifespan means that they do not remain useful for long, and it is recommended that owners not get attached to their mounts.
Origin: Due to their eyes, the Monosafaira are generally accepted to be yet another result of Xanth's experiments, presumably between an addax and an elk.
Other Info: Many myths and legends surround the one-eyed antelope of the Scorpion Desert. The most common one is that they are servants of Xanth, and she sees what their eye sees. Another is that they are in fact carrion feeders whose gaze compels one to folly and suicide.
Creatures Monsters Mounts Useful Mammalians Medium Desert Rare Scorpion Desert Religious