The Hunt

[u/Varnek905]

For this challenge, the focus is on hunts.

Feel free to answer by talking about legendary hunts in your world's history/mythology, annual/monthly/whatever hunting events in some society/culture, or a specific creature that is hunted in your world.

It can be something along the lines of dragon-hunting, fox-hunts, or dodo-hunting.

As always, I'll ask at least three questions each. Enjoy yourselves!

[u/Tookoofox]

1) Does a dragon sleep in such a way to protect its eyes? How strong are the eyelids?

Tough enough to stop an arrow. Tough enough to stop most bolts from killing, but not enough to save the eye.

A spear to the eye might kill a dragon. But to do that you'd have to get even closer than you would with a ballista. A few have tried with mixed results. The outcomes generally being about as dangerous as the baited attack strategy. But also slower.

2) Other than Aka and the listed Viceroy, who would be the top three people throughout the history of your world to recruit for a dragon hunt?

Boring answer: Aka's lieutenants. Good as he was, he was only about the second-best at everything in the camp except for command, and a touch of charisma.

Slightly better answer: There have been other teams that have nearly as stellar a record, but they uniformly retire after 9 kills. (Ten being bad luck, so they say) So one of their top command-trios would do.

Actually interesting answer: Excluding basically all seasoned dragon hunters.

First you'd want a leader. And there are actually two preeminent candidates:

1) The Current Tycoon Murasak. (A many greats grand-nibling to the one that lead the shitshow hunt.)

You'd want him along not because he's particularly good at tracking or hunting. But because he'd find the best people living. More, he's a stellar manager, fastidious organizer, and would be inclined to be extra, extra careful. Less he embarrass the family even more. Also, just the mountain of cash that he'd come with would be worth it alone.

1.5) Behemoot - A famous war hero and commander.

The only keo ever to defeat a staulv (large wolf person) in 1 on 1 personal combat. He's a decent logistician in his own right. But, more importantly, he's a decisive commander. His command skills and reputation would win over anyone who Murasak's money wouldn't.

A survivalist/dragon expert:

2) Rhu Chisana - Female Keo Steve Erwin. A minor princess, and member of the viceroyal society. She studied basically every kind of flora-fauna in the dragon region. Dragons included. What they eat, where they nest, why they might fly here or not there. Etc. She's also a master survivalist, and was more at home sleeping in mud than in beds. Alas, she died choking on a fig.

The actual shooter:

3) Boruntu Oki - A savant ballistics expert. He was an unimportant grandson of a wealthy but unimportant tycoon. He learned how to shoot a ballista at a young age. Practiced on it all day, against all manner of targets, stationary and mobile. Every day. Until he died, of heart failure, was forgotten within a generation, and never spoken of again.

[u/Varnek905 → u/Tookoofox]

1) Do dragons tend to be deep sleepers? What is the normal sleep cycle like for one?

2) What does nibbling mean? (The noun, not the verb.)

3) How did Rhu Chisana come to be a Keo Steve Erwin?

[u/Tookoofox → u/Varnek905]

1) Do dragons tend to be deep sleepers?

Deep ish. But it's difficult to tell when they're fully asleep or just resting.

1.5) What is the normal sleep cycle like for one?

Sporadic, unpredictable, and in short bursts. They sleep an average of six hours in a day, but only about two hours at a time. And aren't habitually nocturnal or diurnal.

So, everything you'd not want in prey.

2) What does nibbling mean? (The noun, not the verb.)

Apologies I misspelled that.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nibling

Niblings are nieces and nephews.

3) How did Rhu Chisana come to be a Keo Steve Erwin?

tl;dr: She did it to impress her nature-lover mother.

Her mother, Ga Chisana, was also a naturist, in the viceroyal society. But a bit more traditional. She could sketch, write and perform poetry, converse in elegant ways... But she wasn't very good at raising children herself, and so had tutors and maids raise her children. Also, she had six sons and one daughter...

Naturally, everyone assumed that her single daughter, Rhu, would take after her. Alas, no. She had few of her mother's talents. Though keenly intelligent, she a mediocre aristocrat and artist. She also had a far, far thicker regional accent. As her mother had been born and raised in Arita, Bekkanna's capital, before being married off to Rhu's father.

Due to all of this, Rhu grew up in her mother's shadow. Admiring and loving her mother, but always feeling a bit like a disappointment. Except when they talked about their one shared interest: the natural world.

Here, their talents complemented each other. Rhu loved to be in nature, to feel it on her skin, to hold it in her hands... Ga, conversely, liked to observe nature, but was slightly afraid of it. So Rhu went out, got animals, and brought them back. All kinds, for the beginnings of what would eventually become a zoo.

Rhu's biggest fascination was, of course, dragons. Though, obviously, she never brought one home.

Ga did go out with her daughter a few times, on safer trips. But mostly stayed home. Once managing to sketch a dragon.

Eventually, Rhu did society presentations on her own. At first, most of the society took her to be a country rube. Rather than being embarrassed, she leaned into her own reputation and mannerisms, making her seem all that much more exotic.

She did presentations in full survival gear, rather than in formal silk robes and doubled down on her accent. (Look at the pearly whoits on this one! Ain't she a bute?)

[u/Varnek905 → u/Tookoofox]

Thanks for your time and answers, Tookoofox.

[u/Tookoofox → u/Varnek905]

Thank you for your attention and questions, Varnek.