Species: Maned Heifia(s)

Name - (Maned) Heifia(s)

Pronunciation - HY-fee-uh(z)

Original - Coberi, a large tawny-furred, dark-maned male. He's thought to still be alive today, and occasional sightings support this belief.

Temperament - It differs quite a lot with gender. Males are strong-willed, aggressive, and occasionally less intelligent than they probably should be; they're stubborn, sometimes blinded by instinct or emotion, and sometimes unreasonably biased. Females are quiet, mild-mannered, and passive; they usually don't mind being submissive towards males, as they live in the safety of numbers and rarely deal with the other sex outside of breeding season. It's almost as though there's an inner feminine society in each pack that every male tries to ignore.

Culture - Heifias are strictly a male-ruled society; they live in packs with an alpha leader (which is always male and tends to be the best warrior of the pack), and only male Heifias are allowed outside the territory (which is viciously guarded). Heifias don't mate for life but tend to have a preferred mate when breeding season comes around, and though relations between male and female tend to stabilize then, at other times in the year females are very much the lesser sex. Litters consist of two to five pups, which are grown in two years; Heifias live well into their 80s. Though they relate well with most of the Original Nine races as well as Non-Maned Heifias, Heifias are otherwise very hostile and aggressive towards Lavanians.

Habitat - Heifias are very tough and can survive in just about any terrain and climate, barring the extremely hot and cold. They prefer forests and mountains, though, and usually aren't too happy to be in wide open spaces or dense jungles.

Height at Shoulder - 3-5 feet; males are much bigger than females

Physical Description - These big burly cretts seem to be a cross between bulldog and lion. Heavy jowels conceal wickedly sharp fangs and assorted slicing teeth, with only a few molars shoved back in the powerful jaws. Their eyesight is decent, better than human's but focused more on movement, and their wolfish ears hear exceedingly well. Males have a full, leonine mane, which protects their vulnerable neck from nearly all attacks. Females, however, have a silkier mane, more equine, which offers very little protection. Their limbs differ between genders - females have a more catlike, slender body, while males are chunkier and far more powerful. Heifias have rib walls, like Korats, and their tails are leonine, tipped in a tuft of longer fur. Heifias are immensely strong and many are surprisingly fast, but few can keep up a sprint, even though their endurance when loping or trotting is excellent.

Coloration - Heifias are mostly shades of brown; the males usually have darker manes (possibly black) while the females have lighter manes (never white). Eyes are almost always golden, but can be brown. Some melanistic (black) Heifias exist, but those are usually females and thus unimportant.

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