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Description

Corne-Courbe are among the largest extant species of “rhinos”, weighing twelve tons and exhibiting flamboyantly curved horns that can grow well over three meters in length. They are relatively rare due to competition with Jotun, mastodons, and other, faster-growing species of rhinos, occupying a thin strip of algae plains along the eastern coastline. The weather here is particularly bad, even for the far north, and there is little in the way of mountains and hills for many miles. Due to the extremes, this region is avoided by most northern fauna, which leaves the Corne-Courbe as its largest regular grazers. They are especially well-adapted for extreme climates, which allows them to take advantage of an environment that, while sparse, offers little in the way of competition or predators.

While the alien “rhinos” and their relatives all carry thick, rubbery hides, the Corne-Courbe have taken this to an extreme, developing immense humps of fat and muscle edged by long, rubbery folds of thick skin and fat that trail down past the legs, much like the hanging hairs of a muskox. These shield the comparatively thin legs from the icy wind and rain, can serve as a “blanket” under which newly born calves can hide and rest, and warm the legs, feet, and stomach of the rhinos when they lie down to rest. While they do migrate southwards during the winter like other rhinos, they stick to the coast and overwinter in habitat that, while not covered in snow, averages near-freezing temperatures and an abundance of bitterly cold rain. Much of their time here is spend in tight huddles which, due to their warm-blooded metabolisms and immense size, considerably warm the air around them. Males grow a variety of fleshy projections around their faces which can be inflated and blown up to ridiculous sizes. As their immense and awkwardly situated horns are clumsy in fights, they tend to use them and the aforementioned projections to settle their disagreements with visual displays instead. Like all rhinos, they possess a fatty sheath which can be pulled over their radulae when they retract them into their mouths, protecting the thin and temperature-sensitive organs from the biting snow.

Description

Corne-Courbe are among the largest extant species of “rhinos”, weighing twelve tons and exhibiting flamboyantly curved horns that can grow well over three meters in length. They are relatively rare due to competition with Jotun, mastodons, and other, faster-growing species of rhinos, occupying a thin strip of algae plains along the eastern coastline. The weather here is particularly bad, even for the far north, and there is little in the way of mountains and hills for many miles. Due to the extremes, this region is avoided by most northern fauna, which leaves the Corne-Courbe as its largest regular grazers. They are especially well-adapted for extreme climates, which allows them to take advantage of an environment that, while sparse, offers little in the way of competition or predators.

While the alien “rhinos” and their relatives all carry thick, rubbery hides, the Corne-Courbe have taken this to an extreme, developing immense humps of fat and muscle edged by long, rubbery folds of thick skin and fat that trail down past the legs, much like the hanging hairs of a muskox. These shield the comparatively thin legs from the icy wind and rain, can serve as a “blanket” under which newly born calves can hide and rest, and warm the legs, feet, and stomach of the rhinos when they lie down to rest. While they do migrate southwards during the winter like other rhinos, they stick to the coast and overwinter in habitat that, while not covered in snow, averages near-freezing temperatures and an abundance of bitterly cold rain. Much of their time here is spend in tight huddles which, due to their warm-blooded metabolisms and immense size, considerably warm the air around them. Males grow a variety of fleshy projections around their faces which can be inflated and blown up to ridiculous sizes. As their immense and awkwardly situated horns are clumsy in fights, they tend to use them and the aforementioned projections to settle their disagreements with visual displays instead. Like all rhinos, they possess a fatty sheath which can be pulled over their radulae when they retract them into their mouths, protecting the thin and temperature-sensitive organs from the biting snow.