Hyppon

A hyppon is a huge, bulbous animal. At first glance they seem like overweight cattle that could not outrun the slowest mastigator. Long shaggy fur, usually grey or brown, covers their entire body. Hyppon tails—long, bald, and semi-prehensile – end in a bony stub they used as a club. Their feet are short and round. Powerful legs can propel a hyppon three times as fast as a humanoid with devastating effect to trees and pretty much anything else that gets in the way. Their head is a gaping maw of flat teeth made for grinding plants. Like most cattle, a hyppon’s complex digestive system requires them to regurgitate and re-chew food several times. One regular hyppon tooth is wider than an ogre’s arm and can crush the bone of that arm to powder in one chomp. Four of a hyppon’s teeth at the corners of its mouth grow larger. It uses these for stripping trees or rooting and on occasion as weapons. Atop the rounded head, fur-covered floppy ears cascade down behind their powerful jaws. The hyppon has excellent hearing above and below water, which compliment excellent eyesight in both environments. Each eye has a thick transparent membrane to protect it when in combat or submerged in water. A hyppon’s eyes grows larger than an ogre’s head and sits atop the rounded maw in such a way that they make the creature appear perpetually sad. Those eyes change from bright blue to a red so dark it was nearly black when angered.