Elusive. Legendary. Phantasmagoric. They are the Leukotheres, Fantasia's earth elementals. The name means "white beasts" which is exactly what they are, mysterious white creatures that serve as the earth's guardians. There are essentially four types of leukotheres: White Stags, White Hounds, White Boars, and White Bears. There are quite possibly more, but these are the ones familiar to the largest amount of peoples in Fantasia.

White Stags
Guardians of the earth's creatures and their dwellings, stand the legendary White Stags. Rumors abound among the forest-dwelling peoples of hunters encountering large white stags in the midst of a hunt. Their exact function is not known for certain, although the Dryads claim that they are the earth's way of protecting its inhabitants, both sentient and non. Indeed there are tales of many a hunter lost in the mountains who find white stags wrapped in mist that they chase back to the path home.

White Hounds
The white hounds are the guardians of the earth's secret places. Now, of course there are several breeds of dog that have white fur, so how are the White Hounds anything special? To start with, of all the white-furred dog breeds, none are the size of an average pony and have emerald green eyes. On top of that is the fact that like the White Stags, encounters with White Hounds always involve fog cover.

The "ghost hounds" of the Sidhe, with their large size, white fur, and red ears are said to be descended from a White Hound that befriended one of the great ancestors of that people.

White Boars
White Boars are among the rarer of the leukotheres in terms of legendary acclaim, few have ever even heard of them. In fact, the Dryads are probably the only race that knows much about them all. According to Dryad legends, they play a similar role to the Tree Drakes as protectors of the forests and plant life. It is said that the tusk of a White Boar can bring agricultural prosperity to any who can find one.

White Bears
No, not polar bears. Think more like Grizzlies with white fur and emerald eyes. These are the rarest of the leukotheres. Not even the Dryads have any legends or records of White Bear sightings. But among peoples that the Dryads have never heard of float legends of great white bears seen guarding mountain passes and caves. It's said that music charms them and can even bind one to you permanently if you play it well enough.

So those are my leukotheres. What do yall think?

Very elusive and secret. Next foggy day I'll have my eyes peeled.

ngyaw. thanks for the info folks.. had a ood read atleast.. god bless!! see you around.. more posts to come huh

I like this idea, and the creatures, too.

I love these! Creepy and fascinating! lol. The white bears were my favourite!

Do they only come out in fog or does the fog come with them? Are they intelligent or is it by mere instinct given them that they protect the earth? You say they are protectors of things, in what way do they protect?

The fog comes with them, though that's not common knowledge. Their sentience is undetermined but I see them as more soulful than intelligent if you understand my meaning. The protective role is an instinct. Hm...in what way do they protect...it largely differs on the type of leukothere and what they protect. For instance, the white stags protect wildlife right, that's based on legends that say they only appear to hunters who risk overhunting a certain area or creature and lead the hunter off in a wild chase that exhausts them and causes them to forget their original hunt for a time until the balance is restored. There are also legends telling of how they similarly appear to wayward travelers that wind up chasing them until they disappear and the traveler realizes that they've either reached their destination or the way to it.
White hounds serve kind of a guard dog role for the earth's secret places. Some think that they guard places of great mystical power, others the sites of hidden treasures, and still more hold to a view that they guard both. None are really sure. The white hound ancestor of the ghost hounds was said to haunt a sacred mound, which is where the ancient Sidhe is said to have encountered it and somehow won its friendship. No one knows what was so special about that mound.
White boars are similar to the Tree Drakes in that their main role is more like gardener than forest warden. There are a handful of obscure rumors about overzealous woodsmen who were chased out of the forest by large white boars. Mainly though, they appear once in a very great while to tend the trees and plant life of the forests. It's generally assumed by the Dryads that they do this semi-regularly but are rarely spotted by anyone.
White bears are not even known of by the majority of the races in Fantasia. But the legends of those few mountain-dwelling people that do tell of them seem to portray them as the earth's protectors of people that roam the mountains in a fashion similar to the rescue dogs of the Swiss Alps. There are many tales of those who bind a white bear to themselves through their musical prowess and earn the lifetime protection of the white bears. In some tales the bear would appear whenever the individual was in danger or threatened, in others the bear became the person's constant companion throughout the remainder of his or her life. There are even tales of the latter strain that tell of the bears remaining with the particular person's family even after he/she passes on. Like the white hounds, they are more soulful than outright intelligent, though they seem from the tales to be very adept at understanding people.

So if a bear becomes someones companion for life, is that person forever doomed to live in a fog?

Haha! That would be a cool side effect. But no, I think they would turn the fog off in such an instance. And yes they can turn it off, looking at it they'd almost have to be able to turn it off for most of the legends to work

Okay, that was going to be my next question.

But once they turn it off, can they turn it back on?

Yeah. But in the case of those bound to people, they have no desire/instinct to do so. The fog is mainly a natural response to appearing to/near people. They can turn it off if they feel inclined to, but it's not like the fog is inseparably connected to their existence.

When they are bound to people, do they try to hide from those who they aren't bound to?

In some legends, yes and in some legends, no.

so they're sort of a indian spirit guardian type deal? That's cool. I love when there's a reason behind things in fantasy.

If the human/possible other race doesn't play music or whatever it was that bound them for a long period of time, is it possible for them to become un-bound?

Nope. They're earth elementals i.e. living manifestations of the elemental energies of the earth.
Time for clarifications on the whole "binding" thing, which I'm really surprised has drawn so much attention. First off, it's a legend connected exclusively to the white bears, not to all leukotheres. There's a legend about a white hound that bound itself to a Sidhe out of love/loyalty/whatever, but that's something totally different. About white bears and binding, the legends say that they like music and can be charmed by, it meaning that they stop and listen to it being played or appear to someone playing it. This might not seem like much of a charm, but it goes against the normal behavior of leukotheres that rarely appear to people and only for brief periods. There are also a handful of legends about rare individuals so talented in music that it touches the "soulful" part of a white bear and that white bear becomes their life-long companion. This is not a spell or enchantment, it is a deep emotional connection between the bear and the musician caused by very emotionally deep music played with such talent and intensity that a bond is formed. There's one legend in which a bear companion guarded the musician's family for a generation or two after the individual's death because of it's great love for him. But that is an exceptional tale among an exceptional type of legend. In English, there are very few legends about white bears bonding with people and in all but one of those it's a life-long bond that dissipates after the individuals die. Make sense?
By the way, I hope to post sometime in the next few days about the next type of elementals, the Aphrotheres.

Oh, that's helpful. Thanks, Seer!

No problem.