Pronunciation: Singular (Deelqaaf) as in 'calf' Plural (Deelqaves) as in 'calves'

Deelqaves are an ancient type of creature. They resemble a human giant, yet still have defining features that are unique to them. They were created at the beginning of time along with the dwarves and humans but have slowly dwindled, for many reasons. First of all, the deelqaves can not reproduce. Secondly, they are feared by the Qalurans (they are found mainly in Qaluros) and are hunted.

An average deelqaaf is around forty to fifty feet tall. Their skin is the texture of granite, and their coloring can range anywhere from a sandy color to a dark basalt color. Average deelqaves are a light grey color and forty-five feet tall.

They are sentient, but their thought processes are much reduced from ours. They can reason when hunting, and some can understand human speech, but they are not organized in a race or anything, and thus are classified as creatures. At the time of Zaciré there is only one deelqaaf left in the world; Zaciré and Numaryá encounter him on the quest.

The deelqaves are very untrusting of Qalurans because they have been hunted by them for só long. Though huge, the deelqaves are very shy and not very good at attacking people or things, they are generally peaceful creatures.

The most defining physical feature of deelqaves is that they have no ears, instead they sense vibrations through the air and ground; they're a sort of 'living rock'. This is why they often have trouble understanding human speech. The difficult dwarf speech they cannot understand at all, and especially they dislike Mountain Dwarves, who are miners of rock.

The one remaining deelqaf in the world during the time of Zaciré aids in the final battle against Srugoz. Because he isn't very bright, he knows little of current world affairs but does hate Srugoz. He can, however, remember the Creation, back at the very beginning.

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What do you guys think of this creature? It plays a relatively minor part in the book but I thought it was pretty cool.

eruheran

Sounds awesome! How would you defeat one? How long ago were they made and how many were made? If they were taught combat would they be any good at it or are they just to clumsy?

It is very hard to defeat a Deelqaaf, but it can be done, with a lot of men and with fire. They are terrified of fires, so they generally stay away from forests (i.e. Forest Fire). They were made at the creation and placed in the east of Qaluros, all ten of them. Eventually, with many men (and fire), Qalurans over time destroyed nine of the Deelqaves. There is only one left in the world when the book begins.

Their combat is kind of hard to document. They can't actually be taught combat, because they are very clumsy, and they are also very reluctant to ever fight, because they hate fighting. They will actually refuse lessons in how to fight because they are such great pacifists. When a deelqaaf is attacked, however, it will fight back viciously, and can be very dangerous because of its size. Their main attack is stomping and pounding with their fists; they don't usually use actual weapons like bows and swords.

A deelqaaf has never actually fought except in self-defense but in the Great War, the last remaining deelqaaf does eventually come to help turn the tide.

Interesting!
How long can these creatures live?

Since they're technically made out of minerals and rocks, they can live indefinitely unless killed by weapons, etc. They are especially vulnerable to pheonix or other birds like that. Anyways, like I said, they'd all been killed off by the Qalurans at the time of my book, except for one.

And, just for the record, they eat soil and rocks, similar to the trees in the book Prince Caspian (When they're feasting with Bacchus)

eruheran

Interesting creatures!


Do they ever form groups, in which to hunt or live? Or have they always been loners?


Oh, I like this. Do they have any ability to speak? Could he perhaps share some of his memories with the others in the story?

They are usually loners, which is the only reason that most of them have been killed off by hunters, etc. I forgot to mention they are especially vulnerable to pheonix (Of which there are two varieties. The sentient kind would never kill a fellow creature but the cursed kind that Srugoz controls would. )

Usually, they live alone. As far as hunting, since they eat minerals...not too hard to hunt a rock. "Ooh, get that nice sandstone before it runs away!!" But yes, they're loners.

He can speak, they all could, but because of the Curse (the equivalent of the fall) they prefer not to speak of the Creation, etc. But I am toying with adding in my book a portion where the deelqaaf shares with Zaciré about the creation, thus ultimately leading Zaciré to the Lord, since he had been vascillating a lot through out the book. But I'm not sure.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I actually wrote this name before I came up with languages. Consider this their real name but if you were to spell it in Зaru, the language of Tarbiyaan, it would actually be written Deelkaaf (Deel-kayf) and pluralized Deelkaav (Deel-kayvl). But since we're not speaking Зarian I can safely still let you guys say Deelqaaf (Deel-kaf)

eruheran

LOL!



Yes, sometimes you have to rewrite those pivotal moments a few times to find the most powerful scenario. Since I have some characters in my book that have been around since the Creation of their world, its intriguing to me to contemplate how those with such knowledge would interact with those around them...and what impact they might have on others. Only in my case, the characters are human, not Deelqaves (or Deelkaaf, as the case may be!)

You have some intriguing creatures here!

Thanks! Yes, that's at a future point in the book, so I have a lot of time to rewrite it and get it right.

eruheran

Hey all, I've updated and pulled together some more information about the Deelqaves, if you're interested. I've kind of finished developing the actual creatures (I'm working on the pheonixi now) so this thread can be closed. I've got an info thread in my subforum here, though, with more information about these creatures.

eruheran

I guess this thread could be archived...I'm not going to be developing these much further.

Cool, I'll have to check out your sub-forum!

I think I can archive it if you want.

Thanks, if you could. I know as an HRM I can move threads everywhere except the Vault. But if you could, that would be great.

eruheran

Sorry, I guess I can't move it to the vault either, we need a Marcher Lord or Sir Emeth. You could PM one.