Manticores

"You have come so far to face me in glorious single combat only to collapse on the ground and writhe about in need after just one whiff of my tail? My, my, it seems like they don’t make red templars as they used to. Don’t worry, my lady, where you failed as a warrior, I am sure that those shapely hips of yours will excel at more pleasurable purpose."
—Unknown manticore to Lady Avara, as reported by her disgraced squire
"A manticore feels happiness whenever you feel sad. Because you got kicked in the junk the manticore is glad! A manticore invented death and all things that are bad, she'll fuck your sister just for fun, and make out with your dad!" Manticore! Manticore! Manticore! Manticore!"
—Manticore! (Silly Mode)

Writer Credit

StrayParadox
Manticores Codex Entry

Codex

Name: Manticore (pl. Manticores)
Sexes: Female and Hermaphrodite
Height: Ranges between 7 ft. and 9 ft.
Weight: Manticores have more densely-packed muscle than humans, due to their size and the strength needed to carry them aloft. Some specimens can weigh up to 350lbs of sheer muscle and fluff.
Skin: Manticores have typical human skin over a good deal of their bodies. They generally tend to be fair to tanned in appearance.
Hair: While having the same pattern of hair as humans atop their heads, manticores also have a layer of soft, downy fur on their lower arms and legs, as well as thick fuzz above the cleavage, ringing the shoulders like a cloak’s trimmings. As with many venomous species, however, manticores can have a range a bright coloration to warn of their potency, with hues ranging from a white-pink to blazing red.
Eyes: Manticores have dangerous-looking slitted felinid eyes, typically red, yellow, or gold. However, there have been cases of pink or even sunburst irises that have been seen among their kind.
Ears: Large, fluffy cat ears adorn the top of their heads, typically with large, fluffy tufts protruding from their centers. Reportedly, they’re extremely sensitive, but few have dared to make the attempt at confirming this rumor.
Lifespan: Around 100 years.
Maturity: 5 years.

Description

Manticores are an extremely tall and universally feminine race of arrogant amazons that seem to have at the same time features of a great cat, a scorpion, a bat, and a human female. Each towers above most races, and their sexual dichotomy exists solely of females and hermaphrodites. While possessing humanoid upper torsos and upper extremities, the similarity ends there. Their oversized forearms and lower legs are covered in thick layers of fur, their hands and feet adorned with supple, leathery pads, and where fingertips and toes should be, there are instead deadly daggerlike retractable claws that make a distinctive "snikt" sound when splayed.
On top of these intimidating features, great batlike wings sprout from their backs, allowing for quick and agile flight that lets them easily outmaneuver the rare creature that can’t be felled by their wicked claws. The final odd feature that sets them apart from other races is a long, plated scorpion-like tail that sprouts just above their chiseled rears. However, strangely, instead of ending in a stinger, the end appears to be a fleshy peach. This secondary sexual orifice produces extremely potent pheromones which allow the manticore to easily bring even the strongest-willed foes quivering to their knees.

Reproduction

Manticore copulation happens much the same as humans, with the caveat of hermaphroditic members of their race being able to both be the dam and the sire. However, reproduction itself is much accelerated as compared to the race of Man. Pregnancy lasts a mere three months, where afterwards the mother births a live young manticore.
The race seems to breed true, a fact that fuels their natural arrogance even further. No true half-breed has ever been reported, with the spawn simply taking minor characteristics of the non-manticore parent instead, such as eye, skin, or hair color. Manticore children also grow up nearly four times faster than the human norm, and children raised outside of a manticore harem have been observed to have an innate grasp of combat and pride, speculated by scholars to be a type of hereditary instinct. Thankfully, it seems manticores have a rather low fertility and are sparse as a rule, else the world would quickly be threatened by a race of fiery amazonian she-beasts bent on collecting expansive harems.

History

Perhaps the most odd part of this august race is their almost non-existent history. While there have been pictograms found from the oldest civilizations depicting manticore women stealing men and women away from their homes, manticores have never founded great cities or created their own tongue. Rather, they seem content to live out their long lives collecting lovers and trinkets, and ignoring the world at large. Perhaps their very nature of isolationism is to blame, as they do not seem to enjoy the company of their fellows.

Society & Culture

Manticores are individualists in the extreme, being that when they come of age, they gleefully abandon their mother’s nests and seek out territory of their own. Indeed, adventuring heroes have defeated powerful manticores whose nests contained near 200 harem members, none of which have been other members of her race. Any recordings of manticores being sighted together outside of a mother/daughter coupling have just been ones of violence and strife, where one will beat the other into the ground. However, it seems no manticore has ever been seen killing another, simply throwing the cowed victor out of her territory with threats of worse punishment should she ever return. It seems manticores are a violently territorial race, with members of other races seen as simple playthings and sources of amusement, and members of their own as annoying threats to their domain.