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Mandollo — Description

The Underworld can be an intimidating place, history shows quite a lot of surface folk are fearful of it! But even if you were to brush aside the bad blood between the surface world and Underworld, people would still find this underground land daunting. The labyrinthine tunnels, the vast caverns, the eternal darkness and, of course, the strange beasts that call it all home. They truly have some bizarre species down there, and some pretty big ones too! People worry about stumbling into them when lost in the endless tunnels, and are fearful that they would find themselves trapped by a vicious beast and a dead end path. To many, the Underworld is a dangerous place that has nothing but horrors. I, however, know this to be false!
Do remember that the Underworld is just another land, another simple ecosystem. The creatures down there are mere animals, with no evil thoughts to them or desire to be cruel. Just because they are big and strange doesn't mean they are dangerous or need to be feared. Sure, some do look pretty intimidating, but there are plenty others down below that you would find pretty mundane. They got normal animals, cute ones and even some pretty goofy ones! You may find it hard to believe that anything silly can be found in the Underworld, and to that I simply point at the Mandollo.
The Mandollo is a rather odd beast to witness, as it shakes your faith in how nature designs its creatures. Most species you encounter seemed to be crafted with the idea that they fit into their environment and are specially made to perform and thrive there. Surely the animals that lived in these areas for so long are perfectly adapted to it and thus their prolonged survival! However, the Mandollo challenges that notion that all species are perfectly suited to their surroundings by being...well, a Mandollo.
The Mandollo are awkward creatures, ones we don't even really know how to classify. Some folk would point to them and say they are a reptile, which certainly looks true, but some things don't match up. Certain features of them lean more towards bird, which other groups argue against. Whichever they are, they are still baffling creatures. They aren't huge, or even that large, yet they don't seem to run and hide like the smaller critters of this land. Running doesn't even seem to be an option, because their gait is truly odd. Their limbs jut out at awkward angles, and their feet seemingly more suited for walking backward than forward. In some cases, they straight up drag their bellies across the ground, which is an odd way to do things. We have seen that they excel more in shallow water, their limbs more swimming than walking. It just seems whenever they leave these damp areas, things stop working.
Due to their awkward way of traveling, they are certainly not a creature that can outrun predators. Hiding doesn't seem to be an option either, as they don't blend in with their surroundings and they barely put in any effort to remain subtle. They make a ton of racket, honking and snorting with their trunk-like nose, which alerts anything nearby. Thankfully, the species has a very hardy shell on their body, and tough scales to ward off bites. Stubby barbs jut from these plates, making it hard to sink your teeth in without getting jabbed. They rely on this armor when on land, as when in water they prefer to swim away. In real deep water, however, they aren't fast enough swimmers for those deep beasts either, so once again they rely on heavy plates to keep them alive. Their limbs possess claws and sharp spikes, which they can use to defend themselves. But with their weird placement, these attacks are more like blind flailing, hoping predators back off from sheer confusion. They do possess a special gland in their long back sweeping "horn" that lets them mix a burning fluid with their saliva and gut contents. When threatened, they can spit this awful mixture that causes a reaction on one's skin or sensitive membranes. Such efforts do work against attackers from time to time, but there are also plenty of times that they simply don't. Perhaps the true defense they possess is the fact that they reproduce real fast and churn out a lot of eggs. This species survives simply because there is too many to eat in one sitting.
Mandollo feed on fungus and lichens, preferably those in or near water. Their trunks help grab this food or pull it off the stone, then feed it to their beak-like mouth. These same noses help sniff out their meals in the first place, sometimes leading them to carcasses of past hunts. Though they are fungivores, Mandollo do partake in some scavenging, not ones to pass up on a free meal. Their beaks may struggle with tough hide or muscle, but do quite well against bone! They may crack open these bones to eat the marrow, which once again makes a ton of noise so you better hope the hunter still isn't around!
To the denizens of the Underworld, the Mandollo is nothing special. They are another creature to hunt and eat, supposedly making a wonderful stew! Their plates make for a nice light armor, and I have seen their claws in pendants and decoration. However, the Mandollo does not have a good reputation down there. In truth, the species is seen as "stupid" and "annoying." Some stories claim that Mandollo first started getting hunted because demons and shades grew sick and tired of their obnoxious honking. As a creature that seems to struggle on land, make dumb noises and flails for self-defense, the people down below have a real hard time taking them seriously. So when someone calls you a "Mandollo," they are just outright calling you an idiot.
Some may wonder why this species even exists, or how it continues to do so. They sure seem terribly adapted to everything, so how can this be? My theory is that this was a species that was isolated in a secluded cavern for a real long time, and was free of any real predators or threats. But when the Underworld started to open up, be it natural causes or civilization expanding, their home was breached and these creatures got exposed to a lot of things they weren't used to. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that their quick reproduction let them survive this, as many other species would have been wiped out!
I do apologize if I come off harsh or critical of this species in my entry. I am sure I made them sound real useless and stupid, and that shouldn't be my intention. At the end of the day, they are just another species just trying to live in this world. They just happen to go about it in a real odd way. Part of it may be the fact I am still a little miffed that my demon guides compared me to a Mandollo early on. At the time, I wasn't aware of the species, so I was curious of what they were talking about when they called me one. Turns out my loud talking and stumbling in the dark reminded them of the flailing honking beasts of these lands. When I finally saw one....well, lets just say the moment was soured...
Chlora Myron
Dryad Natural Historian
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Folks who been around here long enough probably know that may Underworld is populated by some weird prehistoric creatures. Lot of cambrian critters running about. So of course, I imagined folk would be wondering when the Underworld was going to get some dinosaurs. Hollow earth and caverns time forgot is certainly a trope, and they got dinos! So naturally my place should have dinosaurs too! A fair thought, however, I decided to be a little turd. It'll be a dinosaur alright, but just the wrongest dinosaur imaginable! (but seriously, I don't hate dinosaurs, even if this entry may have come off a little mean)