Encyclopaedia Elysia | Creatures / Gytrash

Name: Gytrash

Category: Monsters, Useful

Type: Mammalians

Size: Large

Region: Moorland

Rarity: Common

Lifespan: 12-15 years

Appearance

Gytrash are shapeshifting dogs, usually black or dark brown, that inhabit quiet moorlands across Elysia and in rare cases even on Earth.

As they can change their form, no one can be really sure of their true shape. However, they are most often seen as dogs and thus that is assumed to be their actual form.

In any shape, gytrash keep their red eyes, which has proven to be the only way to tell them apart from real animals.

Behaviour

Gytrash live in packs of three or four, often a family unit led by a male, and prey on lone travellers or anything they perceive as weaker than them. Known for its violent temper and changeable moods, the gytrash is rarely seen in urban areas. Those that do live in cities are often weaker and smaller but more predatory and are scavengers.

Diet: They're scavengers so they'll eat anything that's remotely edible, but when hunting they'll pick on targets they view as weaker than themselves or their pack. Stories abound of lonely travellers going missing or attacked by gytrash, but they rarely attack groups.

Habitat: Gytrash prefer moorland and other rural areas where there's a lot of early-morning and late-night mist to hide in, but they have been known to scavenge in towns.

Breeding: They have similar breeding patterns as other dogs.

Special Information

Strengths/Abilities:

They are known to take the shape of horses or mules, but seem to prefer their presumed natural form of a dog.

Uses:

Gytrash feet are said to be lucky and are often dried and made into keyrings or necklaces to ward off evil. They're not actually lucky, but the smell drives away other gytrash, who can't stand the scent of their dead kin, thus acting as a safeguard against at least gytrash attack.
Gytrash hide is incredibly pliable and is used to make leather armour that moulds to the wearer's body for a snug fit.

Creator: Joy