Magnopsids

Consisting of a solid, silicate-based lens with no liquid inside, the Snaiadi
vertebrate eye bears testament to the complex evolution of life on the planet.
Most Snaiadi vertebrates have small, indistinct eyes set in muscular turrets.
These organs are almost always surrounded by a complex arrangement of heat
receptors that augment their sense of sight at night. As a result, even the
nocturnal hunters among the Snaiadi vertebrates have little need for enlarged
eyes. The frightening but inoffensive Magnopsids, (along with the unrelated
Pudgebears,) form a dazzling exception to this rule.

These animals have no heat receptors on their first heads. Instead, their
single-lens eyes have been enlarged to grotesque proportions. These organs work
superbly until certain intervals when their outer surfaces are shed to
accommodate growth, and “clean up” their line of sight. Most other Snaiadi
vertebrates weather this brief episode of cataracts with the help of their heat
sensors. Having no heat sensors, the Magnopsids shed their giant eye-lenses in
alternating times. Although the animals are still visually impaired during this
time, partial blindness is still preferable to a total loss of sight.

Another defining characteristic of this group is their extremely narrow,
pincer-like jaws and the enlarged hydraulic muscles that enable them to deliver
powerful, snapping bites. Connected to these animals’ specialist diet on small
animals, the development of these features has led to a severe remodeling of
their first-heads, effectively pushing their genitals outside their first-head
jaws. As a result, Magnopsids, especially male ones, look like they have two
second heads.

This group originally evolved in the isolated wilderness of Oroland,
radiating into a number of different niches, including giant, Kahydron-like
predators. With the collision of Oroland with Isterna, their mainland
competitors have driven most of these species to extinction. Only three genera
and six different species of Magnopsids exist today.

Species: Nyctocyon sleymanni
Common Names: Pincher, Pinchweasel,
Suleyman’s Pincher.
Size: Up to 60 centimeters long, usually
smaller.
Habitat: A variety of habitats across Orolad, all of Isterna south
of the Neomediterranean, and the Pansavannah region of Vesterna.

The three species of Nyctocyon are the only Magnopsid survivors of
the Oroland-Isterna population exchange that managed to prosper in the Northern
continents. Smart, small and adaptable, they are found in a wide range of
habitats across their wide range. These animals are ill-tempered predators that
pack an unexpected strength in their strong, pincer-like first-head jaws. Most
of their prey consists of smaller animals they dig up from leaf litter or sprog
with their long second heads, but on occasion they might attack larger animals
such as Chopsticks (Lygodectes sp.) They are also common in the
southern Mediterranean cities; entering cities, plantations and even houses in
search of food.

Although timid, these animals are related to much larger, extinct forms.
Found in the famous Yataan fossil beds in southern Oroland, species such as the
four meter-long Murdurognathus show the vanished might of Magnopsid
megapredators.

The animal shown here is a female, with its genital bulging with developing
young.

Species: Infernocyon crypticus
Common Names: Nightmare Hound, Pinnacle
Wraith.
Size: Slightly less than a meter long.
Habitat: Southern Orolandic
Pinnacle Range.

This timid hunter of small animals deserves none of its frightening names.
Early explorers on Oroland first noticed the presence of Infernocyon
though its shrill, stereo screams on dark nights. Later on, the glints of their
huge eyes were mistaken for those of much-larger predators. Only when camera
traps photographed the first specimens did the legend of gigantic monsters on
Oroland truly die down.

Infernocyon spends most of the day hidden in the bases of the
characteristically bulging Orolandic pinnacles. With the onset of night it sets
out to hunt for small animals in the gallery plains. Phylogenically,
Infernocyon and related species represent a more derived lineage of
Magnopsids than the archaic Nyctocyon. With legs lengthened for running
and more gracile skulls adapted for seizing small prey instead of biting through
gristle and hydraulic muscles, they are the among the most harmless and timid of
all large Snaiadi predators.
The animal shown here is a male, proudly
displaying the branching, multiple-gonad bearing genitals characteristic to
Magnopsids.

Species: Selenocyon sissarmai
Common Name: Moon-dog.
Size: 1.2 to 1.5
meters long.
Habitat: Montane forests across the Peaks of Oroland.

This is the largest surviving Magnopsid. Living secluded lives in the thickly
forested Peaks of Oroland, these animals subsist on smaller organisms living in
leaf litter, or inside trees. These are always captured with a rapid, scissoring
snap of their machete-like jaws. Moon dogs also visit forest streams, snapping
up the various kinds of Arthrognathan river snakes and bugsalmon that dwell
there. On certain nights they might even trace these rivers down into the
Orolandic plains, fishing at dark with the night sky reflecting from their
enormous, haunting eyes.

These animals are very rare; their population numbers at most at several tens
of thousands. Further research is necessary to understand their cryptic
lifestyle, and determine if their numbers are increasing or decreasing. It will
be a truly saddening loss if these mystifying animals join the long list of
spectacular but extinct Magnopsids.

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