Tabogii
Tabogii are small creatures that have been by staxies' sides for as long as anyone can remember. They were domesticated before Staves Rest was even founded -- rather, they domesticated themselves!
With staxie settlements came food, lots of food.
And with food came pests. Sileans were particularly drawn to staxies due to their houses-- the ideal shelter to live and reproduce in. Pretty swiftly, tabogii realized that food was plentiful near staxies, especially their favorite snack: the silean. Tabogii quickly made themselves at home near staxie villages, taking care of the pest problem that staxies had been looking for a solution for. Problem solved for both sides!
A tabogi is about the same size as a standard stump. Their head, shoulders, and front limbs make up about 75% of their mass. It's often joked that tabogii will evolve out of their back limbs in the future.
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Though their back legs are small and unassuming, they pack a muscular punch. They are used as springs to launch the tabogi at its prey... or a staxie's kitchen countertop. Their tails look more decorative than functional, however they were once a vital tool for survival. The predators of tabogii track them via footprints in the tabogi's native habitat-- the desert. Their curtain-like tails were designed to cleverly sweep and cover the tabogi's tracks as it walked. As such, tabogii with longer tail fur were best equipped to survive, which led to today's tabogii with lovely long tails that serve little purpose on Staves Rest other than being pretty.
Tabogii possess massive front paws with thick claws and two large paw pads. The dual paw pads are assumed to help keep wriggly prey (ie. sileans) from escaping. Tabogi claws, attached to thick forearms, can definitely cause serious damage, though they usually don't swing them at full force at staxies; a tabogi will usually swat as a warning, leaving little more than a scratch that'll heal in a few days. Their teeth, however, are a different story.
Despite being very physical and tangible creatures, they seem to be at least somewhat made of magic. Tabogii have no discernable mouth at all until it is supposedly summoned by the creature. These mouths are large, filled with teeth and a barbed tongue. The mouth defies the creature's anatomy, simply showing up and nearly decapitating the tabogi with how large it is. It has no throat, it's just... a mouth full of teeth. After getting prey into the mouth, the mouth simply vanishes, stitching itself flawlessly closed. Where the food goes is unknown.
Tabogii faces are adorned with two large eyes with a large bat-like nose smack between them. Their heads are topped with two large forward-facing ears, angled for listening and honing in on prey actively being pursued. One of their most notable anatomical features is their "hoods". These are actually a loose layer of fur that draps over the upper torso of the tabogi. Tobbies are born with the hood that they will have for the rest of their lives, and as such, the hood is quite big on them. These hoods cannot be removed. While they can technically be shaved, shaving or cutting the material causes the tabogi great pain... it appears to be magically bound to them somehow, and while it should be nerveless fur, it appears able to sense touch and pain.
