The rotbest or rootbeast in English is a large Scanderan predatory reptile and perhaps one of the largest landliving predators on the continent. Just like most Scanderan large reptiles so does Rotbesten live in caves and it is able to dig them itself, however so is it also one of the best tunnellers on the entire continent.

Etymology

Rotbest
	File:Rotbest.png
	A drawing of a rotbest
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	cavernabestiæ
Genus:	Cornubestiæ
Species:	C.Rotius
Binomial name
	Cornubestiæ Rotius; Hylfred Görenssen, 1785
	File:RotbestHabitat.png
	Habitat

The name rotbest comes from the fact that it spends most of it's life underground and then often under ground in the forest where it hunts.

History

Historically so have Rotbestar been dreaded wild creatures that often were able to ambush and take out travellers and even troops. A well known situation is the so called "Rotbest slaget" in 1367 during the two hundred years war where a formation of Vedian pikemen were eradicated over a couple of days by a hungry family of Rotbestar due to poor leadership and mistakes in dealing with the beast meant that the regiment was shattered, disoriented and hunted down.

This in turn lead to complications on the front line where the lack of the force was noticed and the commanders suspected that a enemy force had managed to pierce their lines and they withdrew from the fighting to secure the rear in the central theatre of war. Most likely adding a couple of years to the conflict.

Taxonomy

The rotbest is classfied as a cavernabestiæ or cavern beast which was a family that Hylfred divided into hoofbeasts and claw beasts as he thought that there lived a similar species with claws much further under ground, a species that while appears in folklore has no basis in fact according to most modern scientists.

Anatomy and health

File:RotbestSize.png

Size compared to a human

A rotbest is a large animal that towers over a human at it's four meters height with long sharp claws and long crooked teeth. The entire animal is covered in a stonelike skin and it is easy to confuse a rotbest lying still with a large stone. With it's long legs and it's thick hooves so are the large animal however able to run at extraordinary speeds over very short distances and take great leaps at a target.

More so, so is it also a good digger and it lives alone in large massive tunnel systems that it digs on it's own with its teeth that is able to gnaw down not only earth but also stone. This allows it to dig great tunnels that stretches over large distances. Most important however is it's keen sense that allows it to pick up vibration's from the surface which is how it often hunts.

Reproduction

Rotbestar mates for life and lives most of their lives in pairs in the same large network of tunnels that they themselves started or took over when they and their mate started to look for a home. They do however only mate in summer and gives birth in their sleep during the end of winter. The children are then taken care of by both animals until they are a year old when they are driven off from their cave to find a female and to start their own lair.

Diet

Rotbesten is a highly predatory animal that prefers to attack and eat larger mammals even if it is known to attack other large reptiles as well and especially giant vipers are common prey even if it also attacks both wyverns and dragons with mixed success.

Behaviour

The Rotbest is a lonely creature that lives in pair only lives in larger groups when a female has given birth and the kids are old enough to hunt but not to leave the tunnels. When it hunts so does a rotbest stalks it's higher layers of tunnels or so called "hunting tunnels" and listens for large moment on the surface. When it notices it so does it run towards the closest exit and often sprints down or throws itself at the prey before it drags it down into the tunnels.

Just as other large reptiles so does it collect metal and shining substances to attract mates as well as to scare of rivals that it often leaves in a large entrance cave. In a similar manner to dragons so does a rotbest not digest metal even if it does so with rock. Once a the stone has been digested leaving only the metal so does the beast collect the metal from it's excrement and puts it in a large pile just as it also it known to fight dragons over their treasures or steal metal from humans.

When autumn comes does the aggressive animal goes into a so called "Hast berserk" or "Autumn berserk" where it hunts down large amount of animals and even humans and drags them to it's cave where it eat itself fat to survive the winter that it spends in hibernation.