Creature

Dune Chimera

CanonOfficial lore from the booksDoTp. 103, 107-108, 175 SSGp. 2

The Dune Chimera is the apex predator of the desert. Of all the creatures the desert has twisted and altered, few come anywhere near its might.¹

A hulking armoured beast with overlapping plates, a toothed beak and long claws, standing on orange sand — A dune chimera, from the bestiary of Desolation of TimeDesolation of Time (Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 175. Art by the Bad Badger Games team.

A creature of the sands

Most of Caligran is covered by uninhabitable deserts and barren lands that appeared after The Desolation. These deserts are not the work of nature: they are seen as a testament to the cost of defying The Dark One.² The beasts that live there have been changed by them, and the dune chimera is the greatest of them.¹

It is a creature of monstrous size, with sinews like iron, a hunting instinct that never rests and an armoured shell as thick and tough as dwarven plate. It is shown with layered plates along its back, a long tail, clawed forelimbs and a long, beak-like head.¹

Habits

A dune chimera can part the sands at will as it comes and goes, so its den may lie hidden beneath the dunes. It claims caves as lairs, and one chimera can come to dominate a whole region. It shows no mercy to any creature that enters its lair and fears no challenge; its dens are littered with the gnawed and broken bones of countless animals, and its claw marks scar the floor and ceiling alike.³

Game Master’s section

Sealed. Break the seal to read it; it may spoil your game.

Notes

↑BookDesolation of Time, p. 175
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 2
↑BookDesolation of Time, pp. 107-108

Sources

This article draws on:

DoTDesolation of Time(Bad Badger Games, 2024), pp. 103, 107-108, 175
SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 2

Images in this article

Desolation of Time (Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 175. Art by the Bad Badger Games team.

CreatureEsurien CronesVulture-headed witches of the southern deserts who were once human. Cursed with a hunger nothing can satisfy, they feed on carrion scraped from old bones and live in caves buried under the sand.CreatureKrivarHuman-sized, ant-like beings that walk on two legs, descended from elves who survived the Desolation, fed on corrupted sand ants and fled underground, where their bodies changed and their minds unravelled.CreatureUskanSmall, dragon-like desert hunters descended from the wyverns that elves once tamed as mounts and beasts of burden, before the Desolation scattered them.CreatureHourglass ScorpionA small scorpion that burrows through the ground, senses its surroundings through the earth and carries a venomous sting.CreatureSand MimicA small, shapeless creature that can take the form of an ordinary object and, while it keeps still, cannot be told apart from one.