The animals of the Everton Imperium are diverse and intriguing. Many of the animals found in the Everton Imperium's zoos are now dying out because the major breeding populations were lost with Everton. Intensive programs have been implemented for zoos to share their stock, but success is not assured. The domestic animals originating on Everton have done far better because they were widely spread throughout the Imperium. Use these links to jump directly to the information on the planet that you wish to research: Everton, Seamag, Ignead, Sombry, Volcaneum, and Frigida.
Everton was a planet still early in evolution. Its single large continent had three distinct zones: the northern temperate zone (or north forest), the equatorial tropical zone (or the jungle), and the southern temperate zone (or the south forest).
The animals of the two temperate zones were identical and occasionally migrated through the jungle to reach the opposite forest. These animals were known as therapsids, and had many features in common with the mammals of other worlds, but were still classified as reptilian. They filled every terrestrial evolutionary niche in the forest regions. The only examples of therapsids to escape destruction were domesticated. The Thrinax is a small animal that is a common as a house pet. The Cynognathus is a large pack hunter about 2 meters long that found employment as a guard and ranching animal. The animals that Cynognathi protect are Kannemeyeria, a herd animal about 3 meters long. Kannemeyeria have a stout beak with downward pointing tusks on the upper jaw to either side.
Very evolved true reptiles populated the tropical zone because it was too hot for the therapsids. Some of these animals were domesticated, but most only exist in zoos. The largest of the zoo stock is the Tyrant Lizard. It is a massive bipedal carnivore capable of decimating herds of cattle in a matter of minutes. Tyrant Lizards were hunted to the edge of extinction because they have no compunctions about eating humans and can do so in one bite. Tyrant Lizards naturally fed upon herbivores called Three Horns, Stone Backs (both quadripedal), and Striders (bipedal). Three Horns have beaked jaws, a shield extending from the back of the skull, a horn above each eye, and one horn above the nose. Stone Backs have hard bone armour upon their backs and bone clubs at the end of their tails. Striders come in several varieties, some with elaborate crests and some without, but all had a flat bill full of grinding teeth. All three types have been domesticated to some extent and transported to other worlds. The most dangerous predators of the tropical zone were the bipedal Greater and Lesser Slashers. Both types have massive curved claws upon the innermost toes of their feet, clawed hands, great intelligence, and hunt in packs. Greater Slashers are 4 meters tall, and Lesser Slashers are half that. Greater Slashers only exist in zoos now, but Lesser Slashers have found a place as planetary assault weapons in the Everton Military because their intelligence makes them a plague upon whatever foe faces them.
Seamag has almost no land fauna. The many small islands were devoid of life before the arrival of colonists from Everton. There are no marine mammals on Seamag, only fish. The largest fish is the Sharkhan (or Emperor Shark), which is over 20 meters long and can eat anything that swims. Below Sharkhan in size, but not ferocity are Barak-Uda, which only reach lengths of 2 to 3 meters, but hunt in schools of hundreds. Huge Water Serpents actually have a stout body with four fins, but it is rarely seen. Water Serpents eat small fish, and so pose no danger to humans. The Manta is a huge flat fish that looks a little like a bird with a wingspan of 9 meters. It eats only microscopic sea animals called Planc (a large volume of Planc is called a Planc-ton). The other Planc-eater is the City Shark, so named because a city of other small fish forms around them. They are about 10 meters long. There are thousands of varieties of small fish swimming Seamag's oceans; too numerous to describe in this document.
Ignead has the most unusual life forms in the entire Imperium. Ignead's indigenous life is entire silicon based. Crystal trees are inhabited by crystal insects like the Jewel Scorpion and Facet Beetle. These are in turn eaten by gelatinous Blobs that can eat through man-made structures. To keep the Blobs in check, genetically engineered versions of the Lesser Slasher and Cynognathus were introduced to eat them. These versions were modified to use silicon in place of carbon, and so are crystalline like the insects. This engineering project to nearly three decades to complete but was well worth it because the new animals reduced the Blob population to safer levels.
Sombry has few animals, only the huge Solar Dragons and Wall Lizards.
Solar Dragons are not actually dragons, though some have put forward the theory that they evolved from true dragons. They are slow moving with stumpy legs and eat the lichens found upon Sombry's rocks. They have huge sails that may have be de-evolved wings, which collect the scant heat provided by Sombry's distant sun. Solar Dragons are over 20 meters in length and their sails extend along their entire length. It is rumored that true dragons lived in the Imperium in the distant past, but no sightings have ever been scientifically documented.
Wall Lizards are 6 meters in length and prey upon the herbivorous Solar Dragons. They have a sail extending from their spines that is used to collect heat.
Volcaneum's troubled surface makes life for anything that does not fly impossible. Thus, all of Volcaneum's animals can fly in some way. Various flying or gliding snakes, lizards, rats, bats, insects, and plants exist. In addition, all of Volcaneum's animals can breathe the toxic atmosphere without harm.
Frigida's only indigenous life was planc-ton and bacteria living in the sea below the icy shell. When the Everton Imperium's colonists arrived, they introduced several hearty varieties of fish from Seamag. This allowed the colonists to survive on hydroponic vegetables and fish, freeing them to harvest the world's hydrogen.