Rock Mauler

Length: 3.96 m
Width: 2.42 m
Height: 1.73 m
Weight: 234.10 kg
Speed: 11.27 km/h

Habitat: Swampy marshlands. Anatomical Features: Quadruped. Rockmaulers share many of the same features as the Sandswimmer with better developed, land-going leg structures and an armored shell that covers its entire dorsal face.

Feeding Habits: High activity predator with a ravenous appetite. Pack hunters. Will effectively attack anything it perceives to (eventually) fit in its massive jaws.

The Rockmauler is the evolutionary epitome of the bluff. Its tremendous bulk and stubby leg formations belie its “hunter’s dash,” hitting speeds in excess of 27 km/h. Thankfully, such speed cannot be sustained and avoiding its 10m sprint reduces it to a more palatable 11 km/h before petering out. This foul-tempered inhabitant of the low swamplands also tends to hunt in groups of three to six and exhibit behaviors suggesting logic in their attacks. Weak, injured and elderly prey are always prioritized, and deliberate baiting maneuvers have been witnessed, drawing away larger parents from their vulnerable young.

The Rockmauler does not have particularly useful eyesight. Poorly developed retinal formations and an iris almost covering the entire ocular structure bear this out. To compensate, its sense of smell is remarkable, matched only by the Wardogg. Olfactory process does not take place in the nose as one would expect, however. The Rockmauler’s flickering tongue sifts through the air picking-up particles from the environment it then “tastes” to determine the distance, direction and type of potential prey. Once pursuit has begun, sound becomes the primary sense of choice, though the eyes might play a role at close quarters.

Rockmaulers are fearless hunters and excel at the task. Powerful jaws can maim or kill almost anything they close around, and their collective intelligence poses a danger that cannot be overstated. Their unique sensory mechanisms make them as dangerous at night as they are during the day.




Where a Rockmauler might be out in the open simply looking in your direction, one must immediately start looking for their fellow hunters. After all, at a distance, its eyesight isn’t that great so he’s already scented or heard your position… Chances are its comrades are circling around to take you down.

While personally a big proponent of fear-driven flight, Rockmaulers have an inability to maneuver over uneven terrain (such as rocky hillsides). They are clumsy on such surfaces and will usually cease any pursuit before a loss of footing can send them rolling down a mountainside. We had once speculated they might possess a “sonar” type of sensory organ, but this overt awkwardness verifies just the opposite. Their second major shortcoming is that they cannot climb trees. Find a tree. Live to tell the tale. Preferably one they cannot knock over. Stay in it until they leave.

Rockmaulers are brilliant tacticians on the hunt and using themselves as bait or diversions. However, they are perpetually hungry and tend to not want to wait out a potential meal. They’d just as soon go find other prey out of impatience.

While persistence is not their strong suit, seasons where other animals are not readily available should have one decide with an air of suspicion if the Rockmaulers appear to give-up too easily.