A Bantid is a chimaera class creature with an intelligent design. The best way to describe a Bantid is to say, that it is like someone tried to create a bat out of several different creatures.
Fur They have a very soft, insulated underfur which is protected by their outer layer of long guard hair. This traps a layer of air, and keeps them dry and warm under water, much like an otter.
Wings The wings of bantids are much thinner than those of birds, so bantids can manoeuvre more quickly and more accurately than birds. It is also delicate, ripping easily. However the tissue of the bantids's membrane is able to regrow, such that small tears can heal quickly. The surface of their wings is equipped with touch-sensitive receptors on small bumps called Merkel cells, found in most mammals including humans, similarly found on our finger tips. These sensitive areas are different in bantids as each bump has a tiny hair in the center, making it even more sensitive and allowing the bantid to detect and collect information about the air flowing over its wings, thereby providing feedback to the bantid to change its shape of its wing to fly more efficiently. The cartilage in their wings lack calcium and other minerals nearer the tips, increasing their ability to bend without splintering. The wings themselves have a series of joints that, with the aid of their ability to bend can fold down and rest easily along the back of the bantid. This ability to become streamlined can greatly increase their ability to dive into water or run on land.
Tail and Sting The bantid's tail is long and muscular like that of an otters. It has a strong, shaped sting at the end. The shape of the sting can act as a mini rudder while flying or swimming. The sting itself produces a powerful venom. All known bantid species possess venom and use it primarily to kill or paralyze their prey. in general it is fast-acting, allowing for effective prey capture. It is also used as a defense against predators. The venom is a mixture of compounds (neurotoxins, enzyme inhibitors, etc.) each not only causing a different effect, but possibly also targeting a specific animal. Each compound is made and stored in a pair of glandular sacs, and is released in a quantity regulated by the bantid itself.
Bite: Bantids have canine like jaws and teeth but they possess a gland that produces a powerful anaethetic. A bite from a bantid can remove your pain, induce feelings of euphoria or induce sleep,depending on the quantity released.
Silk Bantids produce silken thread using several paired spinneret glands located at the tip of their tails. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose – for example a trailed safety line, sticky silk for trapping prey or fine silk for wrapping it. Bantids use different gland types to produce different silks, and some bantids are capable of producing up to 8 different silks during their lifetime, The tensile strength of bantid silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity.
Gills Most bantids have five ventral slot-like body openings called gill slits that lead from the gills. they are usually situated somewhere along the wing, tough i differs among Bantids. This is similar to that of a Manta ray.
Senses: The bantid, like a Bat has poor vision, but also like a bat or a dolphin, the bantid makes up for it through the use of echolocation. Their hearing is therefore usually excellent. Their sense of smell is powerful, similar to that of a canine.
Reproduction: Bantid pregnancies can last up 8 months. They carry their pups to term in the common mammalian way. Bantids rarely carry more than one pup a a time. When this is coupled with their long and intricate heterosexual mating rituals, and the high percentage of gay bantids (and he ones too lazy to bother with all the mating ritual crap and have chosen to go another way) we can see that the population of bantids while unknown is most likely low. Most likely only a couple of thousand worldwide.
Other:
It is unknown how the various creature characteristics interact. Are the wings so flexible due to bat like characeristics? or that of a manta ray? Is the tail sting the product of a manta ray or perhaps a scorpion stinger? With so many overlaps in the design it is hard to say. However the Bantid is clearly of intelligent deign and not a naturally recurring creature.
Alchemical and Genetic backgrounds Bantid history is still largely unknown. Many teories are currentl in place for their existence. The wo mot likely are as follows.
1) Bantids are the product of genetic manipulation. A science experiment that worked beautifully creating one of he most perfect hunters. A some point several of these creatures must have escaped into the wild. Perhaps breeding with a compatible creature. Or perhaps that is where some of the extra traits come from. If i theory holds true, then an original bantid may be very different from current ones.
2)Another theory is that bantids where created alchemically. Alchemists power is based on transmutations, fusions and manipulations and have long been documented as creating servants. Bantids may have been an original slave/bodyguard class for the Alchemists before they discovered how to make human form homonculi. After which they were simply discarded, or escaped before being transformed back into usable parts for new experiments.
