Bulwark

The Bulwark is one of the premier predators of Apoc Earth. Found on just about every continent of the planet, Bulwarks are the ultimate killer — capable of dragging down any kind of prey. The origins of the Bulwark are unclear, but many believe that it is a descendant of the olm, a species of blind cave-dwelling newts of pre-Event Earth, that developed unexpectedly from exposure to massive amounts of an unknown energy.

Male bulwarks can weigh upwards of 2,000 lbs, towering around six feet at the shoulder, and females are only slightly smaller. They are covered around the head and neck in a resilient cartilaginous hide, as tough as some metals, that tapers down their back. Their legs and underbellies are covered instead by a thick, leathery skin. These hides are valued items to Churl tribes — they use the thicker neck "plating" for armor and the rest of the skin for clothing.

The Bulwark is blind, but only in the sense that it has no eyes. Research conducted by High-bred scientists has revealed that the Bulwark has a highly-developed brain with incredibly large olfactory, frontal, and parietal lobes. The occipital lobe, oddly, is practically non-existent.

Bulwarks are social creatures, hunting in small packs of three to seven. On occasion, when hunting is good, packs might reach the size of fifteen or more. It is believed that Bulwarks might employ some form of telepathic communication to coordinate their intraspecies social interactions. The assumption is based on the large size of the Bulwarks parietal lobe.

Tactics: The hunting tactics of the Bulwark are highly-developed and complicated. It is believed that Bulwarks hunt not only using their keen senses of smell and hearing but also through an as-yet-unidentified telepathic "sixth sense" organ. This is just a theory, and further research is needed to confirm it. Thoroughly confirmed, however, are the tactics employed by the Bulwark. They are consummate ambush hunters. One Bulwark will usually attack the prey, directing its flight to where the rest of the pack is lying in wait, in tactics similar to those employed by the ancient African lion.

Little else is known about the Bulwark. Attempts to study them in the wild are nearly impossible due to their heightened sense of awareness, and thus much remains to be explained. One question plaguing High-bred scientists is the yellow "scarring phase" all Bulwarks go through. Older members of the species, regardless of gender, will eventually begin to be covered in long, yellow scars that glow (seemingly outside the conscious direction of their bearer) and even sometimes ooze a dangerous toxin of unknown composition.