'Bolts from the blue' are a meteorological phenomenon caused by the horizontal travel of lightning from a storm before it directs towards the ground, trailing from up to 40 kilometers away. The justified fear of sudden death from above convinced even the most stubborn of souls to heed to USSC safety guidelines and flee to lowland fens whenever they heard the bellow of thunder. Curiously, though, the aftermaths of these 'phantom storms', were seldom reported; theoretical epicentres showed no signs of rain, and the expected disruption in seeker migration paths were empirically falsified. It took a few months and a weather radar to realise that thelocauds could bellow too.
All thelocauds call with their robust tongues, though in what manner and to what extent depends on the group they belong to. Dome 4 thelocauds click the back of their tongues against their palate to produce a burp-like sound, nivipods bring the bottom of their tongues against their lower jaw to create what can best be described as a croack, while ferntails largely forgo vocalisation, relying instead on their raised tails to communicate. Greater hunchhorns (Thoracoceros kui), being Nivipods, naturally follow the second strategy, though they have taken it to an extreme. Their tongue-tips are hardened and coated with keratin, as is the front of their mouth cavity, so when these components collide, a bashing thump is produced, which is then amplified by the high plateaus they inhabit. This mechanism seems to mostly be used for deterrance by announcing their presence, with a greater hunchhorn vocalising whenever they sense creatures intruding upon their pristine resorts.
It is not hard to imagine why greater hunchhorns are feared by practically every Dome 5 inhabitant; their horn and sheer bulk is a formidible sight with full grown males reaching 5.5 m (with horn included). This reaches just over that of an Elasmotherium and is larger than any other animal on Thule. Though they scarcely use their horns outside of intraspecific duels, they also direct them against large predators, often instantly killing them through a complete rupture of their internal cavity. As younger hunchhorns lack their characteristic horn, adults will often escort them closely, even going as far as actively persuing and killing predators in their range.
This illustration was a fan-submission by DemonicManchot on DeviantArt, best known for his flattacanth project. If you have similar fan-contributions in mind, you can send them to us and we might include them if we consider them fitting for the world.
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