Lexicon:Modern/Mimra

Mimra
Stage	Modern CLT
Pronunciation	/ˈmim.ɾa/
Part of speech	Noun
Etymology	from middle CRT mimrā, from Proto mimra
Related words	Draech, Vennek

Mimra — the forest predator that calls.

Notes

A mid-sized canid-like animal, about the size of a large fox, unremarkable to look at. Reddish-brown in summer and silver-gray in winter, with a bushy tail far longer in proportion than any fox’s. Older animals sometimes have tails that appear to split at the end, which means nothing and appears in a great deal of folklore.

It hunts in family groups of four to eight. One or two draw attention with the mimicry while the others move into position, and the attack is a rush from several directions at once. No single one is a danger to a grown person. Five are.

Named for what it does rather than what it is, since almost nobody has seen one and lived to describe it well. It reproduces sounds — a child calling, an animal in distress, a voice heard once and repeated badly — and it does this to draw a person off a path and into cover. The imitation is imperfect and there is always something wrong with it. Every child in the forest cities is taught that a voice heard from off the road is not a voice, and told to keep walking. Engineered pre-Fall. Vocal mimicry aimed at drawing out a listener is of no use against any animal.