Vennek

Vennek
English gloss	dog (guard animal) (translation, not identification)
Role	Wild
Where found	Everywhere: farms, yards, homes, caravans
Size	Dog-sized
Kept / wild	Kept; engineered
Used for	Guarding herds, killing Svaekoil, holding the dark around a caravan
Lexicon	Vennek

The Vennek is a dog-sized creature that slopes to the rear, its forequarters carrying most of its weight and a jaw entirely out of proportion to the rest of it, with a low ridge of spine down the back. What it lacks in speed it makes up for in the fact that nothing it closes on escapes its grip.

Vennek live in family groups in a settled order, usually headed by an older female; a household keeping three or four has a functional clan rather than three or four animals. The distinct warning call carries a long way and every member takes it up. They are kept everywhere: on farms they hold back small wildlife and guard herds; in yards and homes they kill Svaekoil, in coordinated and enthusiastic groups that no one can quite explain; on caravans they work in packs and sleep between the wagons and the darkness. Raised from young they bond unbreakably to the family that raised them, affectionate with those they know and entirely indifferent to those they do not. A Vennek is never called a pet; asleep by the fire it is still thought to be working. A Skadh will not take on a Vennek clan and knows it, which is a large part of why they are kept.

Hidden truth — not known in Teraell

The Vennek was engineered as a counter-weapon to the Svaekoil. The build, the pack order, the carrying alarm, the drive, and the bond to its owner are all designed: you want the thing built to kill the snake to stay on the farm the snake keeps attacking. Both are still fighting a war that ended nine hundred years ago. It was built to counter two things, and only one survives — its build is more than a Svaekoil needs. See What Is No Longer Here.

See also

• Wysk · Svaekoil · The Roads#Roedhavens · Animals of Teraell