Swiftclaw Lynx — Shardbound

The Story of Swiftclaw Lynx

Swiftclaw Lynx does not protect territory by staying in one place.

It patrols the Verdant Reach canopy in enormous loops, appearing at nesting grounds, watering routes and fungal clearings before predators understand they have entered a defended region.

Its paws are adapted to living bark, with hooked pads that grip surfaces other animals treat as vertical. Speed is therefore not simply running faster. Swiftclaw takes routes that make other routes look slow.

Sprint rewards that initiative. If Swiftclaw’s base Speed is higher, the first-arrival advantage improves whatever secondary quality the Arena needs. The Lynx has already chosen the better angle, branch, current or piece of cover.

The Guardian type comes from what follows in its wake. Smaller creatures have learned to move when Swiftclaw moves and freeze when it freezes.

Researchers once fitted the Lynx with a tracking collar. They recovered the collar three days later neatly placed beside their camp, surrounded by claw marks spelling nothing but conveying the message adequately.

A Convergence Thread opened across one of Swiftclaw’s patrol routes.

The Lynx treated it as a new branch and incorporated another world into the circuit.