Legendary dogs
Legendary dogs are not animals like us: they transcend the laws of genetics and magic to show themselves as completely different beings from normal meat beings. Halfway between the hounds of shadow and the common dogs, they are able to untie from normal magical mechanisms and to control the elements. However, these are not elemental spirits (nor, in general, spirits), as one might think of their close union with the magic of this type, but of meat creatures.
Many have tried to steal the profound secrets of this species, but the studies on them have not solved that superficial puzzles and legendary dogs are still surrounded by a often coat of mystery. However, saying that it is a species in this case is particularly reductive as well as incorrect: legendary dogs are not a kind or a race, but rather a particular group of magical creatures with common characteristics, therefore they do not share a scientific name and not they can reproduce with each other.
Origins
Legendary dogs are born in the mid-eighteenth century, from some magigenetic experiments of a group of Irish manufacturers Druids whose names are not known, but according to some it is a history invented by healthy plan to cover the macabre attempts to create an animal defender Perfect by Paulus Grimorius, the black custodian of the Ministry of Darkness.
Starting from simple dogs (Canis Lupus Familiaris), thanks to the help of a particular type of organic magic, some innate genetic characteristics were overcome in order to create super-men.
Not all specimens have the necessary characteristics to be changed in legendary dogs, therefore the subjects must be chosen with extreme attention. Subsequently, the technique for the creation of legendary dogs was also shared with the Ministry of Light (following the declaration and unification of techniques for the creation of new species, in 1890) which however rarely uses it and historically less than 1% of legendary dogs was created by the Ministry of Light.
Basic characteristics
Legendary dogs, as already mentioned, are all strongly different from each other, but have some characteristics that make them immediately recognizable.
Compared to the races of origin, they are increasingly large. The growth and height growth compared to the original body can be between 16% and 110%, depending on the specimen and its natural potential. Some legendary dogs are really huge, with a weight that exceeds one hundred kilos, and could in no way be exchanged for common dogs.
They have a marked propensity to elemental magic, so they can often produce the element akin (for example, to create electricity through the cloak or spit fire). There are no non-magic legendary dogs.
There are no legendary anurious dogs (without tail). Even if the dog's basic body has undergone an amputation, after the transformation it will always grow back.
They are all capable of mentally communicating between them and with human beings, although with different degrees of intelligence.
They have a greatly longer life than those of dogs and also humans. In fact, to date no legendary dog has died of old age.
Their tapetum lucidum emanates light when the creature uses a massive quantity of magic, as this also passes through the reflective layer immediately behind the retina, thus making their eyes shine. The color of light varies according to the genre of elemental magic to which the dog is linked.
Then there are some characters that can spontaneously manifest themselves in some specimens, but which are obviously not shared by all legendary dogs. Here are some of the best known:
The blue mantle. Although it is a very rare feature even among legendary dogs, a part of them, and only if they originally have the white or honey-colored fur, can it show a change of color to become blue or blue, both whole and in spots. In both cases we speak of "blue mantle"
Non-chaninity. Some legendary dogs change aspect so radically not to seem more dogs, coming to look more like bears or lions. Very often this feature coincides with a hair elongation.
Human voice. Almost 40% of legendary dogs manage to develop a complex vocal ropes system that allows them to speak. However, not all legendary dogs that have the "human voice" are intelligent enough to formulate phrases of complete meaning.
High intellectual quotient. Almost 16% of legendary dogs have a much higher intellectual quotient than dogs and most human beings. When this gift is combined with the "human voice", they can speak, otherwise they use mental communication to express themselves.
Horn. Almost 30% of legendary dogs have horns of some kind. The most common are those of ram, but it is possible, although rare, that they develop horns similar to those of bulls or gazelles. They usually have a dark color and are always accompanied by a particular development of the skull, with particular strengthening of the forehead.
The boltning. The creature coat, especially if rough, often develops a particular design called "boltning": long strips, similar in shape to bolts and dark in color along their hips and back.
Supernatural speed. Some legendary dogs are capable of moving more quickly than a Greyhound greyhound, despite the imposing size. It seems that this feature is strongly linked to the blue coat.
Reproduction
Legendary dogs are considered sterile, although in -depth research has never been done, and it is believed that they cannot be born except through a particular process of magical creation whose "ingredients" are very secret, but that concerns the use of at least a normal dog.
Forging and loyalty
Like the dogs from which they descend, even legendary dogs have a proverbial loyalty, not so much to a master as for the task that was entrusted to him during the process called "forging", the transformation from dog to legendary dog.
In poor terms, it could be said that these creatures are "scheduled" for a specific action, whether it is protecting a treasure or a person, and they are ready to die not to betray their ultimate purpose. If the person who protects dies, or the treasure is stolen, the dog almost always returns from his creator, who can proceed with a second forging to give him a new purpose in life.
It is impossible to implement a second forging if the dog's previous task has not been completed or has not failed: a dog who is still protecting a living person or a treasure stroke will remain to do so forever and there is no magic that can distract them from this task.
The second forging will not only give a purpose to the dog, but will further change its appearance, partially adapting it to its new task. A legendary do to whom no mission has been entrusted during the moment of the forging is called insanus and will follow only his instincts, becoming highly unstable.
Cemetery grims or legendary dogs?
There are countless magical creatures with a canine shape, but those that are most often confused with legendary dogs are the grams of black cemeteries or dogs.
The cemetery grims (or black shucks) are described as supernatural beings larger than a wolf, with flaming red eyes and the black hirsute fur, but sometimes phosphorescent, who live near or even inside cemeteries. Furthermore, often we talk about the grams as a shapeshifter, capable of resembling human beings, and they are associated with death and darkness.
The legendary dogs, although they are also resembling large and terrible canids, can never be transformed into human beings, do not have powers intrinsically related to darkness and never have the entirely black fur.
So if you find yourself in front of a huge, monstrous magical dog with sparkling eyes, you just need to make sure that their fur is not completely black to distinguish a cemetery grim from a legendary dog.
The mystery of the three guardians of the Stone of Sources
Although it is known that legendary dogs can exist only if created and that the first ones have appeared in the mid-eighteenth century, there is a particular case that is cloaked in mystery.
In guard of the Stone of the Sources, in India, for a long time (the legends tell of five hundred years) three beings were placed, completely similar to legendary dogs, whose origin is still unknown today.
Who created these dogs? Is it an extraordinary phenomenon of natural magic or had someone actually discovered how to create legendary dogs long before the eighteenth century?
Orion, Galvatrike and Sherre, as they were called, were tenacious creatures with the appearance of predatory mammals, reported in the texts just as "legendary dogs".
And it is precisely because of their denomination that modern manipulated magigenetically manipulated canids are called legendary dogs.
Orion, intelligent as a human being, was guarding the external perimeter.
Galvatrike, the only female of the trio as well as the strongest physically, had the task of protecting the median circle and an aspect that strongly remembered that of a pitbull.
Finally, with the task of protecting the stone, there was Sherre, a splendid creature with a blue mantle that owned the gift to control the air generating impetuous currents. Any attempt to study the magical trio was found in nothing or even in the death of the researcher.
After the theft of the stone of the sources of which they were guarding there were no more sightings of these anachronistic legendary dogs.
“The path is insidious, the tortuous way
The stone of Sources does not wait for men.
In the heart of the forest you will face every beast
The three legendary dogs guarding the treasure
In the center of the shadows, where the darkness bursts,
The heart of the middle ground palpitates
Promised land of water and winds
Which will erect barriers at any cost
To preserve its ancient secret that never human soul dared to touch
Immense power of hurricane, storm, waterfall,
source of all sweetness that keeps the world alive "
- Scontramondi (I - the Stone of Sources)
The Ministry of darkness and legendary dogs
Ever
since they know each other, legendary dogs have always been used as
guardians or messengers by the Ministry of Darkness. The favorite
specimens are the high ones, dark in color and which almost always
present boltning on the hips; they’re obtained transforming deerhounds
(Scottish Greyhounds) and Irish Wolfhounds into legendary dogs. A unique
peculiarity is that they, on the night of Halloween, are "freed" for
all the hours of darkness, left free to do what they want without
repercussions: even killing a human being or that destroy precious
artifacts would not matter, the druids of the ministry would not punish
the dog in any way.
Generally legendary dogs act under direct
order of the Queen or Black custodian, always separately by the Dark
Minister, although in extreme cases they can collaborate to defeat too
strong enemies.
Furthermore, Dark Ministers have the task of stopping and putting to sleep every insanus when they become dangerous.
The
most famous of the legendary dogs of the Ministry of Darkness, also
considered the "alpha" of these mysterious and very rapid emissaries, is
Lucifer, a legendary dog transformed starting from the Irish Wolfhound
that had belonged to the dark minister Rory Tad, when he was still a
child.
Limitations
Some breeds of dogs do not have
any of the genetic characteristics necessary to have changed in
legendary dogs and among them we remember in particular the Dobermann,
the Dalmatian, the Broholmer and the German tolan. No wolf can be
changed in a legendary dog.
