Wahrk
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| Found in | Riven |
|---|---|
The wahrk was a large, whale-like animal from Riven. With the collapse of that Age, they are likely extinct.
Biology
Anatomy
Wahrks had a short, stubby face, and large eyes set in the sides of their head. Males have long tusks protruding from either side of the mouth, while infants and females do not. Their skin was a bumpy texture, with a bluish hue and purple-ish stripes running vertically down from their spine. The back itself featured a large dorsal ridge.
Diet
Similar to orcas, wahrks were carnivores. As part of his efforts to control the Rivenese population, Gehn took advantage of this fact by feeding dissidents and rebels to the wahrks he kept as pets.
Behavior
Wahrks were seemingly quite intelligent. Gehn's pets were trained to respond to the color red, and could be summoned to his throne room beneath Survey Island with a red light. They were also an aggressive species. If summoned too many times without being rewarded, they could become irritable and ram the throne room's glass observation window in frustration.
Interactions with Gehn and the Rivenese
The Rivenese people had a great respect for the creature, similar to the reverence that Eskimos have toward the whale. Gehn took advantage of this respect, turning the wahrks into a tool of his oppression. He killed scores of the creatures to prove his superiority to them, and used the few he kept as pets to showcase his power to control what had previously been the most powerful thing the Rivenese knew.
The tusks and skulls of those he killed were used as decoration throughout the areas of Gehn's influence on Riven. Hundreds of tusks line the plateaus of Survey Island, and more rest in the alcoves of the golden elevator's shaft. Others were used to form five-pointed lamps in Gehn's lab on Book Assembly Island. Five wahrk skulls make up the top ornamentation of the "wahrk gallows" on Jungle Island, while a sixth serves as the back piece to the throne Gehn uses to control the gallows' aperture.
Extinction
It is unlikely that the wahrk would have survived for much longer, given the extremes to which Gehn went in culling their numbers. However, the sudden and complete collapse of the Age of Riven sealed their fate. Following the collapse, one of the wahrks was unfortunate enough to fall into the Star Fissure, leading to its skeleton being deposited near the Cleft in New Mexico, along with several other pieces of debris from the Age.
Spelling confusion
There has been some debate in the past as to the correct spelling of wahrk, stemming from the different spellings that appear in Catherine and Gehn's journals. Gehn spelled the name "whark", while Catherine spelled it "wahrk". Officially, Catherine's spelling of "wahrk" is considered correct, given that she was a native of the Age.
