I finally got around to redesigning/fleshing out the Set animals/Typhonic beasts/shas for TCotC! These guys have always looked a certain way in my head, but until now, I never really got around to fully capturing the complete picture my imagination whipped up. I am very happy with how they turned out, and I hope you like them too.

I have always viewed the Set animal as a mythical/fantastical creature rather than a real animal; I've seen people claim they're donkeys, aardvarks, hyenas, weird stylized jackals, or even dragons! Even Egyptologists are confused about what they're supposed to be, and -- at the moment -- no one knows for sure what they really are. So, with all that in mind, I decided to just have fun with the idea and to try and step out of my comfort zone to make something entirely new! For TCotC, I wanted to create a creature that could be a believable animal but also had clear reasons for being tied to Set. Why would Set take the form of this creature? Why would they be associated with him? I wanted the creature's design and behaviors to really line up with some or all of Set's attributes as a deity, and I think I achieved most of that. For starters, I narrowed down four of Set's main attributes I wanted to focus on: chaos, the desert, storms, and darkness.

The Set animal's body plan is a composite of many different animals: I used leopards, horses, hyenas, African bush dogs, jackals, and even maned wolves as references. I sort of "Frankenstein"-ed them together until I arrived at a body plan that was similar to the Set animal in my imagination, then added a couple more details to make them fit into the attributes I wanted them to have. The first traits I added fell into the theme of "darkness" -- I made them nocturnal animals, and I determined that their fur is almost always dark in color. I imagine they sleep for most of the day, creep around at dusk and dawn, and do most of their hunting at night -- they're obligate carnivores, like the majority of the animals I used as references for their creation. I think they'd mostly be desert "clean up crews" and scavenge the carcasses of animals (or people) that weren't fortunate enough to make it to water in time, but they're also perfectly capable hunters! Just imagine seeing one creep up on a vulture and take it out of the sky as it was trying to fly away!

Next, I gave them long whiskers and huge digging claws -- this is because I envision them as being burrowing animals; if they're to be associated with "the desert," then they need some way to escape the scorching heat of the day while they rest -- lots of desert and savannah animals like to spend the day in dens they've dug out themselves. Their forepaws are a bit like an aardvark's, but that was kind of just for aesthetic -- they still have the long legs and large bodies necessary to chase down prey and mostly just return to their burrows for safety or to rest. Of course, I also think they could dig out the burrows of small animals and climb down into them -- they'd mostly hunt things like hares, but could mob together for bigger prey on occasion.

For the "chaos" and "storm" themes, I decided they would be pretty noisy animals. There's a whole "vocalization" section on this design sheet because they can make a wide variety of noises -- they can do that whole "whooping laugh" like hyenas, purr like a cat, chirp like African bush dogs, howl like any old hound, and even roar like leopards (orrr maybe "scream" would be more appropriate)! If a band of Set animals got together, it'd be pretty chaotic to listen to -- I imagine they'd make a whole lot of noise when "socializing" with each other. Additionally, they'd get particularly noisy and start chirping and yipping incessantly whenever a storm was coming -- like some other creatures, Set animals are capable of sensing changes in weather patterns. They'd be able to sense a storm of any kind -- be it sandstorm or rainstorm -- long before clouds can even form on the horizon, and so having them around would be like having a primitive "weather forecast" for the next few days. Sounds pretty fun, right?

Anyway, that's about all my brain has to say about Set animals! For the individual Set animal shown above, I went with a pretty generic coat color -- Set himself has a pretty simplistic design, too, but I also think that these creatures could have all kinds of patterns. Since leopards were used as a reference in creating them, I think it'd be pretty freaking cool to see one that looked like a black panther.

I hope you like 'em!