The Plated Ruq
Bunker bird
The ‘Plated Ruq’ is a flightless carrion eating bird.
A native to regions like Rýt, Skantte and Kroosse, it prefers floodplains & swamps as its nesting ground. Those nests are made by digging a hole 1 meter deep and half a meter across, in which the Ruq then stands, revealing only its armored upper body.
This natural protection is created by a flea that lives in the Ruqs plumage: the parasite secretes a substance which hardens the Ruq’s feathers.
Ruq chicks remain in the nest until they are adequately armored to make it on their own.
At a later stage in life the Ruq will develop malodorous headgrowths in flashy magenta, pink, orange and lavender colors for males, and blue, cyan, turquoise, for females, signaling their sexual maturity.
Notes
Rýt, Skantte & Kroosse — These 3 regions together form the biggest wetland in Bos. Specifically, Rýt is a massive estuary, fed by both the sea and the stinking swamps of Skantte, which in turn gets most of its water from the peatbogs and idyllic ponds Kroosse.
Skantte is known for its bog iron & ‘Iron Fishers’
