There are stranger things than most people know living in the deep oceans, in the high mountains, in the dark rain forest. Only, we’re fishing out the food supplies in the oceans. The mountains are suffused with air pollution. And the rain forest? We’re clearing ten thousand acres of that a day.
And that’s not even mentioning the things that have adapted to our cities and live among us. Some even hunt us. Mother Nature can be a real bitch.
Department 2 is one of the busier departments. They not only maintain natural preserves and habitats for Benign Cryptids, they also employ hunting parties – both on staff and occasionally Freelancers – to deal with dangerous creatures or those that have wandered out into human territory. Still, primarily, they study these fantastic creatures.
Benign Descriptor of a Cryptid who successfully lives amid humans without causing them harm or revealing its true nature.
Chimera A creature that has the appearance or abilities of more than 1 creature. This can be a Cryptid (such as a griffin) or being artificially created by surgery and/or genetic manipulation. Governmental experiments with the latter tapered off in the 90s. A few private enterprises continue to this day with varied success.
Critter Slang for a Cryptid.
Cryptid A creature not yet classified or accepted as existing by the general scientific community.
Freelancer A Cryptid hunter not associated with Department 2. Leather sometimes allows Freelancers to stay at the Lodge but Administration does not approve.
Hansel/Gretel A child taken by a Malignant Cryptid, especially if the child might still be alive. Some Cryptids toy with their food (sometimes for weeks), either because they requiring/enjoy fear response chemicals in the victim’s blood or just because they are sadistic monsters.
Homids Any of a number of non-Poser cryptids that have a bipedal, “human-like” form, such as Bigfoot.
Initiative, The Rival Cryptid hunting organization recruiting solely hunters driven to revenge by the loss of loved ones. Their extinction agenda extends to all “species traitors” that would protect any Cryptid.
Natural Opposite of a Cryptid, an animal whose existence is accepted by the pubic or the scientific community. Architeuthis (giant squid) is an example of a former Cryptid now accepted by the mainstream.
Poser A Cryptid whose natural outward shape disguises it as another creature, terrain or even inanimate object. This camouflage is part of the Poser’s constant physiology, not to be confused with a Shifter. Almost extinct now, a carnivorous fungus that resembled a telephone booth thrived in North America until phone booths were phase out at the end of the 20th century.
Malignant Descriptor of a Cryptid that feeds on human life.
Shifter A Cryptid that can assume more than one form. Like the werewolf, most commonly there is a hiding form (human) and a hunting form (wolf). Their change usually has a trigger: phase of the moon (not always full – bunyips change on the new moon), proximity to prey (chupacabres), stress, even religious iconography (Jersey Devil). But after time they learn to change at will.