Byamdan (5e Creature)

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
Hit Points 37 (5d10 + 10)
Speed 40 ft., swim 20 ft.

Skills Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Forest Camouflage. The byamdan has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in forests, woodlands, or other terrain of abundant foliage.

Being islands, there are not many megafauna in the land of the Kentarim: the Kenta islands are not especially large and the jungle soil means most of the good food is in the canopy, so most of the giants are the seals and sloths that come ashore to rest. Even the Kentarim that do live in the interior of the islands get almost all of their nourishment form the sea and only venture into the highlands to pay homage to sea goddess. That's not to say they are devoid of their charismatic megafauna however, with the largest resident animal on the islands being of a surprising origin, a rodent: the byamdan. (Kentarim "All-Friend", Arctomys ("bear mouse") byamdan).
Last of its Kind. The byamdan traces its ancestry on Kaimere back to the same harvest that brought most of Kaimere's modern sloths from South America 6 million years ago, being a member of the dinomyids.^[1] Only one species is alive on earth today, the pacarana,^[2] which is among the largest rodents after beavers and porcupines, and the byamdan is the last dinomyid on Kaimere, at least that is verified. Like the byamdan, many prehistoric dinomyids had half a meter skulls equipped with biteforces to rival crocodiles and were massive, with the Pleistocen Josephoartigatia monesi^[3] being the largest rodent ever as it compered in weight to bison. When brought to Kaimere, these caviomorphs^[4] that were most abundant in forested wetlands were effectively thrown into an ecological warzone: not only did terror birds and crocodilians follow them from South America, they were also now facing off against giant theropods as well.
Based on fossil bone beds in both Arvel and Ni'Khar, it seemed the preferred strategy of these dinomyids was investing in sociality, with large herds being common in wetland formations during the Anchored Period and throughout that time their size also increased, with the largest dinomyids of this time being well over a ton. Unfortunately, 1.5 million years ago, the Anchored Period ended in a cool, arid period as Kaimere shifted on its axis and pushed the Known World further south. As the climate cooled, this reduced the amount of available wetlands as sea levels lowered, forcing many of the surviving dinomyids upland. This shift also prompted one of the longest lasting and among the most influential harvests in Kaimere's recent history as a massive influx of new flora and fauna from Pleistocene Southeast Asia and Australia. A suddenly colder Arvel was the cause of their extinction there, while Ni'Khari dinomyids were pushed to extinction from competition with incoming animals from Southeast Asia, such as the first hippos, new proboscideans, and rhinos. With the land less bountiful, suddenly the large herds the giant rodents relied on for safety were a detriment as they were unable to maintain them, and they were extinct by the time Kaimere righted itself and the bounty returned.
The byamdan's ancestors were an exception to this trend however, as the isolated and remote Kenta Islands provided them a sanctuary: the highland lakes had plenty of abundant fruit and tough wetland vegetation the rodents preferred and what predators were found were too small to tackle the one ton dinomyids. Once the warm era returned and the sea levels rose, they were isolated from the mainland by the current channels of the Trakaiam Sea, though the rodents could still travel between the islands, and the archipelago became their permanent home. Thus, the byamdan has remained the largest animal in the islands to this day.
Friend to All, Enemy of Some. "Byamdan" means "all-friend" in Kentarim, this being a reference to the many small animals that are often found in close proximity to them which includes monkeys, small sloths, hegetotheres,^[5] thescelosaurs,^[6] turtles, and waterfowl: byamdan practice alloparenting,^[7] the willingness to care for offspring that are not theirs, and this protective instinct extends to other small animals, a behavior seen in the capybara of Earth. It is believed this was practiced in the mainland dinomyids from which the byamdan descends, and became exaggerated when they came to a land without substantial predators. What predators are present, like the Kentarim red panther, avoid herds of byamdan given the size of the rodents and thus offer passive protection to animals the cats would otherwise prey upon like thescelosaurs and hegetotheres. The humor was not lost on the Assembly that the jabqe, a hegetothere that is the Kenta Islands' most common ungulate, is about the size of Earth's largest rodent while the byamdan is the size of Earth's largest terrestrial ungulates.^[8]
Despite being the "all-friend," byamdan are far from gentle giants: the social structure of byamdan consists of a dozen or so females, called does, and their pups born in litters of three to four, guarded by a single male, the buck, which is their mate. Bucks react to other bucks that challenge for the right to their harems with extreme prejudice, bringing gouging claws and bone breaking bites to bear in extremely violent duels that can be heard for miles and occasionally be fatal outright. This ferocity also extends to predators, with reliable accounts of both sexes attacking and killing caiman, red panthers, and other predators with little provocation. Consider this if you ever encounter and think yourself worthy to pet or even approach the "all-friend."