World: Jotunheim
Diet: Omnivorous
Height: 8’2″
Lifespan: 30 years
Habitat: Lakes
Activity Cycle: Crepuscular
Common in many of the massive lakes of Jotunheim are the goldfins. They fill the surface and middle layers of the lakes with their glittering gold bodies, feeding opportunistically upon nearly anything that comes within their reach. They are a gregarious species, and a school can have as many as 50 individuals if the lake is large enough. Despite competing for food, goldfins are never violent towards one another, and when they find themselves overcrowding a lake, a great migration occurs.
Goldfins regularly come out onto the land to feed, but they cannot breathe air. To survive on land, they are able to create a tough membrane around their heads, holding water to breathe with. The membrane has a spigot with which to refresh their water, which they can also use to spray a high-pressure jet of water powerful enough to strip bark from trees and knock even other giant beasts flat. This is what allows them to make their migrations, huge groups of goldfins walking across the land to find new bodies of water to call their homes. Most of these goldfins will not survive, running out of water along the way.
Those who hunt a goldfin should know several things. One, it is best to do it on land, where they are clumsier. Two, their flesh is quite tough, but for a layer of more fatty, tender meat around their ribs. And three, if treated properly, their scales make for excellent and extremely handsome armor, retaining their burnished orange-gold polish indefinitely.
