Pooka- Fickle Field Fiends

World: Alfheim

Diet: Root vegetables, fruit

Height: 3’6″

Lifespan: 50 years

Habitat: Temperate plains and forests

Activity Cycle: Nocturnal

The rolling foothills of the mountains are often places of lush fertility and great beauty, but they are equally places where those who wish to hide find easy refuge. Under the hills run endless tunnels, some reaching miles below the surface. Many of these tunnels are the homes of the pooka. Each pooka lives alone, with a single tunnel as their home and a patch of land they farm. Every tunnel connects to other pooka dens and the intersecting tunnels of other creatures, as well as several false tunnels to confuse those who intrude. This provides meeting points for trade and makes their communities nearly unassailable to outsiders.

Despite their interconnected tunnels, pooka tend to spend as little time around members of their own species as possible. Instead, they prefer other beings for their social interactions, whether benevolent or mischievous. Every pooka is a shapeshifter from birth, and they prefer to interact with others under the cover of alternate forms. The average pooka forms a “roster” of between four and six different animals they can transform between in the blink of an eye, with some legendary masters having over a dozen. These animals cannot be more than a ton in mass or less than a couple pounds, but within these limits a pooka has access to an infinity of forms.

Those who enter pooka territory will almost inevitably be spied upon in bird form before suffering a series of pranks until they are driven out. Pooka also often initiate trade with outsiders, although this will usually take the form of stealing supplies from travelers and leaving whatever they find appropriate in its place. Those who enter without ill intent can usually also expect to leave unharmed, and many pooka even see it as their business to help out those who get lost and turn them back to the right road… although others will just as readily lure people off the road and leave them stranded. Nothing is ever certain when dealing with the pooka.

As creatures who live under the earth, pooka and gnomes often run into one another. Sometimes they clash, with gnomes stealing from the sedentary pooka, while at other times they work together to defend their territory from outsiders.