Female Hatchling
Name: unnamed
Species: Coprinusaur
Birthday: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Owner: Yrenne
Element: Neutral 
Coprinusaurs grow quickly, taking only a few weeks between hatching and reaching their adult size. They grow in a decidedly strange way, almost insectoid in their growth, sloughing off their skin to dissolve immediately into their ink as they grow larger. As a coprinusaur ages, it also starts dripping more ink, most prominently on additional feathery frills that grow in on its arms and its tail, but also on nubs that grow in along its back. Despite no longer growing, coprinusaurs shed this ink as long as they live, seemingly by continuously dissolving and regrowing bits of their own flesh. While coprinusaurs and their ink are most commonly used by judges and enforcers due to their ability to mark out deaths, coprinusaur ink is also harvested by healers, as it is highly nourishing and therefore useful for keeping patients who cannot eat properly alive. While caprinusaur ink can be ingested under less dire circumstances, it is rarely used this way. This is likely due to the popularity of drinking recreationally among magi, as the ink is known to cause extremely unpleasant hangovers.
Despite their beautiful coloring and graceful movements, coprinusaurs have a faintly ominous reputation. This is mainly due to the ever-present beautiful but oddly unsettling iridescent blue ink that constantly oozes from the edges of their frills, the excess dripping thickly and slowly to the ground. This ink turns invisible once it has left the creature, with one notable exception: it reacts with death, and if there has been a recent one nearby, the ink stays visible. The more strongly sentient the passed creature, the stronger the color and the longer the stain lingers, and the ink is known to stain murderers permanently. Since coprinusaurs are drawn to the sites of recent deaths, and in fact seem to feed off the energy released by spirits passing between worlds, they are very useful in tracking down the recently deceased, and have brought to light many terrible crimes. However, their association with death, especially wrongful ones, means they are usually considered a bad omen. Strangely though, their presence is a boon during times of famine - their ink is edible and a small amount can sustain a person for long periods. Unfortunately, they do not tend to stay for very long once there are no longer regular deaths, so it is recommended that their ink be collected diligently and stored once they first show up in such dire situations.
Sprite art: Munin (hatchling) | Description: Kestrad