Mirabilia

The Griffin is half eagle, half lion, and entirely convinced of its own importance. It possesses the front quarters, wings and head of an eagle and the hindquarters and tail of a lion, an arrangement which the Griffin itself considers not merely acceptable but architecturally ideal. Scholars have noted that arguing with a Griffin on this point is inadvisable.

It makes its nest in the high places of the world, where it hoards gold, gems and the bones of those who came to argue about the gold. Its eyesight is so keen that it can spot a philosopher from three leagues' distance and swoop down upon him before he has time to conclude his opening premise.

It mates for life and mourns its mate fiercely, which medieval scholars interpreted as a sign of noble virtue. It is unclear whether the Griffin was consulted on this interpretation.

Very little is known about the Great Worm with any certainty, which is itself a kind of knowledge, and perhaps the most important kind. What is agreed upon is that it is large — considerably larger than is reasonable — and that it dwells in the deep places beneath the earth where light has not visited since before the memory of stone.

Early accounts vary wildly. One monk described it as "a serpent of such immensity that it has swallowed several counties and not noticed." Another dismissed it as "a legend perpetuated by people who have not looked at the ground carefully enough." The second monk has not been seen since.

The Worm is believed to move so slowly that it cannot be observed in motion, only in result. Villages that were once somewhere are now elsewhere. Roads take unexpected turns. Mountains apologise for being in the way.

The Lindworm is a serpentine dragon of Nordic origin, most frequently encountered at crossroads at inopportune moments. Unlike its more flamboyant cousins, the Lindworm rarely breathes fire, preferring instead to block roads, eat travellers and maintain an air of general resentment about its circumstances.

Many Lindworms are in fact cursed princes, a fact which the Lindworm will mention repeatedly and at length. Scholars are divided on whether this makes the beast more sympathetic or merely more tiresome. The answer, most agree, depends heavily on whether you are the one being cursed or the one being eaten.

The traditional method of defeating a Lindworm involves neither sword nor sorcery but rather a specific sequence of shed skins and buckets of lye, administered by a brave shepherd's daughter. This method is effective but frankly baffling, and is believed to work primarily because the Lindworm cannot believe it is happening either.

The Panther of medieval lore bears only passing resemblance to the animal a modern naturalist might describe under that name. The bestiary Panther is a creature of spectacular beauty, every colour of the rainbow flickering across its coat, who after eating sleeps for three days and upon waking releases from its mouth a breath of such extraordinary fragrance that every creature in the forest — save only the Dragon, its eternal enemy — follows the scent in a state of enchanted contentment.

This breath, medieval scholars unanimously agreed, was deeply significant on a theological level, though they disagreed on the specifics. The Panther was therefore considered one of the more pleasant creatures to encounter, provided one was not the Dragon.

The Sea-Cat is a creature of the northern seas about which scholars have managed to agree on very little, except that it exists, that it is wet and that it regards human curiosity with the particular contempt that cats have always reserved for it. Reports describe it variously as a large aquatic feline, a tentacled thing with whiskers, and in one memorable account "a sort of philosophical problem that meows."

Sailors report it circling ships in the night, neither attacking nor departing, simply watching. Some mariners have taken to leaving out dried fish as an offering. The Sea-Cat invariably eats the fish and then continues watching, which has not resolved anything.

It is reported to have the ability to change its shape somewhat, though witnesses disagree on whether this is a deliberate capability or simply that different witnesses cannot describe what they saw with any consistency. The investigation continues.