The Common Cryptid
This unfortunate-looking fellow comes in many shapes and sizes, and can be met throughout the world.
A common trait of the cryptid is that it imitates other creatures of the forests, jungles, mountains or plains they dwell in, but you can always tell them apart by the fact that the cryptid is rather bad at it. It will either look like one terribly misshapen animal, or an unnatural combination of several. They have been observed to resemble wolves, foxes, deers, boars, horses, bovines, rodents, felines, humanoids, even birds and fish.
The cryptid seems to have always been around, striking fear into the unlucky souls coming upon an unexplainable monster. Some men of science believe they are left-overs of evolutionary chains, which would explain the nearly prehistoric appearance some of them possess. Other people are of the belief that their disturbing countenance is a deliberate and quite ingenious strategy to ward off predators. To sell this act further, the clever cryptid may behave erratically, make unpleasant noises, imitate the voices of other beings, pretend to stalk you and even charge towards you - anything to scare you away and make you leave it be.
Though pairs and small families of cryptids have been documented, they are generally solitary creatures. The frightening effect they have on others and their own caution result in isolated lives. It is unclear how many of them are out in the wild because of their elusive habits. This caused many tall-tales, myths and legends to persist along the centuries, some confirmed and debunked, others still a mystery to this day.
Cryptids may be omnivores, herbivores or carnivores. Many of them seem to have trouble growing a long coat that covers their entire body. In demeanor, the great majority of them are quite peaceful and docile, avoiding trouble as much as they can help it. There have been reports over the years of some cryptids even being friendly towards humans. Those that are aggressive or even deadly are no different than other wild beasts of our natural world, defending their territory, or themselves, whichever way they figured out works best.
As such, if you come upon a cryptid - leave it alone.
The Skin-Walker
Not to be confused with the creature of the North American lands, whose indigenous people believe you should not even mention it by name. Those are restricted to the American continent, while skin-walkers we shall discuss have been reported in various regions across the globe.
It is an animal of size and form similar to that of an adult human, and like us it is able to walk on both 2 or 4 legs. Its own skin is thin and fragile, sporting a pink-red colour, and you may even be able to see its muscles as they shift underneath. To make up for this handicap, the skin-walker therefore uses the thicker skins of others. It is not unlike what hermit crabs do with seashells and metal tins, or what we humans do with other animals' hides.
The skin-walker is a thin but nimble animal, able to move extremely fast even between densely-packed trees. The usual strategy it goes by is to ambush an unsuspecting target, aiming for one deadly cut at the throat. It has been observed to wear the skins of humans, bears, large deer and large wolves. It always goes for a creature slightly larger than itself, so it may wear their new coat comfortably loose. It uses its long sharp nails to make an incision along the spine, then carefully remove the flesh from inside the skin. So skilled it is in this endeavor that it can remove it all in one piece, obtaining a full-body suit with holes for the eyes, mouth and nostrils. The skin-walker has coarse sharp hairs along its own spine, which secure the new skin in place. They then eat the carcass, or save it for later.
One skin lasts for a few days or a few weeks, depending on the weather. It does not seem to mind the smell of rot it eventually attains, or has learned to tolerate it. Along with protection, the skin-walker makes cunning use of its fake skin to lure more prey. So if you see a strange man or animal conspicuously wandering through the woods, who looks ill, or hurt, or wrong in some way, you now know why and know not to offer help. The skin-walker may even pretend to be dead, a rotting corpse, and will lie in wait for hours until a fool inspects it and falls victim to its lightning-quick slashes.
The skin-walker only hunts creatures larger than itself for skins, and smaller than itself for sustenance, both in insanely fast surprise attacks. It will not dare fight another being one-on-one, so you could scare it away with relative ease. As with any wild animal, it is best to avoid it and leave it alone.
