The screebat is a small, nocturnal creature native to the shadowed caverns and underlayers of Zeyvaris. Nearly blind, this twitchy mammal uses high-frequency chirps and echo-mapping to navigate its environment—resulting in a constant stream of eerie sound that echoes off cavern walls like disembodied whispers.
Screebats are hairless with rubbery, mottled skin, oversized ears, and elongated clawed limbs used to grip both rock and rotting tech. Despite their unsettling appearance and behavior, they are harmless scavengers who feed on moss spores, tunnel algae, and the occasional shiny bolt or nutrient chip.
Physical Traits:
- Size: About the length of a forearm
- Skin: Pale gray or purplish; semi-translucent
- Eyes: Vestigial, shrunken or absent in some subspecies
- Ears: Large and ultra-sensitive, often twitching independently
- Sound: Emits rapid “scree-scree-scree” pulses when excited or agitated
Common Phrases:
- “You’re chirping like a screebat in daylight.” – someone rambling nonsense.
- “He’s gone full screebat.” – someone has lost all reason.
- “As crazy as a screebat in a lightwell.” – completely, hilariously unhinged.
- “Screebat-crazy” – a common phrase implying someone has lost touch with reality or is behaving erratically.