Editing Erdlu

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'''Erdlu''' are a species of quote-unquote "birds" native to the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] world of [[Dark Sun]], where they are one of the two signature "herd-beasts" of Athas, alongside the [[kank]]. They are described as resembling ostriches with scales instead of feathers and clawed forelimbs instead of wings, which pretty much everyone knows means they're basically [[dinosaur|Ornithomimosauria]] with a fancy name.

People on Athas rely heavily on taming erdlu, who are resilient, adept at feeding themselves in the wastelands, and multi-use; their flesh is edible, their ''eggs'' are super-nourishing and can even substitute for daily water rations, and their bones, sinews, beaks, scales and claws can all be harvested for useful material. Truly, they are the wonder-animal of the Athasian farming or herding community.

The regular erdlu debuted in the original Dark Sun boxed set in the "Animals, Domestic" entry of the setting's debut bestiary. They also have two relative species who show up in the two Monstrous Compendium Appendixes for Dark Sun. The first, "Terrors of the Desert", introduces the '''Erdland''', a bigger and stronger but slower erdlu - if the erdlu is somewhere between an Athasian cow or milking goat and a chicken, then the Erdland is the draught horse, used as a steed or to pull caravans. The second MCA, "Terrors Beyond Tyr", introduced the '''Crodlu''', which didn't get a lot of fluff but sits somewhere between the Erdlu and Erdland in size and is more of a battle steed, with the more ferocious '''Heavy Crodlu''' being used as a favored war-mount for Athasian cavalry.

[[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Dark Sun]]