The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: Shepherd Jim

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Shepherd Jim is the semi-aquatic protector of the cold water manatees that call Big Bay home. Stretching out to thirty feet from his nose to the tip of his tail, the people of Farport know Jim as a fairly gentle creature who will keep manatees out of the way of ships in the bay. Not only is this good for the manatees, but it saves the crews of the ships a lot of work scraping bits of manatee off the hull in port. Manatee herding is not something Shepherd Jim does out of altruism, however, as he will periodically lead one of his herd off to eat it out of sight of the others. To ensure that none of the other manatees find out about his treachery, Jim will pull his victim onto land to eat, usually caching the manatee in a nearby tree and coming back over several days. With his herd as his primary source of food, Jim is quite protective of them. Those who harm a manatee from Jim's herd are rarely heard from again, so it is probably for the best that he tends to keep the manatees away from people.

    Keeping the manatees in check is something that Shepherd Jim is able to do through magic. Jim's saliva has a hypnotic property which makes the manatees docile and easy to direct. In the state, the manatees do little more than sit in place and eat until they are pushed somewhere else by an outside force. To ensure they stay in this state as much as possible, Jim will spend hours of each day grooming his herd of manatees, as well as himself. Beyond the necessity of this behavior for maintaining his food supply, the creature seems to be a bit of a neat freak. He tends to avoid seafoam in particular, seeming to find it particularly offensive, although for what reason I do not know.

    Most people in Farport seem to be aware of Jim, but pay him no mind since he tends to stay out of the way. This is their loss, as most people do not realize that Shepherd Jim eats the manatees he herds, and therefore do not realize that his food caches represent the only way to harvest cold water manatee blubber without incurring his wrath. This blubber, unknown to most, can be dried into one of the hottest burning fuels that can be naturally attained. This blubber, so dense in calories, burns hot enough to melt iron and can be lit with a single spark. While certainly dangerous, this blubber can also be a powerful tool. The creature does not eat the blubber, preferring the meat and organs, so harvesting blubber does not impact Jim's food supply. As a side note, Jim's saliva acts as a powerful narcotic drug when applied to the foreheads of people, and is one of the most relaxing experiences I have ever had.