The Rainbow Serpent is a colourful creature and if you saw one you would want to walk away because - though you may feel the need to run - you would make them think you were prey to be chased down. This serpent is highly venomous, and can kill trespassers quickly. It can take as little as half a minute to kill a small creature the size of a mouse and 5 minutes at most to kill a larger creature such as a bear. This venom can, however, be made into an ache remedy if you are in need of one. This remedy helps with head aches and stomach pains.

Picture description. The magnificent sight of a Rainbow Serpent with all its fantastic colours - be aware, though, the snake is venomous! Picture drawn by Drucilla Sablewolffe.

Appearance. The Venomous Rainbow Serpent is about 3 palmspans long and its body is about 3 nailsbreadths wide. The head is usually about 4 nailsbreadths long and wide. What gives this creature its name is the horizontal stripes reaching down its back. Each colour lasts about 4 nailsbreadths before changing into the next colour. The colours start at the neck a red part then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and ending about a nailsbreadths from the tail with violet.

The spine follows these lines down the back and ends about half a nailsbreadth from the tip of the tail. The fangs of this creature are about 1 and a half nailsbreadths long and are hollow. There are venom pouches in the fangs that when triggered release all the venom quickly. There are two theories on what the trigger may be: It could be that this happens when the snake bites down, others believe it is beyond the snake's control, being nothing more than a reflex. Each pouch has about a sip of venom in it.

Special Abilities. The Venomous Rainbow Serpent has a few special abilities. One is their highly venomous bite that can kill a large creature, such as a bear, in five minutes. When biting a large creature usually at least one of the fangs is snapped off because of the reaction the creature gives of twisting away quickly. You can track the progress of the venom by a red rash at the body that develops where the venom has passed. There is no known cure for this venom at the moment.

Territory. The Rainbow Serpent usually lives in warm meadows or plains, specifically the Auturian Woods. Some healers may keep one as a pet, to extract the venom and procure the ache remedy.

Habitat/Behaviour. If you saw a brightly coloured snake while walking through a meadow you would be advised to just walk away, running makes the snake believe you are prey to be chased. But if you don't find yourself likely to be bitten (you most likely will get bitten though) you would see the snake looking around for mice or other small creatures. And for the males, if in spring, they are for sure looking for eggs underground. They are rarely seen at night because they burrow underground to sleep. Their major predators are birds, which seem to be aware of the fact that the deadly venom of the snake is in the fangs and they don't eat the heads. Other predatory animals have not figured this out, yet. The snakes are almost completely silent and you can only hear either animals scampering away or a faint sound of it is slithering through bushes and other plants.

Diet. The Rainbow Serpent has meals coming easy. All they have to do is find a small creature and sink its fangs into it, releasing venom into the creature's body. It then holds the creature in its mouth until the unfortunate animal stops moving. Finally it swallows the animal and crushes it with the muscles in its stomach.

Mating. The Venomous Rainbow Serpent's mating season is between Awakening Earth and Rising Sun, at which time the females spend the days underground laying 5-7 eggs. The males search for these eggs during part of the day and when they find a set of eggs they stick their tail into the eggs releasing sperm into the egg and fertilize them. The eggs have a sticky filling that can plug the holes the male makes. The male leaves the eggs after that, and the eggs are left to fend for themselves. Almost always these eggs are never found by anything that would hurt them and they all hatch. Though only about 3 or 4 survive to mating age which is about one and a half years. The rest are being killed by birds or humans who will uses their skins to line boots and such.

Usages. The Venomous Rainbow Serpent has a few uses. One, as stated above, is their venom that can be turned into an ache remedy, when heated to the proper temperature and drank while warm, and their skin is used to line boots and gloves and other parts of clothing. These clothing items can sell for a high price due to the fact that the makers may be bitten by the snake before killing it. The process of killing the snake is fairly easy, you just throw a dead mouse in front of the snake and it will bite down on it realeasing all the venom it has into the mouse. You can then just take an axe and cut off the head, but you have to be careful to move quietly and slowly toward the snake otherwise it will attack you.

2nd Fallen Leaf 1667 a.S. Information provided by Ganinon