Beast Origins (sage ability)

Provides full knowledge of the moral and symbolic qualities that beasts possess, including stories of their origins, their place and reason for being, the manner in which they fit into the religious milieu and construction of the universe and ultimately how they "think."  The knowledge also clearly defines what a beast is capable of, and what creatures that may be met by the character are most definitely not beasts.

Intelligent beasts often have forms that are double, or even triple in size of the better known manifestation of a given beast.  These "great beasts" have some aspects of demi-god status, but they are almost always mortal (immortality occasionally being granted to a particular beast by a greater god).  The knowledge gives clues to where such great beasts may be found, to be parleyed with (as they are triple in intelligence and age, also), or to be fought and destroyed.

The knowledge also includes a litany of information about the valuable substances that may exist within the bodies of beasts, such as the unicorn's horn or the paws of an owlbear.  However, while some knowledge may be had of what use these things serve, it does not empower the character to make use of the thing (see Alchemy).  The relevant part of the beast may be successfully extracted, however ... and in the case of an egg, or the live birth of a thing (depending on the creature), the character is potentially able to ensure the egg's hatching or the live birth's survival.

See Beasts