Silt Frog

The silt frog is an oversized frog that makes its home in the rich silt alongside the lakes and rivers within the islands of the High Seas. Though their form and markings are indistinguishable from other common frogs in the area, they are easily identified by their prodigious size. Silt frogs are highly territorial, and it's common knowledge that a silt frog even bullies its own offspring if they fail to vacate their parent's territory upon reaching maturity. While a silt frog can feed on birds, bats, lizards, and other small creatures, it prefers to devour anything magical over mundane. The stronger the magic it detects—be it creatures, spells, or otherwise—the more driven the frog's prodigious hunger becomes, insatiable by anything else. With this innate ability as a highly accurate magical sensor, silt frog farms aren't unheard of, as rearing them can be a profitable enterprise for those willing to deal with their territorial aggression. If exposed to the same magic and sources repeatedly, a silt frog can become desensitized to them, which makes it a creature even the most advanced spellcasters aim to keep around, utilizing it as a guard against any magical infiltrations and an alert when unexpected guests come to call.

Thanks to their unusual diet, silt frogs pose a unique threat to sentient magical creatures. Many a sprite or poppet has found themselves abruptly devoured by a wild silt frog that doesn't even notice the difference between them and a summoned familiar. Because of this danger, most ancestries with innate magic are careful to avoid the marshes and rivers of the High Seas and especially villages where silt frogs are raised and trained. Sprites who do live in the region, drawn to the plentiful treasure and easily pranked sailing crews, often protect their towns and villages with elaborate defenses designed to keep hungry silt frogs away—though even these measures are prone to failure, and such settlements can find themselves abruptly wiped out by a sufficiently large and determined predator.