Delines are rotund feline-like creatures with rich, black fur. They're indigenous to the Diso system. The polar Deline is an almost bear-like animal with a pure-white pelt.[1]
The indigenous Delines were driven from the equatorial regions by human settlement, but are still common in the colder, higher latitudes, where they prey predominantly on various ground-dwelling scavengers knows as 'Drats' - a collective name for the various rat like creatures, hated by humans for their effect on their crops.[2]
In the early days of the Diso settlement, the Delines were hunted, as they had attacked and killed human children from time to time, and in some areas they were very nearly wiped out. In the following years, the resulting drat plague destroyed crops over vast areas, so humans decided to tolerate the Delines, and fence them out of human settlements instead.[2]
Today, Deline pelts are highly prized, particulary the rich pure-white pelt of the much rarer polar Deline, an almost bear-like animal, but nevertheless closely related to the temperate Delines. Delines are still hunted for sport, but this is controlled, and such hunting has become a profitable tourist activity.[2]