(Tosca d'Amati's Field Guide to Shift Trade, found in Twisted Tree's Used Books and Stylus Emporium, Hill City - a heavily used copy, sold for two shells five off of a cover price of twelve shells.)
Many and multifarious are the pack-beasts that cross the Shift, but the most resilient by far is the indigenous dromed. Shaggy and easily two meters tall at the shoulder, the beasts nevertheless can appear frail due to their relatively small breadth, somewhat less than that of a horse. This is a misleading impression: full-grown, a dromed can pull five times its weight at an easy clip. For the transport of heavy hardware across Shifting sands, no other animal will suffice.
Wild, the dromed is fiercely protective. When approached, they flare the vestigial wings that curve back against their humps. If truly threatened, they rise on their hind legs and strike fiercely, with their full weight behind their three-clawed feet, then savage the pinned assailant with their hooked beak. Should this attack fail, the beast turns to flee. Unburdened, a dromed can run at nearly thirty miles an hour.
Once tamed, the dromed remains ill-tempered, but will submit to the yoke. However, tamed dromeds serve the nomadic Tosh exclusively, and the beasts never stray into Hill City, or any other Settled World of which we are aware. Tosh caravans were once the main avenue of transport for Settled gear, especially weapons, across the Shift, but in the years since the Golden Horde's destruction, even the most friendly of Tosh clans refuse to pull military hardware, or guide those who do.
