Wyvern



Wyverns are a varied cousin species of Dragons that occupy above-ground land on the same continent as them. They are not very advanced and form into varied tribes and communities rather than nations, based off of racial differences. Some of these nations are warmongering and others are very peaceful, depending on the temperament of the race. Wyverns speak a language known as 'Slikurr' that consists of much hissing and growling. They have an intelligence level lower than dragons and more akin to dolphins and whales, although it's still higher than that. Intelligence also varies on the races.

Physical Description
The average Wyvern has a general body shape of a long neck, long tail, two wings, and two legs. Most Wyverns crawl forward on their wings. Their wing digits have an extra small 'joint', truly an extension of the wing 'hand', that they can balance and walk forward on much like a paw. All Wyverns only have two flight wing digits, excluding the Sea Wyverns which have none. Most have a thumb digit on their wings used primarily for balance but also for grasping objects when standing on their hind legs. Most cannot fly very well and tend to only use it in extreme circumstances, such as a last-resort escape or to save another's life.

A Wyvern's hindpaws have 2 forward-facing digits and one rear one, letting them easily grab onto tree branches and other rod-like structures and perch akin to birds. It also makes carrying things while airborne a breeze, but if they carry something on the ground in their hindpaws, hopping proves quite troublesome. If small objects need to be moved to and fro it's quite likely a wyvern will just grab it in its maw rather than a hindpaw.

The average Wyvern's maw is full of teeth, but the shape tends to vary slightly on race. Most wyverns are omnivorous, eating both plants and animals depending on rarity. All focus on meat for their primary diet, however. Speech comes in hisses and growls to Wyverns due to their thin forked tongue and slightly immobile lips. They can't form the words of Dragons without hissing out some letters, growling others, and possibly not even pronouncing one altogether. This hissing and growling often makes a Wyvern look more aggressive than it actually is, sometimes causing them to be attacked without them truly meaning to fight. Miscommunications cause many fights.

Some races of Wyverns have blades or flails on their tails naturally, made of reinforced cartilage or bone. They often use these to fight and sometimes sharpen the nerveless edges in preparation for battle.

Culture
Wyvern culture is rather the same across most races. They live in matriarchal or patriarchal tribes ruled by one Wyvern. The rule is passed down through the bloodline of said Wyvern. Others can challenge the current leader and if they win the fight - a duel to the death - they will gain the throne and their bloodline now rules the tribe. For some races this is very common to have happen to the point where the leader changes every week or it's almost unheard of.

Wyverns mate but do not stay loyal to that one mate. They either practice polygyny or outright polygamy without much care for the concept of love. In fact, in some tribes there is a celebration centered around the leader finding his or her mates where the opposite sex will 'strut their stuff' for the leader, showing off battle skills or coordinated courting dances.

Family life centers around the mother and her chicks. (Wyverns refer to all hatched creatures as 'chicks' when young.) She raises her young with love and care but ousts them from her nest the instant they can fend for themselves in society. Brothers and sisters often go separate ways but friend circles tend to include at least one sibling, whether it is from the same clutch or not. The concept of a loving family is overwhelmingly ousted by the concept of mating for bloodline. Some more brutal Wyvern tribes will murder any hatchlings that are weak from the start by heartlessly crushing them with a hindpaw, allowing their siblings to feast on their corpse.

Races
There are numerous races of Wyverns, all living in separate tribes. There are, of course, other tribes in the same race but they are small, numerous, and not really of importance.

Desert Wyverns
Nation: Blacksand

Desert Wyverns are an extremely tough race of Wyverns. They are heavily plated with armored scales and have a tailtip covered in spikes. They are mostly oranges, browns, and sandy hues sometimes broken up with patchy splotches of lighter or darker colors. Their eye color is almost always black, giving them a soulless stare. Sometimes eyes will be a very dark brown, but this tends to be considered a birth defect by other Desert Wyverns. Their teeth are sharp and serrated, curved backwards to prevent squirming prey from leaving the jaws. They hunt small desert creatures and lizards, getting most of their moisture intake through their blood. Desert Wyverns almost never need to drink, allowing them to survive in the furnace that is their desert homeland.

Desert Wyverns also have sharp fangs that can fold away or extend much like a snake's to either spit or inject venom against or into a foe. The venom is mostly used against prey due to it being ineffective against enemies larger than another Desert Wyvern. Therefore, it's ineffective against Dragons, Night Wyverns, and Forest Wyverns, all of which are larger than Desert Wyverns.

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Forest Wyverns
Nation: Skycanopy

Forest Wyverns are probably the most bland looking of Wyverns. They lack any sort of ornament down their spines and just have fish-like overlapping scales lining their body. They are shades of greens, browns, and sometimes greenish yellows. They have piercing yellow or orange eyes, able to see far underneath the dark canopy that covers their homeland. They have a blade-like structure at the end of their tail used offensively, the blade often sharpened on stones. Teeth of Forest Wyverns are also sharp and serrated but do not curve much towards the throat. They tend to eat the animals that prowl their forest homelands but will also eat the fruits that grow in the treetops equally. Usually, they will swallow fruits and berries whole rather than try to chew them due to the shape of their teeth. Larger fruits will be bitten in half or mashed by the strong forked tongue against the roof of the mouth to make it slide down easier.

Most Forest Wyverns drink rainwater rather than river water, only turning to the latter in a time of drought. Their stomachs do not fare well against the bacteria and parasites that adorn the forest's bodies of water - even the colder, rushing waters of rivers flowing down from glacial melt-off can bother a Forest Wyvern's stomach, if extremely rarely.

Most Forest Wyverns also hate to touch the ground of their forests, an instinct stemming from their chickhood in which the forest floor is an extremely dangerous place. While it truly poses no danger to an adult Wyvern, the fear still presides and the Wyverns prefer to glide from tree to tree, climbing them with their powerful hooked wing-claws and grasping hindpaws without issue, rather than walk across the floor. Their wings also posses one extra and very strong grasping digit that helps them climb trees. It's in line with the other digits on the wing rather than reversed like the grasping 'thumb'.

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Night Wyvern
Nation: Shard of the Stars

The most intelligent of all Wyverns, Night Wyverns are a mysterious race that live only in the highest mountaintops. They are primarily nocturnal, hunting by night, using their star-flecked underside to mask themselves against the dark skies. During the night time they descend from the mountaintops to the treeline to hunt for birds and mammals that stray too close. Any results of hunting are brought back for their tribe's food stores.

Night Wyverns are very dark hues of blue or purple, verging onto pitch blackness at times. Their bellies are black with shining white scales that glisten iridescently to mimic the night sky, giving this race their name. They have multiple pairs of curving horns and their necks are adorned with long bristles or spines. Their wing membrane attaches to a long frill-like structure running down both sides of their tail, allowing them to soar on thermals and winds without issue. Their wings also have extra 'grasping digits' instead of just the balancing wing-thumb, making walking on their wing 'knuckles' uncomfortable since these digits can't support their weight as well. Night Wyverns much prefer to stand up on their hindlegs and walk like such rather than crawl like the other races of Wyvern out there. This, combined with their already imposing stature, makes them tower over all Dragons and Wyverns unless, of course, a tall Dragon stands on their hinds as well.

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Sea Wyvern
Nation: Whirltide

A rather peaceful race, Sea Wyverns live along the coast of the tropical ocean in the south-midwest section of the main continent. Rather than being big, bulky, and armored like other Wyverns, they are covered in rubbery dolphin-like skin, frills, and fins to aid them in their semi-aquatic lifestyle. Their wings have devolved into oversized flippers in the rough shape of wings, which they can't walk with like other Wyverns. Instead, they stand bipedally when out of the water. They do not have gills but their lungs are specialized for holding breath for a very long period of time. Some older, more experienced Sea Wyverns can hold their breath for over an hour. Sea Wyverns also have a flipper-like appendage on their tail to aid them in swimming through the water in a crocodilian side-to-side motion.

These Wyverns are all shades of saturated blue, starting with azure and ending at cerulean. Their underbellies are generally soft and a faint blue or white and their eyes are bright shades of green. They're naturally a playful race and prefer to make friends rather than enemies.

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Tundra Wyvern
Nation: Snowfall

This race is almost as mysterious as the Night Wyverns, for they spend all of their time up in the far northern lands. Not much is known about them save for what the strays that venture from the north say. Most Tundra Wyverns live in the frozen lands on the northern tip of the continent, up high in the glaciers and mountains. A few spin-off tribes live further south in the cold mountaintops nearby the Night Wyverns, but they are few and far between.

Tundra Wyverns are a tiny, furred race of Wyvern. They are very light, desaturated blues and pure whites, blending in with the snowy region they live in. They have icicle-colored spikes and horns coming off their head and neck, leading down to their tail which ends in a tuft of fur. Their eyes are almost always grey-white, though sometimes they are tinted an icy blue. Their fur is quite soft and thick. Tundra Wyverns lay eggs like all other Wyverns, but the eggs are thickly shelled and chicks can produce their own body heat from day one. However, this isn't enough to brave against the icy winds of the north alone, and therefore Tundra Wyverns have to stay with their young until they hatch without long breaks.

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