Topaz Wyvern
Capable of tunneling through soil, clay, even solid bedrock at speed and with precision, Topaz wyverns are interesting members of the Draconid family. Though they are dominant predators, ferocious and powerful in their own right, they do not subsist solely or even predominantly off meat, but instead off minerals such as jade, quartz, and other such mineral deposits. However this does not mean that they do not occupy a place at the upper echelon of the food web in subterranean environments. They are willing hunters, and are highly capable, able to track prey over great distances even through naught but the subtle vibrations they make simply by walking. They can detect, loosely and directionally, such vibrations over easily half a mile away, though they seem to struggle to be pinpoint accurate until within a couple hundred feet of the source of these subtle vibrations. Topaz Wyvern are also notable for their unique body shape amongst fellow kindred of the same family. They lack any tail, and moreso lack even vestigial bumps that could suggest there were once ever wings. On top of this, they have six limbs, not four, the front two seeming solely specialized for digging and tunneling. Their jaws are similarly long and narrow much like Emerald Wyverns, but have more than one row of teeth, like a shark. They can open their mouths impressively wide, and the front row of teeth are sturdy blunted things, robust and seemingly semi-metallic in nature, meant for cracking and crushing boulders, rocks and crystal-like structures. Beyond this there are two more rows of teeth, sharp cutting and serrated types, as one might expect for a carnivore. Their front claws seemingly metallic as well, their length and sturdiness, as well as the sheer muscular power the creature can wield make them capable digging tools that are even able to gouge and shred softer stones and minerals. They are an imposing sight, made only more imposing if encountered in a cavern or cave system in flickering torch or lantern light.
An excerpt from the field journals of a reknowned Dragonology researcher Thien Keterman, regarding Topaz Wyverns
Basic Information
Anatomy
Topaz Wyvern are rather interesting in body shape and size. They grow to a notable size, easily about the height of the average human whilst on all fours, and are a little under one and half times that in length. They are stocky, robust creatures with a dense and muscular build encompassed in thick almost stone like scales. Their jaws are similarly shaped to their cousins Emerald Wyvern's, being just as long and seeming narrow for the length, but they are broader, a little more robust. This more lengthy shovel like snout seems likely to have evolved in conjunction to the creatures teeth. Also notable is the complete lack of any tail or even vestigal traces of where wings once would have been, suggesting similarly to its Tane ancestors, the Topaz Wyvern's are either direct descendents of Topaz Tanes, or perhaps more likely, were the first Wyvern to diverge from the proto-wyvern species/family that was likely the transitionary family between Tanes and wyverns we know today.
Biological Traits
Topaz Wyverns are unique amongst their kindred in that they have not one, nor even two, but three rows of active teeth at all times. The first are square, robust and heavy, almost seeming metallic in nature, meant for cracking and crushing stone and crystaline structures such a quartz deposits, an important part of any Topaz Wyvern's diet. The second and third are more usual and what one would expect of a carnivore, an assortment of teeth of varying sharpness and serration obviously meant for slicing flesh, sawing tendon and cracking bone. When a tooth from the front row breaks, over about two or three weeks, the back teeth from the back two rows will shift forwards, the tooth from the second row seeming to grow a quasi metallic coating that sees it become a similar solid square like structure, as a new tooth will grow into the third row as well.
Their limbs, particularly their feet, are also quite unique. Only four of the six are used for walking in any way. The front two instead exist solely as excavating tools, and this shows in the shape of the appendage. Semi rigid, extending out from the broad, but short torso and hefty neck where the head rests, the claws reaching just beyond the tip of the jaws. These claws, similar to the teeth, seem quasi-metallic, and are certainly equally as tough. They are known to be able to crack and crush various kinds of rock and stone, and leave deep gouging otherwise. A full grown Topaz Wyvern can dig through a meter of solid granite in a matter of a half hour or less. They seem not to tire, and though they breath air, the dust from these diggings seems to not harm them or affect their breathing in anyway. Nor does the stale air of cave systems, tunnels and caverns. The dust seems drawn to cling to their bodies, creating an even more rock like illusion of the creature.
The back four legs are shorter, spread a bit wide from the body, almost reminscent of a lizard or gecko, but are thick, stout, like pillars of rock. These four legs support the creature's notable bulk. The feet of these legs are not clawed but instead seem similar in a sense to climbing boots. The three toed feet have notible spiked ridges all along the bottom in particular patterns that are unique to each individual creature, and these rigid, seemingly semi-metallic spikes act as climbing spikes, leaving impressions and footprints in soil, clay or even solid stone, providing Topaz Wyvern's with excellent stability and allowing them to scale rock shelves, crevasses and even cliff faces whenever they come upon fissures whilst tunneling, or the rare times they are above ground.
Topaz wyverns are uniquely shaped with their short, stout and stocky legs, robust body and shovel/crocodilian like jaw line, as well as their two dig claw arms. They also have no real signs of sexual dimorphism unlike other species of Wyvern, where normally there are notable differences in size, body shape, or color patterns. In Topaz Wyverns it seems to come down solely to hormonal communiction left in the tunnels as...well waste, as well as a fluid that secretes from their back feet, a tacky substance that is left in their footprints. This substance has the consistency of mud or mortar that hasn't dried, and based on its color tone, red or grey, you can tell if the track was left by a male or female.
Topaz Wyvern reach heights between 5'-7' (1.5-2.1 meters) and lengths between 7'6"-10'6" (2.2-3.2 meters) in length and weigh between 600-700 kgs (1323-1524 lbs). The creatures have a dappled stone pattern to their scales, often seeming to match the stone and minerals they are digging through and have recently consumed due to the way the dust seems to cling and layer over them. Like every Wyvern, their scales get thicker, becoming like a ridge, running along their spine. These larger more robust scales become more amber hued as you run up their back, and towards their shoulders. As it caps over their shoulders and up on the head, the scales take a stronger more Topaz tone.
Their limbs, particularly their feet, are also quite unique. Only four of the six are used for walking in any way. The front two instead exist solely as excavating tools, and this shows in the shape of the appendage. Semi rigid, extending out from the broad, but short torso and hefty neck where the head rests, the claws reaching just beyond the tip of the jaws. These claws, similar to the teeth, seem quasi-metallic, and are certainly equally as tough. They are known to be able to crack and crush various kinds of rock and stone, and leave deep gouging otherwise. A full grown Topaz Wyvern can dig through a meter of solid granite in a matter of a half hour or less. They seem not to tire, and though they breath air, the dust from these diggings seems to not harm them or affect their breathing in anyway. Nor does the stale air of cave systems, tunnels and caverns. The dust seems drawn to cling to their bodies, creating an even more rock like illusion of the creature.
The back four legs are shorter, spread a bit wide from the body, almost reminscent of a lizard or gecko, but are thick, stout, like pillars of rock. These four legs support the creature's notable bulk. The feet of these legs are not clawed but instead seem similar in a sense to climbing boots. The three toed feet have notible spiked ridges all along the bottom in particular patterns that are unique to each individual creature, and these rigid, seemingly semi-metallic spikes act as climbing spikes, leaving impressions and footprints in soil, clay or even solid stone, providing Topaz Wyvern's with excellent stability and allowing them to scale rock shelves, crevasses and even cliff faces whenever they come upon fissures whilst tunneling, or the rare times they are above ground.
Topaz wyverns are uniquely shaped with their short, stout and stocky legs, robust body and shovel/crocodilian like jaw line, as well as their two dig claw arms. They also have no real signs of sexual dimorphism unlike other species of Wyvern, where normally there are notable differences in size, body shape, or color patterns. In Topaz Wyverns it seems to come down solely to hormonal communiction left in the tunnels as...well waste, as well as a fluid that secretes from their back feet, a tacky substance that is left in their footprints. This substance has the consistency of mud or mortar that hasn't dried, and based on its color tone, red or grey, you can tell if the track was left by a male or female.
Topaz Wyvern reach heights between 5'-7' (1.5-2.1 meters) and lengths between 7'6"-10'6" (2.2-3.2 meters) in length and weigh between 600-700 kgs (1323-1524 lbs). The creatures have a dappled stone pattern to their scales, often seeming to match the stone and minerals they are digging through and have recently consumed due to the way the dust seems to cling and layer over them. Like every Wyvern, their scales get thicker, becoming like a ridge, running along their spine. These larger more robust scales become more amber hued as you run up their back, and towards their shoulders. As it caps over their shoulders and up on the head, the scales take a stronger more Topaz tone.
Genetics and Reproduction
Topaz Wyverns, as all wyverns, lay eggs. Howeve Topaz Wyverns are a direct opposite in many ways to Emerald Wyverns. They do not care for or rear their young, they lay 6-12 eggs as a clutch generally quite deep below the surface. They generally try to find somewhere with heavy ore or mineral deposits and lay their clutch in a dug out hollow within the crystal structure or ore deposit and carefully camouflage it with hunks of similar rocks, mineral and ore. Then the mother leaves, never to return. Though born small, hatchlings are entirely self sufficient and though they cannot hunt, for they lack the instinct initially or the teeth, they are born with fully functional grinding teeth. Smaller, which fits, as the hatchlings are smaller than adults obviously. But they are strong, healthy, fully developed and capable of cracking stone and minerals, which is how hatchlings will get their nutrition for the first two to four years of their life.
Mating habits of Topaz wyverns are quite understudied and not well understood at all, given their subterranean nature, and the fact that they seem quite private about such things. Even courting has never been observed, but the nesting habits, due to accidental discoveries in deep mine shafts, or ancient forgotten ruins and the like deep underground stumbled upon by Exemplari types are generally thought to be somewhat understood.
Mating habits of Topaz wyverns are quite understudied and not well understood at all, given their subterranean nature, and the fact that they seem quite private about such things. Even courting has never been observed, but the nesting habits, due to accidental discoveries in deep mine shafts, or ancient forgotten ruins and the like deep underground stumbled upon by Exemplari types are generally thought to be somewhat understood.
Growth Rate & Stages
Hatchling Topaz Wyverns are known, most interestingly, to basically be minaturized versions of adults, not going through any large anatomical changes as it grows. From the day they are born, they can utilize the strange low tone thunderous cry they are known for, albiet with less force due to smaller lungs. Their scaly bodies are just as boulder like and sturdy as adults, and they are known to molt/shed yearly for as long as they are alive, with new scales hardening in a day or two. They reach sexual maturity, the molting slowing down considerably, after five years, this is when they reach full adulthood, reaching more or less full adult size. At this point they molt far less often, however they seem capable of controlling that process willfully. There exist reports of Topaz Wyverns that have suffered some sort of illness or major injury to their scales, something that has damaged the integrity of its protectiveness, seeming to simply cause the process of molt to happen willfully, shedding the damaged scales to simply form a new carapace.
Topaz Wyverns can, to a point, be dated by a unique feature of their ridge scales called 'banding'. Banding is a vertical pattern on their ridge scales you wouldn't be able to easily see unless up close, there is a subtle pattern of vertical striping on the amber scales. They are not mono-tone, the bands run from light, to dark, to light again and so on. Each band represents 1 year. However these bands only appear visibly after a Topaz molts. Because of this, and the fact that the molts stop being yearly, it can be difficult to get a perfectly accurate measurement off this method, unless you somehow can confirm how recent the molting you discover actually is.
It is believed in general that Topaz Wyverns are likely the longest lived of all wyverns, due to the molting of the oldest ridge scales on record, which had two hundred and twenty-seven 'bands'. As such, accepting that such a creature might be an outlier, it is generally believed that Topaz Wyverns have an average life span of around one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred years.
Topaz Wyverns can, to a point, be dated by a unique feature of their ridge scales called 'banding'. Banding is a vertical pattern on their ridge scales you wouldn't be able to easily see unless up close, there is a subtle pattern of vertical striping on the amber scales. They are not mono-tone, the bands run from light, to dark, to light again and so on. Each band represents 1 year. However these bands only appear visibly after a Topaz molts. Because of this, and the fact that the molts stop being yearly, it can be difficult to get a perfectly accurate measurement off this method, unless you somehow can confirm how recent the molting you discover actually is.
It is believed in general that Topaz Wyverns are likely the longest lived of all wyverns, due to the molting of the oldest ridge scales on record, which had two hundred and twenty-seven 'bands'. As such, accepting that such a creature might be an outlier, it is generally believed that Topaz Wyverns have an average life span of around one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred years.
Ecology and Habitats
Topaz Wyverns have extensive home ranges, tunneling and roaming naturally occuring cavern systems over a wide range. However though they do not return to it every day by any stretch, they do have a permenant den of sorts. Well generally several. The thing about Topaz Wyverns is they will have at least four or five tunneled out 'homes', usually dead end caverns deep underground, tunneled into bedrock of sorts. Within these caves is where one might find treasures and trophies of sorts, remains of old meals, perhaps even old moltings which have great value in and of themselves, one can craft fantastic armor from them. However finding the creature, much less if you were fool, bold, or had to fight or slay such a creature for whatever reason, tracking them, much less keeping them in place and finishing that job can be exceedingly challenging. They know the tunnels and cavern systems within their home range better than any seismological map, or any living creature. Though rare, they can be found all across Valerick, as they live underground so surface climate has limited influence on their capability to survive and thrive.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Topaz wyverns have a high need for minerals and proteins, not unexpected in wvyerns and other super carnivores, but they are unique in their extreme need for minerals, hence also eating rocks and metals, making them not a hyper carnivore, nor an omnivore, but some sort of lithovore/carnivore mix. They will not under any circumstance eat any sort of fungus or plant matter and unlike most wyverns they refuse to scavenge carrion, regardless of how hungry they are. This is odd behavior, because they will consume bones if they come across skeletal remains lacking flesh, however carrion they simply will not touch.
Biological Cycle
Due to being mostly subterranean there is no real seasonal behavior patterns that are measurable, though it is worthy of note that in places of extreme cold, like Suranth, where there is a permafrost layer, Topaz Wyverns do avoid going above the frost grade line over the long winter, refusing under almost any circumstance to ascend above that point.
Behaviour
Topaz Wyverns are not near as hyper territorial and aggressive as female Emeralds, but they are, like all draconids, notably territorial. They take trespass in their caverns and tunnels by others of their kind with great seriousness, and tresspass by any creature into one of their dens as a personal affront. However they do not possess the primal aggression of an Emerald, or the burning fury of a Ruby. They are more stoic, sturdy, and stubborn, but generally are not immediately aggressive. They are no social butterflies, but being sapient, as all draconids are, they can be talked to and reasoned with.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Topaz Wyverns are well known to have a strong sensitivity for vibrations through the earth and soil, which in and of itself is not that strange for a mostly subterranean species. However, their sensitivity is notable for its applicable distance which is roughly almost a half mile that they can pick such things up from, though pinpoint direction and distance seems less sure until they are within 200 feet or so. Like all Draconids they also have a noted sensitivity to magick, and in particular, Geomancy.
Topaz Wyvern Base Stat Sheet
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
170-200 years estimated
Average Height
5'-7' (1.5-2.1 meters)
Average Weight
600-700 kgs (1323-1524 lbs)
Average Length
7'6"-10'6" (2.2-3.2 meters)
Geographic Distribution
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