Wyvern
Current Month: Julwar 2nd: 209, The Fifth Age
Travelers in the wild sometimes look to the skies to see the dark-winged shape of a wyvern carrying its prey. These cousins to the great dragons hunt the same tangled forests and caverns as their kin. Their appearance sends ripples of alarm through the borderlands of civilization.
A cousin to the dragon, Wyverns have long serpentine bodies, with proportionately long necks and tails. Their bodies have four limbs: two short back legs and two large wings as forelimbs, a body-plan similar to a bat. Unlike dragons, they do not possess any breath weapons or forelimbs. More beast then not, they also possess a deadly venomous stinger on the end of their tails used for defense and offense.
Wyverns are covered in scales, as well as spines that run down their backs from head to tail. Particularly large ridges of horns frame the edges of their faces, running along the back of the skull and along the jawline, which grow bigger as they mature.
Adult Wyverns possess two sets of frills that run along the backs of their necks and spine, two along the sides of their necks and another two centered closer to the backbone, for a total of four frills. These are formed from webbing that grows between longer spines. When Wyverns are agitated (or simply excited), they raise and flare these frills - similar to how a furry animal like a cat will raise the hackles on its back when agitated (or a feathered animal such as a goose will puff up its feathers), in an attempt to appear bigger so as to intimidate its enemies.
Newly hatched Wyverns are about the size of a small cat, but they grow very rapidly, reaching the size of a horse in about one year, and the size of a carriage in only three or four years. Wyverns never stop growing as long as they live, and they can live for centuries, though many died in combat before reaching such an age.
Wyverns cannot be truly "tamed", but they can be bonded with and trained. They are about as intelligent as a horse or a dog, and can be trained by their rider to respond to basic voice commands. If they are not trained they will quickly lay waste to anything around them. The key to training Wyverns is making sure they are well-fed, a Wyvern with a full stomach is more obedient.
Since they cannot be truly tamed, Wyverns can be very dangerous even to their riders. However, they can form very strong bonds with their riders and will show affection and trust towards them. They will even nuzzle their riders, hoping to be petted.
As deadly as wyverns can be, however, hunters and adventurers often track them to claim the venom, which is used in alchemical compounds and to coat weapons.
A cousin to the dragon, Wyverns have long serpentine bodies, with proportionately long necks and tails. Their bodies have four limbs: two short back legs and two large wings as forelimbs, a body-plan similar to a bat. Unlike dragons, they do not possess any breath weapons or forelimbs. More beast then not, they also possess a deadly venomous stinger on the end of their tails used for defense and offense.
Wyverns are covered in scales, as well as spines that run down their backs from head to tail. Particularly large ridges of horns frame the edges of their faces, running along the back of the skull and along the jawline, which grow bigger as they mature.
Adult Wyverns possess two sets of frills that run along the backs of their necks and spine, two along the sides of their necks and another two centered closer to the backbone, for a total of four frills. These are formed from webbing that grows between longer spines. When Wyverns are agitated (or simply excited), they raise and flare these frills - similar to how a furry animal like a cat will raise the hackles on its back when agitated (or a feathered animal such as a goose will puff up its feathers), in an attempt to appear bigger so as to intimidate its enemies.
Newly hatched Wyverns are about the size of a small cat, but they grow very rapidly, reaching the size of a horse in about one year, and the size of a carriage in only three or four years. Wyverns never stop growing as long as they live, and they can live for centuries, though many died in combat before reaching such an age.
Wyverns cannot be truly "tamed", but they can be bonded with and trained. They are about as intelligent as a horse or a dog, and can be trained by their rider to respond to basic voice commands. If they are not trained they will quickly lay waste to anything around them. The key to training Wyverns is making sure they are well-fed, a Wyvern with a full stomach is more obedient.
Since they cannot be truly tamed, Wyverns can be very dangerous even to their riders. However, they can form very strong bonds with their riders and will show affection and trust towards them. They will even nuzzle their riders, hoping to be petted.
As deadly as wyverns can be, however, hunters and adventurers often track them to claim the venom, which is used in alchemical compounds and to coat weapons.
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