Avia
From Unity (Zarane), Mature at 16 Life expectancy 80
The Avia are originally from Iocrias, though the people diverged long ago. Both groups were ousted from their homes. One going to the Eridium Spires and the other going to Unity on Zarane in Aldas. They are bird feathered humanoids with talons, beaks, and wings as their 5th and 6th limbs.
Culture
Common Dress code
No pants, they have feathers and internal genitalia so like why would they wear pants COLLIN?
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Avia of the desert mountains in southwest Shard are surprisingly stationary for their peregrine design. Though much like the wandering falcons with which they share many traits, encroaching beasts to the south and ancient, dire warnings of what evil lies across the mountain ridge to the north have kept the peregrine Avia relatively confined to their village and the surrounding area.
These desert dwellers are communal, forming strong bonds between family and friends, often aiding each other in preening and in rearing young. As a monogamous group, mates are bonded for life, though separations, while rare, are not unheard of.
Preening and hygiene is very important not only to prevent parasites but also to ingest vitamin D produced by the reaction of the sun’s energy on the oils spread onto feathers. These oils, secreted by the uropygial gland just above the tip of the tail, have a unique signature visible in near-UV and help one peregrine identify another. This can sometimes become more difficult with bonded pairs, as they will share each other’s oil to preen with. The fact that females are on average larger than males often helps tell bonded pairs apart in heterosexual relationships.
Female peregrine Avia will lay 1-3 eggs when it starts getting significantly warmer in the spring regardless of whether or not they are fertilized (and about the time when all peregrines begin molting until the middle of fall, losing only a few feathers each day). Unfertilized or unwanted eggs are simply discarded. During the breeding season is the only time that copulation may result in offspring, though bonded pairs will mate for pleasure year round. As with wild peregrine falcons, both males and females have cloacas and so mate externally.
Their eggs are reddish-brown and mottled, almost blending in with the surrounding desert rocks. They are about the size of an elongated softball and have tough, slightly elastic shells. Bonded pairs will take turns incubating and hunting, but family will often help both before and after hatching, which occurs after about half a year of incubation. Overall, the average number of children per pair is 2-4, though the largest recorded family had 14.
Peregrine Avia mature around the same rate as humans, though they start off blind and helpless due to the shorter gestation. Once they catch up to that of a newborn human, they grow only slightly faster, reaching adulthood at 15 years of age. At this point, they will take up a job in earnest, many winding up staying with their choice and turning it into a career while others bounce around from task to task before finding what suits them.
Facial recognition, of course, works just as well as oils for identification if the face is visible, and peregrines can see significantly better than most humanoids with their large, almost immobile eyes. To compensate for the limited movement in the eye sockets, they have fantastic peripheral vision and can also turn their heads 180 degrees behind them by way of additional vertebrae in the neck. In inclement weather or simply for protection, their eyes may be covered by their translucent nictitating membranes, which are most frequently used to blink to wet the eyes and clear debris.
Facial expressions are almost non-existent, limited to beak movement and how open the membrane is. Therefore, most context about emotion is gleaned through body language, particularly the wings. To a non-Avia, however, it may take some practice to discern the difference between excitement and anger. And a full-on threat display can be an impressive, if terrifying, sight.
The desert Avia are omnivorous, though they by far prefer meat, and they are capable of stoops topping over 200mph as they dive in for a kill with their talons. Their natural great strength allows them to easily carry their prey back to the community, and this, combined with the harsh, mountainous terrain that would be rather difficult for non-winged beings to traverse, is part of why not much technology has been developed in the region.
Their aerodynamic design includes their stiff tails, which help allow for tight, accurate turns but also makes sitting in humanoid furniture difficult. Stools and benches are seats used in the village, but backed chairs can only be used sideways or backwards, and armrests make the entire thing little more than decoration. Beds are usually wider than for humans, as most unbonded peregrine Avia will sleep on their sides with one wing behind them and one folded over them. (Stomach sleeping is less popular, and back sleeping is possible, but most find it to be uncomfortable due to the wings being pinned.) Sheets are almost unused, as they will be easily torn by their talons.
They are a blend of humanoid and avian shapes, and their six limbs require a double set of pectoral muscles attached to an elevated keel running the length of their sternum to give additional power and leverage for flight. Though their bones are hollow and comprised of an internal lattice structure for additional support, the denser material means they weigh about the same as a humanoid of the same size (though the feathers may make them appear deceptively larger).
Their wings fit into sockets at the bottom, spineward sides of their scapulae, meaning that large movements of the shoulders, such as shrugging, affects both the arms and wings. Archers who shoot from the sky, therefore, require additional training to be able to compensate for their flight patterns and shoulder positions at the same time. The aforementioned second set of pectorals combined with the keel and the strong abdominal muscles gives the torso a more rounded shape than humanoids for both sexes, making identification difficult for those who can’t see ultraviolet light.
Coming of Age Rites
The first unassisted flight an Avia is able to make is the sign the child is ready to set out on their own. As such, many Avia spend their childhood trying their hardest to learn to fly to prove their status as adults.
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