Couatl

Couatls are benevolent serpentine beings of great intellect and insight. Their brilliantly colored wings and gentle manner speak to their celestial origins. Couatls were created as guardians and caretakers by a benevolent god not worshiped since the dawn of time, and which is forgotten now by all but the couatls themselves. Most of the divine mandates given to these beings are long since fulfilled or failed. However, a number of couatls still watch over ancient power, await fulfillment of prophecy, or safeguard the heirs of creatures they once guided and protected. Regardless of a couatl's task, it prefers to remain hidden, revealing itself only as a last resort. A couatl can't lie, but it can withhold information, answer questions vaguely, or allow others to jump to the wrong conclusions if doing so is necessary to protect something, to keep promises, or to hide the secret of its existence. A couatl can live for ages without sustenance, even surviving without air, but these creatures can die of disease or the passage of time. A couatl can sense its end up to a century beforehand, but it has no insight into the manner of its demise. If a couatl has already accomplished what it set out to do, it accepts its fate. However, if its imminent death endangers the completion of its goals, it actively seeks out another couatl with which to produce offspring. The mating ritual of couatls is a beautiful and elaborate dance of magic and light, which results in a gem-like egg from which a new couatl hatches. The parent that sought out the mate raises the newborn couatl and instructs it as to its duties, so that it can complete whatever task the parent leaves unfinished.

Geographic Distribution