Aodhian Wyvern

Artwork by Ebbarie

Aodhian Wyvern, also known as the Fire Wyvern, is a large reptilian carnivore native to Eithne. They were originally created by the Fire God Ignacio, with assistance from the Sky Goddess Alya, back at the dawn of the world. During God’s War, wyverns were destroyed alongside their kirin partners, and disappeared off of the face of Hireath. Only recently have they begun to return to the world.

## Life Cycle

An Aodhian wyvern comes to heat once in every five years. Nearby males will attempt to court the female with gifts, and by building nests for her to inspect. Once the female has chosen, the pair couples, and 6 months later, a clutch of eggs are laid. The color of the egg will generally be similar to the dragon it produces. The eggs are large, heavy and distinctly warm, with a gemstone-like sheen. Often there appears to be molten metal holding the shells together. A clutch will generally have 3 to 10 eggs, with 5 being about average.

The eggs take 10 weeks to hatch. The male will incubate the eggs for the first 8 weeks of the hatching cycle, while the female will take over for the last 2. Keeping the eggs warm, or even hot, is of paramount importance - an egg that is left cold will not hatch. A short cold (less than a year) causes the hatchling inside to hibernate, and causes them to hatch only when heat is reintroduced. A longer cold period causes the egg to slowly ossify.

Once hatched, the mother abandons her nest. Hatchlings are about the size of a large adult pygmy, and already capable of flight within a few hours of hatching. After devouring the remnants of their egg, unless they are bonded with, they will leave the nesting site and never return.

Young wyverns will hunt small birds and rodents. If left to their own devices, they often grow slower due to the strain of feeding themselves - ancient wyverns bonded with kirins from birth, and their partner would provide them with adequate sustenance. When properly fed, a wyvern grows quickly in size. A prepubescent (around 2 months) wyvern is about half of the size of an adult. Young wyverns often appear gangly and unsightly due to their mismatched parts, and may be clumsy.

Once fully grown, it takes five more years for an Aodhian Wyvern to enter their first breeding cycle.

### **Biology**

* Exclusively carnivorous, and with a ravenous appetite. Diet includes large mammals, birds and fish in large quantities, but will also eat eggs and milk products if offered. Will eat equines.
* Prefers to eat its food lightly charred
* Aodhian wyverns have clearly defined sexes, but no sexual dimorphism. Their sex only matters for reproductive reasons - Aodhian wyverns may have any identity, although most appear androgynous or agender.
* Light for their size - but that being said, a wyvern is still very heavy.
* They use their wing-arms as front limbs to move on land when grounded. Generally clumsy on the ground and will only land if they feel it's safe.
* Their blood is golden in color.
* They have slit pupils and catlike eyes. See well in both light and dark environments
* They love warmth, and shun cool or wet places.

## Behavior

Aodhian Wyverns are proud, inquisitive and intelligent. They are prone to aggression, especially if wronged, and have no qualms about attacking equines. Despite this, they are also naturally driven to bond with Ignacio’s people, and actively seek out companionship. Each wyvern has their own individual personality, but these are often obvious only to their bonded partners - Aodhian wyverns are somewhat notorious for being stone-faced and somewhat animalistic towards others.

As a wyvern shares their alignment and morals with their partner, their personality will naturally be colored by who their partner is. A gentle wyvern with a cruel partner might become one who sees death as a mercy; an aggressive wyvern with a morally good and helpful partner might turn heroically proactive. Wyverns have their own free will, and are naturally sentient, but it seems their personality develops greatly in their interactions with their bonded equine.

They are very in-tune with the emotions and desires of their bonded partner, and may choose to act on them, even if not instructed to do so.

The wyverns communicate with their bond-partners via a telepathic link. Otherwise they produce a variety of growls, roars, hisses and grumbles. If left to their own devices, wyverns seem to have remarkably similar social circles as equines do - they have friends, enemies and acquaintances. They seem to prefer the companionship of their bonded equine over all others.

Wyverns seem to like lazing about when feeling safe, and especially sunbathing is a favorite activity of theirs.

## Abilities

Aodhian wyverns are excellent fliers, with impressive stamina and speed. They’re more agile than their size would suggest, but generally refrain from aerial tricks. They are also very strong, and can easily pull something while in flight - something the ancient kirins utilized in the creation of their airships.

Their scales are hard like armor, protecting them from physical attacks. Their sharp, carnivorous teeth make their mouths a dangerous weapon - and they are big enough to crunch most other creatures between their jaws.

Like many of Ignacio’s creations, the wyverns are completely resistant to fire and heat, and can not be hurt by it in any way. They’re also highly resistant to electricity, and appear to be naturally shock-absorbent. Both of these qualities appear to be tied to their natural magic, as the hide of a wyvern is only slightly heat resistant.

Additionally, each Aodhian wyvern has one of the following two breath weapons. It is not known what determines the breath weapon of a wyvern.

**Fire Breath**

* More common type, present since ancient times
* Presents itself as an torrent of flames; destructive and prone to area damage
* Flames may be any color; most commonly natural color, or a color matching the wyvern

**Light Breath**

* Did not exist in ancient times
* Presents itself as a beam of hot, concentrated light with extreme accuracy
* Light beam may be any bright color, white or black

## As Companions

Modern Aodhian Wyverns only bond with Aodhians, whether they belong to the Aodh faction, or the Heralds of Ash. The wyvern will bond with the first equine it sees - the first equine it notices as an individual, and makes eye contact with. As such, a wyvern could fly over crowds of people without bonding with any of them, should it only see them as a mass.

A bond between a wyvern and their equine is deep and profound, comparable only to a bond between a god and mortal - deeper than love or friendship. The bond creates a telepathic link between the pair. This link allows the sharing of emotions and thoughts, and is present even if the pair is far apart from one another. Wyverns don’t really ‘speak’, rather projecting their thoughts as images and feelings. The understanding is instinctual - their partner will understand them without issue, but explaining the communication to a third party will provide challenging.

A wyvern will always align its goals, morals and alignment with that of its partner, but does not lack free will - still, their bond and loyalty often makes them choose to support their partner, no matter what. They can often appear almost like a living embodiment of an equine’s true nature and intentions, as they reflect on and react to what they feel through the bond, rather than to any facades an equine might present to others. The longer a pair spends together, the more they seem to become like one another. Wyverns are extremely loyal and proud, viewing their bonded equine above other equines. They seek to cherish and nurture the bond, and are highly protective of their partners.

Modern Aodhian wyverns will never want to leave Eithne of their own accord, and will only do so if following their bonded equine. They have difficulty using their breath weapon outside Eithne, and also appear to become ravenously hungry, requiring massive amounts of food to stay functional. If spending an extended period of time away from Eithne, they lose their breath weapon completely, and become sluggish in flight until they return home.

If their bonded equine dies, they fly off, never to be seen again. No one knows where they go. Some wyverns are known to die of sorrow at the death of their partner, so profound is their bond.

### **Wyverns of Old**

In ancient times, the wyverns were given to their prospective partners as eggs, and would bond with them immediately upon hatching. They bonded with the first equine they saw, and fostered deep bonds with their partners. They would mourn the loss of one for ten years before seeking out a new partner. They were never hostile towards kirins, and unbonded wyverns would simply fly around Eithne until they were ready to find a new partner. Often, they would pick a kirin they liked, seemingly at random - this was one of the few ways a non-royal, non-dragon hoplite kirin could ever attain a wyvern partner. The wyverns tended to compare their new partner disfavorably to the old one, but still seemed happier bonded than unbonded.

The ancient wyverns did not have limitations placed upon them, and were unbound by magic. As such, they could travel anywhere in Hireath without issue - an ability they showed with deadly consequence during God’s War.

It is said ancient wyverns grew a bit slower than modern ones, taking a full year from hatching to reach their full adult size, whereas modern wyverns grow quicker (around 4.5 Hireath months). Ancient wyverns also appear to only have had fire breath, and were larger in size than their modern variant.

## History

Wyverns were originally created in a collaboration between Ignacio and Alya, although they were always considered Ignacio’s creatures, rather than hers. They were made as companions and friends for the kirins - a task which they eagerly undertook.

For generations, kirins and wyverns were inseparable. From the very beginning, a bond with a wyvern was considered supreme - a bond that could only be rivaled by a bond between a god and their mortal. They lived in a partnership with the kirins, their young raised to continue said bond on for generations to come.

Although wyverns were great in number, their population was soon dwarfed by that of the kirins. As such, who was allowed to bond with a wyvern became strictly controlled. First, it was only those who had a rank of some importance, such as artists, soldiers and scientists. Then, it was only the soldiers, and in the end, only the Dragon Hoplites and the King would have wyverns. This increased exclusivity did not dim the appreciation of the wyverns, and they continued to star in Aodhian art, music and even plays. Cities were constructed with wyverns in mind, and entire fields of medical science focused on their care.

Eventually, the war came. The wyverns, although not affected by the poisoned bond directly, were dragged into it by their bonds to their partners. Although retaining their free will, they showed no hesitation in fighting alongside their kirins, even though some must have known the consequences would be grave.

Like the kirins, the wyverns were destroyed in the God’s War. Only a single one, with her clutch of black and gold eggs, survived, deep in a death defying hibernation, hidden underneath the peninsula that would one day become New Valore.

In autumn 1700, this wyvern woke, and rose from its cave in pursuit of its eggs, which had been stolen. After wrecking havoc in the city, it came to be bonded to King Isador, and was from there on known as Sola. One of her eggs is known to have hatched to the blind wyvern, Pepper, while the fate of the others is unknown. The next wyvern appeared in Spring of 1701, and was bonded to the reincarnated kirin Sovereign, Soleil.

No new wyverns were sighted until Spring 1702, when Adviser Aleksei bonded with a teenage wyvern, Lucius.

### **Wyverns of Importance**

   **Lux-Raine**, the original bond partner of King Soleil. Died in the Smothering. Female, with deep red color.

**Sola**, the last of the ancient wyverns. A runt with 92ft wingspan. Female, deep golden color with light golden stripes. Bonded to King Isador; first wyvern seen in modern times.

**Pepper**, a blind black wyvern with peach accents. Born from Sola’s clutch in summer 1700. Female, growth slowed by the time spent caged underneath Hearthstone Palace - possibly a runt. Unbonded, lives with the Vindicators.

**Lucia-Caelia**, largest known modern adult wyvern. Appeared in spring 1701. Very large, 148ft wingspan. Female, black with deep gold accents. Bonded to King Soleil.

**Lucius**, a juvenile wyvern of considerable size. Male, black with golden accents. Found roaming Eithne’s countryside in spring 1702. Bonded to Adviser Aleksei.

## Creation Rules

### **Aodhian Wyverns always:**

* Have large, classical dragon wings
* Have four limbs: the wing-arms and muscular, powerful back legs
* Have long, muscular bodies with elongated necks
* Have long tails
* Have visibly scaly bodies

### **Aodhian Wyverns can:**

* Have a pair of horns on their heads
* Have any number of frills and spikes anywhere on their bodies
* Have tails ending in spades, frills or spikes
* Be almost any color, but most commonly fiery or dark
* Have naturalistic colored markings, such as stripes or spots. Usually minimally marked
* Have any color of eyes, with hardly visible sclera and slit pupils
* Have an adult size between 115ft to 132ft wingspan, or be smaller (runts).

### **Aodhian Wyverns can not:**

* Have wings with feathers, insect wings, wings without clear “arm” or be wingless
* Have unusually small wings
* Have more than two pairs of limbs; they can’t for example, have wings and separate front arms
* Be high chroma (neon/fully saturated) as main color
* Have white markings
* Have fur anywhere on their bodies
* Have feathers anywhere on their bodies