Wyvern

The **Wyvern** (officially known as the **Bioform Alpha** in the United States) is a breed of dragon-like creatures native to the planet of Elysia, they are the primary source of air power for numerous nations in the 2nd, 3rd Civilized Regions and beyond.

## Overview

Wyverns bear a strong physical resemblance to dragons, albeit with some notable differences. While dragons typically have 4 legs, wings growing out of their backs and have thicker, more robust bodies; wyverns have their wings as part of their forelimbs much like bats and some prehistoric Earth creatures such as the Archaeopteryx and the Pterodactyl, are typically more serpentine and elongated in appearance.

Much like dragons, wyverns tend to live mountainous areas rich in mana energy emitted by ore veins underneath the layers of rocks. Wyverns are poikilothermic animals like most reptilian species, meaning that they are cold blooded and their body temperature fluctuates with the ambient temperature of their surroundings. And thus, several nations such as the Kingdom of Topa and the Kingdom of Fenn lacked wyverns due to their cold climates. Neither do they exist in the island of Calamique for some unspecified reason, their existence is treated as mythical by the locals.

The color of the wyvern’s scales tends to vary, sometimes they are depicted as red or green much like in European mythologies, while other times they are also depicted with grey scales. Wyverns are omnivores, they consume a large variety of food such as meat, fish, large insects, small monsters, some plants, seaweed/algae, grains, etc.

Wyverns typically breed from Spring to Autumn, usually a wyvern can lay 1-3 eggs, it takes 3 years for a hatching to reach adulthood, and one more year for an adult to mature into combat readiness. The average lifespan of a normal wyvern is 30 years. Wyverns can also be selectively bred into more capable species like the Wyvern Lord or the Wyvern Overlord.

Wyverns typically don’t takeoff vertically, instead requiring a running start, however they still have a much shorter take off distance than most fixed-wing aircraft. They typically take off from dirt runways, due to the fact that cobblestone and gravel roads are liable to damage a wyvern’s claws. In Parpaldia’s case, they can also take off from wooden runways on their wyvern carriers.

A wyvern’s main method of attacking is by using a conjunction of wind and fire magic to launch a fireball at their targets. First by using fire magic to ignite a type viscous, combustible chemical produced in its body, and then forming the fireball with wind magic and launching it. A notable drawback is that the wyvern needs to stretch their neck and torso and form a straight line in order to fire, which prevents them from firing at an angle without having to turn their whole bodies around. The Americans described it as like a “small napalm bomb” and should not pose any significant threat to their forces. Not only does a wyvern fireball possess next to no armor penetration capabilities, but it also suffers from limited range, low rate of fire and slow projectile velocity. This makes them highly ineffective against sufficiently advanced fixed wing aircraft, as demonstrated during the subjugation of the Kingdom of Paganda, the defender’s wyverns were unable to score even a single hit on the Antares fighters as the latter were able to evade the fireballs by simply banking away. Most modern AA guns are also capable of outranging even advanced wyvern species.

However, against less developed Medieval era militaries, wyverns are of extreme importance, as they can be highly effective against lightly armored infantries as well as wooden siege weapons or warships. Due to the limited range, accuracy, and rate of attack of archers and ballistae, the best way to take down a wyvern is often another wyvern. It’s often said that a wyvern in the air is worth 100 men on the ground.

A wyvern’s hide is moderately durable, while it’s able to take a few arrow shots, it offers no effective resistance against firearms. An Antares fighter’s 7.7mm machine guns can make short work of them. Ballista bolts and another wyvern’s fireball can also prove to be deadly.

While some have theorized using wyverns to carry bombs and drop them on targets. The underdeveloped chemistry and limited carrying capacity of the wyvern means that whatever explosives they can carry are not much more effective, if at all, compared to their fire breath. And thus this tactic was never put into practice.

A wyvern has a top speed of around 160-193km/h (100-120mph), it’s not specified whether this is achievable in level flight or only possible in a dive. The highest altitude it can reach is about 3,000 meters (around 10,000 feet). As such the only fliers the wyverns can reliably compete against are other wyverns, the firebirds from Calamique, and at most biplane or triplane fighters from the Great War period.

## Operators

### Beyond the Civilzied Regions

* Principality of Qua Toyne
* Kingdom of Louria
* Kingdom of Altaras
* Annonrial Empire (stationed at Bushpaka Latan, mainly used as a guise)

### 2nd Civilized Region

* Kingdom of Pagada
* Nigrat Union
* Magikareich Community

## Operation History

### First Contact

When an United States RC-130 entered Qua-Toynian airspace, it was first detected by Wyvern Knights Marl Patima and Grant of the Sixth Wyvern Squadron. They attempted to give pursuit but the aircraft proved to be too fast for their steeds. The rest of the Sixth Squadron hastily deployed to intercept the aircraft, but all they can do is maintain a defensive formation above Maihark when the aircraft simply ascended to altitudes impossible to reach for their wyverns.

### Fall of Gim

Wyverns were deployed by both sides during the Fall of Gim, with the Lourian invaders deploying as many as 150 wyverns, drastically outnumbering the Qua-Toyanian defenders who only possessed 2 squadrons totalling up to 24. Although the battle would end with all Qua-Toynian wyverns lost and the Lourians suffering moderate losses, thanks to Qua-Toynian Captain Moiji ordered his wyverns to launch just as the Lourian formation was passing overhead, catching them by surprise and allowing the defenders to inflict more damage than expected.

### Battle of the Rodenius Sea

250 Lourian wyverns were deployed during the Battle of the Rodenius Sea against the United States Navy. However, pitting flesh and bone creatures that don’t even have engines against supersonic war machines ended as well as one could expect. Half of the wyvern swarm were downed by air to air missiles, the other half by a barrage of Standard Missiles, and the remaining 5 that managed to emerge unscathed were promptly annihilated by the Arleigh Burkes’ 5 inch guns.

### Operation Shock

50 wyverns are fielded by both sides during the defense of Ejei. Initially Qua Toynian wyverns were dispatched to escort American heavy bombers, but were unable to keep up as their maximum speed is lower than even the B-52H's stall speed. During the battle, the Lourian wyverns were all shot down by American escort fighters.

### Liberation of Gim

Qua-Toyne fielded 24 wyverns in the Liberation of Gim, prompting Lourian General Pandor to deploy the remaining 50 wyverns from the Gim garrison. However, this was only to bait out the Lourian defenders, and all 50 were shot down by air to air missiles.

### Operation Awe

Lourian wyverns fared just as poorly during Operation Awe, due to American air strikes levelling Wyvern HQ and cratering the runway, most of the wyverns failed to deploy and were bombed in their stables. And any that managed to take off were all neutralized by American fighters.

### Invasion of Pagada

Pagandan wyverns were dispatched to defend the Kingdom's air space from naval aviators of the Gra Valkas National Oversight Army. However, all were shot down by Antares fighters without scoring a single kill.

### Invasion of Altaras

A total of 240 wyverns were deployed to defend against the Parpaldian invasion, despite facing superior wyvern lord breeds fielded by the Empire, the Altaran wyverns possess a massive numerical advantage. Although suffering heavy losses themselves, the defending wyverns managed to inflict casualties averaging 50% across the Parpaldian squadrons, almost rendering the invading air force no factor.