Scarlithian

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## Introduction

Scarlithians are stout bird-like creatures that are characterized by their stark white heads, pronounced manes, striking yellow eyes, and long serrated beak. Scarlithians are known for both their aggression and their ability to effectively work together in groups. Being social creatures, Scarlithians almost never live alone and after often found in groups between 2 and 4 at a minimum. Scarlithians are the most common sapient species due to their impressive adaptability and vitality.

## Description

The word scarlithian is a broad term for those in the *Avis* family. Scarlithians are in their own sub-classification, sharing traits from many of the different major animal groups but having no distant ancestor from any of them. Scarlithians are nor mammal or avian, and are often classified as "Psuedo-mammals" as they share many traits from the mammal group. For most of their lives on Earth, scarlithians were elusive and almost non-existent, rarely interacting with the human race and being considered myths by many. It wasn't until hundreds of years later after humanity resurfaced from the Earth that the existence of scarlithians was proven.

Scarlithians are opportunistic, obligate carnivores. This means that their diet consists of over 75% animal tissue. However, scarlithians will occasionally indulge in berries and fruits during times of prosperity. Scarlithians are often seen scavenging corpses and almost never hunt. When they do, scarlithians will target small prey rather than hunt large targets, even though these targets could be easily overpowered. Occasionally, scarlithians will simply hunt for fun rather than for sustenance. Scarlithians have approximately 6000 tastebuds on their long, thin tongues, allowing them to taste food more intensely. Because of this, scarlithians have been known to overindulge themselves in various sweets, confectionaries, and heavily spiced meals. Although scarlithians eat significantly more than humans, their metabolisms allow them to not need to eat days after.

Because of a scarlithian's slow metabolism, this trait grants them long fulfilling lives. On average, a male scarlithian may live for over 120 years whilst its female counterpart, the *Broodmother* can live for over 200. However, their breeding patterns indicate that they may have once had much shorter lifespans. Scarlithians are prolific breeders, having between 2-8 scarlithian hatchlings per season. The gestation period for a scarlithian is typically around 5 months, but scarlithians are often born underdeveloped, and cared for intensively by their parents in the first few months of their lives. Scarlithians are born blind and death, and will remain blind for over 2 weeks and deaf for only a few days. On average, a baby scarlithian can eat over 2 times their weight in meat per day, during this period the parents may be more likely to steal or hunt for food in order to sustain their brood.

## Lifespan of a scarlithian

Scarlithians begin their lives blind and deaf. During the first few weeks of their lives, they are incapable of regulating their own body temperature and must be taken care of by their broodmother. During this time, broodmothers are incredibly protective of their young, sometimes even attacking their own partner in order to protect their brood. Broodmothers will spend the first months their brood's life sedentary, sitting near or even on top of their brood in order to keep them warm.

Around 2 weeks of age, scarlithians are still in their neonatal stage. They can open their eyes and can now fully hear, as they had just gained the ability to hear a week before. To reserve heat, scarlithian young will be covered in "Downy hairs", soft, light grey, and thick hairs that cover the entirety of their bodies during most of their juvenile stage. However, neonatal scarlithians struggle with balancing themselves and sometimes "crawl", but at this stage of life they have difficulty with enduring the weight of their beaks. During this stage, they remain close to their broodmothers as it is dangerous for them to stray far.

At around 2 months of age, scarlithians can walk somewhat and vocalize, previously they would've only been able to quietly squeak, as they would be too occupied with eating twice than their weight. Scarlithians grow exponentially in size during development, and by now scarlithians are more than three times the size they were when they were only newborns. During this stage of life, a scarlithian may appear more "adventurous" and may occasionally stray far from their broodmothers. When in danger, they will cry loudly in order to catch the attention of nearby scarlithians to come to their aid.

At around 4 months of age, a scarlithian begins to expand on their range of vocalizations, sometimes even imitating older scarlithians as part of a learning process. During this time, the brain grows exponentially and scarlithians at this age are more likely to become frustrated and throw tantrum-like episodes. By now, a broodmother may slowly wean her brood off of her in preparation of starting a new one, usually handing the brood off to her partner, whom of which will begin to teach his young how to survive. Scarlithian drones are caring fathers and parents, and in the case that a broodmother is killed, the drone will take up the responsibility of raising the scarlithians from birth.

At around 6 months of age, a scarlithian may begin to shed their downy hairs in place of their adult pelts. During this time, preening is more common and it is advised to not interfere with the preening process as it may cause irritation in the young scarlithian. Despite being only ~2 feet, young scarlithians at this age is already capable of causing immense harm to a human or even other scarlithians. Typically, a 6 month old scarlithian will attempt to become more independent from its family, and it is common to find scarlithians at this age by themselves.

At 12 months old, a scarlithian is able to finally be independent from its family, and becomes a stable provider for its siblings. By now, a scarlithian at this age would've shed more than half of their downy hairs, being replaced with a dark, wiry, and sometimes spotted scarlithian pelt. Scarlithians use this fur pattern to blend into dark spaces, typically caves. At this age, a scarlithian's feeding habit have been cut in half, and now have a less ravenous appetite. Even then, a scarlithian at this age will eat remarkably more than a human toddler. 12 month old scarlithians on average will be between heights of 3 feet to 5 feet. Young broodmothers at this age will sometimes even be at a towering height of over 5'10''. Though, this is not the broodmother's full height and they have not even reached sexual maturity yet.

Between 6 and 10 years of age, depending on nutritional input at a young age, a scarlithian may reach sexual maturity. As most scarlithian broods consist entirely of males, it is often that only one scarlithian is chosen to be fertile. It is often the strongest scarlithian in the brood that is chosen. In cases that a broodmother is born, special attention is given to only them, as they are usually the only scarlithian born in that brood alive. Newborn broodmothers are larger than newborn male scarlithians on average, and because of how resource draining they are during gestation, it is rarely that a broodmother births more than one daughter at a time.

Sexually mature scarlithians will become sexually dimorphic from one another, male scarlithians developing a thick pigmented band on the tips of their beaks which is sometimes freckled depending on their genetics. Every year, this band across their beak becomes more noticable. This is one of the only ways to accurately determine a male scarlithian's age. When sexually mature, male scarlithians are called *Bulls, Toms, Sires,* and *Drones.* Broodmothers will tower over their male counterparts, reaching heights between 6 and 7 feet, but there have been recorded cases where a broodmother may grow to a staggering height of 8 feet. Broodmothers are wide and appear to be overweight, but they are incredibly muscular, and when in a state of rage they can take on opponents larger than themselves.

When a drone and broodmother meet, it is often that the drone is followed by others. Sexually mature broodmothers produce a pheromone that attract all drone scarlithians in the surrounding area, often causing conflict and fights to break out between them. Usually, many of these fights result in severe injury or even death. Rarely, a horde of drones may leave eachother alone if there is a 1:1 drone to broodmother ratio. If a drone and broodmother are alone, the drone begins a "courtship" phase, where he will try his best to impress the broodmother, convincing her that he is capable of providing for both the broodmother and their future offspring. Drones will display their loyalty by impressing the broodmother with various gifts, such as Food, sweets, rocks, trinkets, and things that they have stolen from others. During the courtship phase, drones are incredibly obsessive and selfish, convinced that the broodmother they are chasing after already loves them and believes that he simply has to help her come to that realization. They will steal, fight, and overall be violent towards other scarlithians and humans, convincing themselves that other scarlithians and humans act as competition.

When a courtship phase is passed and the drone is successful in winning over the broodmother, they will begin to live together. Scarlithians will seek a home to live in, typically a cave, a house, or sometimes a burrow and eventually procreate within its confines. A scarlithian settlement is often referred to as a *hive.* Scarlithians are monogamous creatures, meaning that a pair will be together for the rest of their lives; but if a drone is killed early on in their partnership, the broodmother may seek another male to breed with. In the course of their lifetime, Scarlithians will have had created and birthed over hundreds of offspring, whom of which will start lives of their own. Scarlithians are very attentive parents to their offspring and will never leave their youngest alone for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Broodmothers will only leave the hive to relieve themselves or prevent muscle degeneration for the next brood. During gestation, a broodmother will eat double her weight in a day, often even eating bones and bone marrow of fresh prey. It is the drone's duty to provide for his broodmother and during the gestation period, a drone almost never rests in order to keep his broodmother, and his offspring protected.

## Scarlithian Familial Structure

Scarlithians are extremely social creatures. The duties of a family member depends on how old they are. The oldest brood will often act as "second parents" when they are of age, which is around 1-2 years old. The eldest scarlithians hunt for food, they keep the hive clean, and they help protect the younger scarlithians from harm. A hive family is mainly comprised of infertile males, as they remain in that hive for the rest of their lives.

Fathers of broods are the main caretakers of juvenile scarlithians. Once they leave their broodmother's sides, their fathers take the role of a parent rather than a provider. Fathers will teach their young how to manage life on their own, and then teach them how to care for their younger siblings. The fathers will often take their offspring on trips with them, sometimes to learn how to survive off of the land or how to hunt. In recent times, fathers have taught their offspring how to follow societal rules.

When drones scarlithians reach sexual maturity, they are evicted from the hive. This is to prevent inbreeding within the hive as broodmother scarlithians stay with the family far much longer on average than their counterparts. Broodmothers have to stay close to their families as traveling alone is unsafe, even though they can easily overpower other scarlithians.

Young broodmothers are taught by their mothers on how to effectively raise young. They often stay with their broodmother, providing water, food, and enrichment for both her mother and her siblings. When they find a suitable partner, the young broodmother will leave, and visit her family yearly. Sometimes, the broodmother lives too far from her family members, and sometimes their mother will never see them again.