Wyvern

The major power of the west side of
the . Wyvern are like dragons, but
the size of large horses and have a tough, leathery hide. They also have a
poisonous barb at the end of their tails and only have two forelegs as opposed
to the four legs that dragons have. They are ruled by the Matriarchs, one for
each clan and the High Matriarch over all the clans of her color.

They are associated with the
Darkriders. The Darkriders are thepolar opposite of the Dragonlords. They are mainly
female controlled, due to influence from the Wyvern.

## Physiology

Basically,
all seven Wyvern species are built the same way on the outside with some
variations. The internal workings are mostly the same, though some have
specialized organs that allow them to utilize their racial abilities and breath
weapons.

They have boxy, serpentine heads
topped with a bony crest. The neck is long and slender and attaches to a broad
torso that slims out past the rib cage, becoming a long barbed tail. They have
two muscular legs which act as both arms and legs at the front of their body.
The leg shoulder is just past the bottom of the neck. From the above the arm
shoulder just shy of the back, is the wing shoulder. The wings are each split
into five segments by thin bones that spread outwards from the wing’s elbow.

The legs each have three clawed toes
at the front of the foot and a fourth at the back of the foot.

Each species has variations on this
basic form.

## Biology

Wyvern
are egg layers. Clutches contain 3-8 eggs apiece. A female will carry the
fertilized eggs inside her body for three weeks while she builds a nest or
locates a suitable location to lay them in, depending on the species. Laying
them takes a few hours. When she’s finished, the males in her harem stand guard
over them, taking turns to guard and hunt for the others. Females always know
which male in her harem sired the eggs but rarely does she share that
information with anyone and never shares it with the males.

Eggs are universally leathery in
texture. Size varies among species as does color, but the general rule of thumb
for egg size is that the eggs will be 1/3 the size of their mother. At laying,
they are 1/5 the mother’s size.

The eggs hatch two months later.
Like all egg born creatures, the young wyvern will have consumed all of the
material within the shell just prior to hatching. Young wyvern poses a special
egg tooth on the end of their nose to help free themselves from the shell, as
the shell is still quite tough. Some die from trying to break free. Those eggs
are unassisted and are a blight on their mother’s reputation. It lowers her
status among her clan considerably.

The egg tooth breaks off within a
few days of hatching. Claws of young wyvern are soft and dull until they are a
few months old. Once their claws have hardened, they begin to learn how to fly,
a process which takes a minimum of 2 ½ months in order to properly build and
strengthen the muscles. Instruction of the young is dependant on gender.
Females are exclusively taught by their mothers and the males are communally
taught by the males in the mother’s harem.

Wyvern are considered full grown and
mature by the age of 8.

## Mating

Wyvern
are always in season. They are unique in that they practice recreational mating
that doesn’t necessarily lead to the production of offspring. They initially
began doing so to simply confuse the matter as to which male sired which clutch,
but continued to do so as it was enjoyable.

Mating is often rough and virtually
always leads to blood being shed. Quite often, a male comes out of it with
several gashes in his hide.

## Society

Status
among wyvern tends to be hereditary. The population is broken up into clans.
Every wyvern clan has a Matriarch, who is virtually always the daughter of the
previous Matriarch. There are a few exceptions to this. Beneath the Matriarch,
the status of the other females in the clan is determined by several factors
which include strength in their racial abilities, success in combat, favor with
the Matriarch, number of live offspring, and the rank of their  rider if they have one. High status leads to
larger harems.

Clans are usually comprised of a
greater number of males than females. Males perform a wide variety of tasks,
acting as drones. They are attracted to power and will flock to the females
with the higher status. It is ultimately at the female’s discretion which males
she will allow into her harem, discarding lesser males.

Clan members are answerable to their
Matriarch and she is answerable only to the High Matriarch, the most powerful
individual of each species. That position also tends to be hereditary, but
sometimes a Matriarch can challenge for it. Those fights are always fatal for
one participant. If the High Matriarch wins, she kills the challenger. The only
possible way to win is to kill the High Matriarch as the species won’t accept a
new High Matriarch otherwise.

In each harem, the males will offer
the choicest bits of their kills to the female. Mostly she accepts, but she
does occasionally decline the offer.

## Black Wyvern

See article on Black Wyvern

The most powerful and largest, they
can assume any form. Their breath weapon is acid and some can cast spells.

Stronghold - Nightmare Bluff

## Red Wyvern

See article on Red Wyvern

The most feared Wyvern in history
were mostly reds. Breathing fire and casting spells on par with silver
dragons. They hate men with a passion bordering on obsession.

Stronghold - Deathfire Ridge

## Blue Wyvern

See article on Blue Wyvern

They are the swiftest
flyers, breathing lightning. Their special ability is to detect lies.

Stronghold -

## Green Wyvern

See article on Green Wyvern

Greens have the power of stealth.
They breathe a poison cloud. They tend to be loners and are well-know for their
hunting abilities and fighting skills.

Stronghold - Belladonna Manor

## White Wyvern

See article on White Wyvern

No one pays much attention to the
isolationist whites and concede the cold wastes at the very southern end of
the Darkrider territory to them gladly. They breathe anything from ice to
cold winds. Their special skill is weather control.

Stronghold - Demonsbreath Caverns

## Gold Wyvern

See article on Gold Wyvern

These
dangerous creatures have the ability to mimic the forms of other living beings
from other wyvern types to humans and animals. Status is determined not by how
complex and different a shape you can hold, but rather by how long you can hold
that form.

Breath
weapon:  a shimmering toxic mist that
causes confusion and weakness.

## Silver Wyvern

See article on Silver Wyvern

They
can create illusions that range from small things such as color changes to
large scale illusions such as generating the illusion of an entire army. Each
individual has a different level of skill at this. Status among these wyvern is
determined by magical ability. Only the most powerful can become the Matriarch.
This isn’t necessarily linear, as a wyvern may be born who is more powerful
than any of the daughters produced by the current Matriarch. Only the most
powerful Matriarch can succeed the High Matriarch of the species.

Breath
weapon: white hot flame

## Poison

The barb at the end of a wyvern’s
tail is covered in small pores that allow the wyvern’s poison to seep through.
If a wyvern manages to cut you with the barb, the poison seeps into your
bloodstream where it will eventually kill you. How long this takes and what
other effects it has leading to death vary among species.

The poison glad is at the base of
the barb. Some species of wyvern have an identical gland in their mouth and can
inject you with poison much the same way a snake does though their hollow upper
fangs.

### Effects

There
is no known physical cure, though powerful healers can neutralize the poison if
it is gotten to in time.

system. 5 minutes later paralysis sets in. Blood begins to clot and the heart
slows down. Death occurs ½ hour after the onset of poisoning from heart
failure. If a healer is gotten to within the first 10 minutes, there is an
 Chume'taly
up to 15 minutes afterwards. Death occurs after ½ hour from respiratory
 Wolflings
question is a healer, but it is otherwise fatal within 20 minutes. They die
 Ryuutenshi
poisoning. Time before full paralysis varies. Fever sets in as their body shuts
down. Death is determined by the dosage of poison. A small dose leads to
 Dragons
dragon to come into contact with wyvern poison is in combat, which occurs up in
the air, this paralysis is fatal as the dragon will plummet to their death.

## Beliefs

Wyvern
all worship the First Mother Atraxia. The 11th day of
Jan’ell/Newgreen is the most celebrated day for Darkriders and wyvern all over
Keverynn.

The Fist Matriarchs are also
revered. Demonsbreath, Nightrunner, Speartail, Stormrunner, and Deathfire.
Feres, or FierceStorm, and her sister Vreshtu, or Stormbringer, are also
revered. In Alastea, Darklight and Mirrorwing are added to that list.

Unlike the dragons, the wyvern are
fully aware that other wyvern exist, but aren’t sure exactly where the gold and
silver wyvern were sent by Atraxia.