Indrakai

Disclaimer: Indrakai is a fictional animal from Keenan Taylor's Tales of Kaimere.

## Cladistics

### Description

The Indrakai is a large venomous bird native to Pakardia most notable for their striking plumage that rivals the vibrance of even the Karakai. Indrakai are specialized ambush hunters. Though they hunt a range of prey, from large rodents and lagomorphs up to the occasional black sloth, their favorite prey is the trident deer and red elk. These cervids are extremely common in the forests of Pakardia, feeding on whatever fast-growing leaves and grasses first blossom in the wake of titanosaur gardening. Indrakai will often strike from above, aiming a powerful grasping kick to the lower back then rending the prey with bites to the neck. Indrakai are said to get bored, so will often explore other prey options, but they seem to always come back to deer as a staple.

  Though they cannot fly, indrakai do rely on trees for safety. While they cannot fly, they can rapidly scale tree trunks by flapping and walking with their protractable talons. Their home base is centered around a large roofed nest of woven branches. Like some apes, they weave a temporary nest to spend the night if on the edges of their territory. This skill is crucial for subadults while in their nomad stage before they find a mate and establish a territory of their own, as they might not stay in the same region more than a few nights in a row.

The indrakai is just as intelligent as the karakai, with some even arguing for their status as Sophont given the intricate creations they make from branches. While some think this a simple extension of the nest building instinct, they often serve no purpose and appear to be made out of boredom. The communication between indrakai is quite complex, as indeed it is in all Raptorial Urvogels, but no cohesive language has been recognized. They aren’t nearly as social as karakai, though there is a lot of education that goes into their childhood. Several ambitious falconers have tried to raise and train indrakai, but like jackalbirds, they are easily bored and their size and power means their destructive retaliations can easily result in injury and death to people nearby. Taking indrakai eggs and chicks is strictly taboo, likely to prevent such tragic situations from occurring.

  The chilling howl of an indrakai is quite similar to that of a loon, though a deeper tone. Though they aren’t overtly social, these calls can carry far beyond their territories. While some consider it to be a territorial marker, they will sometimes travel toward the calls or aid when certain calls are made. Some naturalists have suggested this call, which carries especially far in the region of the great lakes, is evidence for a social network of sorts. They may not spend much time with others of their kind, but adults have been spotted living and even hunting in groups, so perhaps they are more social than usually assumed.

Indrakai's Death StareAn Indrakai hunting its preferred cervid preyIndrakai nesting with chicksIndrakai Foot Study
### Habitat

Highlands of Pakardia. While indrakai are not commonly encountered in the densely settled lowlands, and almost entirely absent from the island’s arid southern coast, they are the most abundant large predator in the highlands of Pakardia. Oritaku are the top predator, but they tend to prefer much larger game than indrakai seek out. Red panthers sometimes overlap in niche and prey, though these big cats prefer to stick to the wetlands. Leopards are a problem, as they directly compete for the same prey and territory, though leopards are much more common in the settled lowlands and seem to be rare in the highlands due to competitive pressures from indrakai. Wolves aren’t common in indrakai territory, as they are only abundant in the open arid terrain.

### Phylogeny

The Indrakai is a species of Firebird, a clade unique to Kaimere of as of now debated origins, within this clade the Indrakai is a Raptorial Urvogel in the genus Archedolorakos. Only one species of *Archedolorakos* lives in modern Pakardia: the indrakai. These were originally a smaller species in the highlands, but over the past million years they have doubled in size, now standing nearly a meter at the hips and weighing between a hundred fifty and two hundred pounds. While they look quite similar to the wild morph of karakai compared to jackalbirds, leading to old classifications having these two as sister taxa, it seems this red and gold with dark spots and pale underparts is simply the basal coloration of Raptorial Urvogels, and the two aren’t particularly close relatives.

### Human Relations

Indrakai is one of the most infamous tricksters in Pakardiant Folklore, often paired up against other beings in a battle of wits with the most infamous of the Indrakai's adversaries being the Weochetu'ka. A naturalist might consider the leopard to be indrakai’s rival, but in Pakardiant folklore, their great foe is the weochetu’ka. These armored ceratosaurs mostly hunt sloths and thescelosaurs, not directly competing with indrakai for deer, yet the two do seem to have an on-sight opinion of each other. From a cultural perspective, the rivalry makes literary sense: indrakai are fast, agile, clever, and arboreal. Weochetu’ka are powerful, clumsy, dull, and incapable of climbing. Indrakai will dance around them, and they can kill the larger theropod if they position their claws or bite properly, but the ceratosaur is much better built for a brawl. Their prey are slow, powerful digging animals, and they are used to being battered with much mightier claws than the firebird has at their disposal. According to legend, the weochetu’ka once had the strongest arms of any beast. The arms were taken due to losing a test of strength to Indrakai, and the arm strength was given to mankind so archers could shoot bows. It is why weocketu’ka rip off human arms before swallowing whole. The truth is our broad shoulders prevent them from swallowing, but the dramatic and brutal preparation coupled with their lack of arms, which is an adaptation for chasing burrowing prey, certainly warrants an equally dramatic mythical origin.

Tales of the TricksterKodrakaiPakardiant Rivals Indrakai and Weochetu'ka
### Book Appearances

* Trickster's Gambit
* Koban's Menagerie
* When Sea Meets Shore

### Redesigns

The Indrakai had one major redesign, and over time has had minor tweaks. The Indrakai was originally depicted as a dromeosaur.

One of the first Indrakai designsAnother early iteration of Indrakai