Vishkalai

### Notable features

Flightless, snouted avians. May have been capable of flight in earlier development.

The Vishkalai are a sapient species of bipedal avians originating from the stormy world of Razzan, in the Coldrosiran cluster. Adapted to swift sprints, and potentially even gliding, between the thick trees of their homeworld, the Vishkalai are adept hunters- and while a given individual may not be particularly exceptional compared to other documented species, they more than make up for it with extreme social cohesion.

## Biology

At immediate observation, the Vishkalai have been compared to being a blend of the reptilian Fil-Ais Magdorans and their Avis cousins, with a primarily reptilian physique- including a lengthy, albeit not prehensile tail, but covered in a thick coat of non-flight feathers, and bearing a number of primarily avian traits, such as raptorial eyes and prominent claws. This does not extend to their snout, which remains fleshy and toothed like their pure reptilian counterparts.

The Vishkalai are adapted to live in almost excessively wet environments, without being an outright aquatic species- their feather coating helps maintain an internal temperature above 20 degrees, while their tail excels at maintaining balance at speed over unstable and muddy terrain. The Vishkalai prefer solid terrain however, where they are able to reach unassisted speeds nearing 30km/h at their absolute peak.

The Ishkalai are oviparous like both of their Magdoran comparisons, with small clusters of eggs being gestated and externally incubated within a single pregnancy cycle. While these eggs are relatively small compared to that of their parents, hatched young will rapidly increase in size during the first few months outside of their eggshell.

## Social Mannerisms

The Ishkalai are an extremely social breed, and are instinctively driven to organize themselves into a "pack" of some description, who will, in Ishkalai societies, structure itself around equal support of all of its members, at times even outright seeking new members in order to fill any gaps in their capabilities. As such, Ishkalai packs are extremely egalitarian, and will often take particular care to tend to the needs of lesser-abled members of a pack- even encouraging them to find better duties as much as they are able to. The same applies to their younger members, who outside of communal education and a number of years of mandatory hunting duty prior to reaching adulthood are actively encouraged to seek out the tasks they are best at, and to practice those skills in the name of better supporting their pack.

These packs are, however, extremely defensive about their chosen "territory"- an unwanted individual sees little but extreme aggression from the entirety of the pack they intrude upon, and this issue is only exacerbated as larger "packs" are brought into consideration, such as regional and planetary coalitions. It is for this reason that a number of the conflicts in recorded Vishkalai history, including the Magdoran-Grakatet First Contact War, were triggered by territorial disputes and incursions.

Vishkalai packs take over for many of the duties an individual may have in other recorded societies, including everything from cleaning and maintenance to resource gathering and tending to the sick, young and needy. An individual will still have many purely personal things, like nesting space, belongings, lovers and ambitions, but have far few reservations about sharing even personal matters with members of their pack. The only particular items or considerations rarely shared by an individual are those related to an individual and exceptional accomplishment; Their existence is still considered an indicator of a pack's quality, but the trophies never leave the claws of the one that earned them until their death.

### Packs in an Interstellar Society

As the scope of Ishkalai societies continuously grew over the centuries, change was necessitated in the concept of what a "pack" was. At an individual level, the core collective of at most 20 members saw little change over that time- but the acceptable goals of each collective did. As these collectives bonded together into towns and cities, individual "super-packs" would begin specializing in manners similar to the individuals within them, and movement between smaller packs became less stigmatized. Cities would begin to grow more centralized as society developed further, resulting in the eventual establishment of leadership councils and eventually militaries- and when these cities grew their reach across entire continental regions, these same processes would only begin again.

This pattern would continue indefinitely, with larger "packs" being made out of necessity when any given super-pack reached a size deemed too significant.

Despite the overall unity provided by these super-packs, smaller packs retained a large deal of individuality, even well into the interstellar ages. Though conflict was inevitable, much of it was avoided by mediation from super-packs, and these same super-packs were responsible for distributing resources between their subservient packs.