Kelara

## Overview

The Kelara (singular: Kelar) are a species of winged canid-like obligate carnivores inhabiting the continent of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ and possibly other parts of the world.

## Physiology

To a lay observer, the Kelara resemble intelligent wolves with wings built into their arms. A bifurcated wrist structure gives them hands with four fingers and a thumb on each and wings with three support struts. Their feet resemble a cross between large furry hands and bird feet, complete with long curved claws akin to eagle talons that can retract. The wings are large thin leather membranes covered in short fuzz akin to bat wings, as befits their status as mammals. Tails sport a similar membrane which fans out into a triangle shape to provide additional lift and control while in flight. Heads have a high forehead to accommodate a brain capable of sapience and they have large pointy ears to for hearing and echolocation.

To adapt to flying, they are very lightweight with an average mass of about 30-40 kilograms which makes them thin when compared to humans or other intelligent species of similar height. Their large lung capacity provides their flight muscles with energy and enables them to avoid hypoxia at high altitudes. They have a faster metabolism than humans and so they must eat more and have a higher body temperature which hampers adaptation to cold weather and climates, even with their fur. A side effect of this is they metabolize alcohol too fast to get drunk (at least not without suffering alcohol poisoning) which is perhaps a blessing in disguise considering the stupendous lethality of flying while drunk.

They have two sexes, with little sexual dimorphism. Females give live birth and while they nurse their young they do not possess prominent breasts like humans do. An outside observer unacquainted with the species may find it hard to determine gender at first glance.

## Flight

Their flight-optimized bodies and wings make them one of the best, if not the best, flying races in the world. Due to their powerful leg muscles, a Kelar can take flight by leaping into the air and flapping their wings provided they are not burdened with too much extra weight. Their large, broad wings and tails give them a low stall speed and high glide ratio, enabling them to make use of soaring to travel long distances without expending a lot of energy. Gaining altitude can be accomplished through flapping for a fast ascent, or by making use of thermals by circling slowly upwards on the rising air. Groups in flight will commonly form a V-shaped skein formation (like some species of bird) to increase efficiency and range. Given a good tailwind and high altitude, they can sleep in flight.

In flight, the roles of object manipulation and tool use are shifted to the feet since their arms and hands are otherwise indisposed. In modern times tools are specially designed for this purpose, such as compasses, altimeters, and weapons. Carrying too much weight will hamper takeoff (requiring a cliff or other long drop to build up speed) and reduce maneuverability due to a shifted center of mass. While parents can carry their young children, adults are too heavy. Perhaps the largest sapient a Kelar could lift safely would be a Panpan, and then only with great difficulty.

While they would prefer to fly in daylight if given the choice, a biological echolocation system enables them to avoid terrain and other obstacles even when flying in complete darkness. Specialized bones in their larynx generate ultrasound waves and pulses which are emitted and allowed to reflect off nearby objects to be received by the ears and the source triangulated. If translated to a human-audible range this call would be intermittent loud screeching pulses with various frequency and amplitude modulations, with repetition rate increasing as the individual homes on a target.

## Behavior and Culture

Kelara flight obviously influences them profoundly; they tend to build tall buildings in high places such as cliffs and mountaintops. Roads are given over to the transportation of goods too heavy to carry.

The Kelara have always relied on their ingenuity to survive and their culture reflects this. Education and curiosity are highly valued, as is intelligence. Most people do not put any stock in astrology, birth signs, divination, or any pseudo-magical craft. Neither patriarchy nor matriarchy predominates (due to their low sexual dimorphism), though most cultures trace descent and inheritance through the mother. Kelara typically marry before having children and stay married for life, barring death or divorce. Overall, their psychology is less tribal than that of humans, i.e. they do not put as much emphasis on ingroup/outgroup designations.

Their clothing does not feature skirts for obvious reasons and shirts are designed like a long thin rectangle with a hole in the center. The head is put through the hole and the fabric positioned over the shoulders and front and back of the body and is secured around the waist with clasps or a belt to leave slits in the sides for the wing membranes.

Their low mass and light bodies make them poor fighters, giving another incentive to establish settlements in locations inaccessible by foot. They never had a strong swordsmithing tradition and equestrianism/cavalry was completely unheard of. In battle they press the advantage of their wings every chance they get, especially effective given most land-dwelling species' tendency to never look up. Warfare for the Kelara is more economic and intellectual than physical, with lords on both sides of a conflict seeking to manipulate and play various parties against each other.

Because of this there are few, if any, examples of Kelara warrior cultures and the concept of honorable fighting is considered absurd--they go to war with the maxim of "If it's fair, you're doing it wrong." No known culture practiced dueling as a method of conflict resolution, with the only exception being single combat between champions from two opposing armies. They don't declare war, they just show up to attack the threat.

When forced to fight or hunt without weapons, they rely primarily on their retractable foot claws. To attack a target they will begin by positioning themselves at a high altitude on a path that passes overhead, then enter a parabolic dive that results in contact with the target at the nadir of their trajectory. They will deliver a flying blow with one or both feet, extending the claws as they make contact and sinking them into a vulnerable part such as the head or neck before releasing and pulling up. This initial strike will mortally wound, if not outright kill, the target if delivered to the right spot. The Kelar will then pull up and use a maneuver such as a wingover to turn back to the target, finishing it off by knocking it to the ground and embedding the claws once again as they land on top of it. The feet and claws are powerful enough to break bones and possess a biological ratchet mechanism to prevent the target from breaking free.

Alternatively, if the target is in close proximity to a cliff or other suitable height, a simple closed-foot flying punch will send it tumbling over to its death. Both maneuvers are highly effective against ground-based infantry.

In modern times, a machine gun held in the feet (commonly called a "footgun") is the favored weapon of soldiers and is used for strafing runs against enemy forces.

## History

The species' tendency to migrate large distances complicates efforts to find the place where they first evolved and results in a wide distribution of fossil remains, often showing tool use and other signs of rudimentary intelligence and culture, with occasional evidence of Kelara predation upon other sapients before behavioral modernity. Many cultures have legends and myths of creatures fitting a vaguely Kelaran description.

In modern times they can be found in many warm and temperate regions of the world and have built themselves an industrial civilization with its nexus in the Crown Lands, their largest and most populous territory. Kelara scholars claim to be the first to have discovered the scientific method, calculus, and germ theory, and their engineering skill in building airships and gliders has few peers.