Lycan Heacock, Player Contributor
-What are wyverns?
Wyverns are very large lizard-like creatures about the size of a one story house that possess two legs, two large wings, and a powerful tail. They typically use their jaws and tail as weapons in ground combat and their tail and claws for aerial combat. Their tail also possesses spines that carry a very potent venom that burns through its victim’s bloodstream, disintegrating veins and arteries on its way to the heart.
Sketch for reference. Each square is five feet.
-Male vs. Female
- Males:
Male wyverns are called bulls, or sires if they’re a breeding male. They’re notably differentiable by the longer horns, spikes and/or fins.
- Females:
Female wyverns are called queens. Their horns/ spikes/ fins tend to be a bit smaller than males, but they usually have brighter coloration to their scales around the fall and spring times.
-Life of a wyvern
A wyvern’s life starts out as an egg in the nest that a queen has created. Each nest will house about 5-7 eggs. Once they hatch, these hatchlings primarily stay in/ around the nest for the first year of their life since they are not yet able to fly. Once they reach about a year of age, they’re called yearlings. Yearlings are roughly the size of a grizzly bear, if not a little bigger, and around this time is when they begin to learn how to fly, develop their venomous spines, and grow their horns. They continue to grow until about five years of age when they reach adulthood and sexual maturity.
Around the fall time of their fifth year is when bulls begin offering gifts to the queens they’ve taken an interest in. Oftentimes this will lead to fighting amongst the bulls trying to gain her attention, but the decision is left to the queen about who she will choose. Though there are plenty of times where the queen will ignore the bulls all together and either not take a mate, or will even go find another queen pair with. And not all bulls appear to be interested in breeding either. Some will pair with a queen but they never make a nest or lay any eggs, some will find other bulls to pair with, and some never take interest in the ritual at all.
-The 4 types of wyverns
Just like with other creatures, the environment a creature resides in can alter its biology to be better suited for that space. Creatures will often develop unique characteristics that become adaptable to both their environment and the kinds of struggles they have to face. There are a few different ways the wyverns show this intriguing development.
- Pyrewhip-
Pyrewhip are easily distinguishable by the large spines and horns that help both their attack and natural defense. Everything about them is powerful, from their jaws to their claws to their tails. Their tails are something you need to be especially wary of, since piercing with longer spines means that they are able to poison their victim much deeper into its body. They have a more fiery personality than the others, kind of in a shoot first ask questions later type of manner. And the color of their scales only adds to the fact with bright colors swirling throughout their hides. But just because they have eye-catching colors doesn’t mean that they can’t sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
- Terrabreaker-
Typically residing within the mountains, these defense type wyverns have developed a thick, muted, rock-like hide that is useful both for camouflage and as a means of defense against other wyverns. If it’s harder for their opponent to pierce their skin, the less damage they will cause. And with the extra defense they have, they have less need for the defensive spines that other wyverns possess. However, due to their thicker skin they do tend to move a bit slower than the others as well. These wyverns also possess a large, spiked club-like tail that can deal a lot of blunt force trauma to their victim.
- Skystrike-
Though they are a bit smaller and not quite as powerful when it comes to attack or defense, with their abnormally large wings and extra fins along their tails for more accurate air current control they are masters of the sky and can dodge through tight areas with ease. When it comes to their color patterns, they possess a variety of colors ranging from bright blue like the daytime sky to black as the midnight depending on what times of day they are most active. A lot of the time it helps serve as a sort of camouflage.
- Coastglider-
These water based wyverns vastly differ from the ones that live further in the mountains. Instead of spines, they utilize fins and webbed claws to help them traverse underneath the water, where they do most of their hunting, with ease. Though they do spend a decent amount of time in the mountains and forests, the majority of their time is spent by the water; even going as far as to make their nests in coastal caverns. They also tend to have more of a blue-green color pattern to their hides which helps them blend into the ocean waters and their scales are a lot tighter-knit and smoother to help with easy gliding and keeping them warm.
-Body language
Their body language could be an important thing to know if you ever come across one of these large beasts. It can pretty much be boiled down into two groups: Docile and Aggressive.
- Docile-
Docile behavior is oftentimes very similar to that of birds or even cats. It consists of simple things such as twitching their tails, bobbing their heads, lightly flapping their wings, the occasional head tilt, and little growls or chirps.
- Aggressive-
An aggressive wyvern will try to make itself as big and intimidating as possible. This often includes flaring their wings out, keeping their head low, and poising their tails in a threatening manner, very similar to scorpions, and they will hiss and growl as they try to fight for dominance.
-Hunting Habits and Diet
Most of their hunting comes in aerial attacks; often dive bombing their prey and picking them up in their claws, then either finishing them off in the air or dropping them from hundreds of feet up. They try their best not to hunt on the ground if they’re able to help it, but when they need to they can be quite strategic; often moving into the path that its prey is traveling and lying in wait until they draw close enough for them to snatch it up.
Their diet consists mostly of what you would expect. Those that live in the mountains typically prey on the vast variety of land animals while those that reside by the ocean typically prey on fish and other sea creatures. As long as they don’t get into any fights and have access to plenty of water, they can go a couple weeks without food, and they tend to eat up to a fourth of their body weight.
-Nests
They tend to craft their nests on large flat surfaces amongst the cliffs or in caves if they’re able to find ones, often crafting them using stones, bits of vegetation, and even the skins and furs from their meals. The higher up the better, as it keeps the babies away from other predators. While unlikely, if you ever come across a wyvern nest it is best that you leave immediately. The queen is likely not far from that location and will become very aggressive if they find intruders in their home.