Magical Creatures
Gryphons:
○ Appearance: Large predators that are half-eagle (with talons as forelegs and feathered wings) and half-lion.
○ Intelligence: Fully sapient with the ability to speak human languages. They tend to be a touch arrogant when dealing with humans, but are always polite – and if you impress them, they can be quite friendly.
○ Diet: Fish (some particularly old and tough ones can even take down sharks) and large game.
○ Reproduction: Gryphons lay eggs. Baby gryphons look like a combination of the babies of eagles and lions, naturally – they molt and shed into their adult plumage by the time they’re of a year of age.
○ Relationship With Humans: Most gryphons don’t bother with humans, seeing them just as rather weak fellow predators. Those who have been duly impressed with the race can be “hired” (via promises of food/good hunting grounds) to guard things, and those with a close friendship can even bum the occasional ride.
Unicorns:
○ Appearance: A horned horse with a long tail and mane, although specific colors depends on the species:
- Light unicorns are white, with golden horns and hooves and dark-colored eyes.
- Shadow unicorns are dark grey with black horns and hooves and light-colored eyes.
○ Intelligence: Unable to speak, but able to understand most things said to them and to follow instructions (should they feel like it).
○ Diet: Grass and other greenery.
○ Reproduction: Unicorns give live birth just like regular horses. Baby unicorns have rounded horns covered with a kind of felt, sort of like reindeer antlers. This felt is shed as the horn grows to its full length – rubbing the horn on things helps remove the felt and sharpen the horn.
○ Relationship With Humans:
- Light unicorns are notoriously vicious to anyone except maidens that they deem “pure” (usually virgins). They will not hesitate to attack “trespassers” and are generally unfit to tame unless you are a “pure” maiden – and even then, they’re really only good as overprotective bodyguards.
- Shadow unicorns are much friendlier creatures, generally approaching others in a inquisitive fashion and even leading lost travelers through their territory. They’re much easier to tame and make excellent steeds.
Merpeople:
○ Appearance: Large creatures that are half-human, half-fish. The upper half is human in appearance with greenish-blue skin in a variety of shades; the lower half is a horizontally-oriented fish-like tail in any number of colors and patterns. They have gills for breathing below water and lungs for breathing above water.
○ Intelligence: Fully sapient with the ability to speak human languages. They also all know a certain shapeshifting spell specific to merpeople that allows them to temporarily transform their tail into human legs.
○ Diet: Fish, seaweed, kelp, and small marine mammals, depending on area lived in.
○ Reproduction: Female merpeople lay large fish-like eggs, which are externally fertilized by the male merperson. These eggs hatch baby mer-people which resemble human toddlers in their human half. They’re able to swim and find food from birth, but still require care from their parents. Merpeople are almost always born as a set of three or more – single eggs are very rare.
○ Relationship With Humans: Most avoid humans, wishing only to be left alone. How malicious or friendly they are should they meet a human depends solely on the personality of the merperson in question – you have the same chance of meeting a helpful or harmful one as you do ordinary humans. Some do form friendly or even romantic bonds with humans, although any merperson who marries a human will not be able to have children with said human (they’re sterile in human form).
Phoenixes:
○ Appearance: A large, long-necked, long-tailed bird (think a swan with a longer-than-normal tail) made entirely of magical red and yellow fire. (Males have blue edging to their wings.)
○ Intelligence: Unable to speak, but able to understand most things said to them and follow instructions (if they so feel like it). They also have the ability to magically control their fire – it only burns what and who they want it to burn.
○ Diet: Seeds, berries, and small reptiles and mammals.
○ Reproduction: Phoenixes lay one or two eggs at a time, which hatch out tiny, self-sufficient firebirds. Phoenixes also have the ability to consume themselves in their own flames and rebirth themselves as youngsters, for a total of nine regenerations.
○ Relationship With Humans: Phoenixes tend to live in reclusive spots and thus don’t interact much with humans. They’re surprisingly affectionate when they do meet them, however, and enjoy playing with children. Friendly humans can receive gifts of shiny objects and shed feathers – nasty ones will discover why phoenixes have no natural predators. Phoenix feathers are an important component in one of the most powerful spells that allow casters to cross the veil between life and death.
Dragons:
○ Appearance: Large reptilian creature with a longish neck, bat-like wings, and a long tail. They come in two varieties:
- Garden dragons (also known as dragonets) grow to about three feet long, come in solid colors, and have forked tails. They are also unable to breathe fire.
- Full dragons (also known as true dragons) grow to about fifty feet long, come in metallic colors, and have spade-tipped tails. They can breathe fire.
○ Intelligence:
- Garden dragons are about as intelligent as particularly smart dogs – they can learn a few commands and understand tones of voices. They can also instinctively use camouflage and invisibility magic.
- Full dragons are fully sapient and capable of speaking human languages. They can also use magical spells, and are able to permanently enchant living beings, a feat humans are unable to pull off.
○ Diet:
- Garden dragons eat small mammals, small reptiles, fish, and shellfish.
- Full dragons eat large game, fish, and marine mammals.
○ Reproduction: Both species lay pewter-colored eggs. Baby dragons of both kinds are born almost fully self-sufficient, though true dragons mother their young for about two years to pass on knowledge and survival skills.
○ Relationship With Humans:
- Garden dragons are usually very friendly (except during mating season, where they become somewhat more territorial) and can be tamed pretty easily. Some human casters like to keep them as pets.
- Full dragons generally leave humanity alone, preferring their privacy. They do respond well to gifts of food or shiny things (a holdover from before they separated as a species from the garden dragon), and they can become friends with people who show them the proper respect. Like gryphons, they can be hired to protect things, and will give rides to humans they’re particularly fond of.
○ Appearance: Large predators that are half-eagle (with talons as forelegs and feathered wings) and half-lion.
○ Intelligence: Fully sapient with the ability to speak human languages. They tend to be a touch arrogant when dealing with humans, but are always polite – and if you impress them, they can be quite friendly.
○ Diet: Fish (some particularly old and tough ones can even take down sharks) and large game.
○ Reproduction: Gryphons lay eggs. Baby gryphons look like a combination of the babies of eagles and lions, naturally – they molt and shed into their adult plumage by the time they’re of a year of age.
○ Relationship With Humans: Most gryphons don’t bother with humans, seeing them just as rather weak fellow predators. Those who have been duly impressed with the race can be “hired” (via promises of food/good hunting grounds) to guard things, and those with a close friendship can even bum the occasional ride.
Unicorns:
○ Appearance: A horned horse with a long tail and mane, although specific colors depends on the species:
- Light unicorns are white, with golden horns and hooves and dark-colored eyes.
- Shadow unicorns are dark grey with black horns and hooves and light-colored eyes.
○ Intelligence: Unable to speak, but able to understand most things said to them and to follow instructions (should they feel like it).
○ Diet: Grass and other greenery.
○ Reproduction: Unicorns give live birth just like regular horses. Baby unicorns have rounded horns covered with a kind of felt, sort of like reindeer antlers. This felt is shed as the horn grows to its full length – rubbing the horn on things helps remove the felt and sharpen the horn.
○ Relationship With Humans:
- Light unicorns are notoriously vicious to anyone except maidens that they deem “pure” (usually virgins). They will not hesitate to attack “trespassers” and are generally unfit to tame unless you are a “pure” maiden – and even then, they’re really only good as overprotective bodyguards.
- Shadow unicorns are much friendlier creatures, generally approaching others in a inquisitive fashion and even leading lost travelers through their territory. They’re much easier to tame and make excellent steeds.
Merpeople:
○ Appearance: Large creatures that are half-human, half-fish. The upper half is human in appearance with greenish-blue skin in a variety of shades; the lower half is a horizontally-oriented fish-like tail in any number of colors and patterns. They have gills for breathing below water and lungs for breathing above water.
○ Intelligence: Fully sapient with the ability to speak human languages. They also all know a certain shapeshifting spell specific to merpeople that allows them to temporarily transform their tail into human legs.
○ Diet: Fish, seaweed, kelp, and small marine mammals, depending on area lived in.
○ Reproduction: Female merpeople lay large fish-like eggs, which are externally fertilized by the male merperson. These eggs hatch baby mer-people which resemble human toddlers in their human half. They’re able to swim and find food from birth, but still require care from their parents. Merpeople are almost always born as a set of three or more – single eggs are very rare.
○ Relationship With Humans: Most avoid humans, wishing only to be left alone. How malicious or friendly they are should they meet a human depends solely on the personality of the merperson in question – you have the same chance of meeting a helpful or harmful one as you do ordinary humans. Some do form friendly or even romantic bonds with humans, although any merperson who marries a human will not be able to have children with said human (they’re sterile in human form).
Phoenixes:
○ Appearance: A large, long-necked, long-tailed bird (think a swan with a longer-than-normal tail) made entirely of magical red and yellow fire. (Males have blue edging to their wings.)
○ Intelligence: Unable to speak, but able to understand most things said to them and follow instructions (if they so feel like it). They also have the ability to magically control their fire – it only burns what and who they want it to burn.
○ Diet: Seeds, berries, and small reptiles and mammals.
○ Reproduction: Phoenixes lay one or two eggs at a time, which hatch out tiny, self-sufficient firebirds. Phoenixes also have the ability to consume themselves in their own flames and rebirth themselves as youngsters, for a total of nine regenerations.
○ Relationship With Humans: Phoenixes tend to live in reclusive spots and thus don’t interact much with humans. They’re surprisingly affectionate when they do meet them, however, and enjoy playing with children. Friendly humans can receive gifts of shiny objects and shed feathers – nasty ones will discover why phoenixes have no natural predators. Phoenix feathers are an important component in one of the most powerful spells that allow casters to cross the veil between life and death.
Dragons:
○ Appearance: Large reptilian creature with a longish neck, bat-like wings, and a long tail. They come in two varieties:
- Garden dragons (also known as dragonets) grow to about three feet long, come in solid colors, and have forked tails. They are also unable to breathe fire.
- Full dragons (also known as true dragons) grow to about fifty feet long, come in metallic colors, and have spade-tipped tails. They can breathe fire.
○ Intelligence:
- Garden dragons are about as intelligent as particularly smart dogs – they can learn a few commands and understand tones of voices. They can also instinctively use camouflage and invisibility magic.
- Full dragons are fully sapient and capable of speaking human languages. They can also use magical spells, and are able to permanently enchant living beings, a feat humans are unable to pull off.
○ Diet:
- Garden dragons eat small mammals, small reptiles, fish, and shellfish.
- Full dragons eat large game, fish, and marine mammals.
○ Reproduction: Both species lay pewter-colored eggs. Baby dragons of both kinds are born almost fully self-sufficient, though true dragons mother their young for about two years to pass on knowledge and survival skills.
○ Relationship With Humans:
- Garden dragons are usually very friendly (except during mating season, where they become somewhat more territorial) and can be tamed pretty easily. Some human casters like to keep them as pets.
- Full dragons generally leave humanity alone, preferring their privacy. They do respond well to gifts of food or shiny things (a holdover from before they separated as a species from the garden dragon), and they can become friends with people who show them the proper respect. Like gryphons, they can be hired to protect things, and will give rides to humans they’re particularly fond of.