Species Information

Growth

Windskrae, as all other birds, are hatched from eggs. These eggs are often in the dominant colour of the adult bird. However, the hatchling is almost always a dull grey. After fledging, they appear to humans as familiar birds, perhaps a barn owl, or a whooping crane. This is to keep the younger birds safe, and to allow them to observe the humans and find a suitable bond. Then, on the night of a full moon, when they are reading to bond, they molt their feathers and display their true colour and form.

Bonds

More often than not, it is the Windskrae that finds the human, and not the other way around. The bond permits the Windskrae to communicate telepathically with its human, though some Windskrae are capable of communicating with all humans. A few are excellent mimics and may even be capable of audible speech. The bond is not necessarily permanent. The Windskrae is capable of closing its mind to the human it had chose, and finding another. This it may do if it feels abandonned or neglected, or even abused. Some are so scarred from this experience that they do not bond again, others will keep trying.

Races

The Windskrae are divided amongst several races, each with its own characteristics and powers. For example, a hawk-like Windskrae can almost always be recognized as a Wind Hunter, and owl-like one as a Wind Messenger. New bloodlines appear all the time as the different races mix and breed, the offspring taking a little of each parent and mixing it with a little of its own.

Powers

In addition to the powers inherent in their own race, each individual tends to exhibit one or two, though never more, of these useful talents:

create a ball of light
heal simple wounds (cuts, bruises)
be of beautiful voice and song
short distance teleportation (ex: from one room of a house to another, but not to another house)

Habitat

Windskrae can exist in all kinds of regions from mountain heights to valley depths, from sunlit lakes to darkened caves. Keep in mind some regions are very inhospitable, and that the Windskrae's magic talent must be what permits them to survive those harsher places. Some may even be capable of living beneath the sea, within an active volcano or on an airless moon.

Breeding

Windskrae mate for life. This makes things complicated if their mate is bonded to another human than themselves. In general, it keeps life simpler to select another Windskrae sharing the same human bond. This is not always possible, and love is a fickle thing, but then the bonds are usually close friends, or at the very least, they live within a reasonable distance to each other. Those Windskrae that can teleport obviously don't care for the distance.

Note that even if a Windskrae breaks away from his bond, he/she will not break away from his/her mate. Make sure to choose wisely. Mates will be listed on the bonds list.

Mutations And Elementals

It is hard to imagine what could be considered a mutation when the norm itself is so very varied. Some special Windskrae may be elementals, also known as deities. They will have more accessories and will probably be computer coloured. They will also be very rare.

Windlets

In a nutshell, Windlets are the dumb cousins of the Windskrae (though the Windskrae vehemently deny any relationship to their less intelligent cousins), so dumb that most non-magical birds have a higher IQ. So they are pretty much useless for anything except for the silly, cheerful company they keep. They can't speak, be trained, or even fend for themselves. At the same time have a tendency of wandering off on their own an getting lost. They do not form bonds, like the Windskrae, rather those in possession of a Windlet is the Windlet's owner. Windlets are hyper, flighty creatures. Cute but dumb as a rock.

Breeding Windlets is also quite the adventure. They almost never breed when you want them too. They don't take permanent mates, on the contrary, sometimes its impossible to know who the father was. And any owner bringing a Windlet to the Orchard Messagepost when other Windlets are around has a chance of discovering a little nest of eggs when they get home. Sometimes you don't even need to take your Windlet with you, they sneak out and follow you to the Orchard without you ever knowing it. But don't worry, if you feel you can't deal with more of these little twits than you already have, the Realm of Myth and Fantasy will find homes for them for you ^_^

It is not even possible to keep all male Windlets in one place and all females in another. It is notoriously difficult to detect their genders! The Realm does its best to give accurate records to owners, but sometimes we're wrong and the result only proven after a breeding has occured. However, what with the difficulty in keeping track of parentage, one doesn't need to worry about inbreeding...the magic of the Realm ensures nothing too weird occurs (and its not like they could get any dumber than they are), though there may be sterile Windlets produced under such conditions.

The Others Species

The Windskrae are one of four sibling species, with the Windskrae representing Air. The other three remain yet unknown to the human eye, but perhaps one day they may join their counterpart, open their hearts, and bond with a human soul.

NOTE: This background was created by me using a Roger Tory Peterson graphic and a tiled background I found on the web. If you wish to use this set, please ask my permission first.