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Evander Pelagius Blackfeather II

Started by Klezmer Gryphon, March 29, 2014, 02:02:36 PM

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Klezmer Gryphon

__________________QUICK STATS
Name Evander Pelagius Blackfeather II
Age Thirty seasons (young adult, roughly)
Gender Male
Species Gryphon
Occupation Trader/Merchant
Residence Essyrn

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description:
Evander is a bit on the small side for a gryphon; if one were to measure him, they would see that he only comes up to 2 feet, 9 inches (84 centimeters) at the withers. His build is on the slender side, having more lean, toned muscle than bulk or fat. Combined with his short stature, this makes his wingspan of 10 feet (3.05 meters) look large for a creature his size. Were he to lay flat on the ground, his total body length from the end of his beak to the tip of his tail would be about 7 feet, 3 inches (2.21 meters), 30 inches of which are made up of his tail.

Like most gryphons, Evander has the body of a big cat, and the head, wings and talons of a bird of prey, in his case a falcon or hawk; his ears resemble those of a horse or ass. The feathers on his head and neck are mahogany brown, which fade to creamy beige the closer one gets to his belly, standing in contrast with the greyish-brown fur of his hind quarters which resemble those of a small panther or puma. On his wings, his marginal, secondary and primary coverts are a chestnut brown, gunmetal and ashen grey, respectively, while his tertials, secondaries and primaries go from dark grey to gun metal to almost pitch black, respectively. On tail feather, the upper tail coverts share the same hue as his hind quarters, while his under-tail coverts are beige; his deck feathers share the same color as the primaries on his wings. Under his tail feathers runs a long tail that ends in a small tuft of black fur. The gryphon's beak and talons are an inky grey hue, and his eyes are like a pair of shining rubies. Additionally, Evander wears a necklace of bones adorned by the rib bones and skull of a small mammal, likely an ermine or ferret.

Personality:

Evander can be easily described as a creative eccentric; his mind is constantly bouncing with ideas and solutions to various problems. Patterns and various discrepancies intrigue him greatly; "Why is it that way?" or "What happens when this changes?" are things the gryphon often thinks about when pondering a mystery. He can come across as shy and withdrawn; it's hard for him to express his feelings to relative strangers, and thus makes it hard to find friends in many circumstances, which, combined with his generally quiet nature in public, can lead others to think of him as antisocial. Evander is also rather self-conscious and can sometimes take criticisms of his ideas personally if one is not careful with how they word them. Behind his reserved, sensitive mask, though, Evander is a kind and overall optimistic person who cares deeply for his small social circles. He can be a good shoulder to lean on and an open ear when needed, but providing too much emotional support can leave him feeling drained and reclusive.


Species Abilities:
Gryphon physiology -
Being a gryphon, Evander has many differences when compared to humans when it comes to physiology. The obvious bit of him being a feathered quadrupedal being with wings aside, perks of being a gryphon include:

  • Flight - What use would a gryphon's wings be if he couldn't use them? Needless to say, Evander can fly with them, but, unlike more mundane avians, he cannot fly for extended periods of time without needing to stop and rest due to his size. Flight duration, without the extra burden of carrying a passenger, is about two to three hours. With a person, it's about 40 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on the weight of the person in question. His max flight speed while gliding is about 68 mph (110 km/h), while max speed while diving is about 150 mph (241 km/h).
  • Heightened Senses - Being descended from a species of apex predators has its advantages, namely a heightened sense of eyesight and hearing. With his superior eyesight, Evander has 20/5 eyesight, meaning he can see something in the same level of detail at twenty feet as someone who might be standing five feet away. Evander's hearing is also superb; he can quite literally hear a pin drop from the other side of a room if it were silent.
  • Increased Physical Strength - Another advantage of being a gryphon is a greater physical strength than that of an average human. For a metric of how strong he is naturally, he can easily lift and carry the average 16-year-old teenage human in flight (at the cost of a shorter flight duration), although much more than 150 lbs. (approx. 75 kgs) and he starts to struggle with the additional weight.
That being said, there are also some downsides to being a gryphon as well, namely

  • Hollow Bones - Hollow bones are wonderful things for any avian creature that actually wants to fly. That being said, the downside to having hollow bones is that they are easier to break and fracture than those of more sturdy organisms. If he were to fly into a closed set of shutters at normal flight speeds, chances are he'd have some broken bones when he hit the ground.
  • Sensitive Hearing - Sensitive hearing is both a blessing and curse for Evander; on one hand, he can hear all the latest gossip from across the room without having to interact with people. On the other, loud noises affect him more severely, leading to headaches, and high, shrill noises cause acute, sharp pain for their duration (i.e. no dog whistles around him).
  • Particular Diet - It should come as no surprise that Evander, as a gryphon, has a different diet than most of his friends. Meats such as beef, rabbit, venison and various species of fish are all okay in his book, generally eaten raw (or rare, in polite company). While his digestive system can tolerate fruit and stalky vegetables such as broccoli and asparagus, he frowns upon leafy greens like cabbage and lettuce. Starchy foods such as bread, potatoes and corn are a no-go, as are most dairy products, as he lacks the ability to produce the enzymes necessary to break down the sugar lactose.
Magical Abilities
None that he knows of at present.

Relationships
The Pelagius Family – Evander's foster family back up in Adela; he writes back to them from time to time.

History
In order to understand Evander a bit better, one must first take a look at the gryphon's history. Evander's story begins in a small gryphon clan living on some islands just a few miles off the coast of Adela, where he hatched from an egg as a runt, a small thing for the ancestry running through his veins. Named Blackfeather II for his dark-colored wings and in honor his still living grandfather, a regal and hulking mountain of a gryphon, the hope from his parents was that the fledgling's status as a runt was only a temporary inconvenience. However, within five or six seasons of his hatching, it was evident that the younger Blackfeather was going to be a burden to the clan; he was too small to fight, too weak to hunt and fish the sharks the clan normally preyed upon and was overall a distraction for the larger fledglings. A majority consensus among the clan elders was reached that he would have to go, and in his eighth season of life just before he was to learn to fly properly, one of the clan hunters took the small fledgling in the middle of the night and tossed him over the edge of the cliff the clan aerie sat on, down into the rolling seas below.

Expectations, however, are often not met, and in this case, it was fortunate that the younger Blackfeather did not meet his end pasted to a rock on the sea floor. The sea currents instead carried him to shore on the mainland, depositing him on a beach next to a small fishing village in the early hours of the morning. As the sun rose, a fisherman by the name of John Pelagius came across the water-logged fledgling as he was getting his boat ready for the day. Curious, the man walked over and examined his feathered find a little closer; limp and lifeless, it seemed. Then, to his surprise and bewilderment, the gryphon started coughing up water with an equally bewildered look in his eyes. Pelagius, a simple and kind man, wrapped the small thing in the cloak he was wearing that day and carried him back up to the house. Over the next few days that followed, the fisherman spent a good deal of time tending to and establishing communication with his unexpected guest, who, once more to his surprise, picked up Common relatively quickly. It wasn't much at first, but it was enough for them to understand each other and hold basic conversations.

With nowhere else to go, the young Blackfeather stuck around with John for several seasons, helping the fisherman with simple tasks around town and becoming a bit of a fixture among the townsfolk. During this period, the gryphon learned much about trade and barter from working the fisherman's market stand; most notably, after starting lessons in reading and speaking Common from the local priest, he showed a fascination in far away places and travel after reading accounts of foreign lands. It was also in this time that Pelagius and Blackfeather's relationship took a more parental turn; in his twelfth season, a full year after he had been found on the beach, John Pelagius officially adopted the gryphon into his small family and, as per local tradition, gave him a new name that incorporated the old one; Evander Pelagius Blackfeather II.

Shortly thereafter, Evander, as he then preferred to be called, began his days of travelling away from home, joining a caravan of traders bound south for Essyrn just for the thrill of seeing a new place. While serving no official role with the traders, the company was more than happy to allow the youngster along for the trip, figuring he'd at least be interesting enough to attract more business towards their market stands... And they were not wrong. After taking in all the sights and sounds of the bustling desert city upon arrival, the young gryphon quickly showed an aptitude for trade and barter despite his outwardly reserved and shy personality, as well as language acquisition; within two months of arrival, he was speaking Essyrni well enough to carry on extensive business deals in the native language of the local merchant princes; by the time they had returned to Adela at the end of the season, the head of the caravan was eyeing the young gryphon for an official position with his group of traders, a position the feathered youngster readily accepted with his foster father's permission. From his fourteenth season on to his twentieth, Evander traveled regularly between Essyrn and Adela on the trade routes between them, getting to know the locals well enough to where he was eventually stationed down in Essyrn by the leader of the caravan company to operate the local branch in the markets, a position he holds to this day.


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