Gy'waka Bird
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The Gy'waka Bird is a large bird found in Anthos, specifically on the island of the Kharajyr. Although a fierce foe when angered, the birds have been used as companions and mounts by the Kharajyr. The Gy'waka stands upright at about 11 feet tall. It has a shockingly large beak and a pair of firm, strong legs at it's rear. Each Gy'waka bird has dull, grey coloured wings with a beautiful red stripe down their backs. Their chests are very lightly feathered and their skin can be seen clearly through it, their legs however, have no feathers at all. The males and females are very similar in almost every way, however there is one key difference that will allow you to tell them apart almost instantly. The males have a large cluster of red feathers sticking out the back of their head, while the females have nothing there at all.
Origins
Upon arriving at their island, it didn't take long for the Kharajyr to discover the marvelous beasts that they named the Gy'waka, which loosely translates into 'wings of our Goddess'. The Kharajyr believed that finding these creatures was a blessing from their Goddess Metztli herself, and that they should respect her gift and make good use of it. As they first approached the Gy'waka birds, they did so with caution. The Gy'waka fled away from the strange creatures, hiding themselves in the opposite corner of the island as they began to work out what to do.
The Kharajyr approached them with offerings of both fruit and meat, laying them down in the jungle floor and then retreating to observe them from a distance. Much to their surprise, the birds consumed every last crumb of meat, yet didn't touch the fruit at all. After a few more of these visits, the Gy'waka began to accept the Kharajyr as friends, now understanding them to be no source of trouble. They spread back out over the island and continued their day to day lives amongst the Kharajyr, often filling their stomachs on meaty treats left by the Kharajyr.
It then didn't take long for the Gy'waka to allow the Kharajyr to approach and touch them, creating a new bond of companionship. They didn't seem to mind the Kharajyr strapping saddles and ropes to them provided they were offered a large amount of food in exchange. And so with that, the Kharajyr had been able to mount these giant birds that they had been so lucky to stumble upon.
Habitat and Lifestyle
The Gy'waka birds are native to the Kharajyr jungle island of Anthos. They are very rare and are found nowhere else in the realm, yet they were brought from there to all the other realms. They are carnivores and will consume almost anything that vaguely resembles meat, including humanoids. The Gy'waka birds will never hunt the more dangerous humanoid creatures unless they are so desperate for food that there simply is no other choice, however they will happily kill and consume children that wouldn't usually pose a threat on a daily basis. Their long, sharp beak is perfect for pecking large chunks of flesh off a creature's bones, and their large springy legs mean they can cover shocking distances in a very short time, running at about 45 mph at max speed. They do not however, have a great many tastebuds, resulting in them eating anything large enough to be eaten.
They are not stupid creatures, in fact, they are very smart indeed. The Gy'waka are able to mentally adapt to problems that may occur. For example, if they hear the shouting of a race that commonly hunts their kind in the distance, they will of remembered this and they'll flee. This also means that the Gy'waka learn to tolerate the Kharajyr as they begin to see them as a source of food and protection. Although they are feathered, their layer of feathers is very thin due to their adaptation to the warm jungle environment. The reason the Gy'waka birds settled on this island years ago, was due to the fact that it was a haven to them - there they found plenty of prey and no predators. This has also resulted in a somewhat cocky personality in the Gy'waka, they will never look up, as they are the highest of all predators. This does mean that Kha' are able to jump down onto them from above with moderate ease.
Fortunately, the Gy'waka bird's exterior senses are usually very strong. They have decent hearing and would probably notice you approach or move about around them unless very stealthy. And their sense of smell is almost completely useless too. The do however, have amazing sight. Their sight strength is extremely more powerful than that of a Kharajyr's which allows them to pinpoint their preys location fairly well. Gy'waka do however, have two blind spots of which can be approached. Due to the positioning of their eyes, they are unable to look directly forwards, and their arrogance prevents them from looking directly up too.
Do not be fooled by the Gy'waka bird's wings. It is in fact, a flightless bird. It has long since evolved past the need for it's wings as everything it ever needed was found on the ground of the island where they lived. Using their wings proved to simply be wasting their energy, so as time went on, they no longer were able to use them, yet they still carry smaller wings as they never vanished completely.
Training
A Gy'waka is not a horse. If you displease it in even the slightest of ways, then you can expect to be launched right off it's back. If one tries to become the Gy'waka's master, then you will never be able to successfully mount and ride one. The bird is a creature to be respected, after all. To even get onto it's back, the Gy'waka must fully trust you and you it - as not all Gy'waka will be so keen to be your mount. It takes a great deal of understanding the bird's pride and nature before you may attempt to mount it.
To begin, a Gy'waka must first be trained to register a Kharajyrs voice. The training Kharajyr will first produce soft clicking sounds with his or her mouth while gently pulling on the reins to direct the bird's head in the direction of which way you wish it to turn and face. After the bird finally obeys and turns it's head, you feed it something meaty as a reward. It will not take long for the Gy'waka to understand that obeying your commands will result in being fed. The tricky part is getting the Gy'waka bird to remember which command is which. However with a vast amount of training, all Gy'waka should one day be fully trained and mountable creatures.
The Gy'waka will recognise a Kharajyr as a friend, but it will not recognise any other race as such. The Gy'waka are fed anything vaguely meat-like, so the corpses of other races are also in their diet. This makes the Gy'waka see other races a nothing but prey, and they will not respond to them in any way, in fact, they may even attack them if a non-Kharajyr made an attempt to mount them. It would take many, many years for a Gy'waka bird to be taught otherwise, and even then, it'd probably be too old to do anything beneficial. This is purely a Kharajyr mount.
Life cycle
A Gy'waka will on average live up to the age of 85, at which point they will be too old to continue their day to day lives so the other Gy'waka birds will kill and consume what's left of it. If it weren't to be killed by the other birds, then it could easily live up to the age of 100 before it dies of natural causes. A Gy'waka will be fully grown as the age of 22, it is at this age where their red stripe will appear. The Kharajyr know when a Gy'waka is ready to be trained by waiting until it plucks it's feathers and grows the red stripe down it's back.
As mentioned before, the birds are not stupid and they will never attack their own young. In fact, getting between a Gy'waka and it's young would almost certainly result in your death, even if they're related or not, all Gy'waka look out for each other's young. So as you can imagine, it's wise not to go anywhere near the children until they reach the age of maturity when their stripe begins to show. This is the only real danger the Gy'waka present to the Kharajyr.
After a male and female Gy'waka mate, the female will lay one egg at a time about 2 months after they've mated. Unlike some other birds, a female will lay no eggs at all if she has not had them fertilized by a male. After that, an egg takes on average 1 month the hatch and the child will stay close to either it's mother or another of it's kind until it reaches the age of maturity.
Mechanics
- This creature can be represented by a horse.
