EvanderBlackwing

GENERAL APPEARANCE

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 can often be seen wearing a black flat-cap, a faded red scarf and a round-framed pince-nez. 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 He can come across as shy and withdrawn; it’s hard for him to express his feelings to relative strangers, and thus makes it hard to find friends in many circumstances, which, combined with his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.

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 the kingdom of Thaund, where he hatched from an egg as a runt as a result of his egg being exposed to raw mana during incubation, 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 who bullied him often. 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 faraway 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 the duchy of Onorwen 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 Ar-Unuir, the Onorwenian capital, the young gryphon quickly showed an aptitude for trade and barter despite his outwardly reserved and shy personality, even showing an aptitude for language; within two months of arrival, he was speaking well enough to carry on extensive business deals in the native language of the local merchants; by the time they had returned to Thaund at the end of the season, the head of the caravan, an honest man by the name of Lindon, was eyeing the young gryphon for a position with his group; the feathered youngster readily accepted with his foster father’s permission when offered. From his fourteenth season on to his twentieth, Evander traveled regularly between Thaund and Onorwen with Lindon and his crew, eventually getting to know the locals of Ar-Unuir well enough to where he opted to stay down there for a few seasons, having grown to love the company of the city’s elven residents; a few seasons became a few more, and a few more turned into a couple years, with the gryphon making visits back up north to his family every so often.

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 Evander's wings be if he couldn't use them? Needless to say, Evander can fly with them, but, unlike more mundane avians, he can not 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 teenager in flight (at the cost of a shorter flight duration), although much more than 150 lbs. (approx. 75 kgs) and he starts to struggle.

That being said, there are also some downsides as well, namely:

• Hollow Bones - Hollow bones are wonderful things for any avian creature that actually wants to fly, and Evander is no exception. That being said, the main downside to having hollow bones is that they are easier to break and fracture.

• 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 even having to try. 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 mosquito tone around him).

• Particular Diet - It should come as no surprise that Evander, as a gryphon, has a different diet than most of his classmates. 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 dairy products, as he lacks the enzymes necessary to break down lactose.

Magical Abilities

In addition to his mundane abilities that come part and parcel of being a gryphon, Evander is also gifted with several magical abilities.

• Massive Mana Reserves: As a result of his egg sitting on the intersection of eight major ley lines while it incubated in his parents' nest, Evander absorbed massive amounts of magical energy; a magic instructor who tutored the gryphon for a few weeks during his first visit to Ar-Unuir noted that the young gryphon's magic reserves were several orders of magnitude larger than even the most powerful recorded sorcerers. This increased magic supply allows him to cast much more powerful spells than one would think for such a diminutive creature, but comes at the cost of being unstable and hard to control; it would take him many years of study to learn how to properly control his powers.

  ((OoC Note: For comparison's sake, if Evander were a DnD character, his magic potential is so great that he would be able to cast a 9th level spell as a cantrip and not even blink if he were properly trained))

• Line-sight: Throughout the world, there are invisible veins of magic crisscrossing the surface of the planet, interconnected like a giant river system of magical energy. While all mages will feel an increase in the power and scope of their abilities near these veins, called ley lines, only a few mortals can actually see them and even fewer can tap into them without fancy rituals to use the nigh infinite supply of magical energy. As a result of his early exposure to mana, Evander is one of those rare few who can see and utilise this source of magic without a fancy ritual. This ability also allows him to see magic energy in general, although as this ability is intertwined with his eyesight, walking into a anti-magic field would render him effectively blind.
• Thaumaturgy: The study of magic itself, thaumaturgy allows the user to manipulate magical energy itself as opposed to other schools which use magical energy to manipulate the environment. Practitioners can use magic more efficiently, block or nullify the casting ability of other mages for as long as they can concentrate, and even reverse spells cast against them or others. Evander himself has novice skill in the art of thaumaturgy, but he hasn't had a chance to really explore what he can really do with his potential due to moral taboos that he doesn't want to cross. Additionally, as a result of the unstable nature of his mana reserves, his spells are often erratic, unpredictable and have a tendency to backfire when he tries to cast more than minor abjuration spells.