Tree Etchings

Speak from a distance

Wyverns are notoriously territorial and to communicate with each other their personal space they use a system called tree etching. The concept is simple: Wyverns use their claws (or in the lindin's case, their teeth) to mark the bark of trees surrounding the border of their territory.

Species Specific

Wyverns are more territorial with wyverns of the same species, and so look for marks of their own kind.

Agam

The Agam's territory marks are large and simple: four long claw marks parallel to a given tree. They look similar to bear marks, but much smaller.

Lindin

Having no legs or claws, Lindin's must mark their territory by biting and ripping a chunk out of a tree. Some do this only once, or several times.

Ghosid

The ghosid draw two marks with one of their front feet, then three marks perpendicularly with one of their back feet.

Konoma

The konoma typically draw a circle around the knot of a tree.

Death

When a young wyvern is first searching for a new territory, wyverns search for old etchings. Wyverns mark their trees once per year, during the season of birth. If etchings appear to be older than a year, it suggests that a wyvern has died or moved away from this location, and the area is free for the taking.

Personality

After many years, older wyverns often begin to recognize the etchings of other wyverns by their width, length, tilt, curve, preferred tree species, or any other identifier or combination of such. A wyvern's etchings are considered much like a signature: each is unique to its creator.

Other Uses

Wyverns use tree etchings to communicate a few things besides territory. This isn't frequent, since wyverns are not particularly social, nor are they generally interested in sharing information. The most common exception is a female wyvern creating an etch to show she is interesting in mating that year and it is safe for a male to enter her territory for that purpose. Since females choose to have children only 2-5 times in their 250 year lifetime, these marks are a rare, but important occurrence.