Desmodan

Basic Information

Anatomy

Desmodon are a large, hollow-boned bat-like species. They have four limbs connected by a thin membrane that allows for flight. The lower two limbs act as hands, while the upper two are stronger and used in walking, running, and jumping.

Genetics and Reproduction

Desmodan pregnancy lasts seven month typically resulting in one pup.

Growth Rate & Stages

Pup: Birth - 40 years
Adult: 40 - 350 years
Elder: 350 - Death (450-500 years)

Ecology and Habitats

As with many of the Baq'naut species, the Desmodan evolved in lush forests. For the Desmodan, it was the jungles of The Archipelago. While they have built towns and cities over the years, Desmodan have never given up their desire to perch upside-down while sleeping and their cities tend to be overflowing with plant life.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Unlike the majority of Baqnaut, the Desmodon have developed a taste for blood. Over the years, they have also perfected the process of making Blood Wine, the main source of sustainance for adult Desmodon.

Additional Information

Average Intelligence

Knowledge and education

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Keen eyesight and hearing
Echolocation

Civilization and Culture

Courtship Ideals

Courtship for marriage centers around assessing one another's financial history, education, birth quality, and lifetime achievements. Romantic courtship varies greatly, often centering around sharing blood wine and dining on exotic fruits.

Relationship Ideals

Marital relationships are considered a social, politcal, or intellectual arrangement that rarely has anything to do with romantic attraction. Choosing a life-partner is based on the liklihood of the partnership producing a beneficial spiritual, scientific, magical, or medical Discovery. Often the quality of potential offspring is also a factor.

Romantic relationships do have their place in society and are carried out openly and without shame. These relationships rarely have long term goals, solely for social or plearsure only. The goal of producing offspring is reserved for marriage and precautions are taken to ensure children are not produced. On the ocassion there is a child born, they are considered illigitimate and of lesser quality though are capable of proving themselves by way of a Discovery.

Romantic relationships are only frowned upon when a married couple is attempting to conceive and during a pregnancy. During this time, both parties are expected to cease extramarital affairs until the child is born. Continuing an affair during the pregnancy is considered dishonorable and results in the offending party forfeiting their portion of the estate and credit in marital Discoveries.

Due to marriages being based on liklihood of Discoveries rather than romance, heterosexual and homosexual marriages are seen in equal numbers. Should a homosexual couple choose to have children, they are often very selective when initiating a romantic relationship thus, the children do not bear the same mark against their legitimacy.

Common Dress Code

Desmondon pride themselves for their sense of fashion. The bat-like creatures have a deep fondness for fine fabrics, fashioning elaborate robes and dresses for any ocassion. Rings, necklaces, and earrings are common and often considered a symbol of status. This attitude has lead many desmodon to forgo flight in favor of wearing more jewelry.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Knowledge is the centerpiece of Desmodon society and believed to be the path to power. Whether scientific, spiritual, or magical, anything that is believed to propel the species toward greater power is deeply prized.

History

Early Civilization

In their early days as a civilization, desmodan were an unassuming hunter-gatherer society. Being nocturnal, they could avoid most of the predators native to the isles, feeding on sleeping predators while they slept.

Their expanding population forced more of their kind out of the caves and into the nearby forests. With their technology growing, the desmodan began building villages among the tallest trees of the forests and eventually building towns. Numerous tools as well as the making of Blood Wine were developed and life was peaceful.

Varsian Occupation

It was around the naming of the fifth town ihatenames when Varsis and his Velpiran followers appeared on the Archipelago. The Desmodan were wary of the newcomers and sought to stay away from them as they had most other dangers, but could not hide from the Facet wielding Velpir. Varsis, the tree-bending mage easily brought down their villages.

Many Desmodan retreated to their ancestral caves in mount fucknames, but were quickly flushed out by the invading army whose power and technology crushed not only the Desmodan but their Damor'lych neighbors as well. The Varsian Occupation, as it would later come to be called, lasted more than nine-thousand years.

Early in the occupation, Varsis realized that mount fuckname was rich with obsidian, a mineral he was convinced would allow him to restore his waning access to the aether and return his people to their homeland. The desmodan and damor'lych were put to work mining, forced to work long hours in the insufferable tropic humidity. Many died during their labor and the velpir grew consistently more aggressive, almost seeming to delight in the suffering they doled out.

Hope and Tradition Survive

While the times were undeniably dark, the Desmodan never lost hope and kept their tradition of making blood wine alive, but secret for generations. While the velpir were against the making of wine, several still enjoyed the drink in secret, the shaman guesswho in particular. guesswho received a steady supply from the vintner Krovock who was aware of the shaman was not only consuming, but also conducting experiments on the wine.

One of guesswho's experimental batches was stolen by a rare white Draíochta, his feathers accented in green. Krovock and his beloved assisstant the young damor'lych namename were sent to fetch the wine finding the the bird had broken into the barrel consuming some of the wine and sharing it with more of his kind. Krovock and namename also observed changes in the birds behavior indicating they were becoming sapient.

Kruvock returned to guesswho not only with bad news about the destroyed wine, but also the death of namename who fell from a bridge on their return. However Kruvock never told guesswho about the Draíochta's sapience. Instead he began studying them, finding the birds were extremely trusting and intelligent.
Artifact In time Kruvock formed a plan and over the next several years he conspired with other Desmodan and, eventually, the Draíochta he raised to sentience as well as the Damor. Together, they mounted a rebellion and the Velpiran War was fought in the year -6480.

Rise of The Imperial Reach

While the war left the archipelago reshaped, the Desmodan saw a future. They had been risen to the air and, as such, the desmodan, born of the sky, should be the ones to see the archipelago into a new era. The Damor and Draíochta, grateful to be free and grateful to the desmodan for leading them to freedom, quickly agreed.

In the year -6478 Kruvok and the Desmodan founded the city of Brimdurn. The city was to serve as not only a capital for the isles, but also the center of learning. The following year, the desmodan founded the council of discoverers and a year later a government was formally founded, the Imperial Reach, with Kruvok as the first crowned Marquis.

Under Kruvok's leadership and that of his family, the Imperial Reach and the Hovering Archipelago as a whole saw an era of growth, development, and cultural harmony.

The Celestial Calamity and Present

When the events of the Celestial Calamity moved the Hovering Archipelago into the skies above the continent of Zantrya the desmodan were faced not only with the destruction caused but also the realization that they were not alone on Xoboros. Tensions were already high and the situation only worsened when they discovered how deeply interwoven the Velpir were in Zantyran life.

With memories of the nightmarish occupation still in their minds, the archipeligans chose to keep themselves sequestered from the land-dwellers. Defenses across the isles were increased and Dra blood mages were stationed to patrol the coastlines with Damor infantry prepared behind them. While the people of the isles remain guarded, the Imperial Reach has conducted several scouting missions and continue to monitor the land-dwellers now that the Velpir have gone extinct.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Baqnaut

Lifespan

450-500 Years

Average Height

5 ft - 1.5 m

Average Weight

50-75 lbs

Related Organizations

• Kruvock Family
• The Talons of the Crown

Related Materials

• Blood Wine