Tenelean Wyverns

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Wyverns denote a perfect contradiction between beauty and danger. Their dragon-like bodies, their protectiveness for their home and young ones are met with a wildness unlike any other predator I have known. Their size is unequivocally massive, and to know an empire has found opportunity to tame these creatures, spells only this word. Dangerous.

~ Obras Torgella ~

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Territorial Horrors

Foul birds of prey, wyverns, massive in every sense of the word, make nest on a small archipelago south of Enendale known as the Shepherd's Isle. Here, an endless supply of fauna and wildlife coexist as part of a wyvern's natural selection, and though they have the capability to fly far from the islands, they often do not.
Instead, they continuously migrate across the isle, nourishing their newborn and hunting only when survival is necessary. To many Teneleans, they almost seem like the isle's guardians, protecting its natural beauty against any who seek to defile it. Even a full crew is not enough when performing an expedition here to even explore, as a single ship is subject to be blown apart by a stray wyvern.
Though wyverns live for so long, their bodies age quickly from infant into adult, and their maturity and intelligence is speculated to even equal that of humanity's.

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I may have never encountered one, but I'm sure to take one's word when they claim an emberback to be the most dangerous breed of wyverns. Just like any other children's tale or story of fiction, it is always the fire-breathing dragons you watch out for, for good reason! I do know the empire contains one of their own, but to what degree of control they have over it, I can not say.
Speaking of dragons, I wonder what sort of relationship these wyverns hold with their larger counterparts. Their wings sprout from their front legs unlike dragons whose sprout from their back. Could wyverns be a mutation from dragons? Or perhaps its a close relative with slightly more... magical background? Could it be because of divine action these animals look and behave so different?

~ Obras Torgella ~

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Sheperds

Today however, an operation takes place every month in which the Teneleans seek to procure wyvern younglings for their elite Wyvern Riders. Those who undertake this operation are known as Shepherds and they function in two roles. The first are the sentinels, those who fight the adult wyverns and distract them while the second role, the scavengers, collect eggs and newborns that are unprotected.
It is a dangerous profession, and no operation goes without casualties, and Vetta is one of the few who have served on countless adventures into the isle and survived. Because of the experience and tenacity she developed, she now leads the program as its commander.
At times, some wyverns have flown from the isle to pursue a shepherd's ship carrying eggs all the way to Enendale. However, the capital always has more than enough weaponry to send one back that comes too close, or to dispose of it completely.

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During my days as a youth, I traveled the empire, which at the time looked very successful in many ways. I even gained a seat as a chronicler for a journey to the Shepherd Isles where I saw the team in action. Our ship would have been torn apart if it weren't for the dozen of sentinels protecting it. You truly learn what it feels like to see someone be carried away by a wyvern.
But the couple eggs that were snatched looked beautiful. Some had blue spots across it while another was roughly striped with brown against a silvery white color. Of course, the eggs were as large as us at least.
Many, many years later, I witnessed the empire use those beasts to attack Podun. I saw those beasts lay waste to my beautiful hometown; if it weren't for Ravenna's elite and courageous troops, nothing would have been left. This may have been war, but I finally realized the purpose the empire used these animals for. Not as protectors or guardians, but as monsters.

~ Obras Torgella ~

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Lifespan

250 years on average

Average Height

4.5 meters (14.7 ft.)

Average Weight

350 kg (771.6 lb.)

Omitus, The Emberback

Both feared and prized, the emberback wyvern is the strongest and most aggressive of its species. An adult is a Sheperd's worst nightmare, while a youngling is one's most treasured dream. Very few have ever been captured, and more times than not, it's been ordered to simply avoid them due to their lethal fire breath.
Only one emberback has ever been captured. He is called Omitus, and his lethality is a testament to those who even now dare try to tame him. Like his kin, his ferocity is unmatched, and he can not be used for anything more than a death sentence for Tenelean criminals inside the imperial coliseum.

I won't stop until I slay the grayscale wyvern which killed my mother.

~ Vetta Haftist

Vetta, Dragon Sheperd

Leading the expedition program to harvest wyvern eggs from the Sheperd's Isle is Vetta. A very quiet, yet stern woman, she took up the mantle her mother left in the Shepherd Legion after being killed by a wyvern on a previous expedition.
This event caused her to grow hateful of wyverns and promised herself these beasts would bow down to humanity. She saw the empire as a very powerful tool and became a sheperd like the rest. Though she promised herself she would never ride a wyvern herself, she was perplexed when she found a hurt female one in the isle during an expedition.
Seeing no reason to hate this beast, she nursed it back to health in the empire and it soon after bonded with her and became her faithful mount.

If our wyverns are near, we own the battlefield. For whoever owns the sky wins the war.

~ Blaire Bivalur

Blaire, Wyvern Alpha

Blaire was born to a Tenelean Noble Family, much like the rest who argued against each other in the efforts to gain more favor with the crown. Even as a child, the way her parents interacted with other families was distasteful to her, and even grew to like one father more than her own, Richard Boulderdash, the only kind heart she ever met among the families.
Decades later after joining the Tenelean ranks, her skill rose her to serve under Richard as his second-in-command in the Wyvern Riders. But in 1546 AC, when the Wyvern Riders were all gathering within the Trispire Mountains, Richard suddenly disappeared.
Blaire was not furious, just confused; especially when she received the report signed by Wulfick Civilius V stating two things: That she was to become the new Wyvern Alpha, and that Richard Boulderdash had been labeled a national criminal of the empire.
Any questions she asked was only met with dodgy responses, but even still she was sure there was a concrete answer to why the empire suddenly mistrusted Richard, so she gradually grew to despise him too. As the new leader over all wyvern riders, she promised herself she would prove to be a stalwart leader for the empire, unlike Richard before her.
Currently, Blaire is the only wyvern rider who rides atop a dragon, rather than a wyvern.

Wyvern Riders

After capture, a young wyvern is raised in the mountains north of Kor until it establishes a bond with an in-training wyvern rider. Considered the elite of Tenelean military, the rider and wyvern share an emotional bond, combining the rider's tactical wit with the wyvern's brute strength and flight, making them feared on the battlefield.