Domiornis

Take Me On Your Mighty Wings

The Domiornis are giant, flashy falcons with stunning teal, gold, and blue wingspans that rival any billboard. They have striking eyes that miss nothing and invite prey to submit to their curved, sharp beaks. Their flight precision is so impressive that their powerful, elegant wings master thermals, command the upsweeps of tornadic currents, and have utter control of torrential storms.
These enormous birds call the edge-streets of cities home on the planet of Qirial in the Cazimi System of the Centralvest Zone. They have been driven to live around the outskirts, pressed further from city centers over the years as the planet's sapient populations and technological advancements spread across the planet's surface and then endlessly up.

by DaniAdventures, Generated with Midjourney, Edited and Animated with Canva

Driven to Distinction

Conglomerates searching for new products and needing nuisance birds pushed out of areas which they deemed upper class once required the Domiornis to be chased violently to the edges of the 'civilized' settlements. Initially hunting was done by people on foot, then by flying drones, and finally by manned hover-tech vehicles. To say that the Domiornis moved there easily is utter fiction, as anyone who's ever seen one up close would agree that no one can order one of these birds around.
Their enormous talons and curved beaks are not for nothing. They did not relocate without protest.
Nor did they leave their dead for the monsters to eat, reuse for parts, or strip of feathers; Domiornis take care of their own. It has been witnessed on more than one occasion that the Domiornis return the bodies of their deceased to the nest from whence they hatched, to feed and further nourish those still living.
Though there's yet to be visual confirmation, most believe enemies who fall to a Domiornis's ferocious defensive and offensive tactics are most probably consumed as well; their bodies are never recovered. The birds carve flesh with the precision of a surgical laser and they simply digest everything: flesh, meat, viscera, bone.
Attempts to force the birds out created far more problems than were solved. The intensity of a battle with a single bird, and the resulting loss of life on the part of the hunters, might not have stopped the most persistent except that even the Conglomerates eventually acknowledged the birds' power. Rather than being due to any kind of conservation effort, the change in policy was purely financial in nature. The damage to their bottom line, costly resources, and lack of returns made liability high and profits low. Aggrieved by the delay in constructive expansion due to the birds' presence, the people at the top of the chain pushed for two more escalations, one after the other, in an attempt to wipe the flocks out of the city completely.
Poisoning and Detonation.

Luridity contains mature content. This article includes the following content warnings: Cheeky BDSM references.

This article is a WIP created during World Anvil Summer Camp 2023 and may contain incomplete sections. It probably also lacks pictures and proofreading. And it most certainly was written frantically by a caffeine-fueled, sleep-deprived author. No worries--edits are a future me problem!

There are a number of descriptors which flora, funga, and fauna can be granted. The ones used for safety classifications are as follows:

• HarmNix
• PrecautionLite
• TrickOrnery
• DangerMid
• VigilWatch
• RiskA
• ExtRisk
• PerilMax

Additionally, much to the dismay of the folk in any Centralvest Zone filing department ever, the RiskA and ExtRisk warnings can accompany any one of the other classifications. There may be signifiers between RiskA and ExtRisk which further detail what kind of risk one would need to manage. Domiornis are marked at PerilMax, indicating their aggression and actively deadly results of confrontation.

by DaniAdventures, generated with Midjourney and edited in Canva

If one method succeeded, they reasoned, the rest of the flocks could be dealt with in the same way.
The first method involved disclaimers and insurance payouts...as well as spraying down waves of hunters with a pesticide so strong that any exposed skin began to pock with acid burns. Those who survived battling the Domiornis for the manuever were medically treated, however the fallen were left for the Domiornis to eat. The only noticeable effect was that the birds became far more interested in people as a possible food source.

These birds naturally process and remove poison, waste, and environmental toxins.

The detonation attempt actually toppled two entire scaffolded--future--buildings, despite being aimed at the birds themselves. The lucky hunters firing the weapons believed they were successful and had buried the creatures under a pile of hardsteel and other construction materials...until they looked up to see the intense, hot air of the explosions had merely scooped the birds out of their roosts and lifted them up over the city, providing them with blistering thermals which they soared on with pride. Another testament to their resilience and power. There were no survivors of the Domiornis's retaliation this time, and as Conglomerate leadership began to see talons and sharp beaks in their nightmares, they finally took aggression off the table.
Hunting these creatures was immediately to cease, and this enormous raptor species was officially assigned a safety classification and protection honor, instead of an elimination order, removed from the "NuisanceHunt" list and marked as a "PerilMax" species.
By the time the flocks received this "honorable" distinction, they had on their own resettled in places where less hostility and noise awaited them anyway. The Domiornis are now found nesting in or perching on the balconies of abandoned levels of highrises which either formerly housed infrastructure equipment or currently house load-bearing supports for the weight of the many floors and other connected structural arrays that climb ever into the Upwards.
Nature tourism in these areas is highly discouraged.

Taste of a Poison Paradise

As the attempt to poison a flock of the species has shown, Domiornis are not affected by toxins. Rather, they become more eerily beautiful after ingesting them. Studies done as closely as current science dares indicate waste products, poisons, and environmental toxins alike are all filtered out of their bodies by way of a pair of exocrine glands at the base of their tails. They preen their feathers frequently with the oil secreted by the glands, which is what gives their wings such bright colors and their strange ethereal glow.

The incredible colors of Domiornis feathers fade outside of mating season. Given that once mating season begins the local populations of poisonous amphibious creatures drop dramatically, there is more than enough anecdotal evidence to conclude that male Domiornis seeking mates will purposefully hunt for indigestible prey of the highest toxicity available in order to don themselves with the most electrifying feathers.

Other information about this species is less forthcoming as the PerilMax status has cut off scientific research funding. Many theories exist as to what other properties the oil may have, though. These range from the Domiornis gaining a waterproof effect like waterfowl, additional acidproofing to help them thrive in the more polluted levels of the cities, heatshielding, pheromone production, and even that the oil provides a contact poison to dissuade predators.
For now, your guess is as good as anyone's.