Galajdowi

Also known variably as dragonlights or glowwyrms, galajdowi are a genus of magical creatures. Most galajdowi live in the wild, but there are many tame breeds throughout the continent.

Basic Information

Anatomy

As a rule, galajdowi are generally around 50cm tall and 120-170cm long, including the tail. They have four legs, and a set of wings. The galajdowi's scales range from a blue to green color. Some individual species scattered about the continent have other colors, however. Their wingspan is about 150-220cm, with the hind set of wings slightly smaller. While its insectoid wings might give the impression that galajdowi might have an exoskeleton, its internal structure is more than of a lizard. Galajdowi are cold-blooded as well, and migrate during the winters.

Additional Information

Domestication

There are three main 'types' of domesticated galajdowi: those bred for pets, those bred for communication, and those bred for light.
  Pet galajdowi are slightly smaller and rounder than the wild glowwyrm at 40-50cm tall. Their colorations are the widest from blues to oranges to purples. The most popular breeds also sport patterns. A few rare breeds even have different color lights on their tails. The range on bio-luminescence is not much larger than wild, but some have green and red lights in addition to the yellow range.
  Next, the galajdowi bred for communications have been selected for speed. Lean, their tails have lost most of their bio-luminescence, for a sharper point. Most mail galajdowi have green or blue scales, with black spots and patterns.
  Then the smallest line is the lantern galajdowi. Bred only in the last few hundred years, the lanterns are the smallest breed at only 30-38 cm. Their scale color is the least pure of the breeds, usually a mottled blue brown. However, their tail lights are the brightest of all the species. However, they have the shortest lifespan at 20 years, sometimes less. Their target audience was travelers and adventurers, but only the high ranking adventurers pay for a living lantern.
  Interestingly, the most popular breed is a rare hybrid of pet and lantern galajdowi. The smaller size and bright light of the lanterns are popular, so in recent years a breeding project to brighten their colors has been going. Only a few successful lines have appeared thus far. While not smaller than 35cm, the bright blues with bright yellow bio-luminescence are apparently quite striking. They are definitely striking for the wallet, in any case.
Galajdowi
by me

Etymology

Translates as light needles.
Lifespan
25 years

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!
Jul 5, 2018 15:35 by Barron

I'm surprised they don't use the light of their tails for communication, I guess they serve more along carrier pigeon duties. Very nice.


Jul 5, 2018 15:42 by Mint

While they can be, the training to get them to flash in the correct order probably wasn't exactly the most successful. In emergencies, I wouldn't be surprised if a pair of lanterns were used for that. Basic signals probably aren't too hard to teach. I might have to think on that a bit more. Thanks for the ideas!

Jul 5, 2018 15:41 by Atena Luna

I like that they have other utilities that just being pets. I would love to know more about where they are found usually and how they were found. Good job ^^

Jul 5, 2018 15:43 by Mint

Originally I designed them for pets, but really, if you had giant glowing bugs why wouldn't you breed them for other things? I'll write about their habitat later! Thank you very much!

Jul 5, 2018 15:47 by Ademal

I like them! How common is ownership of one?

CSS Whisperer • Community Admin • Author of Ethnis
Jul 5, 2018 15:54 by Mint

It depends on the breed and why you want one! The cheaper pet breeds are pretty common among all classes, though less so in the north. Only the rich get the premium breeds, though. Most major organizations (guards, Guild branches, local government officials) will have at least one carrier galajdowi, with more important branches owning several. There might also be a public post office? I haven't decided yet on the post system. Lanterns are pretty expensive still, but all things considered they have a market.
And thank you!

Jul 5, 2018 16:28 by Ademal

I think it'd be fun to delve into that in the article, maybe a pricing sheet in the sidebar or a little quote about a child saving up for her own. :3

CSS Whisperer • Community Admin • Author of Ethnis
Jul 5, 2018 16:30 by Mint

That sounds fun! Maybe once I don't have so many articles to finish I'll come back to do that!

Jul 5, 2018 17:11 by Heath O'Donnell

Very nice example of taking two common species and mixing them for worldbuilding! Fireflies have always been a summer time favorite of mine, so this was quite lovely to read about.

Jul 5, 2018 17:16 by Mint

Thank you! Its technically three since I took the dragon in dragonfly more seriously than it probably merited haha. Fireflies are one of my favorites too, I wanted to do something with them. Honor their beauty or something