At first glance, these majestic birds look like a typical horned owl that is slightly larger than a warhorse in height and weight. They are taller than a human, even one of the broad-shouldered oxar folk, at 8 to 8 and a half feet tall at the shoulder. Most adult lumestrix average 25 feet from head to tail, weigh up to 1300 pounds with a wingspan of 34 to 50 feet. They have a long lifespan which can run up to 200 years or more.
Along with their size, their feather shape and amount is no different from a normal owl. Here too, the difference in size matters. Their talons and beak alone can shred most strong armor or shields. But while they use both when hunting mountain eel or cattle, their claws are not their most unusual, or remarkable, features.
First would be the ability to hurl lightning from their eyes. Lumestrix eyes are large and dark, with a faint ring of yellow-white around the outside. In these rings, bolts of lightning swim slowly in circles, churning like in a thunderstorm. When a lumestrix releases its bolts, their eyes turn a blue-white with a glow like a young star. But that’s only a second before the lightning is released. After that, unless they launch another bolt, their eyes return to their normal state.
That lightning is magical, tied to their diet and glowing feathers. Over time, as a lumestrix ‘eats’ light and energy from a wide collection of sources, they store some in their feathers. This causes the moonlight like glow that surrounds them in flight, or the constant churn of lightning in their dark eyes.
A lumestrix’s feathers come in a wide variety of colors, including shades of brown, gray, white, copper, rust, and silver. Often, a single lumestrix is a mix of colors where most feathers are silver or copper, but its chest, wing and trim feathers are a dapple gray or brown. The coloration and pattern of the wing colors denote families and family lines.
It’s said they trace their family lines back thousand of years. If, that is, one is fortunate enough to get one to talk. They aren’t known for conversation and tea.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
But this plumage is more than just coloration and history. These feathers possess the ability to absorb lightning or moonlight. In either case, the feathers channel this energy into the lumestrix who mystically consume it as food. What they don’t eat, they store to cast through their eyes as lightning.
Finally, the most remarkable ability is how they converse. Lumestrix are intelligent but aren’t able to talk aloud. Instead, they rely on ‘mind-speaking’ or telepathy for conversation.
Typically, they speak to each other, or a member of the Lumenari nation who has mind-bonded with a lumestrix. On rare occasions, it isn’t unheard of for a lumestrix to mind-speak with someone who isn’t another lumestrix or one of the Lumenari.
Wisdom of a Thousand Generations
These giant creatures maintain their history through stories. Some of which date back thousands of years from the earliest ages of Summerdark. They are tales of the lumestrix people themselves, that both entertain but teach a lesson in wisdom as well. It’s for this reason that nations across history and the land revere the lumestrix as beacons of wisdom.
Many nations or organizations have used a lumestrix as their symbol. For arcane schools, such as the one in Heartwood, it represents the pursuit of arcane knowledge. Monasteries and temples to Ethereons use it to represent divine insight. Nations and guilds associate their lumestrix symbol use with wisdom and guidance amidst uncertainty.
Habits and Diet
These magnificent birds aren’t without their own habits and unique diet. The lumestrix’ own habits have a strong connection with the phases of the moon and seasonal appearances of the Sunstars. These birds are more active at the peak of each season, when the Sunstars are more prominent. This is particularly true when the Dawnfire Sunstar rises on the first day of Bloom after the snows of Frost have melted.
During the rise of Dawnfire, most lumestrix settle down to find a mate and build a nest. Having to protect a nest with its valuable clutch of eggs restricts a lumestrix to a smaller hunting territory that they have to share. The pressure to find food for the young, but also watch for hunters, wears on them. Which also strains their abilities during this time of year.
Unless they are lumestrix that are a mind-bond with one of the Lumenari nation, most lumestrix gather in small mountain communities for protection. This way, the community shares in raising the young lumechicks.
When it comes to food, the lumestrix's diet truly sets them apart.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
Unlike their smaller kin, lumestrix have a more varied diet. They do eat meat, which is often a steelhorn ram, mountain eels, or nearby cattle. But they also feed on moonlight and lightning from storms, such as Eclipse Storms.
A lumestrix feeding on moonlight is more awe-inspiring than dangerous. They do this by locating a perch on one of the higher peaks during one of the full moons. Often lumestrix gather in those feeding grounds by the dozens to absorb moonlight. As they do, their feathers radiate a celestial, soft blue-white power. A side effect of absorbing the moonlight.
Feeding on storms is far less serene. When a lumestrix consumes lightning, it’s far more risky. There, the birds must fly through one of those tempests to brush the lightning while it churns through clouds. While they fly, they absorb the smaller bolts, letting it soak into their feathers and skin. But they aren’t completely immune to lightning, as stronger bolts can overwhelm them.
This happens more often in Eclipse Storms, where the celestial lightning is far more powerful, and may even be tied to the divine Ethereons themselves. More than one story tells the tale of a young lumestrix who flew too high in an Eclipse Storm and was hurled to the ground for their ego.
I’ve studied a community of these birds in the Blue Mountains for some time. Even today, I’m still in awe. Their connection to moonlight and storms, their rich history, and physical prowess is a clear reminder of the complexity and wonder of Summerdark.
They’re also perhaps a mirror for ourselves. That we harbor our own great strengths, wisdom, and maybe a spark of the Ethereons in us, too.
It’s a lesson there to sometimes look inward and upward.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
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Author's Notes
All Lumestrix images are credited as follows:digital art by CB Ash using a mix of synthography from Midjourney for background shading, a stunning owl photograph, a lot of lightning and digital painting using Krita.