Barred Steelwing

The barred steelwing is a wyvernic low-dragon native to Aresia. Known for their potent hallucinogenic venom and devious nature, they are a formidable predator with a tendency to live a fierce, brutal, and short life.

Description

The barred steelwing is a typical wyvernic dragon. Weighing anywhere from 350kg to 700kg, they are not a particularly large dragon. They have two large, dense-leathered wings with a suede-like texture on the inner surface, and two small clawed back legs. Strikingly patterned, the back is steely blue-grey in colour, hence the name "steelwing". The belly and underside of the wings are beige, with barring on the throat and tail. The face is densely marked with dark scales that increase in contrast and darkness during mating season.

Both upper and lower jaws are tipped with a beak towards the point. Three to four teeth protrude from the beak; these teeth are specially coated with hardwearing enamel to prevent wear. The teeth do not regrow when broken, though old steelwings with few teeth cope well with their beaks alone.

The head is decorated with long horns that act as defensive weapons, as well as an important courtship display. A female's horns will grow to about 60cm before stopping, while a male's will grow throughout his entire life. Particularly ancient males can have twisting, glorious horns that are so big they impede his mobility. Males of breeding age will also grow a ridged crest on their beak, which also functions as a display.

Categorised as low-dragons, their intelligence and sentience is comparable to a clever bird, such as a raven or a parrot. They can use tools and are thought to premeditate and plan hunting trips in advance.

Barred Steelwing by spooktacular

Range

Steelwings are most common South of the Aurian mountains in Southern Sedia. They were much more common in the northern mountains in years past, but overhunting, competition with Aresian Griffons, and the introduction of railways and expansion through their vital hunting grounds has significantly reduced their numbers.

Southern populations are more stable, as hunters are less willing to brave the scrublands.

Locomotion

Very clumsy on land, barred steelwings are much more at home in the sky or on rocky cliffs. On land, they walk on the knuckles of their wings, using their large single claw to grip surfaces and spring off the ground into flight. The entire wing can be used to climb; the underside of the thick, leathery wing is suede-like, increasing the surface area of the skin and allowing them to grip smooth stone.

Social Behaviour and Reproduction

Highly social but brutal creatures, steelwings live in colonies, sometimes hundreds of individuals strong. The colony is not particularly supportive outside of protection from predators in numbers, and only the strongest survive and reproduce. Relying on a strength in numbers tactic, they grow quickly and have more offspring than they require to combat their brutal lifestyles. During breeding season, the strongest males, with huge horns and wingspans lay claim to the best nesting areas, gathering troupes of females under their protection. Males will fight for these nesting grounds, resulting in the deaths of countless weaker males during courtship.

Most successful breeding males die of starvation in their old age, their horns becoming too heavy for flight or hunting. Despite their colony behaviour, colony members do not feed one another if they can't hunt and will happily cannibalise the fallen older individuals.

Females will lay a clutch of three to five eggs during their yearly breeding season. Usually, only one or two hatchlings will survive to adulthood. Youngsters take three years to reach breeding age. Despite having the potential for a great lifespan, most barred steelwings die before adulthood, and fewer still survive to breed. Exceptionally old individuals may reach ages of sixty to eighty years old, but these circumstances are rare. The average lifespan for a successful female is around fourty years, and for a successful male, around twenty-five.

Diet and Hunting

Barred steelwings, like many dragons, are obligate carnivores. They are opportunistic and regularly fly off in small hunting troupes to scout for rabbits, birds, fish, myrrow, sheep and goats.

Venom Hunting

Barred steelwings are well-known and well-feared for their intelligent group-hunting tactics. On suitable days with low wind and clear skies, large hunting troupes of steelwings will gather and begin calling with a distinct, wailing cry. The group will wait for others to join in their troupe, circling in a large spiral while crying. When enough individuals have gathered, the troupe will take off, scouting the area for narrow or semi-enclosed spaces within the landscape, such as ravines, canyons or tight valleys. They search for groups of larger prey animals, such as ibex, mountain goats, horses, pigs, or unfortunate travellers. They will not shy away from hunting larger, more dangerous prey when the opportunity presents itself. It's not unheard of for a troupe to take down an unlucky group of mammoths, auroch, elk or sabre cats. Instances like this are rare; most of these animals are uncommon in their hunting grounds, and the steelwings are clever enough not to attack prey without the troupe numbers to effectively hunt them.

Barred steelwings possess a potent venom, produced in a gland in the bottom jaw. This venom can be excreted through specialised channels in the teeth. When injected through a bite, this venom is a fairly slow-acting anticoagulant and mild sedative. It becomes more dangerous when forced out of the teeth more rapidly, atomising it into a spray of droplets. When the droplets come into contact with oxygen, a chemical reaction begins. The gas formed will settle into a ravine, filling the space from the ground up.

The gas confuses and bewilders those who inhale it. Confused prey will usually approach the steelwings, freeze, or panic illogically; all scenarios allowing the steelwings to more easily overpower and take down prey that would otherwise be too large or dangerous.

The barred tail is also useful in further confusing prey. Once their prey is confused and intoxicated, they will wave and flick the tail in the air briskly. The intoxicated brain struggles to comprehend the fast-moving, contrasting stripes, creating more confusing hallucinations. They combine this action with a deep, gutteral clicking noise, alternating calls back-and-forth between many individuals calling through the ravine.

The steelwing pounces off the walls of the ravine or cliff, wrapping its wings around the victim and biting. The front teeth and claws on the wings are effective for holding prey, while the beak and middle-teeth are serrated and sharp, inflicting slashing lacerations that result in massive blood loss. Large prey such as horses or mammoths are often taken down by more than one individual, resulting in squabbling and fighting when it comes to feeding.

Venom hunting is more common during breeding season as breeding troupes require larger meals to produce eggs and have the means to hunt together.

"No wind today... Never travel Death's Way when there's no wind. Better a sandstorm than a troupe of Steelwings when you're in the saddle."

Harpies

Writings and illustrations from the First Age, as well as early into the Second Age, tell tales of "harpies"; bird-like creatures with features similar to a human woman, whose haunting cry lures men to their deaths. Depictions of the creatures vary significantly, some bearing angelic wings and beautiful hair, others having wings of bats and horrific teeth and claws. Scholars propose that these creatures with their wildly varying depictions may be figments of hallucinogenic imagination, resulting from steelwing venom hunts. Supposed harpy habitats overlay almost exactly with historical habitats of barred steelwings, further cementing this theory in academic circles. Many today still swear by the existance of harpies, and they remain a frequently told folk story.

Uses

Trophy hunting

An intelligent and formidable fight, a barred steelwing is a trophy goal for many hunters. The interesting, unique and ever-growing horns of males make them even more desirable of a hunting target.

Dragonsuede

Dragonsuede is produced exclusively from small, cliff-dwelling dragon species, and barred steelwing dragonsuede is often considered the best. The leathery, suede-like skin from the underside of the wings is removed and processed to create a particularly luxurious textile. Very expensive and requiring specialised training to process correctly, it is a sought-after material that is almost exclusively used in the dress of the very wealthy. Being pale beige in colour makes barred steelwing dragonsuede highly desirable, as it is easier to dye than some other species.

Venom

Virgin Steelwing Venom: Virgin steelwing venom is venom collected with a syringe directly from the venom gland, injected under oil, corked, and sealed with wax. It can be transported this way, but it is still delicate and subject to deterioration if shaken too much. The very mild sedative effect and anticoagulant effect of virgin steelwing venom can be used directly to treat clotting disorders through injection. It can be diluted with alcohol and packaged into droppers to be used on water over a candle to be diffused into a room. When used in appropriate dosages, this can aid in sleep and produce pleasant dreams.

Oxygenated Steelwing Venom: Once oxygenated, steelwing venom becomes difficult to contain and very dangerous.

In Narcotics: Steelwing venom is an important ingredient in several narcotic substances.

Meat and bones

Steelwings, along with many other dragons, are notorious for having foul-tasting meat. Despite being safe to eat and highly nutritious, the disagreeable dragon meat is often an unfortunate wasted byproduct of hunting them for other means. It is sometimes fed to hunting animals such as dogs. Dragon bone is a well-documented conductor of Arcannus, though steelwings and many other low-dragons are not particularly magical, and their bones make poor conductors compared to high-dragons.

Schollarly name: Parvodrassius maculosis

Common name: Barred Steelwing

Conservation: Least Concern

Range: Aresia, with density in Southern Sedia

Lifespan: 25-40 years (average)