Genealogy of the Tenguic Species
The tenguic species are a set of distinct, yet genetically related, sentient species who live in the Ten Sword Isles. Forged by the ancient dragon gods from dinosaur precursors before even elven history, divided in to lizard, avian, and serpentine lineages, and reaching their intellectual apotheosis in the form of the eponymous tengu, the tenguic species represent a cycle of creation parallel to that of the kin of men.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Where hominids descended from primates, the tenguic species descended from the dinosaurs that roamed the Ten Sword Isles shortly after the creation of the land itself. Similarly, as many of the kami adopt humanoid forms as a function of their hand in the creation of the hominids, the greatest dragons of the spiritual plane adopt the forms of limbed, winged serpents as a function of their hand in the creation of the tenguic lineage. All modern tengic species are warm-blooded and have scales, feathers, or both as behooves them for their native climate. This group can be more finely classified based on broad morphological features as follows.
Genetics and Reproduction
As they become more intelligent and attuned to the spiritual energies later down the evolutionary tree, members of the tenguic genealogy increasingly gain the ability to cross-breed with other species, including mammals, through magical means. Otherwise, these species tend to breed true with one another or, rarely, produce offspring through pairings with species near them on the tree of life. Intra-tenguic, cross-species pairings tend to produce offspring either incapable of reproduction or which experience reduced fertility as a result of various biological factors (such as mismatches in chromosome count).
Most tenguic species are oviparous and take an active interest in rearing their young. This is a notable distinction from other 'lizard-like' species in the wild, some - though not all - of whom leave their offspring to fend for themselves once hatched. Tenguic species other than dragons tend to be social, if not necessarily monogamous, and involve one or more members of their community in the rearing of offspring as well.
Growth Rate & Stages
Tenguic species tend to be born helpless and must be reared for some time before becoming able to take care of themselves in the wild. Even then, as the tenguic species are much more intelligent than their sauropod forebearers, they must learn and grow over the course of many years of adolescence before reaching maturity. Very advanced tenguic species, like the crow- and human-headed tengu, are acculturated enough that surviving in the wilderness is a learned, rather than inherited, skill for them.
Ecology and Habitats
Before the rise of mammals and, especially, hominids, the whole of The Metastructure was dominated by the tenguic species and the deific figures that lent them form. Thus, while the tenguic species have been pushed aside in many biomes, they and their more animalistic cohort once filled every ecological niche in the Ten Sword Isles, and their ruins can be found on every one of the isles if one knows what to look for.
Behaviour
Far from modern stereotypes, tenguic species are often beings of great emotion, passion, and ambition. Forbidden magics were once woven by the tenguic elder cultures in their world-spanning wars of total ideological conquest, and the inhabitants of this semi-mythical age drove themselves nearly to extinction and clawed their way back to civilization more times that even the wisest yokai historians can account for.
by Hero Forge
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