Flying Snake
Flying snakes are brightly colored, winged serpents adorned with vibrant, irridecent scales that shimmer like jewels in the sunlight. These serpentine creatures possess a pair of leathery wings, allowing them to glide effortlessly through the air. They can be found across the warm and temperate lands of Urbûn, where they dwell amongst the canopy and are most common in southern and central Naghron, particularly in the lands of Duryad where they are kept as messengers carrying scrolls carefully wrapped within their coils. They are also popular as familiars for good wizards and are also kept as both pets and pestcontroll and praised for keeping down rodents. Besides Duryad, flying snakes are known to inhabit the many forests and jungles throughout the Land of Faith.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Avaraging about 2 feet (61 centimeters) long in length, these snakes are covered in metallic-green iridescent scales. While they closely resembled the ancient celestial race of otherworldly, winged serpentine beings known as the Couatl, they had the distinction of having a pair of leathery wings that were similar to those of a bat rather than a parrot
Ecology and Habitats
Flying snakes can live in nearly any environment, though being serpents they have a preference for warm climates. Furthermore, being arboreal creatures they are typically encountered in forests and jungles, though some were known to adapt to living within buildings that had many pillars.
The flying snakes of the Flarewood Forest travel in small family groups. Generally harmless but on occasion do swarm in which case travellers must take precautions to protect themselves. They can make good pets and/or familiars but must be trained from infancy. They are often found as entrants to the races held out of Sashor, where they compete against other flying creatures like crows, blood hawks and bats.
Dietary Needs and Habits
The Flying Snakes are carnivores, feeding on the meat and eggs of their prey.
They kill their prey by injecting venom into them with a bite and waiting until the toxin kills the prey.
Biological Cycle
Just as normal snakes, they go through periodical shedding of the skin.
Behaviour
These creatures are not innately aggressive or hostile towards others, though they are very territorial and easily excitable
Additional Information
Domestication
Flying snakes can sometimes be domesticated to serve as messengers that delivered scrolls wrapped in their coils.
Beyond the purpose of carrying messages and parcels, flying snakes were known to be eaten in the land of Ashad and considered to be quite a delicacy
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The spell of melf's acid arrow requires powdered rhubarb leaf and the stomach of an adder as its material components, but the stomach of a flying snake is often used as and adequate substitute.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Flying snakes have blindsight to a range of 10 ft.
Scientific Name
Amphiptera serpentes
Origin/Ancestry
Ophidia
Lifespan
40 years
Conservation Status
Their presence is traditionally believed to protect the imperial Crown and the Capital; a belief holds that "if the Spires of Salicar’s Flying Snakes are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Duryad with it."
As they are seen as good luck charms, mascots and service animals of the Crown, they are considered a protected species and are protected by the law. It is illegal to hunt them. If someone is chosen by one of them and marked, the person is considered an owner of said specimen. In that case, forceful separation of the marked one and the reptile is also considered a criminal offense. There was one incident where a Captain ate a General’l’s favorite Messenger Snake. He got the firing squad for it. Luckily his friends got some people to intervene on his behalf…
Average Weight
2 lb (0.91 kg)
Average Length
•Common Flying Snake -
2 ft (61 cm)
• Duryadi Messenger Snake- 3 ft (0.91 meters)
•Giant Flying Snake - 6 feet (1.8 meters)
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