Avian

 

Physiology

Avians are a small, slight, feathered species of humanoids with birdlike features and keen senses. Eyes set to the sides of their heads allow them to see in 360 degrees, and their beaked mouths allow them to whistle and chirp. The average Avian stands 130 cm in height, but due to thin, hollow bones, they weigh only 20 kg on average.

Despite their feathers and light weight, avians do not have wings, and are flightless. They have humanoid arms with three-fingered, scaly hands with opposable thumbs. Their legs feature a very short femur joining the pelvis to a long tibiotarsus - this femur acts almost as the ball-joint of a human femur, affording a full range of motion at the hip. The tibiotarsus connects to the tarsometatarsus, giving the anatomically inaccurate impression that avians have inverted knees, rather than having ankles halfway up their legs. They have tridactyl feet, with long, exclusively forward facing toes, which are sometimes webbed.

Avians have a staggering range of different patterns and colors of plumage, from mottled browns and greys to striking single colors, to a huge array of brightly colored and iridescent patterns, with exotic covert feathers that can be displayed at will, avians are the most visually diverse of all species. Females tend to have more subdued patterning, with males more frequently being brighter and more colourful, though members of either gender can have exotic, colorful covert feathers, typically presented as a display of mood or emotion, intenionally or otherwise.

Life Cycle

Avians are born from eggs that are cared for by both parents for about 80 days after being laid. Newly hatched avians are exceptionally helpless, again, requiring day and night care and support from both parents. Infancy, however, is short, and hatchling avians become toddlers within weeks. The avian life cycle is 3 years long and by the time they reach adulthood females will produce an egg about once every 20 days. When unfertilized, this egg is small, soft and leathery, but when fertilized, it has a hard protective shell.

Avians tend to engage in mock mating rituals with one another, testing many potential partners over the course of another dozen or more years before finally bonding in what is almost always a life-long monogamous pairing, though these relationships are not exclusively mixed-gender pairings for reproductive purposes. Reproductive pairs tend to produce 4 to 6 total offspring over the course of their adulthood, though these are almost always hatched evenly spaced over the course of about 30 years. It is extremely uncommon for avians to be caring for multiple young at one time.

Culture

Avians exhibit a natural geniality and charm and have a gift for music, theatre and performance. They are notoriously liberal and outgoing when in their teenage and young adult years, always seeking active social environments and opportunities to engage in mock mating rituals. Social venues; particularly those that offer cultural activities, such as theatrical or musical performance, will often have an avian clientelle that is disproportionately large for the general population. Once avians become parents, their liberal disposition tends to fade, but many still remain engaged with the social environment of their cultural communities, even if they are not longer living the free-spirited lifestyles of younger, single avians.

Adjustments

Avians are sharp and attentive, gaining bonuses to both their Intelligence and Alertness. This keeness, combined with thier 360 Vision perk gives them a bonus to dodge, but their small size and slight build reduces their Strength and lowers the amount of damage they do.

Avians' natural musical gifts and their strong investment in selection, signalling and presentation behaviours grant them a bonus to their Composure. They also start with Apprentice level of mastery and a free initial roll in the Entertainment skill field.