#stormbirds

Technically, I did touch upon the subject, but I haven't really fully elaborated nor touched upon it. Anyways, I do have some ideas thrown around:

Brief history:

Stormbirds are native to Gulfen, and one of the most efficient hunters and the most terrifying beast. They're widely known as the wrath of the skies. But they're also quite known for their companionship and battle prowess, and quite intelligent. Back then, they could be freaking HUGE. Able to handle 6 riders. Modern stormbirds can at most hold 3.

The stormbird is one of the most important symbols of the country, so I like to think the design is pretty rampant. Certain groups keep them as integral parts of their culture and way of life, and it wasn't until subsequent wars did the stormbirds general situation suffered horrendously.

Stormbirds are usually taken as an egg from the wild or tamed/trained while young. There are evidences that there was some form of encouraged modification to suit a certain purpose through selective breeding or simply evolution (like some stormbirds were selectively bred to for combat, some for military transportation or some for civilian use etc.), although they are at that time, still minimal.

So stormbirds can have differing wings depending on what they were bred for! Like this:

Taken from here.

While in the old days they're the most powerful form of combat, they're also very expensive and rare. Then the Civil war hit, it's a very big thing and arms businesses are having a hey day, and that includes particular people who shoots one look at the birds and sees profit.

So then selective breeding and husbandry of stormbirds became an actual business. Perhaps too much, most of which for military use. Hundreds of stormbirds are hatched per year. Thing is, stormbirds are powerful predators and if released randomly into the wilds, they WILL fuck up food chains everywhere. There's also the fact they're very hard to kill and incredibly dangerous, releasing them often means putting any elven settlement at huge risk. So any stormbird is usually culled after military duty unless they can be trained to adjust (but that's often an expensive and labor-inducing in itself, so it rarely really happens 😢)

In fact, there was a certain type of stormbird that was bred for silent flying (see: owl wings) perfect for riders tasked with assassinations. In order for these weapons not to be used against the kingdom, the ruling monarch at that time had this certain species hunted down and killed, so this type is all but extinct 😢

During the start of the 50 years war, stormbird business was a boom during its first few years, but eventually fell out of favor due advancing technology. Thus stormbird warfare is virtually obsolete. Stormbird farms with incompletely trained stormbirds released theirs to the wild or sold to civilian use due to lack of regulation (since the authorities are far more preoccupied with the war). Most of the newly-freed stormbirds couldn't adjust and died.

even ana?

i'd like to think of something w Hippocratic oath but idk what. oh! maybe Dr. Jekyll and Hyde? would work since it alludes to the duality between both characters?