These creatures came to me one night while I was asleep. Oddly enough, I was having a dream about Felarya: The Musical (starring Crisis in the back with a HUGE popcorn bag full of humans).
But onto my idea:
These creatures are half-bird and half-mole. Their physical appearance is often covered with dirt, yet you can still see their features. They resemble large 12 foot badgers, with hair all over them and beady blue eyes, along with two sets of tails. They weigh in at approximately 200 pounds. Their sharp tunneling claws double as wings, and are covered with a web of feathers. These feathers and the fur come in brown, usually. However, I saw one that was rainbow colored, and another that was gold colored.
Their face is covered mainly by a beak, with mandibles on the side. Inside the beak, they have a full set of teeth, which helps further chew their food. Horns on the creature's head usually varies among them.
Their living spaces are primarily coves in mountains, since they are still under the ground, yet they can fly at high altitudes. If they lived anywhere else, they would not be very happy.
As for their hunting and diet:
The Zyrids travel in groups of five, which is more than enough for a hunting pack. Their mode of transportation varies depending on the area that they are hunting in. If they need to scout the area for signs of food, they unsheath their feathers and naturally forge webs from their arms to their bodies (much lika a bat). The feathers are strategically placed so they catch more wind and lift them up. When the creatures are airborne, they search the area very carefully for food. This could include anything, since they are omnivores. They'll usually attack harpies for food by flying above them and divebombing them with their EXTREMELY sharp claws. It hurts predators.... quite alot. It requires the effort of the entire hunting group to hunt, though, or else it just won't be enough to bring the predator down. They know not to face certain predators, like certain nagas or dryads, since the Zyrids have had terrible losses against them during their hunting rituals.
If the area is full of predators, and the Zyrids need to escape, they retract their feathers and webbing and instead unsheath sharp digging claws on their paw-like hands and feet. At this point they burrow underground and travel that way until reaching safety, which is the signal for them to re-emerge. This has saved them multiple lives, especially in harsh territory. It also proves useful when attacking a predator. A few of them will divebomb the opponent, while the others come up from below and ambush them.
On a side note, their name, "Zyrid", is based off of a loud shrieking noise they make, similar to a very loud siren. This does not affect all predators, but works against smaller creatures. Between the divebombers, sharp claws, ground ambushes and shrieking, they are a tough race to contend with.
Relation-wise:
The creatures have no natural feuds with any of the native creatures. However, they also have to natural bonds. Their race is rather solitary, and they don't like socializing outside their species. They will only attack a creature if they need a source of nourishment, or if they feel that the pred is a threat.
Onto their mating rituals:
...Yeah, I'd rather not discuss that. They reproduce like mammals. That's all you want to know. Trust me.
Moving on...
Their habitats and such:
Zyrids are capable of living in forests, mountains, caves, underground, and deserts, provided they acquire the proper necessities. However, they poor things cannot go underwater. Their feathers and claws would get soaked, causing them to sink like rocks. They'd be fodder for Anko and the other mermaids and aquatic creatures.
As an observation, one strain of their species considered a dormant volcano as a good home. This volcano erupted, however, causing the heat to build up fast. Whether it was the magic in the soil or the resistance of their fur, the Zyrid there had survived, and better yet, became a new subspecies of "Pyrid Zyrid" genus. I'm still unsure of what they can do, but I don't wanna find out.
About their overall nature:
Overall, they are not such a bad race. Leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone. Although their intelligence only goes as far as their instincts, they can handle themselves quite nicely.
So what do you think? Is this creature good?
Subject: A new idea: Zyrids 
Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:19 am
