First off, hello. I'm new here and became interested when a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this site. I am trying to make a Neko sub-species (basically Nekos with wings) and I wanted to know what you guys thought. Here is the basic physiology of the group I came up with.
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- Name -
The Loki Tribe: Tribe of the Sky Travellers
- Creation Myth -
The Loki are Nekos who have taken to the sky and believed that they originated many generations ago. Natasha, mother of all Loki, was living at the base of Mt. Høy when her mother's spirit ring was taken by a Viraxo (A flying creature that I am going to submit later). Natasha chased the Viraxo up Mt. Høy until she saw clouds where the ground should be. The footholds were becoming few and far while Mt. Høy became ever steeper. But Natasha did not relent in her pursuit of the Viraxo for the ring was precious to her mother and protected her from evil spirits. Loki even transformed in front of Natasha to taunt her by keeping the ring just out of reach. Natasha watched Loki carefully and tempted him to transform in to the Viraxo once more for a 'true challenge'. Loki transforms once more and flies high above Natasha in hopes of discouraging any more of her insolence. However, Natasha had studied Loki's shapeshifting and grew wings of her own to chase him up the mountain. There she was rewarded her mother's ring by Loki who was impressed by her determination and creative trickery. It was atop this mountain, Mt. Høy, whose peak was so tall that the ground appeared to be made up of clouds that Natasha decided to begin the tribe of Loki...
- Physiology -
The Loki have a hollow bone structure with a naturally occurring carbon-fiber weave. This makes their skeletons incredibly lightweight bones for flying and strong bones to deal with the stress of take-off/landing. The bones are fused in to a single ossifications to disperse kinetic energy over the multiple bones fused in to one to prevent breaks. The Loki have developed fused collarbone known as the frucula, or wishbone, that is used to strengthen the thorac skeleton. This results in a very distinguishable v-shape collarbone. Below the collarbone resides the much more developed pectoral muscles of the Loki. These muscles are larger, more flexible, and denser than the average Neko and is combined with a keeled sternum to provide an adequate anchor for the wings during flight. The chest is further developed by the uncinate processes of ribs for protection of the vital pectoral muscles. All of these features (highly developed pectoral muscle, unicinate process of ribs, keeled sternum) result in a much more pronounced chest in Loki.
The pelvis has become elongated and undergone extensive bone fusion to provide the support necessary for high speed landings. The femur and lower leg has been lengthened to increase the strength of the legs for jump take-offs. The lower leg has naturally become elongated as well and undergone bone fusion. The Loki have also developed a tarsometatarsus, which is an extended fusion of the foot bones to make it look like the Loki are always standing on the balls of their feet. This lengthening adds extra leverage for running, landing and take-off. These changes result in the Loki having very long, shapely legs made of pure muscle. All of this combined with their bone structure also make the members of the Loki tribe an average of 10-12ft tall.
The Loki have retained their prehensile tails but these tails have become modified. They are made of cartilage and muscle that allows for the tail to become elongated or flattened to assist in guiding flight. The tail is able to assist in flight because it is made of the same fur as the wings are. Fur that secrets an oil that meshes the fur in to a single airfoil for flight that can easily make minute adjustments. This oil is also water resistant. That means the wings could be used to assist in swimming, theoretically, and very troublesome hairballs for the Loki.
Here is an idea of the weight distribution:
Pectoral Muscles make up for 25% of the Loki's weight
Wing muscles makes up another 10% of the Loki's weight
Bone mass makes up 15%
Leg muscles makes up 20%
Internal Organs/flesh makes up 25%
Other muscles (arm muscles) makes up the last 5%
Some fun facts:
1 in 6 Loki are male and 1 in 10 are born without wings. The males are the ones typically born without wings. That means that if there are 600 Loki, 100 of the Loki are males and of that 100, only 40 of them have wings. It is rare for a female to be born without wings but this birth 'defect' in incredibly embarrassing for that female.
The Loki are born with 'spirit guides' and have been since the encounter with Loki. The most revered of these spirit guides are Viraxo, Neko-Aerial (Flying Cats), and Dragons (Miniature Dragons of course). The spirit guide tends to reflect one's personality. Grounded males tend to have grounded spirit guides like Rams while the more humorous ones tend to be Donkeys.
The Loki are very adept at Wind/Storm magic. They all undergo a ritual to create their own 'spirit rings' that act as a focus to enhance their magic and ward off evil spirits.
Grounded males with no talents are the gofers of the Loki and have been associated with tending to the wounds of the Sky Maidens with water. Therefore, these males have been affectionately termed Water Boys.
The Loki wear clothing made out of spider silk and it is usually a rite of passage to collect silk from a Dridder.
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Ok, I have a lot more to write but I'm in a bit of a hurry. I didn't expect to write so much but I couldn't stop myself once I got started. Anyways, I'm off to the field until Wednesday in the event anyone tries to get a hold of me. Let me know what you think!
Subject: The Loki Tribe 
Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:05 am
I can see what you mean in wanting it to be derrived from just humans because flying nekos does seem a bit excessive. I just was inspired and couldn't stop writing. And to be honest, I had missed the section on Sphinxes, otherwise I probably wouldn't have posted this because you already have a set of flying cats. I also didn't know there would be such a...focus(?) Upon realistic necessity and adeptation since this is a fantasy site.
