Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2011 8:25:05 GMT -5
Wind Blossom's Experiment: Whers
[/font][/size]Anatomy
[/font]Whers are roughly the size of a small runner and weigh in around 800 pounds at the largest. They have wrinkled, loose hide and heavy jowls with a face that vaguely resembles that of a goat in general shape. Their eyes are smooth and deep-set with a slight dent in the center. Like dragon eyes, they show emotion through the ‘light’ and various colors. Whers are quite photosensitive (meaning light hurts their eyes), and they use heat sensitivity to navigate in the dark. They come equipped only with fangs; no molars are present in their mouths.
To help them digest their food more easily, whers have acidic saliva. Don’t let one bite you! They tend to snap when startled. They also have non-retractable talons on two toes for each foot with a fleshy, ridged pad on all four feet. Their necks are short, about the same length as their heads or a little bit longer. A wher’s wings are also short but broad; some can glide on them, but for the most part their wings are relatively useless. They also share with the dragons the typical cleft tail with double tips. They are typically mature around twelve months.
Abilities
[/font]Whers are not capable of mentally spoken words. They can communicate with their handlers via emotion and vague impressions, but as whers have a genetic verbal language (which wherhandlers must learn), most communication goes on verbally. Some whers, as stated before, are capable of gliding for short distances. Whers bond to their handlers at Hatching which requires blood from the handler to seal the bond. They are also capable of breaking said bond and bonding with someone else, which does not require blooding. They also have the ability to eat Thread (hence the acidic saliva).
A sort of sign language system has been created to be used by handlers to communicate with their whers as well as with other handlers. For example, a "wher salute" or "two-finger salute" is used when greeting a fellow wherhandler or to declare that something is truth. It is lifting the hand to the face and framing the right eye with the index and middle finger held apart (think peace sign), palm out. Spitting between two fingers is a common way to swear to something. Wherhandlers always swear by Aleesa and Aleesk, the first wher-pair, rather than by Faranth.
Diet
[/font]Whers are quite indiscriminate when it comes to their diet; mostly they eat meat, although fungus is also a common staple. They will eat just about any sort of meat even if it’s quite ripe. Greens are not good for whers but while they graze for fungi and rotten things accidents may happen. Depending on the amount of foliage devoured the wher in question could suffer a minor bellyache for a day or two, or end up with a whole set of digestion issues. These could include flatulence and vomiting, along with a host of other problems.
Runs and Hatching
[/font]When it comes to reproduction the basics are much the same as those seen in the dragons. The females lead the males on a Run, at the end of which she is caught by a male of her choosing. Runs are all-consuming due to the whers’ telempathic prowess. There are whers in the wild that may participate in Runs. Both gold whers and green whers clutch but only golds produce metallics; whers come in the five basic colors (gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green). Clutch mothers will heat their eggs using body heat as well as heat from rotting vegetation and are extremely protective of their clutches.
Older, more experienced females may allow their handlers to distribute their eggs, but younger mothers require candidates to Stand at the Hatching. Males generally don’t care about the eggs one way or another. The emotions of brooding females will often project onto their handlers (also termed ‘clutchmothers’ whether male or female).
Golds Clutch three to six eggs at once while greens usually produce one to three; less or more is rare. All colors may be infertile. Infertility is more common in inbred creatures. When it comes time for the Hatching and Impression, whers are bonded partially by choice and partially by blood; their chosen handler must prick their finger or make a cut for the hatchling to lick, as blood is necessary to form a proper bond. However, whers tend to bond to the first available mind and for this reason, females are extremely discriminating when it comes to who they will allow near the eggs.
Wherlinghood
[/font]Wherlinghood is usually spent at Orro due to their expertise in whers. The pair lives and sleeps in the wher stables until the first Turn or so when they’re allowed to move to the loft or to the attached sleeping quarters. Lessons are attended every month and there are daily practices. They must learn to navigate in the dark and memorize surroundings; the handlers must learn to rely completely on their whers in new and unfamiliar situations while the whers themselves must learn how to direct their handlers using only sounds or thoughts.
Wherhandlers generally learn to staff-fight, and will often start sparring matches out of nowhere with each other. A common form of hazing is striking at a wher Candidate or new wherling with a staff; they rapidly learn to block with their own. The staff is also used for navigation in the dark.
When hatched, whers are small, about the size of a cat. They grow rapidly to heights ranging from a large canine (though much heavier and longer) to a small runner (pony). There are no distinctions between ‘junior’ wherlings and ‘senior’ wherlings, as they’re all graduated at about ten months of age. Handlers sometimes ride trained lopers at night to go running with their whers. Queen and bronze whers are sometimes big/strong enough for handlers to ride, if they kneel on their backs, but it's usually very uncomfortable.
Wher Care
[/font]Whers need to eat everyday; they hunt in small packs and eat rather like a pride of lions. Whers will often forage on their own during the night for small creatures and fungi. Gorging isn't terrible for whers, but can lead to them getting rather fat (luckily they don't really need to fly). A fat wher is still preferable to a skinny one, but not by much. Whers are prone to infections in their folds of skin, and need to be bathed regularly. They rarely need to be oiled, as their heavy hide replaces itself quickly. Clean is far, far more important than shiny. Skin infections can be fatal.
Whers also get stone bruises--which can then turn to abscesses on the pads of their feet if not carefully tended to. Wherhandlers usually put an antiseptic solution on the wher's feet every other day or so, with more if the wher is getting wet a lot-- both to prevent abscesses (which are still fairly common complaints, though small, and just need to be drained, then kept clean. Many open on their own. A wher will usually get a couple major abscesses in their lifetime.)-- and to prevent rain rot, an infection which causes the pad of the foot to swell, stink, and then die and peel off.
Mistreated whers can and will switch Bond to someone who is kind to them often; some whers will switch to a preferable person if their Bonded simply has no desire to be a handler. Both situations, however, are very rare; more likely, a switched Bond is due to the death of the previous handler. Whers live to about 100-120 Turns of age in the best of conditions.
Handler Peculiarities
[/font]Tattooing and body painting is common among wherhandlers. Piercings are rather less common due to their tendency to get caught in the dark. Sometimes whers get tattooed, as well, a practice some handlers claim as "for camouflage". Though whers are nighttime creatures, the handlers often lounge together in the late afternoon sun, the only change they really get for both day and night shift handlers to relax together and catch some vitamin D.