Gryphons, Part 2.

Updating the Race

Among the gods’ creations, gryphons stand apart. Their close relationship and important mission gives the gods a unique attitude toward the race as a work in progress.

Unlike many races, gryphons were not created with variety in mind. At first, the only gryphon in the world was the meridian gryphon, but, once imperfections were found (which didn’t take long), the gods began work on the twilight gryphon as an update to the race. Generally, the gods are content to leave old “versions” alive and functioning, but their attitude toward their newest creations leaves little doubt of their motives.

Frustratingly aware of this hierarchy, gryphons have adopted a wide variety of attitudes toward their creation status. As a race, all gryphons start as favored children, lording themselves over their predecessors, but are soon forgotten in the race to create a better gryphon. Most gryphons merely accept this as a divine personality trait and do their best, many attempt to achieve a high status in the hopes of redeeming their races, and a few angrily catalogue new gryphons to emulate the newest creation.

The Arimaspi

At the end of the Dawn War, the primal spirits realized the dangerous step they had taken to claim the world. In a rare moment of clarity and teamwork, the spirits decided to create a race that would assist in keeping the gods and primordials out. The result was the arimaspi.

The arimaspi are crude, one-eyed humanoids with vast primal powers, and they have goals opposed directly to the gryphons. Since the arimaspi have never been watched closely by the primal spirits, they have developed wickedly over time, with a hunger for wealth, which they create from stolen divine power.

Since gryphons were made to avoid detection, most of them cannot interact with arimaspi. In general, they are simply invisible to one another, but several circumstances suggest that they are compelled to avoid each other as well. Those gryphons who can interact with arimaspi, however, are bitter enemies with the race. Some hunt them, others hunt their treasure to reclaim the divine essence. When the two races meet, blood will inevitably be spilt, and death to one faction or the other is likely.

All gryphons, even those unable to see the arimaspi, despise the race. Even those gryphons who begin life indifferent to them inevitably come to discover that the arimaspi will never rest until all divine power has been destroyed, including gryphons. Those gryphons who cannot hunt the arimaspi themselves often hire adventurers to destroy tribes nearby. An arimaspi scalp is a common trinket for gryphons, and they delight in sharing stories of how the scoundrel fell.

Physiology

To many, gryphons are symbols of divine power, but few realize that the race begins rather humbly. The godly power that flows to gryphons comes at a price that only the best can pay, and few can master.

Early Life

Most gryphons begin their lives by hatching from agate eggs with an intelligence comparable to humans at the same age. In fact, much of a gryphon’s early development happens at the same rate as humans. They learn common slightly faster, but are unable to speak  it until they achieve discipleship. Until it is fifteen years old, a gryphon is cared for by its parents in a family relationship, often with two or three siblings.

From fifteen, however, life changes dramatically, as the young gryphon first hears The Call. From this moment, a biological clock begins ticking within the gryphon – counting down a single year. If the young gryphon can successfully transfer divine energy before the clock runs down, it gains a boost of divine and primal power. This sudden burst has the effect of promoting the gryphon to a disciple of its type.

The Psentil Griffins

Those gryphons who choose not to heed the call, or cannot heed the call receive a terrible fate. Having forfeited their birthright, they remain in the same form, with limited power and average intelligence. To scholars, they are merely called griffins, but to their own kind they are called “the psentil,” a word meaning lost, failure, or (some say) enemy.

Griffins breed true, making these creatures far more numerous in the world than their immortal cousins. Many humanoids capture the psentil for mounts and companions.

Ascension

By heeding The Call, a gryphon shows its desire to advance in power and assist the gods, which is awarded with discipleship. This gives the gryphon a tremendous leap in power – a power which promises more.

With this power, however, comes the ability to dismiss the allure of The Call. Due to the danger in following The Call, most gryphons only hunt once or twice a month for enjoyment and for status with other gryphons.

On the other hand, a number of young gryphons never do dismiss The Call, hunting with a fervor beyond their ken. Those who survive the perilous hunt unlock further potential, ascending to the ranks of champion and, finally, exarch. These creatures are surpassingly rare, and can be fairly young or unbelievably old when they reach these ranks. Indeed, only the strongest of souls would dare to battle such beasts.

Markings

From a distance, telling the difference between gryphons and the fallen psentil can be difficult. Once the gryphon closes, however, the signs become obvious.

When a gryphon ascends to discipleship, the release of divine energy causes strange runes to appear on the gryphon’s feathers and, in some cases, fur. More than mere symbols, these runes are a conduit to the Astral Sea, which allows a gryphon to continue to grow in power. Indeed, each time a gryphon ascends, these runes alter to display more powerful runic words.

Those adventurers who dare to combat a gryphon can obtain a great reward in these rune covered feathers. By combining them creatively, adventurers can cast nearly any ritual they have heard of, as if the feathers were a ritual scroll. Usually, a single gryphon only has sufficient feathers for conquering adventurers to cast two or three rituals of the gryphon’s level or lower.

The power inherent in their feathers is hardly lost on gryphons, of course. Many gryphons will use their own feathers to barter for materials or aid, even offering them as a reward to adventuring parties if the quarry is important enough. A gryphon who harvests its own feathers, however, does so at a price. For two weeks, the gryphon moves at half speed while flying and, due to a loss of divine energies, takes a -2 penalty to all attack rolls. Since the gryphon is considerably weaker during this time, only a particularly desperate or bold gryphon attempts such a gambit.

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