Griffon animals

From FiranMUX

This article is about Griffon Animals. If you wish to see the article on the Griffon Clan, click here.

1 Griffon Animals
2 Griffon Ownership
- 2.1 Griffon Breeding
3 News/help Files

Griffon Animals

Griffons are impressive beasts, with the hindquarters of a large cat and the chest, talon-clawed forelimbs, black beak and eyes of a bird of prey. They are large creatures -- 10' high at the shoulder, 18-20' wingspans, and weigh roughly 1000 lbs. without a rider. Griffons are carnivores, consuming up to 40 lbs. of meat a day. Griffons seem to prefer horse meat over other forms of meat, and their presence makes horses quite nervous. In battle, griffons attack with their two powerful, taloned forelimbs as well as their beak. Enormously strong, griffons can carry up to 800 lbs. of weight, and can carry a horse into the air with both talons. They can support a rider and one passenger comfortably, when tamed and outfitted to do so. A griffon has a lifespan of approximately 20 years.

Griffon Use

A griffon wears a complex harness that enables the pilot to both steer the mount without using their hands and also straps the pilot into position. This enables pilots to carry out complicated (and dangerous) manouvers without falling off the mount. They can carry a fully armored and equipped pilot and passenger during normal duties. In code terms a griffon is controlled in much the same way as a horse or giant eagle. (see Piloting for further information on how it's done)

The History

Griffons, once thought by the Firans to be beasts solely out of myth, came to the attention of the Firans as actual beasts in 0 A.U., when the shamibelians invaded the Firan Republic, their armies supported by an air force of griffon-mounted pilots. Perhaps the most famous tale regarding the beasts is that of their introduction to the Firan Forces. The aerial superiority afforded by griffon-mounted shamibelian archers induced the Clan Council to offer a reward or pardon to anyone who could capture one and bring it back to them. Garen, the assassin of Kenirikas, promptly delivered a griffon to the Council, securing a pardon for his murder of the Clan Leader without a trial.

Their Behaviour

Griffons tend to be temperamental beasts, difficult to tame and vicious both in and out of battle. They are not very smart beasts, and are ravenous in their hunger, making them difficult to control even for experienced riders when they are faced with a source of fresh meat. They love horses and it is particularly difficult to keep them from eating any loose horses that come within easy munching range. Griffons are dangerous beasts, and they are also vicious. It is essential to keep griffons out of large crowds or gatherings of people, as the beasts may escape the control of the rider. Griffons can turn on you, theoretically, and certainly have attacked people and/or horses when they have been flown low around people or animals.

Pilots barely control griffons at all. The animals are dumb and wild and hard to tame. Pilots maneuver by yanking their heads where they want them to go. Griffons are dumb enough that they'll fly where they're looking. Beyond that, they want to avoid getting poked in the neck with a stick, so they behave most of the time. They attack targets that are in their face, regardless of who the target is (friend or foe). Pilots learn to steer clear of their friends.

While the shamibelians take a sick sort of glee in training their mounts to devour the flesh of Firans, the Firan religious prohibition against dismembering bodies leads Firan pilots to attempt to steer their mounts away from eating parts of the bodies of their enemies. Due to the nature of the mounts, however, this is a difficult task, and while the Firan pilots do their best, they do not lose too much sleep when their mounts get the best of them in this matter. Pilots generally can keep their griffon mounts distracted during combat so they don't just start chowing down in the middle of battle. Also, they keep them well fed. A hungry griffon is a dangerous griffon. This is one of the reasons that using griffons in the city is a BAD idea.

Griffons are known to be frightened by Giant Eagles and it takes a lot of training to persuade them to fly anywhere the larger Eagles. This is understandable as giant eagles are known to eat griffons.

Griffon Ownership

Private individuals may NOT own griffons in the Republic. Exceptions MAY be made for Clan Leaders, honored veteran pilots, or heroes of the Republic, but griffons may not be bought or sold to private individuals. Private flights of clan-owned griffons should be cleared with the Republic Air Force Commanding Officer prior to departure or arrival (where possible) in order that no alarm be raised.

If a Clan Leader chooses to stable griffons in the Firan capital, they are responsible for actions committed by these griffons while in capital airspace. Overflights by clan griffons of the Palace District and other clan districts are permitted, but unruly griffons or poor pilots may be impounded pending arbitration by the Clan Council. Aerial combat in the Capital is not permitted by anyone other than Republic soldiers or Clan soldiers acting in the defense of their clan district or the city itself by an outside threat.

Griffon Breeding

The Firans have had only limited success in breeding the griffons, even with the aggressive breeding program the military has put forward; they usually see no more than a few handfuls of new hatchling griffons born every few years, throughout the entire Republic. As a result, a great many of the Firan griffons still come from captured shamibelian mounts. Rarely wild griffons will be captured, domesticated and added to the flocks.

Clan Leaders may commission and breed their own griffons for the Air Forces of their own clan. These Air Forces and their griffons are subject to integration into the Firan Armed Forces much as any other soldier is in times of necessity, and only following constitutionally approved laws.

Breeding is done using the animal husbandry/<griffons> skill and full details on the requirements to 'make griffon animal' can be found under @products griffon animals.