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Official
Guide - Tirialle Overview - Random
Generators - The Magical Verse
Skyhaven Games - Abridged Bibliography - Skyhaven
Bookstore - Frequently Unasked Questions
Overview - How
This Guide Works - Official Guide Entries
Magic is a highly subjective medium. Every universe,
culture, and authority has a different idea of where it comes from, how it
works, and what it can and cannot do. Likewise, magical creatures
and beings are highly subjective. Take, for instance, the
dragon. Depending upon where one is and whom one asks, a dragon may
be good or evil, fierce or gentle, clever or dull, educated or
illiterate. Dragons may be larger than the mountains or smaller than
a raindrop. They could be voracious carnivores or practicing
vegetarians, breathing anything from volcanic fire to arctic ice to just
plain air. This can be very confusing to outsiders, as, in the
limitless worlds of fantasy, every possible variation might simultaneously
be true!
Absolutes may be difficult to come by, but within each
given universe there tends to be a certain "norm." Worlds where
dragons are ferocious devourers of maidens rarely produce pacifist
gardening dragons who write poetry, and vice versa. For this reason,
Skyhaven Keep would like to offer this "Official" Guide to give
visitors an idea of what to expect from their adoptee(s,) an idea of how
they exist in the world of Tirialle.
These are by no means absolute rules for how a particular
creature, being, or adoptee should be displayed or expected to behave once
they leave Skyhaven. They are merely suggestions, sparks for the
imagination, for you to use or ignore as you wish. If you want to
copy large passages of these entries, do remember to give credit where
credit is due.
The creatures and beings offered at Skyhaven Adoptions are
best considered as ambassadors, not "pets" in the traditional
sense. Several are sentient (self-aware), and many choose to be
here. Remember, even if a creature or being bears superficial
resemblance to a human or Terran (Earth) animal, in a fantastic world such
as Tirialle such resemblances mean little. Some wholly subsentient
monsters can mimick human form and speech perfectly, while some of the
most gentle and intelligent beings known to this world would never survive
a daylight jaunt through an Earth city without being gunned down on sight.
Some may wonder about the bright, sometimes bizarre
patterns and colors of the creatures and beings at Skyhaven.
Remember that, as a visitor, you are viewing this world through visual
translation spells, which attempt to equalize such factors as solar
spectrum differences, atmospheric refraction indices, nerve impulse
frequencies, and other variables that affect how individuals on each world
and dimension experience their surroundings. These spells often end
up factoring in normally invisible wavelengths such as auras, magical
energy fields and such, resulting in color patterns that may seem a bit
unlikely in practical terms. It may be said that visitors are
seeing, in some respects, a truer version of a given creature or being
than native Tirialleans do.
For the record, a "creature" (or
"beast") is a subsentient animal, like a Terran cat or dog or
bird. A "being" is self-aware, capable of intelligent
conversation and other higher intellectual functions. The ability to
hold a conversation with outsiders, either verbally or by other means
(telepathy, hand/paw/talon signing, color/light displays, writing), is
usually the test of sentience. Sometimes, due to magical corruption
or other factors, individuals or isolated populations can achieve
sentience while the rest of their kind remains firmly in the
"creature" category. Tirialleans refer to these as
"witch" animals - witch cats are sentient cats, for instance -
because such individuals often end up as familiars to witches or other
magic-workers, even if they weren't specifically created for that task.
(In all fairness, it must be said that there aren't many other employment
opportunities for such animals, and returning to their own kind is usually
out of the question.)
Overview - How
This Guide Works - Official Guide Entries
All creatures and beings represented in the Main Adoption
Lairs at Skyhaven Keep have an entry in this Guide, generally grouped by
type. The entries work as follows:
Creature/Being Name
A brief "real-world" (Terran-based)
description, when applicable, plus a small picture for identification
purposes.
Origins
Where the creature/being originally came
from.
Habitat
Where they live.
Feeding
What/how they eat.
Life Cycle
How long they live, how often they
reproduce, etc.
Culture (Where Applicable)
In the case of beings, some notes about
their native culture and/or beliefs.
Temperament
The general personality of the
creature/being.
Magical Traits
Most creatures and beings here
have some magical skill or gift (and often a particular weakness.)
Other Notes
Anything not covered by the other
categories, yet worth noting.
Overview - How
This Guide Works - Official Guide Entries
Overview - How
This Guide Works - Official Guide Entries
All backgrounds and images, unless specifically noted
otherwise, are © TBW
ONLY adoptable creatures and designated awards or certificate
images may be taken
If you feel you absolutely must have a background or special image, please
ask first!
E-mail: tbweber (at) comcast.net or tbweber (at) brightdreamer.com -
change (at) to @, put "Skyhaven" in the Subject line
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