These beings call themselves the Alevahari (ah-LEV-ah-har-REE), with the plural form being Alevaharin (ah-LEV-ah-har-REEN). It's rumored, though there's no actual evidence anywhere, that Alevahari means "Winds Incarnate"
Alevaharin, on the whole, give a general impression of an equine/feline/dragon cross, though its easiest to see the feline and dragon features. They have two horns, one above each eye, that has a slight forward curve to it, and they have highly mobile ears (their ears can move like a horse's or a cat's, in any direction and independant of each other) a little further back on their heads. A horse-like mane runs down their necks, typically short, though there have been the occasional long-maned Alevaharin seen. Their necks are muscular, much like a horse's (or dragon's, though they're not as long as some dragon necks are) neck is. Long legs built for running long distances with ease end in sturdy paws with tough pads able to handle almost any terrain without injury. Alevaharin wings are strong, enabling them to fly swiftly, and they have fairly high stamina for flight as well, especially if they practice that aspect with dilligence. Their tails are rather short, and are definitely draconic in nature. No matter what coloration an Alevahari has, their bodies are always furred, though the length of the fur can vary from long to just a quarter inch of very fine fur.
Though not nearly as tall, or long, as the Myrsilk, the Alevaharin are still tall enough to impress many. The typical range for them is between 25-28 hands (one hand is 4 inches) tall, measured from the foot up to the top of the shoulder, but they can be anywhere from 20 to 30 hands in height.
Just like the Myrsilkains, the Alevaharin have several means of communication, though, unlike the Myrsilk, verbal speech is not a true option of theirs. As they are not as steeped in magic as the Myrsilk, they don't have the means necessary to speak flawlessly outloud, restricted as they are by a mouth and tongue somewhat ill-suited to forming the proper sounds. Any sounds that require the tongue to touch or press against the roof of the mouth or the top teeth ('ch' 'th' 'l' and so on) come out rather garbled, with the sound being more garbled the more the tongue has to press against the roof of the mouth. Despite this, they all have the ability and intelligence level to learn to speak aloud, but it requires much time, practice, and patience (on the part of the partner/bond and the Alevahari him/herself) and few can manage to master it well enough to be able to speak more than simple sentences aloud, and none will ever manage to get rid of the 'accent' completely.
Telepathy, on the other hand, is their method of choice when speaking. Another skill that goes hand in hand with their telepathy is empathy, which enables them to sense the emotions of those about them, and project their own if they want to. Strength in each area depends upon the Alevahari itself, though a general rule to follow is: If High in telepathy, then Low in empathy, and vice versa. All are strong enough in telepathy, no matter how low a score, to converse with their bonds, but one that has a high telepathy rating will be able to 'broadcast' his or her thoughts to a large area, so that all beings in the area can hear it. The same goes for empathy, all are strong enough in it to sense their bond's emotions and to project their own emotions to their bond, but one that has a high empathy rating will be able to sense and project emotions to a wide area.
The Alevaharin are primarily carnivores, though in times when hunting is bad, they can and will switch to an omnivorous/herbivorous diet and survive well enough on that. They require meals about every two or three days, more if they're on a herbivorous diet. One thing that they do share with the Myrsilkains, though, is the ability to absorb magic and turn it into energy, though not to the extent of the Myrsilk. In a high-magic environment, an Alevahari could easily go four to five days between meals.
Being somewhat magic-based, the Alevaharin also absorb and store free magic from the world around them much like other animals store fat. On the other hand, they're not as dependant upon the magic as the Myrsilk are, and as such can fairly easily survive for an extended period of time in a low magic area. Extremely long periods of time (years) spent in low magic areas do take their toll on them though, and their teleportation ability will slowly fade, along with their overall health and performance. Early warning signs are: loss of sheen in the coat, cloudy eyes, slowing reactions, increasing apathy, and so on.
Teleportation is available to them as well, though, for some reason, they pass through a much more 'friendly' area of the void than what the Myrsilk do. Which is, in actuality, a good thing. Instead of the ever present sense of malice, there's a neutral feel, with the occasional faint sense of benevolence about the place. Alevaharin spend a longer stretch of time in the cold void than many other creatures do, perhaps up to seven or eight long, slow seconds in that place of sensory deprivation and chilling cold. On the other hand, they have an easier time of making big jumps backwards or forwards in time, and for some reason, the length of time they spend in the void doesn't increase very dramatically when they're doing so at all.
The Alevaharin have no official ranks outside of the Selta and Selat, the female and male leaders respectively. Each Alevahari preforms tasks that are suitable to its temperment and abilities, though the occasional rebel will show up that refuses to obey clan laws and doesn't pull its own weight. These rebels typically leave the clan at an early age, either to form their own or to become solitary for most or all of their life.
Typical for the Alevaharin is the finding of permanent mates, though this usually doesn't happen until they've risen at least a handful of times and been caught by several different suitors. Some, of course, never find a permanent mate, and some find one on their first rising.
Finding a mate depends on more than merely a mating flight, of course. Other factors need to be taken into consideration, such as whether their personalities are compatable (that applies to bonds as well as Alevaharin), whether they feel that such a commitment could succeed, and so on.
(I will consider all Alevaharin as 'unmated', and therefore able and willing to rise/chase anywhere. If someone decides to have two, either of their own or one of theirs and one of someone else's, become permanent mates, the owner(s) of the Alevaharin should send me a note (if its between more than one person, both must send me an email, this isn't something to get into without discussing, people), and I'll make a note of it in my records. Any mated pairs are fully welcome to have a brood here at any time.)
Now here is where the Alevaharin prove the most different from almost all known species of dragon-types. Instead of clutches of eggs, they have broods of live young. They can have anywhere from a single kitling (very rare, but it has happened) to upwards of about 12 (again, rare), though the normal numbers are anywhere between 4 and 9.
For those that have an Alevahari, you are perfectly free to have them rise/chase anywhere (just drop me a note, I like to know where my babies are going to have young). For males chasing female dragons - the female's genes will be dominant, she'll lay eggs if she's an egglayer. Any hatchlings/kitlings that come of such a clutch will be halfbreeds in a true sense of the word. For females that rise elsewhere, her genes will, again, be dominant. She'll have live young, though they'll be halfbreeds. For female halfbreeds, if they rise and are caught by a dragon with pure egglayer history, she'll lay eggs. If she's caught by a male that's from pure live-young history, she'll have live young.
Halfbreeds X Halfbreeds will have one of several outcomes:
(a) female hatched from egg, male hatched from egg = eggs (offspring will be pure egglayers, though they may appear somewhat or mostly Alevaharin)
(b) female from egg, male not from egg = eggs (offspring will fall under the same category as Halfbreeds)
(c) female not from egg, male from egg = live birth (offspring will follow the Halfbreed rules)
(d) female not from egg, male not from egg = live birth (offspring will be pure for live-birth)
Information on the young will be given on the "Brood/Kitlings" page.
The Alevaharin have an actual naming system, which they follow at all times. Given a list of names, though, it might be hard to find the actual pattern, as its not a pattern of letters exactly, as a pattern of consonants and vowels. Female names will always end in a consonant-vowel pattern (for example: "ra" "te" "lo" "ku" etc). It can be a combination of any of the 20 consonants and 5 vowels (that doesn't add up to 26, I know, I'll explain why later), giving a fairly large selection to choose from. Male names will always end in a vowel-consonant pattern (for example: "en" "or" "ut" "ad" "ik" etc) and, again, can be a combination of any of the 5 vowels and 20 consonants.
Now, for that single, left out letter... the letter "y". I'm sure some of you recall that little saying we were given about the vowels in gradeschool (and if not, let me refresh your memory on what you've let fade away) "a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y" Ok. So "y" is a vowel... yet it can be a consonant sometimes too. Since it fits into neither category nicely, there's a special little rule for its use. A "y" can be used as either a consonant or a vowel, but never both. (For example: a female name could be Likaya ("y" as a consonant) or Tirally ("y" as a vowel) a male name could be Benoyl ("y" as a vowel) or Devoy ("y" as a consonant) notice that you can tell which is male and which is female by looking at the other letter.)
Strength, given a grade of 1-10, with 10 being highest, determines how powerful a given Alevahari is in their telepathy and empathy powers. Each Alevahari will be given two different grades, since the two powers are seperate and require their own category. As was stated earlier, in the normal manner of things, if an Alevahari is high in telepathy, then it will be low in empathy, and vice versa. On the other hand, there are the rare individuals that are either high in both, or low in both.
Also, they have a third category that is given a strength rating. Powers, depending mostly upon what type of coloration they are (equine, feline, draconic) and what direction (of the four cardinal directions), are also given a grade of 1-10. More on powers will be listed under the headings for each coloration.
As an example of what might be seen, here's a stat table for the Selta Iyurri:
Name: Iyurri
Gender: Female
Color: Icy White/Blue (draconic)
Fur length: short
Height: 26 hands
Telepathy: 7
Empathy: 9
Powers: Draconic North: 6