Ayleri

"Moray eels gave them faces, wings were stolen from a featherless bird, and temper - temper came after a ram barge..." -common Arzuli answer regarding Ayleri

Ayleri dwell in Southern islands, a huge archipelago stuck between two continents.

First of those, who dare to cross vast seas and oceans to shape maps yet uncharted. It was then, when they knew the giant cape-continent, that became their home and was named "Agan", found a dead patch of land, covered in ash, to the East, etched a course through Coward's Stream, a vast river that cleaves Sha Vi in half...

And met Ayleri. Giants of the South, that claimed those lands for themselves, riddled in cliffs-like islands with no name even given. Except for captains, perhaps, who call those "Southern Rim" or "Meer's Veil" - a mirror of sorts, to reflect Heaven's Veil far to the North.

An Ayler - is a mass of bones and muscles, of two leathery wings.

Grim, secluded, reclusive, predatory, with sole love for its domain and cliffs around.
They dwell among those cliffs and peaks, that shape their Southern archipelago - it is all about rocks, steep summits, entangled in overgrown weeds and ivy that support life - prey for the Ayleri. Oceans and rivers feed these lands with everything currents have and drag along - murky waters, mud, soil - and mountains choke those currents in their rocky grasp, leaving the rest to themselves. Layer upon layer, mud and sludge cover rocks, thicker and richer further into the archipelago it goes, brighter is green, stiffer is air. These swamps are brimming with life that is prey for soaring monsters, that Arzuli called "ailara", after the word "aila" - "water".

"Waterlings", people of water.

Biology

An Ayler is a huge entity, no less than an average Gudra.
Their frame is heavy, yet their muscles are strong, and their wings, though uncapable of flight, allow them to soar from cliff to cliff - it is how beasts look for their prey down below in dense swamp thickets.

Their whole life rests on two pillars: oceans and their islands. Oceans hold secrets meant only for waterlings, while islands nourish their food. And not much else they crave for - nothing living ones can offer them, and what they can offer in return - is prized by very few.

Being dipnoid, Ayleri are fine in water and on land, salt and fresh currents make no difference to them, and they tolerate cold and arid climates just as much, if there is enough moisture in the air. And their immune system is a secret Seven Families passionately hunt for.

Ayler - is an aggressive predator. But what lives in their home swaps can bite just as well, not being particularly happy becoming a meal. And rich murk and shore sludge are perfect ground to nourish life that can reach quite a size - making hunting and dragging something out of the water quite a task. Even Yaraga fishing vessels prefer to cut their catch into pieces right in the water first before stockpiling it onboard...

That's why Ayleri hunt through their venom.
There are glands hidden in their leg muscles, storing venom that causes paralysis. The more - the worse it gets, to the point of instant death.
Venomous spurs grow on their soles - an Ayler just bombs it's prey with all his weight, clenching to it with his clawed feet to wound flesh with said spurs. It is a matter of waiting at that point - huge wish will surface soon enough, mighty beast will fall with no motion but breath .

Venom also ensures there is no need to choose a target, anything goes - and hunger is always gnawing at Ayleri's bones.

To much terror for those alive, monsters prefer to devour their catch while it's alive, killing only things that fight back too much...

Rest lays yet unknown to living ones. Rest - if not almost everything...
They find no joy in bonding with others, and what rests in oceans' depths shall remain unseen, for no one will dare.
Who tried to settle in Ayleri archipelagos - stayed there forever...

Culture

...is not present.

Ayleri erect no cities, build no piers, call for no diplomats and venture not into the lands of the North. They know of oceans - close to shores - and that is enough.

What else might a winged moray eel the size of a barn wish, if guided by hunger and sunbathing alone?..

Yet still, those alive carved lines into their existence.

No, not that Ayleri welcomed others with open wings, no. But they figured out that these fleshy things are good not only for a snack.

Nothing and no one is at home in the raging streams of oceans' shorelines and strange misty waters of the far South, where Hal' continent is - no one but Ayleri. And soaring beasts becan... cooperating with others, offering hired "hands" as guides, wardens, sort of ship mechanics and fishermen. To guide them through the unknown waters of their mountains.

Alas, friendship with an Ayler works only one way. There is nothing one can bribe them with, nothing to scare them with.

They crave food. They care not for riches and iron, for titles and privileges. Living ones gave them an offering of nourishment...

...and Ayleri, being opportunistic predators, see it simple: they give us food, we help. And what comes next? They leave, we stay... but they are prey just as well.

Thus, be it merchant or wanderer, sailor or emissary, they all know the same thing: hold a fish in one hand, spear - in the other. Ayleri are not evil masterminds, they just follow their own way of a predator - what else should one do with prey? It should be hunted. Any moment an opportunity presents itself, for there might be no such luck tomorrow.

So, Ayleri took their title as cruel backstabbing monsters that are quick to bite you, should you be smaller than a piece you offer, or be careless enough to turn around. All vessels traveling South are armored, armed and carry cargo of spare food to ward off stray Ayelri, should such an unfortunate endeavour happen.

Sailors often "bribe" "their" Ayleri with meals to ensure their temporary loyalty - they fend off others of their kin furiously for not to share treats...

Of course, there are always other ways through alien waters - citrin explosives, poisons, thaumaturgy of Seven Families... yet no one will shatter a whole mountain or strike a deal with Bloodeed Rose just to get South with no reason of great importance.

There are times when Ayler gets a bright idea that a living one might do better than a one-time snack. Slavery is not present in the world (officially...), but it is not much of a science to scare the living light of someone, who's waist-high for you, with teeth shaped after a rock saw and a roar that makes stones shiver. And fear is a tool of trade for any oppressor.

A pack can chase a group deep into the archipelago and surround them to seal off any way out. Those trying to escape, are forced back with teeth, claws and venom. Whoever goes in - can pass as if nothing happens... and never get out after. That's pretty much it for the science of oppressing...

Prisoners are free to survive as they please, as long as they don't get in a way of soaring beasts ravaging their food stockpiles. And if there is not much to scavenge - any of said prisoners will do for a nice meal too...

Both Seven Families and Great Cities struggle to get their citizens out of Ayleri's grasp - but opposing them directly is not an option. For sea monsters will seal off water routs to the South in return, the only safe (well, safe-er) way. Another option lies through the deep ocean... where even Aylery never venture. As it is said in ports - "what water holds and Ayler does not know - exists not".

Cities spy away and buy off their kin, Families turn to them for help.

Curious though, Seven Families are forbidden to ever moor anywhere in Ayleri domain - for they see the much desired prize day and night on their preparation frames. So much to discover!

Flesh unseen! Blood with no colour! Venom of no match in the wild nature of the continent!..

...and Great Cities banned Families from even mooring, trading, and anchoring at all, be it on Ayleri territory. For a word of "no-touching", that came from Crimson Rose - is not much of a difference from a word, coming from an Ayler...

Offspring

When Yaraga found Ayleri, they thought that all these beasts were one face for everyone, or someone had missed something there. Last appeared to be the truth.

All Aylery, that the northerners met, were males. No, not hermaphrodites, not capable of self-fersilization... simply males.

But Mother- Nature has a better hand at logic, than her children - and it turned out Ayleri have wives of their own.

In depts pitch-black, along the mountain peaks underwater far below, sea serpents of tremendous sizes live. Quiet and reclusive as their shore kin... and, no matter how you look at them, with no spark of mind in their eyes.

No families, no words, no speech... nothing. Even males of their species are not eager to take dives in waters where their females dwell.

But from time to time, when it's a season for monsters to do small monsterlings, sea serpents emerge close to shorelines - and Ayleri attend to their offspring.

Not a decent thing it is, peeking - but who saw those serpents close to surface, swore deep monsters understand each other. As of those are not giant voracious sea monsters of the deep - but silent keepers of secrets known to them alone... and they keep those secrets safe from the whole world. Or world - safe from those secrets...

After a while, serpents lay roe closer to surface cliffs - and that concludes the family part of their lives. Males protect these clutches furiously, while they are not much more than roe. Curiously, each Ayler knows "genetically" how many siblings they had in "their" clutch. That's the reason killing an Ayler is forbidden. Wound them, cripple them if needed, do whatever - but do not kill. For winds help thee if there is another Ayler who recognizes a corpse as a dead sibling...

When larvae hatch, - watchful guard is no more. Females dive into the ocean, males hide in swampy moors - from now on, anything can feast on them, and elders won't twitch a tail. Natural selection, as cruel as it is...

When a grown-up (survived) Ayler is capable of climbing a cliff and standing his ground against older kin, he is accepted as a part of a pack that took a certain part of the archipelago as its domain.