An adult , tamed, Quetzali named Tenamaxtli
The Quetzali are among the rarest and most beautiful of creatures found in the great Southern Rainforest. However, they're a creature of which little is known to the world at large.
Appearance[]
Quetzali resemble winged, feathered 'nagas', humanoid serpents, often with a wide array of rainbow colours on their feathers and emerald green scales.
Often a 'Tamed' Quetzali will choose to wear clothing that bares a large amount of skin/scales due to their preference for breathability, thanks to their inability to sweat. This attire most often takes the form of 'strip robes' and other such attire, usually with metal accents for stye. Even feral they will often adorn their bodies with jewelry, ranging from headdresses to gems inserted among their scales, or bells tied among the feathers at the tips of their tails.
Population[]
Approx. 5,000 total living within the southern rainforest. Less than 100 known living outside of their native habitat.
Size[]
Adult Quetzali measure between twenty and fifty feet from nose to the tip of their tail. They usually have a wingspan accounting roughly half that length.
Strength[]
Quetzali have slightly above average human strength in their humanoid upper torsos, but for their very light weight, their serpent tails are on par with some of the largest anacondas known.
Speed[]
On land, Quetzali are extremely slow, albeit almost completely silent. However, when airborn they can reach speeds exceeding 85 MPH through the skies, relying on higher altitudes to make up for their, compared to pegasi, slowish speeds.
Special ability[]
Quetzali feed off of ambient magic following the wavelengths of Light, Sun, Life, and Love. They’re capable of emanating an aura that causes beings nearby to become relaxed and aroused, making their feeding much easier for all involved. This feeding doesn’t require any form of biting, sucking, eating, or anything else, merely being in its presence, though physical interaction of a more romantic sort makes the feeding much easier.
Weakness[]
While very easy to feed, it’s also very easy for a Quetzali to wind up starving to death, a painful and heartbreaking experience as they willl, quite literally, cry themselves to death in their final moments.
They also have an innate, instinctive fear of the dark that is extremely difficult for them to overcome. This stems from a belief in a mythical beast called 'The Grue', a shadow monster that attacks and kills anything in the darkness. So far no proof of its existence has been found, but the instinctive fear remains as strong as ever in the Quetzali.
Reproduction[]
Quetzali reproduce pathenogenetically, so they don’t require any male for an offspring to be born. Any ‘male’ Quetzali is considered a genetic mutation, due to their reproductive means.
Behaviour[]
Due to their nature, Feral Quetzali tend towards being highly territorial pack animals, with the vast majority living in and around an ancient Bast temple dedicated to the oldest and largest Quetzali known as 'The Matriarch', a sort of living fertility goddess worshipped by several local Bast villages whom the quetzali see as part of their 'flock'.
Sometimes Feral Quetzali leave the flock, for resons varrying from banishment due to misbehavior, to simply a sense of curiosity getting the better of them. These 'lone wanderers' will often take on almost any creature capable fo sating their lust as 'prey', though said 'prey' is often unharmed beyond being left tired after several hours of 'feeding'.
Successfully Tamed quetzali tend to react to their new lover/master/mistress/compaion in much the same way as the ferals see their sisters and the bast villagers. They see them and their companions as a new 'Flock' and will protect them fiercely. They will also greet new members of their 'flock' with open arms and spread wings, treating them as if they'd known them for ages, unless they feel these new 'flock members' cannot be trusted.
Intelligence[]
Quetzali are considered a sapient species, capable of speaking english/equish with little difficulty. However, due to their feral nature in the wilds and their tendency towards being fiercly protective of their loved ones, they are often times viewed as an ‘intelligent pet’ by most races, and will often be treated as such, if not being treated as a child in an adult’s body.
Lifespan+diet[]
Quetzali are fairly long-lived beings, at least when compared to human. On average, they live for about 100-115 years. However, their lifespan can drastically increase due to their required nourishment, love, sunlight/sun magic, all of which can be gained from a variety of methods. When Quetzali is shown love and affection, and fed as needed, not to mention kept safe, they can live almost indefinitely, and grow in size to gigantic proportions, although that takes hundreds, maybe thousand of years. The number who live beyond the average, however, is exceedingly rare, eith only one confirmed aside formt he mythical 'Matriarch'.
Location[]
The deepest, darkest[By 'Deepest, Darkest' I mean 'firthest in and least explored', not LITERALLY deepest and darkest.] parts of the Southern Rainforest.
Lore[]
Believed by some Humans to be the daughters of the Mayan sun god Quetzalcoatl, the Quetzali are most commonly located in and around an ancient Bast temple dedicated to an ancient fertility goddess known as 'The Matriarch'.
Though believed at one time abandoned, the Temple had been located in the past by 'Demon Hunters' hunting down the infamous 'Tirek Spawn', possibly mutated by the temple's magics. Though the Quetzali living there live peacefully alongside the Bast villages of the area, whom still visit the temple for worship of the ancient goddess. This 'worship' usually takes the form of orgies involving the feral Quetzali living within the temple.
In recent times, the so-called 'demon hunters' who located and discovered the Quetzali began to mercilessly poach them, killing many of the innocent creatures for their scales, feathers, and aphrodesiac venom, whilst others were ripped from their nests and taken as twisted pets, often bred in mills and sold on the black market. Princess Celestia put a firm stop to this, but the damage was done, with items made from Quetzali parts still found in the homes of some less scrupulous nobles, and 'pet' quetzali still found in various placed in Equestria, including one confirmed to reside at 'The Hitching Post' in Stalliongrad.