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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Species for future worldbuilding
- Image Credit: Header, Color chart, Variant 1, Variant 2, Variant 3
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: Egren [ee-gren]
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Origins: Hetzal Prime
- Average Lifespan: 7 years
- Elder: 5-7 years
- Adult: 6+ months
- Juvenile: 0-6 months
- Chick: 0-4 months
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description: Small winged birds with long, thin legs, necks and beaks
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
- Breathes: Type I Atmosphere
- Average Height of Adults: 1 ft (30 cm)
- Average Length of Adults: 1 ft (30 cm) wingspan
- Average Weight of Adults: 1 lb (0.45 kg)
- Skin Color: Ivory
- Feather Color: Ranges from grayish blue to diluted brown. May be solid-colored or pied, with a variety of white and/or black markings.
- Eye Color: Black
- Distinctions: Egrens have small wings, capable of short-distance flight (about 10 feet high and 50 feet long). Their eggs are a bright steel blue color. Males are slightly larger than females, with thicker necks and beaks, and a tuft of long, thin feathers behind their heads. Chicks are born whitish gray, their true color emerging at 1 week, with the loss of their down feathers. Elders will appear scrawnier with thinner, duller feathers.
- Races: N/A
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Sensitive
Strengths:
- Strong digestive system – Can break down most toxins and parasites.
- Small and agile – Can outrun predators on land and hide in small areas.
- High metabolism – Voracious appetites. Will not last long without a steady source of food and water.
- Semi-aquatic – Needs water to bathe in or a degree of moisture in the air for their skin to stay properly hydrated.
CULTURE
- Climate: Egrens thrive in temperate and tropical climates where food is abundant all year around. While their feathers provide some insulation against the heat and cold, they generally adapt to hotter, more humid climates better than cold and dry ones.
- Diet: Omnivore. Primarily insects and other small aquatic creatures such as fish, frogs and snails, supplemented with plants including fruit, seeds and fungi. They are versatile eaters with strong digestive systems, and can process most foods safe for Human consumption, scavenging on carcasses and ganging up on larger creatures for meat, if hungry enough.
- Communication: Bird sounds and body language
- Relaxed: Soft coos and clucks
- Happy/excited: Peeping trills and chirps
- Separation call: Loud whistles
- Courtship: Melodic purrs
- Annoyed/confused: Hisses
- Angry/threatened: Screeches
- Technology level: N/A
- Religion/Beliefs: N/A
- General behavior: Egrens are highly social and intellectual birds, possessing a degree of mimicry in copying the behavioral patterns of other species, originally a survival adaptation mechanism. They live in flocks where safety in numbers is paramount in defending themselves against predators, often accompanying larger creatures for bouncer protection in exchange for removal of parasitic insects. They are non-migratory, so long as food and water are in steady supply. Males and females coexist peacefully, males being more nocturnal than females, so that both genders alternate in hunting and watching over the flock. The elderly, disabled, and sick are usually outcasted to the perimeter of the flock so as to be the first picked off by predators. If flight is not possible, egrens will band together against predators, using their beaks and clawed feet as weapons and puffing out their feathers and wings to intimidate. Chicks are able to identify their parents and siblings by scent, to avoid incest.
- Reproduction: Egrens are sexually active in warm temperatures and when food is abundant; all year around, if both are constant. Flocks coordinate in laying clutches at the same time and mating as soon as the chicks separate from their parents, about every 2 months. Males and females form pair bonds and work together to find suitable nesting grounds and build nests, varying from burrows underground to high branches in trees. Females lay an average clutch of 3-4 eggs. Males incubate the eggs during day, females at night, while the other guards the nest and hunts. After 3 weeks of incubation, the eggs hatch. Chicks are born with down feathers and eyes open. Within a few hours, chicks can walk, swim, eat and drink. Their down feathers shed at 1 week in exchange for actual feathers. Chicks follow their parents until 2 months of age. At 4 months, they start puberty and are nearly half the size of adults. At 6 months, they reach their adult size, at which time they may migrate to join other flocks. Most females will not lay fully developed eggs until 1 year of age (up to which they lay fewer, softshell eggs that are usually abandoned), laying larger clutches (up to 8 eggs) within ages 2-5 years. Most healthy egrens are able to reproduce until death.
- Domestication: If imprinted from birth, egrens can form strong attachments with other species. They can be trained to recognize verbal cues and perform tricks. If raised as pets, bonded to their owners, they might have no need for egren companionship. For most domesticated egrens raised free-ranging on farms, it is recommended that they are grouped in a flock of at least 4 to 6 members, so as to avoid unnecessary stress caused by insecurity in lack of numbers.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Originating from the wetlands of Hetzal Prime, egrens were domesticated early on with the arrival of the first settlers on Hetzal Prime, becoming popular companion animals as natural pest control for farmers, feeding on parasitic insects that infest water, crops and livestock. They have since been exported to many agricultural worlds and settlements for the same purpose. Or as exotic pets and delicacies, on other planets.
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