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sunnytoxicbunny
Cool thread! I'd like to contribute.
Flight: Water
Breed: Gaoler
All Waterborn Gaolers are hatched with a shiny, water-repellant coat. They are strong, graceful swimmers, but not very fast. They rarely develop gills but can hold their breaths for a couple of hours. (Gills are more likely to appear on Gaolers with the Fans gene expressed.) They are strong and merciless underwater stealth hunters, able to sense Shade activity in the depths by the way the water runs through their fur.
Waterborn Gaolers are considered, by others and by themselves, to be among the weakest of mages. The dilution of Ice into its more pliable form causes the ancestral skills of freezing and entrapping enemies to be next to useless. The only exceptions to this are Water Primals, powerful mages capable of controlling the temperature of the water spells they cast, from freezing to boiling.
The natural Water flight ability to prophesy is also diminished due to the contradictions between heritage and homeland. Even multigaze Gaolers are weak in this regard. They are capable of seeing into the past with great clarity and precision; but they cannot see the future and sometimes have difficulty comprehending the present as well.
Flight: Fire
Breed: Gaoler
One would expect the Fire element to be the very antithesis of Gaoler-ness, and to some extent that is so: few Gaolers make their home in the land of their ancient enemy. Most Gaolers who end up in the Flamecaller's domain were born outside the Southern Icefields. Their offspring manage to find a unique place
in the forges.
Firstly, their magic retains an element of coolness to it. Gaoler smiths work best as partners with another Flameborn; their partner heats and works the metal and they temper it, perfectly gauging the evenness and temperature drop until it needs to go back in the forge. Secondly, the offspring have much shorter coats than their Ice brethren. Those Gaolers who have won the favor of the Flamecaller and work in her personal forges tend to shave off their coats entirely, though they are rather self-conscious about it when coming into contact with Gaolers from other flights.
Fire Gaolers generally remain in their flight because they wanted something to be passionate about other than their ancestral calling; they choose to focus on their work instead of tracking down or guarding Shade-touched creatures or objects. While some Shade activity is present in the Ashfall Waste, the few Gaolers tasked with guarding those areas are restless and bored. Security is rather less than stellar at Fire-based prisons, which average one breakout per year. They frequently need stern reminders from the Southern Icefields to keep at their jobs.
((I know you aren't quite set up for it yet, but I'd like to add this in reserve for when you do!))
Flight: Water
Breed: Banescale
The immediate thought that comes to mind with Fire creatures in a Water lair is that it would never work; however, Banescales are much less resistant to this pairing than they would be in an Ice lair. Like all Banescales, they prefer the company of Coatls and would rather avoid Gaolers at all costs.
Many Water Banes develop striking mottled or striped coloration, rather like the colorful fish and sea slugs that live in the Fishspine Reef. Fans is a much more common/preferred gene than Plumage; even though the feathers are waterproof, they tend to slow the Banescale down when swimming. The usually massive wings are somewhat smaller on Waterborn Banes, allowing them to effectively "fly" though the water. They tend to congregate in cliffside lairs: perching on the edges, flying out, and diving underwater to catch their prey, much like a puffin.
Waterborn Banescales are still capable of breathing fire, but it doesn't work underwater for obvious reasons. Their elemental powers with Water are about average; neither weaker nor stronger than most other breeds whose ancestral origins are from other flights.
A Waterborn Bane that makes its home in another flight will always attempt to orient itself near a river, stream, or the Outer Ocean; never a lake or pond. Something about the motion of the moving current calls to their ancestral blood, where they remember seeing the magma flow past their eggs. They feel stagnant and trapped when faced with a still body of water. Fortunately for permanent Water Flight Banes, the Sea of the Thousand Currents is always moving.
