Burleps

Burleps have only one set of legs on which they can balance and walk. However, these dragons are not bipedal; rather, their front legs have evolved into large wings similar to those of a bat which often assist in walking as well. These scaled dragons come in a variety of patterns, usually with no more than three different colors found on the same dragon. Wild varieties typically appear in colors fitting their chosen environments. This camouflage acts as a natural defense against predators and helps the dragon hide themselves when hunting prey.

These dragons have been observed to have a high mutation rate, which may explain their success in different kinds of environments as they migrated out of their native Seville, into neighboring countries and farther. Today, they are found in Kaimo, Lexelle, Aluum, and even in Oudnavi and Copun, though rarely.

Burlep packs seem to disparage highly differential colorings, however, possibly due to the danger posed to the whole pack when a dragon doesn't fit in with the environment. A pack will view an aberrant dragon as weaker, and sometimes mothers even kill or abandon the pups that emerge with strange colorings. This practice may have led to the heavy migration of Burleps across Alksheist. Different packs have different arrays of colors, and do not interact well with other packs.

In some cases, ousted or abandoned eggs or pups have been saved by Wardens.

Physical Characteristics


Burlep dragons are bird hipped dragons that share some similarities to the common bat in bone structure. They are able to walk upright on their hind legs, a feat that can increase their height to ten feet tall, neck, torso, and legs included. More commonly, however, they walk perched on their wings. The structure of their keel and wing digits make efficient use of the force produced by the motion of their wings and includes full rotation joints which aid in hovering in place. The wing shape and length have evolved to reduce friction. All these factors in combination with their relatively light weights make these midsize fliers incredibly agile even in high, thin air.

The scales along their muzzle and the leading edges of their wings sport small barbs, used to interrupt the flow of air off the scales and reduce friction and therefore sound. Their leathers have microscopic points of muscle able to adjust the tautness of them, avoiding the stereotypical leather flapping sound of a dragons wing. This makes the burlep an efficient and deadly predator.

These dragons are able to make use of elemental magic, and they are typically aligned with air and subtypes related to it. Two varieties of burlep have been noted: a more magically inclined variety that seem to come in smaller sizes but have greater talent in manipulating their element and a more physically inclined variety that come in larger sizes and display increased strength and resiliency but have less magical talent.

Socially these two varieties rarely mix. This, combined with the social stigmas about scale color and camouflage have led to many distinct subspecies and packs of burleps.

Society
Burlep dragons are judgmental and highly prejudiced. Their tendency to form in-groups and jealously guard themselves from out-groups makes interacting with burleps difficult, even for non-dragons. Curiously, the majority of their nasty attitude is pointed at other burleps, especially those not a part of their pack group.

However, these dragons are highly courageous and naturally strong. In fact, physical-oriented burlep packs have been known to ostracize individuals who do not show an appropriate amount of bravery. These packs tend to have social rituals involving mock battles and much posturing. Conversely, magic-oriented burleps ostracize those with low magical potential. The culling of the young dragons in burlep society is seen as somewhat barbaric and distasteful in other dragons and non-dragons, but it has created an incredible predator and maintained highly structured societies.

Few packs consist of both magic and physical types and relations in these packs are tense. Physical packs are far more common than magic packs, who tend to weed themselves out too thinly.

Despite their awful personalities, their combat ability and stealth are among the highest in known dragon species. Any crusader, eraser, or Vanguard would be proud to call this dragon their andzkin.