Ardisonik

The first most noticeable trait for the ardisoniks are their humanoid stance. Bipedial with long arms, the only major difference from this build is the addition of their wings, tail, and the forward stance to accommodate the weight.   From the top down, the head of an ardisonik holds many draconic and predatory qualities. They have long snouts that end with large nostrils. Mouths are wide with a somewhat primitive lips structures. Though their teeth are jagged, they have back, less visible teeth that are flat, allowing an omnivore diet. They have small, rigid ears set a bit behind their eyes, almost unnoticeable. Their natural points make them appear as a second set of horns. Small bumps start at the brow ridge and move backwards, ending in large knubs for females and short horns that flow backwards for males.   Ardisonik eyes are actually rounded, contrary to the beliefs of most common people. They possess two sets of eyelids, with their inner lid being used for for moistening their eyes. Their irises tend to cover the full visible area of the eye, ranging from black to dark browns and greens.   Their necks are powerful and their shoulders are incredibly well developed, this is due to the extra wings they have on their backs, which can reach a span of 10 feet on males. Though adults do not retain the ability to fly without magical aid, children can often fly around with ease as their wings grow fast and the body catches up. Ardisonik chest's are equally large and well developed.   The wings themselves are largely useless for adult flight, but still retain a degree of sexuality in the culture. Though generally their wings retain no unusual patterns, fully formed, large wings are attractive in both males and females, and often they are adorned with piercings and clothes. Only in military action or dangerous jobs are they ever kept protected, for fear of being damaged.   From their powerful shoulders, their arms are long and powerful. Each limb ends with long hands containing opposable thumbs. Their fingers, while ending somewhat pointed, do not have actual claws like most dragons, but instead have dark nails not too dissimilar, though far harder, than human or elven nails.   Ardisonik waists are more narrow than their chests, but a very rounded, almost appearing like a cylinder jutting from the muscled top. It isn't uncommon, with age, for their stomachs to naturally expand, giving an appearance of weight gain. In actuality, this is simply a weakening of their scale's letting their organs push outward more and can cause a large number of health problems.   Like all true dragons, their legs are situated beneath them. Their legs are powerful with the unusual retention of high ankles and toe walking that is common among quadrupeds. They retain claws on the end of their toes, set high and short.   Coming off their waist, their tail is their best feature for balance, but it has become something that is thick and inflexible. Most muscle movement in their tails is involuntary to help them balance. The short tails tend to rest just above ground when standing still, dragging behind them when they crouch.   The scale colors of most ardisonik range from a deep olive green to a lighter, yellow-green hue. No patterns decorate them or differentiate the male from female. In fact, the largest indicators of gender are the horns of males.

Young ardisonik's hatch from eggs and can appear to look somewhat serpentine. At a length of about 1'6", they move largely on all fours as soon as they are born. Their wings make up almost half of their size initially, and are used to help cling to the mother. These early years are spent in a small sibling brood crawling along their mother.   Within the first year, the hatchlings will begin experimenting with flight, often through roughhousing on the mother and falling off. The children's high energy makes education difficult in these early years. It will often only take a few weeks before all of the children in a brood will be able to fly. At this point, they begin alternating between flying around their mother and landing on her to climb.   Normally, at the same time as they begin to fly, the mother will start urging her children off from her. Most children will have reached a length of 2' at this point and started bulking in the shoulders and chest. They will remain quadrupedal for a few years still.   Ardisonik will begin slowing in their physical growth and start developing their intelligence and behavior instead. From around two years to fifteen years of age, most will begin learning from their parents, entering a formal education around five years.   By fifteen years of age, still moving on all fours, they will have the maturity of many humans in their twenties. Sexual maturation begin now, followed by an awkward transition that can last up to five years.   For both genders, their legs and arms rapidly grow in size, the wings stop growing entirely, and their bodies will reach their peak size. The Haluss Organ, the dragon specific organ providing arcane lift for flight, will start developing, as well as the Zudav Glands that give dragons their characteristic fire breath. Neither will develop to full effect. Males will grow large brow ridges and horns. Both genders will become fertile, though not necessarily sexually active.   During this growth spurt, the legs bulk up to the point that quadrupedal movement gets awkward. Their wings will no longer be able to sustain them in long flight, and their still not quite strong enough to only move on their legs. This will result in these teenagers constantly rotating between four-legged galloping, to gliding, to bidpedal walking, and resting as their bodies adjust to their new primary locomotion.   Fertile males can reproduce their entire lives. Females are born with ten egg clutches that will lie dormant. Though it's not entirely sure what triggers it, a female will begin a cycle of developing an egg clutch, become receptive to partners, and back to a dormant stage if unfertilized. Not all females will go through all ten clutches in their lives.

Surprising to most, ardisonik are omnivores and consume largely plants. They favor a rich diversity of fruits in their diet and supplement it with small and medium game, preferring to eat their meat whole.   While they are omnivores and can consume the whole of an animal, their digestive tract is not well developed for many plants. Many tougher plants are too difficult for them to digest fully and require them to be specially prepared, if eaten at all.

Most of the ardisonik senses fall within the same range of sentient normalcy. Their eyesight is somewhat stronger, their hearing a bit dimmer, but otherwise unremarkable.   One perception that is notable is a similarity to sensing arcane energy like vegetians do. While their sense is not as powerful, it has lead to speculation of an origin around a particularly strong arcane well.