Sting Tailed Wyvern

One of the species of genus wyvero within order Draconidae, the diminutive Sting Tailed Wyvern is the smallest of the Lesser Draconid "social wyverns". Although carrying venomous stinging needles in their tails, their small size and weak potency make them individually little more than an aggressive annoyance. In swarms, however, they collectively become a potentially deadly threat. Their habit of establishing hives in inconvenient places across the Great Nebula have led some to consider them to be pests.    

Anatomy

  As a member of the reptilian order draconidae, sting tailed wyverns share many anatomical features with their fellow draconids. Their hides consist of hard scales fused together into a small handful of protective scale plates that are thickest down the length of the spinal column. The frills over their ear holes are short with little membrane. They have fine motor control over the bony spines, which they use as a form of non-verbal communication with others in their swarm.   Like the other members of genus wyvero, sting tailed wyverns have wings suited for flight across the expanse of the Great Constellation. The membrane extends from the wrist to the pelvic bone. They have the smallest wingspan of all wyverns, and maintain flight with a wingbeat so fast it creates an audible hum of between 250 Hz and 350 Hz. They are capable of hovering in one place, and in some circumstances, reverse flight. Their tails are long and thin, ending in a club covered in a mass of venomous stinging needles which give the species its common name. An individual sting, while painful, poses little danger to a Greater Draconid, but in large numbers the cumulative effects can rapidly overwhelm and subdue even the largest and hardiest of draconids.   Sting tailed wyverns possess an additional stomach lateral to their normal digestive tract known as a "honey crop", within which they preserve excess meals of meat by converting it into a sweet golden fluid known as "meat honey".   Sting tailed wyvern hides are brightly coloured in hues of red, amber, yellow, green, or turquoise, with conspicuous contrasting bands of solid jet black. It is an example of aposematism, a highly visible warning to would-be predators that the species is armed and dangerous.    

Wyvern Hives

  Sting tailed wyverns are social draconids who construct and live together in large communal hives. Individuals within the hive will preen each other and tend to each other's hatchlings. They typically prefer to construct their hives out of asteroid regalith, creating intricate branching structures that are nearly as tough as reinforced astercrete, making established hives difficult to remove.   Sting tailed wyverns are carnivorous and will actively hunt for fresh prey. They will work together to drag their prey back to a spot close to the hive, if possible and practical to do so. They construct special cells inside their hives for storing their meat honey for later consumption during times of lean hunting. Despite the nature of this meat honey's origin, it is highly prized as a sweet delicacy across the Great Constellation, especially when brewed into a drink known as "carnobrew" or "corpse mead". Meat honey is also known to have mild antiseptic and restorative properties when applied to open wounds. Sting tailed drakes will go to great lengths to protect their hive, making harvesting meat honey a difficult and dangerous activity. A Greater Draconid must take precautions, lest they find themselves the source of a new batch of meat honey.   Sting tailed wyverns have been known to attack Greater Draconid structures, mistaking the yellow and black hazard stripes painted on the outside of asteroid bases for wyverns from rival hives.    

Aberrance

  Like all draconids, and most things that exist in the Great Constellation, sting tailed wyverns are susceptible to the hostile effects of aberrance. It is rare to find the most severe forms of aberrance within a hive, as sting tailed wyverns are unusually adept among the Lesser Draconids at identifying and purging such individuals from the swarm.    

Aberrant Monochromacy

 

Once highly visible hazard stripes discarded for a coat without contrast, a deadly ambush for the unwary.

  A minor aberrance where the normally bright and vivid hide of an afflicted sting tailed wyvern becomes a pure, solid, neutral grey. One of the few sting tailed wyvern aberrances that is not actively purged from the swarm by its members, an affliction of Aberrant Monochramacy can quickly spread and overtake the entire hive.    

Aberrant Carnobrewer Syndrome

 

Intoxicated on tainted corpse mead, the swarm flies in a chaotic drunken dance.

  A minor aberrance where an afflicted sting tailed wyvern begins to uncontrollably ferment the meat within its honey crop into a form of "naturally" occurring, highly alcoholic corpse mead. Any sting tailed wyvern who mistakenly drinks from a meat honey cell tainted this way suffers from extreme, and possibly permanent inebriation in addition to exposure to further aberrances. It is recommended that this tainted corpse mead should never be consumed by Greater Draconids.