Aviarag

''A leonine beast sails into view on wings of the deepest blue plumage that fades to white at the tips. Its gaze is steady beneath its azure-tinted mane, alight with the fire of a keen intellect. The creature walks as easily on two legs as on all fours, and a tail, forked like a swallow’s, swishes between its legs.''

Tactics
Aviarags are congenial beasts when approached with care and respect, but they are courageous and tenacious foes when forced into combat. The aviarag prefers to keep its attacks physical, concentrating on combinations of claws, bites and savage rakes.

If it is able to attack with surprise, an aviarag will swoop in from behind, emitting a piercing roar just before it strikes. An aviarag will keep its psionic powers in check for as long as possible, using them only as a last resort.

Description
The aviarag is a noble psionic creature, thought to be legendary by most Athasians. Aviarags stake out small areas of territory, 15 miles across being the average, and prey on small mammals and rodents. Aviarags will attack larger prey if hungry or if forced to defend their territory.

Aviarags are loners, preferring lives of solitary contemplation in simple harmony with the natural world around them. Many civilized races cannot understand how a creature as intelligent as an aviarag could willingly live as a beast. The aviarag smiles at such sentiments, knowing a kind of freedom that cannot be held, or even understood, so long as one clings to roof, field and tool. Aviarags are powerful users of the Way, possessing a host of psionic abilities. They use these powers to assess strangers before determining how best to deal with them. These powers make them valued as guides and advisors, when one can be located. Athasian folklore features references to aviarags used as mounts or beasts of burden, but given the creature's intellect, such relationships are almost certain to have been voluntary, where they existed at all.

An average aviarag lives for about 30 years, stands almost 4 feet tall at the shoulder and is up to 10 feet long, weighing in at around 650 pounds.

Society
As noted above, the aviarag is a solitary creature. Once every two years, however, the female of the species will leave her territory and search for a mate. Aviarag do not pair for life and after a brief mating season, the female will return to her lair. Up to 1d4 young are born three months after mating, remaining with their mother for their first year before venturing forth into the world to seek territory of their own.