On the Discovery of a Pterophor, from the notes of Seraphina.
With some Rogue Paralogos aiding me, they have brought back a new face in our midst. A creature that I hadn’t seen before. At first it seemed to look at me with rather bright eyes, but a weakened body. The Rogues asked if I could restore it to health in my Tower. I agreed. I thought it was a Paralogos of some sort, perhaps a Wicked. It after all did have the similar “light pores” a Paralogos did. Yet it did not ‘speak’, and its wings were far more developed and its body very different from a Paralogos’ bodyplan.
I asked Ginkgo (Paralogos) about it, but he wasn’t sure either– mostly trying to gesture towards the creature. In terms of asking Gin (Whiffling) if he had heard of such a thing, he calmly tried to speak with it. The Paralogos-esque creature at first merely seemed to mimic whatever Gin was saying. It wouldn’t speak with me at all. However, Keita (Triceridos) was the first one to really make contact, in terms of a conversation.
When I spoke to Keita later on, she explained that this being– which she called a Pteraphor – did not live anywhere near a human society. It had likely been blown in by strong winds from one of the less habited areas of our planet Lingua. Not a polluted area per say, but Keita did mention that these beings were flyers more than ground settlers.
She explained that the Pteraphor would speak (telepathically) with me a bit now that it had re-grasped a bit of the local language. This Pteraphor again, had not been around other species unlike itself for some time. Other than non-human animals, perhaps a scattered human sighting– but no interactions noted.
Its telepathic voice croaked a bit awkwardly, and it asked if I had been the one offering it a safe place to stay. I noted that I did, and I was the Caretaker of this place and its residents. I asked how it had ended up here in Sermos, considering I had never seen one of its kind before. "Wind blew me in. No choice in the matter. Storms too rough." It also asked if any others like it had been found, but I had to give a negative answer to that question. I told it that only it had come ashore according to the Rogue Paralogos group that had found it.
“Thank the cousins then. Must fly back soon. Bad air here. Air is the spirit of life.”
It groaned and rolled back over, a wing curling around its face.
This Pteraphor had seemed to not recover much by being in one of my core library rooms– it seemed that its healing factor for its body was unlike that of a Paralogos or Triceridos. I wondered how close it was to its “cousins”. Perhaps what it said last might be a clue on how to help it…
Much like Triceridos, Pterophors are a subspecies of Paralogos. They are farther removed from their progenitor Paralogos species however. Pterophors' bodies are more akin to the pterosauria family than the hadrosaurid-esque Paralogos and to a lesser degree Triceridos (which have the ceratopsian influences). Pterophors relate and theme themselves around metaphors, which are defined as: "A figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things by stating that one is the other." (ex. "The rain is as cold as ice.") In this context, we do not differentiate between metaphors and similies.
Because metaphors are extremely flexible and open to interpretation, Pterophors (metaphors) are the least solidified in terms of appearance out of all the Paralogos subspecies discovered so far. The Pterophor species also doesn't "claim" their influences in the ways Paralogos or Triceridos do, since metaphors are so easily created. This means that multiple Pterophors may share a similar or identical theming. Their bodies are as fluid as the winds and gusts they are able to fly on. They are rather different from their species-relations in this and other ways.
Pterophors do not quite understand people (humans). They stay far away from societies, and most importantly- do not read. They are very visual and speech based creatures. With a combination of Magic (energy) and light, they do maintain a shape and personality more than just the wisps of collective strength from the world around them. See Chapter 5 to see how Paralogos form and grow- Pterophors act similarly.
Pterophors are a new sight in the skies of Lingua, and are again rather far removed from human societies, more so almost understanding the fringes of human thought and speech. Like a sort of parrot or mockingbird, this is how they formed from the phrases that fascinated them so.
- Pterophors MUST have a metaphor (or simile) focus - these do not have to be unique, however.
- Pterophors MUST always have a beak and wing arms - these can however vary in size, shape and color (as well as material for the wings)
- Pterophors generally have thinner tails than other Paralogos species, although they still need at least four (4) segments.
- Pterophors may NOT be Wicked
- Apart from these four rules, Pterophors are identical to standard Paralogos
For additional information regarding Pterophor designs, please refer to the Paralogos Design Guide.
Aside from obtaining a Pterophor via officially released adoptables (whether via regular sales, admin-hosted raffles, potential event rewards or the Preserve), you may also create your own Pterophor with the associated MYO item: Wisp of Magic
These can be obtained via one of the following ways:
- Purchased in the Ink Market.
- Randomly earned from a Loot Bag.
- Won as part of an event / contest / raffle.
- Received from another member via trades.
To find out how exactly to design and submit your Pterophor for approval, please check out the MYO Process page!