Griffin

griffins

Carved war-beasts of the pole—lion-bodied, eagle-winged mounts ridden by the Valkyrie above the Antarctic ice.

Story so far

Griffins are the fearsome flying mounts of the Obsidian Valkyrie, Carved beasts with the body of a lion and the wings, forelegs, and hooked-beaked head of an eagle. The largest weigh three thousand kilograms and span ten meters wing to wing, their under-wings painted with screaming sky-blue demon faces, wards and glyphs inked white along their black beaks. Sefi the Quiet descends on one to reach her dying brother Ragnar, scattering a whole flight of thirteen that slam down into the mountain pass, some clinging to sheer rock.

They cannot fly in the worst polar storms and their eardrums bleed near Asgard's high-frequency emitters, but they carry riders and prisoners across the vast wastes. Alia Snowsparrow once bore the child Ragnar up on hers to teach him that his own arms and will kept him from falling; her throne is the rib cage of the largest griffin ever Carved.

Appearance

Immense beasts, lion-bodied and eagle-headed, with white feathers, black hooked beaks the size of a grown man's head, pale blue eyes, wards painted white along the beak, and under-wings painted with sky-blue demon faces.

Role

The Valkyrie's aerial war-mounts; the winged predators of the polar clans that carry riders, prisoners, and the dead across the ice.

Relationships

The Valkyrie — The female Obsidian riders who master and fly them into war and across the wastes.

Sefi the Quiet — The princess whose griffin bears her to her dying brother and, later, into the Rising's war.

Alia Snowsparrow — The queen who once flew the boy Ragnar up on hers and whose throne is a giant griffin's rib cage.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 30

Carved war-beasts of the pole—lion-bodied, eagle-winged mounts ridden by the Valkyrie above the Antarctic ice.