Whers

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Physiology

Whers resemble dragons in appearance, but they are much less elegant and far more ugly. Nocturnal because of their lamp-like reflective eyes, these creatures have a terrific sense of smell and are sometimes used in mines to find "bad air." Thick hides protect them from the harmful elements. Each of their feet has four gnarled digits on it. Like their fire-lizard and dragon cousins, whers have jewel-like eyes. Their smoothed out eyes swirl with colors that reflect their emotions. They come in most of the same colours as dragons do. Whers can fly, but only at night when the air is thicker to allow their weaker wings that extra lift. Wher colours and sizes are listed below (length by height to shoulder).

• Gold: 8.5 to 9 by 6 ft.
  
• Bronze: 7.5 to 8 by 5 ft.
  
• Brown: 6 to 7 by 4 ft.
  
• Blue: 4.5 to 6 by 3.5 ft.
  
• Green: 4 to 5.5 ft by 3 ft.
  

Psychology

Whers can in fact speak, albeit at the level of a very young child for even the most intelligent cases, and communicate mainly by way of feelings or mental images. Dragons are generally offended when compared to their simpleminded cousins, and do not often initiate conversation with them unless it is required.

At birth, whers can Impress on a single trainer and can recognize when that person is in danger. However, their choice of who to Impress is usually closer to fire-lizards, in that they look for whoever has food available. It is important for the would-be handler to bond with their Whers using a 'blood-bond'. Generally this means the Handlers cuts their own hand or finger to allow the Wher to 'taste' them. The blood acts as a conduit to allow the Whers to form a stronger bond with their Handler. Bondings without the blood bond are not as successful or close as those with.

Once bonded, the whers will do everything in their power to protect that person. Whers bond on the deep telepathic level to their handlers as dragons do to their lifemates. A wher handler will only have one wher at a time. Bonded whers tend to be more intelligent than their non-bonded cousins, being able to learn and comprehend everything more easily when they are connected to the human mind.

However, unlike dragons, whers do not 'have' to Impress. They can live their life without the bond that is so essential to their cousins. These wild whers tend to be untrustworthy, unreliable, vicious animals,. Without a human there, the wher hatchlings will leave their mother and go wild. Generally if a Wher hatched from a domestic Wher does not bond with a Handler, they are killed. Otherwise, they will become vicious and unpredictable, quite often turning even on those who feed them. Bonded whers take the names of their handlers and add "-sk" to the end. For example, Tara might have a wher named Task or Tarask, and Jeremy might have Jesk or Jeresk.




Mating & Reproduction

Like dragons, female whers experience a periodic urge to mate. Instead of flying, they run, and interested males will pursue them. Wher runs can be violent and bloody, with males often getting into fights over the female until she chooses a winner. Unlike with dragons, any female wher can produce eggs, albeit not in very large clutches and usually with dud eggs present. Sizes of clutches are listed below.

• Gold: 4 to 15 eggs.
  
• Green: Up to 3 eggs.