Monta Tervedis! I recently got the idea for these creatures on the Dinosaur thread here in the Bestiary, and I wanted to do a separate post to talk about the race of Ardh'ura (ARDTH oo-RAH) it is Somarundian for Land Dragon.

These creatures are extremely intelligent and deadly (more so than the Elvurs) They grow to be about six feet tall from ground to shoulder, and can communicate through a fairly simple language of clicks, whistles, and grunts, in combination with body language and scents that they release into the air through their skin. Attached is a picture of one following it's rider through a palace in Somarundi. You can see the feathers on the head are totally erect, signifying that it is exited/happy/or anxious about the prospect of running.

The Land Dragons can use their claws to scale cliff walls, while carrying a rider on its back. So one of the favorite techniques used by Ardh'ura and their riders is to attack an enemy force and then lure them into a canyon, while several more riders wait, perched on the sides of the cliff. As soon as the pursuing force enters the canyon, the Ardh'ura Can leap from the canyon walls and attack from above, using their armored tails and sharp claws to rip apart an enemy force. No enemy has caught on to this strategy yet, because no one survives the attack. Those that do manage to escape, don't make it very far, because an Ardh'ura with a rider on its back can still travel much faster than a galloping horse.

The Ardh'ura does not have scales, like other reptiles, but instead has skin covered in down feathers to protect it from the sun. This has given rise to the theory that Ardh'ura are warm-blooded creatures, which is probably true, because wild Ardh'ura have been sighted very far north, especially during years were food is scarce in the desert, although they prefer the desert because their coloration is best suited for that area.

Here is a short story I wrote about a Telnorian meeting an Ardh-ura for the first time.


The interior of the building was well lit and well ventilated. It was also extremely lofty, and smelled of a mixture of grain, meat, and a strange scent Novadar had never smelled before. Then he noticed the occupants of the building, and stopped in his tracks. They were all giant lizards. The creatures were tan with brown striped, they had exceedingly long tails, and walked on their hind legs, seeming to constantly lean forward. Their feet had huge claws, the size of hunting knives, and their hands, if you could call them such, also had claws, though slightly smaller. The large reptiles were roaming about inside the building which had no walls, but only pillars. Several of them stopped and twisted their heads to look at him with one eye, feathers standing on end on the tops of their heads.
“Come, all of you,” said Asad, “I will show you to your individual mounts.”
He held two fingers to his lips and gave several shrill whistles, followed by a clicking of his tongue. Instantly, four saddled creatures trotted out of the crowd towards them, the feathers on their heads twitching up and down. Their approach was extremely swift, but Novadar could see they were only walking.
The creatures stopped in front of them, and one of them approached Asad and nudged him gently on the shoulder with her muzzle. She whistled softly, her feathers on her head only half-raised.
Asad spoke to her in his native tongue, and it seemed as if she understood, and replied with a whistle and a click.
“Fiery One, your mount is the one in the center,” said Asad, “Tall One, your mount is the one on the left, and Pale One, yours is the one on the right. Go ahead, approach them.”
Novadar approached his mount and touched it, expecting to feel something like snake skin, but instead found it to be soft, down feathers. “It is soft, like a duckling’s feathers.”
Instantly the feathers on the head of the creature fell flat against its skull, and it hissed angrily. Then the feathers on its head went back upright, it looked at Asad and grunted.
“First of all,” said Asad, “It is a she. And she says you would look good in an omelet.”
Novadar took a step back, uncertainly.
“But she also says she thinks you are funny, and will spare your life and forget the insult,” added Asad.
The creature started to make short, rapid barks, its eyes closed.
“Is she laughing at me?” asked Novadar.
“Yes she is,” replied Asad, smiling, “Her name is Raging Sand.”
Novadar looked into Raging Sand’s eyes, but instantly Asad grabbed his arm and pulled him. “Do not look into the eyes of an Ardh’ura, they will hypnotize you.”
“But aren’t they friendly?” asked Novadar.
“Yes,” replied Asad, “But do not friends play jokes on friends in Telnor?”
“I see your point.”
“Tall One, your mount is a male Ardh’ura named Dreaded Storm, and Fiery One, your mount is a female called Eagle Chaser. All three of these mounts are Ardh’ura who have lost riders in battle. Ordinarily an Ardh’ura will stop eating and die after their rider dies, especially if they are lost in a battle, but they started eating again when they saw you three walk off the ship here. They have chosen you as their new riders, and you will learn to love them. For the next three days you will eat with them, sleep with them, and learn to speak to them. Then we will set out for the North Border to show you the beauty of our land.”
Novadar put a hand on the shoulder of Raging Sand and whispered, “I too, know what it is like to lose one whom you love.” The Ardh’ura twisted her neck around and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

And then, a few scenes later:

One by one the three companions rode their mounts to a stop in front of the dark-skinned man.
“Congratulations,” said Asad, “On your first attempt riding in a circle on an Ardh’ura. You are all very good riders already, when your mount is traveling at a consistent speed in a consistent direction. But watch what you will learn next.” Asad gestured to the center of the arena, where there were numerous vertical posts, consistently spaced in a straight line through the center of the arena. “Watch how I do, and then you follow slowly.” Asad clicked twice and leaned forward, and his Ardh’ura sprang into motion. It moved with incredible speed, weaving between the posts, narrowly missing them, and maintaining its speed. Asad swiftly pivoted his Land Dragon around and came back through the posts, even faster than before. He stopped in front of the three new riders, and grinned, “See, it is easy, as long as you do not lean with the Ardh’ura, then you become paste on the post. Eventually you would be able to guide your mount with your legs, and hit targets with arrows as you go between the posts,” He gestured to two targets a good distance from the last post. “Do not even try now, I have no doubt you can hit the targets atop a moving Ardh’ura, but I do not want you becoming paste on post. Go through slow first.”
Esílis was the first to go through the posts. Novadar could tell that his mount, Dreaded Storm, was eager to go faster, but held back to avoid making the elf “paste on post.” Esílis, for his part, sat the saddle excellently, staying almost perfectly erect during the turns. Novadar could see that the elf was using Illnorean, however, and that meant he was nervous.
Next Kírloríl rode through the posts. Novadar noticed that she was much more relaxed, and she sat in the saddle much better than Esílis.
As Novadar was about to go through the posts, a man ran up holding a piece of a palm leaf and yelling in Somarundian. Asad immediately unbuckled his legs and slid out of the saddle. The two men held a swift conversation, and then the man nodded and raced back to the palace. Asad whistled several times, and the riders on the far side of the arena raced over to him. Asad yelled instructions to them, and then turned back to the foreigners.
“A patrol to the North Border has gone missing,” said Asad, “We must move quickly and try to locate them. Dismount and follow me.”
The young man and the two elves quickly unbuckled themselves and slid to the ground before running after Asad. The Ardh’ura followed them, curious.
The small band returned to the large building, Asad led them to a small room in the corner and entered it. Returning moments later with four extremely long spears.
“Each of these is eighteen feet long, as you Telnorians recon length,” stated Asad, “It is what allows you to hit the enemy before they can hit your mount.” Asad’s mount hissed, her feathers flat against her head. He grinned and added, “Wind of Death wants to let you know that you are more than welcome to let some through, though.” All of the Ardh’ura present hissed menacingly together, and then raised their feathers on their heads to indicate they were excited about fighting.
"Now run and retrieve your bows," said Asad, "You will need them."
Novadar and the two elves returned from retrieving their bows, they mounted the saddles, tied their legs in, strapped their bows behind them, and grabbed their spears from the wall. Then they followed Asad out into the fenced arena.
“Shouldn’t we go through the door?” asked Novadar, “This arena is fenced by 16 foot fences!”
Raging Sand snorted derisively, then did a whistle followed by a grunt.
“She says you amuse her greatly,” said Asad, “We will go over the fences.”
There was no time to talk, for suddenly Asad whooped, and the four Ardh’ura sprang forward at top speed. Novadar gripped his spear tightly as they hurtled towards the fence. Suddenly Sand’s muscles tensed, and she leaped into the air, clearing the fence by almost twice its height. She landed, and Novadar twisted in the saddle. They had traveled at least fifty feet! Sand grunted happily, satisfied that she had made her point. She then whistled a couple times, her head feathers going erect and back down very rapidly, it was almost like she was saying, “I told you so.”
Asad approached as they slowed down, “She says, ‘I told you so, the wall is short.’”
Novadar grinned and patted her neck, “Thanks for letting me know.”
Sand chuckled.
Four more Ardh'ura and their riders joined the small group, and together they raced across the shifting sands of the Qruvrufa Desert.

Arg... I'm still working on this whole embedding thing... Can someone tell me how this works?

testing....

*poof!*

Edit: So yeah, just below the "Download" and "Info" sections, there's a little string you can copy/paste. Tada!

Edit #2: btw, what are the different tail configurations? Is one male, one female? Is the second one an actual weapon attached to the tail for combat?

Edit #3: test removed; Lady E's got your back.

Great story! They sound like really awesome creatures, and funny too! Good job on the picture as well!

I edited your main post for you so it works, Esílis. On your art gallery page there is a Forum embed code which you just copy and paste. Press edit and you'll see what I did. (and I just saw Cephron explained, sorry)

@ Cephron, Thanks! I will certainly remember that for future sketches.

@ RunningWolf, Thank you, I will be continuing to develop how they act and think, and how they communicate. I try to make everything I can write slightly humorous when possible, so the Ardh'ura ended up with a sense of humor as well. Your creatures seem just as cool!

@ Lady Elanor, Thanks! It's ok, I think we must have edited at relatively the same time, because I did the same thing with the art embed code... Thank you for the assistance, though!

Thanks! I think mine will be very good at talking themselves out of trouble, etc. so hopefully that will be fun to listen to. Hopefully they turn out as good as yours (abd hopefully my writing can encapsulate their personalities as well as yours does for your Ard-, Ardhu...dinos!

That will be very interesting, looking forward to reading about that!

Thank you!

Fascinating creatures.

Okay. No problem.

Love the picture, and the descriptions of your Land Dragons!

One of the things I really like about them is the way their crests go up or down depending on their mood, it also creates an exotic but...almost...cute(?) image in my mind...

@ Running Wolf, Thanks, I added that with the idea that a person in that world would be able to better understand their language. A certain whistle, for example, could mean one thing when their crests are up, and a totally different thing when their crest is down, and a third thing when the crest is partially raised. Just, don't tell them that they are cute...

@ Lady Elanor, Thanks! I got the idea for the creature earlier in the morning (while I was reading the dinosaur thread), and so I had to draw it... It took me all morning, I'm slow at drawing...

Lol, that's awesome! Ok, I won't.

Hey Esilis, did you by any chance catch my question about the tail configurations? It looks like there are two different tail versions in your picture; I was wondering what they were for. Male/female? Naked/armored?

Also, I like that you've included archery in the riders' training. Such lightly armored, elusive targets as the Ardh'ura riders would would probably make highly effective archers!

Oops! Sorry I missed that! It is just there to show how they armor the tail for battle, the one on the creature shows that they have feathers on the tail as well...

Yeah, it was almost an afterthought to make the riders archers...

Slow at drawing! I could never have drawn something like that that fast!

I'm slow in comparison to the older of my two younger brothers... He is an artist AND a writer, so someday he may be on this forum. He has done some sketching for scenes in my book, and one of his pictures is on the "fan art" page of my website. It appears the link is not working...

I know I mentioned this on the other thread, but I wanted to post it here - these are wonderful creatures. Very fascinating. The drawing is good, and I enjoyed the excerpt. The names you gave the creatures in the excerpt are delightful!

Thanks!