Edit: I've decided to make grifflets a closed species since I am going to be selling some designs to help pay my university costs
Warning: Large file! Sorry about that, I wanted to make sure the text was readable!
If you were wondering what these birbs are: https://www.weasyl.com/submission/694388/birbs you now know. As modeled by my own character here, the "coat" is actually the wings. It's an optical illusion!
This idea has probably been done before and I doubt I'm the first one to come up with that name but whatever, I like drawing them and I wanted to put up a reference for myself. I usually just call them 'birbs' but I thought they also needed a name that was more specific, although I might change it. I've been working on these guys for a while and I thought I'd share.
Idk how this species stuff works haha. I don't know if I want them to be a closed species or an open species or something in between, I just like giving them to my friends. I'm considering trying to sell designs because textbooks are expensive, let me know if you're interested!
Anyway, some more info on these birbs:
That's all I've really figured out so far. Some info may be up to change. I think eventually I will make a google doc with more detailed info. Feel free to ask questions about them!
oh my, how much would you be selling designs for? I'd probably be interested in getting a few sometime
I have questions, by the way! I adore these so much, I gotta know it all. Alright, so.. why do grifflets find their heart stones so important? do they do anything? where do they get their first heart stone after they hatch?
did coat color evolve based on geographic region, such as human skin color, or are all colors represented pretty uniformly all over their distribution?
Ahh thank you! The heart stone is important because it's kind of like the grifflet's "soul" in a way, like it's a vessel or representation for their emotions and thoughts and it allows them to think and feel at a higher level, as well as enhancing their magical abilities. They actually have to make their heart stones, I haven't exactly figured this part out yet, but I think either their parents give them a temporary heart stone that will eventually degrade and they will have to make their own, more permanent one in the meantime, or they are given or find a special base material (some kind of rock or metal, I guess), and work on creating the heart stone from that. Making heart stones is a difficult and lengthy process because the heart stone needs to be made in a very specific way or it won't work as a vessel, and even once the heart stone is "finished", grifflets will continue to modify it and reshape it as they change and grow, so most grifflets don't make more than one. A heart stone is never exactly done being modified, there just comes a point when it seems able to support most of the grifflet's...consciousness, I guess, and that is when that grifflet is considered an adult. Sorry if that was super rambly ahah ;;
As for the coat colours I'm not totally sure, I think some coat colours can be more common depending on location but they can occur pretty much everywhere. It's more so the shape and thickness of the feathers that is determined by region, I think.
Not rambly at all. What happens if one grifflet wears another's heart stone, and what happens if they lose theirs?
Oh ok thats good! If that happens, the grifflet will probably feel uncomfortable, as if something isn't right, since each heart stone is tailored exactly for each grifflet. They would be okay for a while, but unless the grifflet who owns the stone gets their stone back, the stone will start to lose its capacity as a vessel - how fast this happens depends on how different the two grifflets are personality-wise, I think. It's really rare for a grifflet to lose their stone since grifflets take very good care of their heart stones and grifflets will usually protect others' heart stones if necessary, as it's an unspoken rule in their society. But if it did happen it would be a very scary experience for the individual, at first the only effect would be shock but after that they would start to lose things like memories, feelings, etc :( The good thing is that they would be able to make another one, and other grifflets would help them and support them (by taking turns lending their own heart stones) even if they were strangers - looking out for one another is very important in grifflet society, because they are such small harmless creatures. Thanks for asking about them by the way!! It makes me happy to talk about my ideas! :)
hhhh suddenly I really want there to be a thief/villain grifflet that steals heart stones, and has like 20 of those things piled over his own... o
this idea is so cool! I love hearing the in-depth details of their little world. now I wanna draw some :')
omg he would have to be extremely stealthy for that
That gives me an idea though - I wonder if there are other creatures that try to steal grifflet heart stones? Since the stones are kind of magical, someone might try to use them as a magic ingredient for a spell or potion of some kind...
Thank you, I'm happy you like my ideas!! :) If you do draw them I'd love to see aah ;;
Link
VCR-WOLFE
im gunna hold and kiss all of them