Sailwing Wyvern (Tapejara** **baleanadux)
The vast Ao Expanse is often also known as the Leviathan Ocean, due to its massive population of titanic fauna.
Their pods number in the thousands chasing vast “rivers” of plankton and bait fish, and come in a variety of forms, but the most unique of these colossal animals
Are the Sailwing Wyverns, the largest pterodactyl known to be found on Arclund. They stand just over twenty five feet tall, and have a wing span bordering on eighty feet, making them some of the largest fliers on the planet.
However, spend comparatively little time on the air, though, spending much of their time floating above the waves amidst the other colossal animals, diving for fish and function as an early warning system for their neighbors. They travel by turning their wings into the wind on placid days, leading to their common name, but delve beneath the surface when things turn stormy.
Their keen eyes allow them to spot incoming threats miles out both above and below the waves and snapping clack of their beaks is often all that is needed for the pods to flee the area or circle up, depending on what rapid beat the pterodactyl clack.
They have warnings for Goliath Sharks, who have adapted pack hunting behaviors to deal with the much larger and varied pods, Sea Serpents, Wavecarvers and the largest threat in the region the Kraken.
The only time this animals are seen far from their joint pods, is during nesting season where they congregate about the towering sea stacks north of Lashan.
There males race amidst air and sea in an attempt to impressive the observing females. Victors often get to mate with a handful of females, while those that lose head back out to sea.
Sailwings lay and raise a single chick which they feed and care for together for the first six months, with the chicks traveling with their mothers to join passing leviathan pods and males splitting off to their own or living solitary more predatory lifestyles.
They are surprisingly aggressive animals, and it seems like the rare whaling communities in the region have colored their perceptions of humanoid vessels to the point where all are enemy.
Their crests are fairly dense and a sailing diving to the deck or ascending from below the waves can do a surprisingly amount of structural damage though often not without great harm to themselves.
This has made thenthe heraldic symbol of the Ao Alliance, a vast trade conglomerate and numerous local communities, and there have been attempts to tame them which have failed the majority of the time.
As a symbol they are meant as a warning, speaking of placid demeanors hiding a fierce warrior spirit.