Arlai

The Arlai are a sapient species, humanoid and avian in nature, originating from an old world species that harmonized well with a number of forest dwelling creatures.

Their native habitat is the Temperate Wet Forest of the south western coast of Continent #3, and are easily capable of expanding throughout temperate forests with ease, as well as into tropical forests and jungle. However, they have a great difficulty expanding into colder climates, as their small, slender frame quickly loses body heat in such regions.

The Arlai were a creation of kaoschosen, and have since been adopted by FaerFoxx in his absence.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Feel Free to Assist in Organizing the Information; do not alter contained data however)
Intelligence: Sentient, fairly clever, use natural tools such as wooden spears and shields for battle and warfare

Type of civilisation: They are happy to live without shelter as they can sleep easy in trees and rain is a soothing experience to them. However, they are wary of savage predators and other civilisations and a waring Arlai civilisation will build defensive wooden structures such as walls with relative ease, large colonies of thousands can gather and build quickly.

A colony will vary from a few dozen to thousands depending on the size and density of the forest. They whole colony can however move without a trace as they don't build shelters and as such are more suited to hit and run tactics than all out warfare.

Synergy with other species: Plants wise they use all that is around them to make natural tools and structures, harvesting glarewood and using steel-pine bark for walls. While they them themselves cannot fly, they breed Marilan and can communicate with them through their hands to the wings to direct the flying.

Give the animal's standard name. Provide a one or two line description of the species, mentioning any major specializations the species possesses, as well as the environment of its natural habitat.

Physical Morphology
The morphology of the Arlai consists of the legs, the torso, the tail, the wings, the arms, the neck, and the head. Arlai are bipedal, with two digitigrade legs, two arms, and two upper limbs often referred to as wings on their back between and just below the shoulders. The hands have four fingers and one thumb attached to the palm, and their legs end in talons with three front facing toes with one rear-facing located at the back of the foot. They have claws on their toes, and they utilize these claws to cling to surfaces. While underdeveloped and incapable of allowing them to fly or hover, their feathered upper limbs provide them very fast bursts of speed while running, allowing them to perform fast and accurate maneuvers, and they can make large leaps of up to six meters while sprinting, using their short tail feathers to help control direction. An interlocking series of ligaments allows Arlai to lock their wings in the outstretched position, enabling them to glide for long periods without tiring. Arlai are warm blooded, and have hollow bones. The mouth is a short beak, and they have short tails. Arlai are diurnal, sleeping an average of 7 hours a night. Arlai are sexually dimorphic similarity to Humans with reference to size or weight, differing in physical build, with the male having broader shoulders, narrow waists, and additional muscle mass, while females have broader hips, narrow shoulders, and a lower muscle mass. The average Arlai is about 1.524 meters (5'0") in height. The average mass of an adult Arlai is 25kg (55 lbs).

Arlai are covered in feathers, with soft feathers along much of the body and harder feathers on the plumage, tail, and along the upper limbs. They have a variety of natural plumage shapes and patterns of light feathers across their faces, and several different shapes of beak, though they all share the same short tail shape. Possible feather colourations include: white, grey, brown, purple, pink, blue, green, and yellow.

Senses
Equipped with many senses, Arlai are capable of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. They have an average sense of smell through their nose located on the top of their beak, above the mouth, as well as brilliant vision through their two large refractive eyes, and good hearing through their large pointed on the sides of their head. The sclera of the eye is white, while they have circular pupils, and the iris has possible colourations of: green, blue, yellow, orange, hazel, grey, and purple. The primary senses of the Arlai are sight and hearing.

Behaviour
While Arlai, as with any species, have an incredible behavioural variation possible from culture to culture and especially between individuals, there are several primary characteristics that can be used as generalizations. Arlai are driven by curiosity and a need for knowledge, spending incredible amounts of resources to learn, explore, and to do what has not been done before, and the preservation of their culture. Their curiosity leads them to advancement in science and philosophy, providing them advances in technology while their preservation maintains their highly religious nature.

Major cultural systems of the Arlai lend themselves to a wide range of possibilities, giving them an advantage for economics, technology, and spirituality. Through these systems the Arlai will often attempt to advance the interests of their group, whether between personal relationships, nationally, or even for the species as a whole. While this may lend to hostility towards other groups, it often manifests through openness and aid towards one another, leading to similar consideration in return.

Arlai have a great desire for entertainment and art, with a great deal of Arlai producing numerous works of art in a variety of categories, targeted at the visual, auditory, scent, and even tactile senses. Commonly Aiveri will clothe themselves for protection, warmth, and fashion. Clothing fashion is incredibly varied, changing between class, location, profession, and time period. Their body design lends to a number of clothing styles and elements, both primary and secondary.

Communication
They primarily utilize speech to communicate with each other, with sexually dimorphic vocal pitches where females are relatively higher in pitch than the lower pitched males. They are also capable of limited communication both within their species and with co-developed animals using highly developed neurons dendrites that extend to their hands, allowing them to project their thoughts over a small range of several meters.

Diet and Feeding Patterns
Arlai are primarily herbivorous, although they are capable of being omnivores. They use their beaks to tear their food before chewing with small, serrated teeth within the mouth, surrounded by gums. Arlai have an intolerance to highly starchy foods.

The digestive system of the Arlai ends in two separate openings, one for solid waste and one for liquid waste. The anus, located beneath the base of the tail, removes solid waste, while the urinary tract removes liquid waste and is located at the front of the pelvic region. In females the urinary tract ends between the vaginal opening and the clitoris, while in males it is combined with the seminal tract and ends at the tip of the penis.

Social and Territoriality
Do individuals or groups claim territory? Do they form flocks or are they individual? Do they roam or stay in one spot?

Mating and Reproduction
Arlai reproduce through copulation. Despite being fully fertile throughout the year, they will enter a breeding period simultaneously as a species once a year. During this breeding period, both males and females experience a physiological drive to mate, entering a state of sexual arousal during which they will seek to mate.

Males feature a single penis. They have two external testicles within the scrotum. The average ejaculation can release as much as 22 milliliters of semen.

The female genitalia is generally hidden behind the labia, which serves to protect the clitoris and the openings of the vagina and urethra. Females lay a single egg after a period of 3 days through their vagina, appearing cyan, green, or orange in colour, and an average of 9.5 centimeters by 19 centimeters in size. Eggs hatch after an average incubation period of 120 days. They reach sexual maturity at age 12, with their first heat at age 10, and reach physical maturity at age 15. They have an average lifespan of 30 years. Females have a pair of mammary glands on their chest, and use them to nurse their young.

Hermaphroditism is a common genetic mutation. They appear fully female, but they feature a single penis above their clitoris, as well as a pair of external testicles within the scrotum at the base of the penis. Hermaphrodites are unable to impregnate themselves.

Intelligence
Is this creature intelligent? Can it respond to stimuli well? Does it have any intelligent behaviours such as pack hunting or laying traps?

Culture
Give a quick overview (No more than say, 5 lines) of the culture of the species, linking to a more detailed page that follows the Culture Template.
 * Riventi

History
Give a quick overview (No more than say, 5 lines) of the history of the species, linking to a more detailed description if large.

Content Links
Link to content (stories, drawings, whatever) featuring this species.
 * Arlai AMA (25/03/2015)