Gural
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The gural are a birdlike race of people who originated from the coastlines of the Rendi and migrated through the rest of the world. They are one of the races born from the Rendi sisters, coming from the sister Sor Na’rai Lekt, and are believed to share their share their origin will all of the Rendi races.
Gural mostly prefer to make their homes by the water, and will gravitate towards beachfront or lakeside housing, even when in countries dominated by other Sentient races. As one of the few non-aquatic races able to hydrate by drinking saltwater, they are very comfortable living in sea ports out on the ocean, and frequently join seces communities.
Physical Traits
Av. Height (Male): 5’1”
Av. Height (Female): 4’7”
Gural are medium-height, bird-like humanoids with colourful feathers covering their bodies. They have bald faces, feet, and hands, and a pair of wings sprouting from their back. Their bald skin has a scaly texture to it; with their hands and feet being very similar to the talons of a bird, with thick-but-flexible digits.
The most notable trait unique to the gural are the colourful scent-glands by their eyes. These glands secrete a strong-smelling oil, often described as fishy or salty. Though they are usually flat against the skin, they will swell during intense hormonal influxes (such as puberty or during the fertility cycle). The skin in these glands is more rubbery to the touch than the rest of a gural’s body, and is very sturdy and difficult to puncture.
Though the gural have bald faces, their heads are not completely without feathers and they have large manes that frame their faces. These manes cover their heads like hair, and come down their neck to their torso. They are thicker than the rest of their body’s feathers, consisting of densely-packed, medium length semiplume feathers.
Alongside their manes, they also have feathery crests. All gural have crests directly behind their ear-holes, which are used both to aid in hearing and to express emotion. Some gural have crests atop their heads, poking through their manes, while others do not.
Like all Rendi races, the gural have wings. The wings of a gural sprout from their backs underneath their scapula, and are naturally muscular, designed for long-distance gliding. This is believed to come from their affinity to water and travelling the ocean.
Though a gural’s beak may come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most common form is the hookbill; sharp, strong, and versatile, this parrot-like beak is often used as a tool alongside a gural’s hands. The nose of a gural is operculate and featherless, with their cere and nare sitting just under the eye-line of the gural. Gural also have a “lip” like edge to their flange; flexible, bald skin that can be used to create complicated expressions.
They also have feathered tails that are used to both aid in flight and display emotions to others.
All gural have hidden pouches along their stomachs, for keeping eggs. Generally, gural men have much larger pouches, able to safely carry up to five eggs, while women have small pouches, only able to carry one at a time.
Though they can be any colour found in nature, most gural have very limited colour palettes; with their feathers only having one or two colours. Those that do have more than one hue often have colours that are very similar, such as pink and red, or purple and blue.
Sex and Gender
There is very little sexual dimorphism between male and female gural, though there are some features that the gural consider significant.
The most immediately noticeable difference is their manes: gural men naturally have thinner manes than the women. While the men’s manes stop at their shoulders and chest, the mane of the women extends down their arms to their wrists, and covers a significant portion of their backs.
Both sexes of gural have their scent-glands, though a female gural’s are larger; extending a significant distance further down the cheeks than the males’ glands, and swelling much larger.
The natural scent of a gural’s glands play a large part in their sexuality and gender; in gural culture, there are more than single binary male and female biological genders. While initial male and female sexes are determined by the makeup of their genitalia and the presence or absence of a penis, there are other sub-sexes determined by the smell of the the liquid expelled by their scent-glands.
There are recognised to be 3 common female sexes, and 7 common male sexes, with some rare variations, and a large variety of recognised sexualities to encompass the different compatibilities caused by this.
They secrete a salty ooze of hormones from the glands under their eyes to express attraction, and it is considered the equivalent of talking dirty. A gural’s glands will swell when they are aroused, and strong-smelling hormones are released. Most non-gural find the smell of these hormones repulsive.
Due to the gland’s relation to biological sex and sexuality, the gural consider their scent-glands a part of their genitalia, and though they have no qualms about leaving their glands uncovered in public, there are several considerations to be had about them. They are not to be touched by a stranger or while in public, unless to wipe them clean. Likewise, it is considered a sexual act to make extended eye contact with a gural.
Racial Variations
Gliders
Glider gurals come from the geyser-filled mountain range found along the edge of Zolt’nata’s ocean.
They have a naturally reversed wing-feather overlay; while most gural have wings with feathers where the feather furthest from the body is the “top” feather, when viewed from the front, gliders have a reversed pattern, with the feather furthest from the body being on the “bottom” of the wing. Because of this, each flap of their wings create a suction towards the ground; meaning that these gural struggle to take flight when unaided.
Because they cannot take flight on their own, they rely on other methods; leaping from their high cliff-side homes and catching the strong winds from the seas and geysers to lift themselves up.
Despite their need for aid while flying, they are still rather skilled while in the air; able to make sharp turns with ease, and land gracefully.
Open Ocean
Open ocean gural are sea-dwelling travellers who spend the majority of their lives out on the open ocean, only coming on land during the initial stages of their child-rearing.
Built to live out in the open ocean with very little land, these gural are buoyant, and rest by floating on the ocean’s surface, and take off by diving under the waves and swimming to the surface at speeds enough to launch themselves into the air. When sleeping, a flock will join hands so they do not become separated.
These feathers of the open ocean gural resemble those of seabirds, with waterproof oil coatings and colours ranging from white and grey, to brown and red. Even their manes are waterproof, with a slicked-down look, rather than a gural’s usual fluffy appearance.
Common Disabilities and Health Issues
Imperforated Scent-Glands
Rarely, a gural may be born with scent-glands that cannot drain themselves. This is usually caused by the skin lacking the necessary perforation for the hormones to secrete through. Gural who suffer this condition without seeking treatment risk blindness due to their scent-glances swelling and putting pressure on their eyes. Luckily, the treatment for this condition is relatively simply; surgically inserting a small catheter into the edges of each of the glands to allow them to drain. Often, gural that undergo this procedure will request small stoma bags for their glands to prevent needing to clean their faces in public.
Splayleg and Brittle Beaks
Usually co-morbid conditions, splayleg and brittle beak are caused by very similar genetic deformities that affect the development and hardening of cartilage and keratin. Those born with either or both of these conditions may suffer from chronic pain, difficulty with day-to-day tasks such as walking or eating, and often need aids such as leg braces or protective beak covers.