It seems that there might be some confusions about what exactly falcolfs are, so here's a profile of the species, as well as a record of their design. The great big black ugly band of doom is my attempt to cover the crappy scan job. This fine fellow modelling the species is of a new falcolf colour; Agouti.

lol I forgot to put in a silver pelt swatch when I was making it so the word is just there between agouti and smoke.

History of Falcolfian Design
My original idea for the falcolf species was to make a super predator for Rimer that was completely all terrain. In the beginning they looked like a sort of small crocodile-ish dragon - which is where their flame abilities come from. But I abandoned the design when I didn't like it enough. About a year later I revisited the concept and redesigned a new creature - a proto animal that would look very much like today's design, only without the black bands on the wings - they were white with grey tips. Back then falcolfs were called 'niggoos.' (This was because most of my animals of the Phylum Falla were called something-iggoo back then and I hadn't used 'n' yet.) As the years went by I decided that these original (and frequently hard to remember names) were extremely uncreative and so I began to change them. It took a long time to rename niggoos. They were such a dear species to me by then that it was very hard to part with their old name. (But I did so anyway because I thought some people might find it insulting due to its closeness to a rather foul and very derogatory term well known here in North America.) Then, finally, when no good name came, I just put together two words that described the species well - 'falcon' and 'wolf.' Falcolf! Interestingly enough, it is from this name that the Phylum name 'Falla' springs. So, with the third ever draft of the story that would become Ashes of Hope I began to use the new name. The modern design was finalized when I came to the conclusion that white wings kind of made the falcolf's camoflauging stripes quite pointless. Thus they became striped. In my gallery you can find a very early concept for the banded wings. They were also drastically changed when I switched from them having forked tongues, to the normal doggish kind.

Introductory to Falcolfs
Falcolfs live on almost every continent of Rimer, with the sole exception of the Isle of Drakoon. They can hunt and kill just about anyone and anything. They are the ultimate apex super predator. They are incredibly deft hunters, able to go to any lengths whether it is to the sky, the sea or across a starlit plain to get their prey. Humans are by no means top predator on Rimer - falcolfs are.

Name: Falcolf
Phylum: Falla
Intelligence: Sentient
Language: Fallan
Sounds: Depending on gender, falcolfs can make a wide variety of sounds. Females are the only ones that can hiss and do so to warn off males. All falcolfs howl and do so for reasons such as to mourn, pray, signal a hunt and keep track of each other. Falcolfs cannot understand howls, but they call it singing and can recognize different individual calls within their tribe. They growl, snarl and keen, but they never, ever bark, though they can make a sound like it. There is no meaning in these sounds and falcolfs speak fallan to communicate.

Social Structure: Falcolfs are generally quite equal in pack standings, though females are more dangerous due to their strong territorial and protective instincts, as well as their more potent venom. Often they hold positions of dominance, but not always. Hierarchy is extremely important to falcolfs and there are certian fau pas that should never be committed in a falcolf's presence because of this. Their tribe is lead by the strongest warrior and they fight over this position. Priests hold high rank among the tribe because they judge what is morally and religiously right and wrong. Falcolfs are extremely religious and have a few rather gruesome customs concerning albinos. If male, these are sacrificed to Kayoss at only age five, if female, they are allowed to reach adulthood, but are forced to mate with the priest. When her pups are born they are taken away from her and she is ceremoniously sacrificed so that the albino line continues; thus they will have more offerings for Kayoss in the future. It is unknown what the god thinks of this extremely barbaric practice or even if he knows of it.

Virulent Venom: The evolution of venomous fangs in falcolf was surely because of hunting done by a unnamed predessessor of the kiri. According to ancient cave paintings done by early tangs, these falla hunted falcolfs extensively for their striped pelts until quite suddenly, they went extinct. Nobody is sure of the cause. Falcolf venom is contained in an organ in their muzzle, which lies just above their retractable fangs. When dormant, the fangs lay peacefully against the roof of their mouths, but come down to attach to normal upper canine teeth when triggered by adrenaline. Venom is solely a defense mechanism in falcolfs and they cannot just decide to kill someone. An angry or afraid falcolf is a deadly one, since despite all good intentions it is easy to trigger adrenaline in one. Every year people are killed by accident. For years nobody knew of an anti venom that would sufficiently counter attack falcolf poison until in 304 A.G. a new species was discovered in Grottailia that had stronger venom than the falcolf - a snake like water dragon turned terrestrial known as the jewel snake. Even still, many die each year because they do not have this precious substance or are not quick enough in injecting it. Falcolf venom is the second must virulent substance in the world and can kill a full grown man in under five minutes. Many people who commit suicide choose falcolf venom as their escapes from life because of this and Rimer is the easiest planet in the galaxy to kill your self on - then blame it on the poor falcolf when the evidence collectors come around.

Personalities: Falcolfs are extremely quick tempered and are known to be very sarcastic. Most are strangely addicted to salt and many, such as Lord Kayoss himself, love smelly things such as socks. To a certain degree, it is easy to provoke them, depending on how they were raised and if they feel kinship. Falcolfs like to sun themselves in rocks, despite their complete inability to feel temperature. Scientists believe that this is deeply rooted in instinct from a time when they lacked firestones. Quirky, loyal and protective, they make very good friends and body guards. Just don't piss one off if you value your life.

Firestone: In a magnificent display of convergent evolution, falcolfs have evolved red firestones. (Also known as orange by some people, due to the shade of flame produced.) Because of this adaption, which allows them to live in even the most extreme of climates, falcolfs have lost the use of the temperature receptors in their skin. A falcolf could literally walk on lava and not get burnt, due to their fire proof bodies. Firestones are contained in an organ within their chest, which is connected to the trachea via a tube so that the firestone is supplied oxygen as the falcolf breathes. It is believed that firestones live off the falcolf's own bodily energy and some of the creature's waste products. Falcolfs can 'breathe fire' or 'spit fire' when they inhale oxygen into this chamber and then quickly exhale, bringing up flame through their mouth. Falcolfs cannot sneeze flame or shoot it out their nose and neither can any other firestone creature of Rimer. Breathing flame is a strictly oral practice. Shockingly enough, the use of flame in fighting and hunting is quite useless for most firestone creatures. Other than to herd prey with it, fire is quite avoidable and because most firestone creatures such as falcolfs can't keep up the intensity of their fire for very long, it feels more like a warm brush when it comes out. Certain higher evolved versions of the red firestone, such as the blue and purple of certain types of dragon can be used as very good weapons.

Aquatic Adaptations: Most people do not realize that falcolfs can breath underwater. Many who have tried to kill one by drowning it have been found sadly mistaken and on the shorter end of the stick. Along with having webbed paws, falcolfs also have gills, which, unless a falcolf's head is underwater, are sealed tight along a falcolf's neck. Falcolfs are very good swimmers and can do so for miles. They are not, however very fast beneath the waves, though they can serpentine their bodies thanks to their flexible spines, allowing for greater movement. Like the ancient Gaian ducks, falcolfs have a special oil that they secrete on their feathers and fur that keeps them dry. Falcolfs have been known to purposefully hunt freshwater pike in rivers and lakes using this evolutionary advantage. They are truly at home in all elements.

Biology of Falcolfs: Like the elven cat, falcolfs have very powerfully muscled compact builds specially evolved for jumping high into the air for takeoff. They can keep up with a running horse easily for hours on paw. They have broad, powerful heads for ripping and tearing at prey. Long, bushy, heavy tails provide balance as well as counterweight so that they can manuever in flight. Large paws make them light on their feet and agile in winter conditions.

Life Cycle of Falcolfs: Falcolfs are not born with their distinctive stripes. As infants they are soft brown and white in colour with smoky blue eyes. Baby falcolfs have often been noted as the most adorable infants on Rimer because of their incredibly soft fluffy coats and tiny fuzzy wings. They are curious and very small with short stubby legs, tails and snouts with shiny black noses. Extremely light and cuddly, they are completely harmless. As they grow, they slowly develop the distinctive black stripes, ears, legs, tail tips and banded wings of their species. Their pelt darkens to it's adult shade and by age ten, when they become fledged, falcolf pups look like smaller version of the adults, though they haven't completely lost their shocking cuteness. By ten they have also started developing their venom and gills. They can breathe fire from the time they are born. Now long legged and gangly, they are about the size of a small medium sized dog, like a yearling labrador retriever. Depending on gender, females become sexually mature at twenty and males at twenty-five, but they are not permitted to breed until ten years later when they have reached 'mental maturity.' If they do so before it is a grievous sin and the resulting pups are taken away. Falcolfs can live more than a hundred and fifty years if conditions are right. Females can have a new litter of pups once every five years. Litters range from two to six pups, depending on conditions.

Striped Death: Falcolfs are famous for not just for their killer abilities, but also for their pelts. All falcolfs except albinos have black stripes, wing bands, ears, legs and tail tips. Prominent among these ebony markings are their expressionistic eye stripes, which act much like human eyebrows, their facial markings - which are hereditery (thus falcolfs can tell who is related to who just by their faces) and a long dorsal stripe which runs from between their ears, down the spine to their dark tail tips, widening halfway down the tail at the scent gland that is there. The colour of the rest of a falcolf's pelt varies greatly depending on habitat and region, though most falcolfs have lighter underbellies, throats, muzzles and wing rims. Falcolfs have black noses and lips, though the inside of their mouths and their tongues are pink. They have white ear hair and markings around the eyes. Darker fur forms a streak running from their nose to between the eyes. Albino falcolfs are pure white all over with pink noses and lips. They do not have red eyes, but eyes that look almost silvery because they completely lack any pigment at all. A good example of an albino falcolf is Sparren Trueflight, the only male albino falcolf to reach adulthood in recorded history.

Falcolfs and Horses: Never was there a stranger relationship than that that exists between horses and falcolfs. Long ago, before the Battle of Rimer, it is said that horses were preyed upon regularly, then, with the strange relationship between Lord Kayoss Calmbreeze and Lady Spiira, that changed. First it was a law with falcolfs and most falla to not prey upon horses; then it became instinct. Rimarian wild horses seem to know that they are safe around falcolfs because they have been known to graze in the shadow of tribal falcolf meeting places and follow hunting packs if they are alone.

Falcolfs and Humans: They live longer than us, they kill us and we kill them, yet still there is a partnership between some falcolfs and humans. On the Chartani Plains falcolf pups are raised as herding animals and work at ranches, protecting stock and herding it with flame on cattle drives. In Escavia they fight with our armies, guard our dignitaries and guide us through mountainous terrain. Some humans kill them for their beautiful pelts and feathers. But revenge from falcolf tribes is swift and these murderers never live very long afterwards.

The Copperbane Tribe: There exists a place, far to the north of Serenity, at the foot of the Copperbane mountains. This is known as the Copperbane Plateau and it is home to a very influential human family and their horses - the Fletch. They are the rulers of our world and Escavia. While a democracy, never once in Escavian history have the citizens ever voted for a party not headed by a person of the Fletch surname, descended from the original two human explorers, Zachary and Sarah Fletch. A few centuries after the Fletch claimed this landscape as their own, the Secretary of State, Miss Kay Calm, gave them a small thirteen year old albino male falcolf pup who had miraculously escaped being sacrificed. His name was Sparren Trueflight. Later, they were also gifted with his two sisters Neeli and Siln Trueflight. The pups were brought to Copperbane, where they were protected inside the fortresses walls and where Sparren was marked to look like an opal falcolf instead of an albino one. Other falcolfs came, under the call to serve the Goddess Kayli. They brought orphaned pups and left them with the Fletch. These pups became adults and eventually, the only falcolf tribe in the world to worship Kayli instead of her father Kayoss. They grew up differently, living to serve the Fletch and the goddess. Today they are the guardians of the Copperbane Plateau, the Fletch horses and the humans too. A true symbiotic relationship was formed with the saving of these small falcolfian misfits.

Falcolfian Surnames: These are particularly interesting because they contain both the father's name and the mother's, instead of how we humans do it. Other than humans, falcolfs are the only creatures still alive on Rimer to use surnames to identify each other. The first part of a surname is male, while the second is female. For example:

Sparren Trueflight

True comes from Jesk's surname Trueblack.
Flight comes from Naya's surname Runningflight.

Official Disclaimer: All characters, places, species and ideas belong to me, R. Brost a.k.a. Falcolf!