A Gryphon is a bygone creature.
Overview[]
- Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to see
- Men not afraid of God, afraid of me.
- — Alexander Pope
A well-known figure of classical legend and heraldry, the griffin was one of the last thaumivores to disappear from Europe. Lewis Carroll is said to have conversed with the last one before it departed England, and there is nothing in Alice in Wonderland to contradict that. His characterization of the Griffen is fairly accurate, and he would appear to have described or introduced it to Tenniel, as well.
The griffin has the front parts (head, talons for forelegs, shoulders, wings) of a golden eagle, but rear end (from shoulder blades back) of an African lion. Its temperament is puzzling: if you pique its curiosity, you're safe as houses, and it may instruct you in the order of the universe. If you seem stupid to the beast, you may be ignored, or you may be dinner. Controlling magicks are not advised. Griffins have a long memory and no patience for fools.
Marauders who treat them well and with intelligence find them willing shock-troops, and they are particularly effective against Men-in-Black...the MIB's famous, interconnected memories seem to short out on encountering griffins (possibly through Paradox overload), and they have yet to find and adapt a suitable strategy against the creatures. Many a MIB has died from shock as the griffin came at it with two sets of talons, two sets of claws, and a beak, all from the air, all at once. Mere guns don't cut it.
Legendry[]
Bakhati Rugitti Sokto Pathor Rhyane Akkalah Rez, a wealthy and renowned gryphon, guarded his treasure in the mountains, his nest perched on a shelf overlooking the valley where the river carried gold and gems. When he flew, the expanse of his wing would hide the sun and cast a great shadow across the land. In this way, Bakhati reminded thieves of his power and might.
A wealthy woman from Susa, in the ancient kingdom of Elam, brought her young son to Bakhati and bade him to guard the boy, who was to be king one day. She offered the gryphon a golden chalice in exchange for his aid, and Bakhati agreed. For three days and three nights, the gryphon fought back those who would steal the boy from him. He did not sleep, ever-vigilant and loyal to his promise. Wave after wave of warriors and dark creatures assaulted Bakhati's nest, but the gryphon turned them all away.
In the afternoon of the third day, the attacks stopped and a beautiful young man came up the mountain, calling for an audience with Bakhati. The gryphon met the man and heard his offers of wealth - offers more glorious then any the woman from Susa could ever make. In the end, however, he refused the man's promises of riches in exchange for the boy. Bakhati's loyalty proved greater than even his own greed.
That night, the woman returned and revealed herself to be a messenger of the god Ormuzd, and the boy grew to his full height and maturity so he could speak with Bakhati as a man. The boy-become-man said his name was Ahriman, god of the Underworld. He bowed his head to Bakhati and then sunk down through the earth into his realm. The woman explained that this had been a test to see if Bakhati was a good creature or an evil one. Bakhati had proven his goodness. As reward, Ormuzd proclaimed that Bakhati would never again cast a shadow on the land, and granted him the ability to hide from mortal eyes.
Description[]
Artifacts pre-dating the glories of Egypt depict the gryphon, the half-lion, half-raptor that soars on the wings of dawn. Many cultures, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Myceneans, Indo-Iranians, Syrians and Greeks all acknowledged this glorious beast, and granted it suzerainty over the skies. In the 7th century B.C., the Greek chronicler Aristeas of Proconnesus write of the sky-lion. At that time, a gryphon lived in the Ural mountains, guarding rivers believed to bear gold.
The gryphons attraction to gold and gems causes such beasts to hoard great treasures, which they guard with a vengeance. In their giant nests, built in high places like mountains or the rooftops of tall buildings, these magnificent beasts keep rich caches, collected over the centuries.
Gryphons being highly intelligent, make excellent companions. When bored, a sky-lion often seeks out magi or other night-folk and engages them in long discussions about morality, divinity, the nature of Creation and other related subjects. Once a gryphon has made a friend or two, his loyalty has no bounds. Like the lions they resemble, these beasts protect their loved ones as readily as they protect their own offspring.
Both male and female gryphons exist. They mate for life and breed every 10 years, producing one egg and one chick each time. A gryphon egg has an incubation period of nine months. Once the egg has hatched, the baby gryphon lives in the nest for a year and a day before it matured sufficiently to fly on its own. During this time, one of the two parents remains constantly in the rest, protecting the chick. Both take turns gathering food. The young gryphon requires large quantities of meat to grow to full strength, as much as an entire human (or the equivalent) each day. At it matures, its appetite subsides until it ingests the weight of a horse once or twice each few weeks.
Like birds, gryphons chew food for their young during the first three months, regurgitating partially digested meat for a chick. Once the chick has its feathers and its beak has grown strong, it wears onto solid food and can tear the flesh from its meal by itself. The care that gryphons give their young testifies to their essentially good natures. Mated beasts cuddle and snuggle, cleaning and preening one another. Even after a chick has left the nest, a deep familiar affection remains among the gryphons. A chick visit its parents often, and comes to their aid immediately if needed.
Known for their strength and vigilance, gryphons have been called "The Hounds of Zeus." When entrusted with guardianship, they display protectiveness to the point of obsession; as avengers, they pursue their enemy with relentless determination. However, a gryphon's honor is matched (and often exceeded) by its greed. While sky-lions have little use for human currency, they love pretty things like gold, gems, sculpture and even paintings. Any gryphon worth the name has a trove of some size, and hounds a thief endlessly to avenge a trespass.
Gryphons are immensely territorial, even under the best of circumstances. On reaching maturity, a gryphon lays claim to a possession and guards it vigilantly thenceforth. "Mine" is the most popular word in the gryphon vocabulary. A sky-lion's domain typically consists of a large hunting ground that she guards against despoilers; it's not unheard of for one of these beasts to claim a special item, edifice or person as her charge. While it can be relieving to have a huge, ferocious protector, a gryphon's tendency to define protection in the broadest possible terms can be problematic. Overzealous gryphons have been known to kill a charge's suitors or to imprison a charge "for his own good."
A gryphon's name is nothing less than a verbal display of ego. The creature chooses her first name soon after she leaves the nest. Significant events - duels, prizes, great occurrences, even tragedies - add to that name as the gryphon sees fit. Like a magus, a sky-lion considers her name to be an extension of her adult self, a badge of honor among other beings. Like a Hermetic magician, the typical gryphon crafts a name out of a hodgepodge of impressive words in whatever tongues the beast considers "native." Given their limited vocabulary, these creatures consider long, difficult names to be more impressive than short ones. An adult gryphon (15 to 40 years old) often possesses a name of six to eight syllable in length. Elder gryphons (40 to 60 years old), particularly in the Iberian and Mediterranean regions, can have names in excess of 15 syllables. Any gryphon whose name extends more than 20 syllables is likely to be famous among its kind and feared by just everyone else.
Food - or a lack of - is a gryphon's greatest weakness. A sedentary beast eats less than an active one, but no gryphon can go long without freshly killed meat. No other food suffices. Long ago, gryphons learned that human beings provide the most easily acquired meals for their young. Cattle are missed; many humans are not. A gryphon parent selects and kills mortals for sustenance, and without malice. The gryphon chooses carefully, taking her prey from the underbelly of society or from travelers whose disappearance is attributed to the hazards of the journey. For this reason, many gryphons have migrated near cities, where the food supply is ample. Naturally, a mated pair must defend its territory - even the largest city can conceal only so many disappearances before the prey looks to the skies. Once a gryphon (or a clutch of them) has established a hunting ground, it defends the area against all others like it. The resulting duels (occasionally waged with help from other creatures who've allied themselves with one or both of the gryphons) have driven the sky-lions to the razor edge of extinction.
The gryphon is the standard of modern changelings' High King David and so gryphons, both real and chimerical, are very important to members of his court. Desperate events could revolve around the discovery of a living, breathing gryphon and the subsequent attempt to save it from destruction. It is claimed that the High King himself is under the protection of a great chimerical gryphon that aids him in times of need.
The griffin acknowledged by the Changing Breeds is a very different creature indeed. The spirit servants of the Red Talons' totem are predators among predators, with a fierce pride but no real pompousness. Mighty Griffin himself is a creature of Rage, hunting, war and honor - with minuscule tolerance for homid shapeshifters, and none whatsoever for humans, including magi, vampires and changelings. Naturally, if any Red Talons were to meet the gryphons described previously while in the Legendary Realm, blood would probably be spilled very quickly. The same can be said for magi who, when questing for gryphons, found Griffin-spirits instead....
Future Fate[]
Lack of food, faith and territory; the depredations of hunters, both mortal and magical; and territorial disputes between gryphons themselves have virtually wiped out or driven off the creatures. By the Age of Exploration, the magnificent sky-lions have surrendered earth for the vastness of the Otherworlds. Although an occasional gryphon braves human lands in the technological era, he's usually young, hungry and desperate enough to risk the hostile atmosphere of a dying world - at least for short time. More often than not, a gryphon must be dragged through the Gauntlet chittering and bellowing.
Image[]
One of the world's most wonderous creatures, the gryphon has the twitching tail, golden fur, lean haunches and expressive ears of a lion. Its graceful head, taloned front legs and broad wings are those of an eagle, covered with velvety feathers. A gryphon is frighteningly fast for such a huge beast. It can fly or run at speeds of over 40 miles per hour in short bursts. Its claws, huge and thick, can rend steel with little trouble, and some warriors would craft drinking horns from a gryphon's talons in the days when such beasts were plentiful.
Gryphons communicate through an enchanting language of purrs, growls and rumbling consonants. Most of them seem to speak several mortal languages as well, although they tend to use small works and speak with odd, rolling accents. Social and thoughtful, sky-lions prize riddles, histories and debate. Many gryphons, being somewhat philosophical, prize artwork above all things. Human craftsmen can accomplish things that a gryphon, with just beak and talons, can only admire. To many sky-lions, the desecration of art is a killing offense - although other gryphons take the opposite view and demolish artwork for the perverse joy of annihilation.
Character Sheet[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- MTAs: The Book of Madness, p. 94-95
- WOD: The Bygone Bestiary, p. 35-37
