Lygons

LYGONS - are sleek, iridescent reptilian cats who live in the land of Fraith. They live in prides, usually named after the terrain they rule, eg Mountain Pride, River Pride. The exception may seem to be the Salt Pride, but they are named after the Salt Islands they created.

To find out more about each pride, click on these links:

Each pride lives in a Felicitate, or communal dwelling, usually built into caves or a cliff. They have a smaller local animal, eg a scurria (a type of ground squirrel) with deft paws that serves them in exchange for protection from other predators.

Females are called cautas.

Males are called cautos.

Infants are called cauties.

They lay eggs which they bury in the ground while they incubate, and dig up when they are ready to hatch.

Eggs are silver for cautas, white with silver speckles for cautos.

Cauties hatch out with translucent fur that takes a hint of colour from the tint of the skin underneath. As they reach maturity they shed their fur for brightly coloured scales. Some fur remains on their bellies and paws.

They come in many colours. Red, blue and green are common. Purple is the colour for royal lygons - this is achieved and maintained by the regular consumption of lozenges made from lyntree nectar. Lyntree lozenges not only impart a beautiful purple sheen to the scales of royal lygons, it also acts as a tonic and provides the stamina they need for performing their royal duties, such as maintaining a balance in the energy of their pride lands.

Each pride has a royal family. The Royal/Royale will rule for 200 years before abdicating to their eldest offspring or nearest relative in the next generation. The ruler is supported by a Council of five to seven senior lygons, male and female, who help make key decisions and manage the affairs of the pride.

Lygons are quiet, secretive creatures who usually, but not always, hunt alone. Their Felicitates are in areas remote from human habitation, and to human eyes are indistinguishable from the cliff or cave in which they are built. It is so long since any human has seen one that they have dropped from human awareness. These days even if one was in sight, a human would not 'see' it. An archetypal memory of these powerful, remarkable creatures remains in human consciousness, but it has been transmuted into a sense of 'gods'. Their name has gradually changed over time to 'the Ai-alyn', and they are now viewed as gods of nature, ie wind, water, earth and fire.

Lygons are aware of these human beliefs, and while they find them rather amusing, they also treat them with respect.