Creature:Pnolthane

"The shining jewel in the center of the crown of the Empire"

- Empress Akilla VII

Evolution
Pnolthane evolved from an ancestral quadopteric bird species that lived in the warm forests of Southern Aglaisia, a region known today as Ezerona. The Pnolthane are considered to have diverged from this species approximately 70 thousand years ago.

Ancestrally, like all quadopteryx, the Pnolthane had four wings. However, as they began to use tools more and live in trees less, one set of wings developed into the arms that Pnolthane have today. The wrist feathers are remnants of these wings.

The decrease in flight ability afforded by this change was offset by the many benefits of this greater manipulative ability. Additionally, during this period, Ezerona became less arboreal due to natural climate change so flight was less useful anyway.

Anatomy
The Pnolthane skeletal system is mounted on a central spine made of interlocking vertebrae. Pnolthane bones are light due to the fact that they're hollow, containing only a thin matrix of bone fibers for strength. Bone tissue contains similar proportions of calcium and magnesium, both important nutrients in the Pnolthane diet.

The center of the Pnolthane nervous system is the large brain located in the head. This is divided into three main sections. A large forebrain is responsible for relational and abstract thinking as well as sensory processing and emotion. The cerebellum is responsible for motor function including the complex muscle movements needed for flight, this accounts for the cerebellum's large size.

The Pnolthane circulatory system is distributed through the body by green arteries deep in the body that have thick walls and carry blood under high pressure from the hearts and pink veins that are closer to the surface and carry deoxygenated blood back to the hearts under low pressure. The circulatory system is bicardial and is centered in chest where the three main organs of the system reside. Deoxygenated blood is pumped into atrium of the pulmonary heart where the muscular walls of the organ contract and push the blood through a one-way valve. Additionally, the pulmonary heart draws newly produced blood. The production of new blood cells to replace excreted dead cells is centralized and occurs in the sanguim, a large organ in the center of the chest. Due to its vital nature, the sanguim is heavity protecteched by a second, smaller rib cage that lies under the primary rib cage. The blood is then pumped through the major lung on one route and the minor an ancillary lung on a second route, converging back in the constitutional heart. The constitutional heart then pumps the newly oxygenated blood throughout the arteries distributed through the body.

The Pnolthane respiratory system is fed through the mouth and nostril holes in the beak. During inhalation an air sac at the base of the lungs fills with air while a diaphragm above relaxes, allowing oxygen-depleted air to exit the lungs into a second air sack above the lungs. During exhalation this air sack empties and the carbon dioxide-rich air leaves the body. The still oxygen-rich air in the lower air sac simultaneously enters the lungs, re-enriching the blood with oxygen. This system evolved in ancestral Pnolthane as a result of the high energy demand associated with flight causing this feature to be selected for as the additional stored oxygen allows for greater metabolic rate.

The Pnolthane digestive system begins in the beak. Food is not processed here by chewing although harder foods like nuts can be cracked open by the sharp edges of the beak and the powerful muscles that drive it and food can be broken into smaller chunks before entering the mouth. food then travels down the esophagus into the crop. This expanded muscular pouch is used to store a volume of solid food eaten prior to digestion. At the base of the crop is the proventriculus. This organ is analogous to the the stomach although does not have as much volume and secretes digestive enzymes that break down the peptide bonds in food as well as chloric acid while churning solid food through movement of the thick muscular walls. The food then passes into the gizzard, a large organ with strong muscular walls that contract to process the food by grinding it into smaller parts since this process did not occur in the mouth through chewing. Ancestral Pnolthane swallowed stones to aid this process, acting as 'teeth' to aid this process. However, modern Pnolthane use artificial gizzard stones, often with extra functionality. This processed food then passes into the small intestine where nutrients from the food is extracted and enters the bloodstream, additional digestive enzymes being added from the liver and the dual pancreases. Material with no nutritional value that can be absorbed is dehydrated in the a large organ called the

Physiology
Pnolthane blood is green. This is a result of the oxygen-carrying green blood cells which are filled with a green protein called prasinoglobin which is based on nickel compounds. These cells are suspended in a salt-filled plasma. Other cells present in Pnolthane blood include warrior cells which are responsible for destroying invading pathogens as well as remembering the signatures of past invaders and blue blood cells which are responsible for neutralizing various types of poison in the blood stream.

Trivia

 * Due to the chemistry of their gastric juices, Pnolthane can safely drink bleach.