Fiction:The Firmament/Wyvern

"It is wise not to confuse wyverns for simple drakes. While brutish, they do have a certain cunning to them which most drakes lack. And of course, beware the stinger tail."

- Unknown

Wyverns are a type of lesser dragon characterized by an aggressive disposition and a deadly venom which they deliver through their long, hooked tails.

Appearance
The average wyvern resembles a four-limbed dragon, sporting a large pair of wings and a pair of legs. Their heads are sharp and triangular in shape, sporting anywhere between two to four horns. Their backs are covered in spiked plates and a long tail trails behind them, ending in a hooked stinger. Wyverns generally sport light blue scales, live up to about 250 years and can grow up to eight meters long.

Ecology
Wyverns can be found practically worldwide, except for the polar regions due to not being well adapted to the cold. They generally inhabit areas with many hills and cliffs where they may make their nests, and are usually destructive to their territory. Wyverns are also prone to flocking to the abandoned lairs of other dragon races.

Society
With a naturally bad temper and territorial disposition, wyverns generally live solitary lives and do not tolerate the presence of other dragons. They are bullies who attack and possibly kill any other large predator within their vicinity, leading to fights with any trespassing drakes, non-familiar wyverns or other creatures like manticores and griffons. However, wyverns are submissive towards creatures larger than themselves and will generally flee if confronted by a True Wyrm or a particularly powerful predator.

Abilities
Unlike most dragons, wyverns do not possess a breath weapon. Rather, they sport a long stinger tail which delivers a deadly venom to the victims, strong enough to kill a creature as large as an elephant in minutes. Small doses of this venom are also immediately deadly to most humanoids, but given their size, a wyvern is able to simply devour or impale a human outright rather than attempt to poison them.