Griffins

Griffins are a recurring race appearing throughout the Chapters series. It is a creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle.

History
Dragons were used in the original continent of humans for centuries. However when humans arrived to the "new world" they noticed the dragons getting weaker and weaker each day and finally collapsing without able to move at all but still being alive. They were moved into the Mountain of Mages where most of the Hume Dragons now rest. Since the dragons are technically immobilized, the humans were forced to find a new type of flying mount to use in battle and for movement. A brave traveler and a group of her friends set out on a journey to find a new type of creature that can be trained and mounted. This 'new world' was dotted with mountains, so they decided that a creature that can fly would reside somewhere at that altitude. As they reached the mountains, they started to discover strange-looking eggs that resembled dragon eggs, only smaller and smoother. Soon enough, the travelers found their first griffin which was immediately captured and then taken in for experimentation. It was discovered then that griffins were small, light, and fast; however they lacked proper defense and powers that dragons can have. They are elegant and often very obedient as dragons can be stubborn. Soon enough the captured griffin was trained - unlike the dragons, griffins are easier to mount since their backs are sleek and a saddle isn't required.

Age
Griffins usually live longer than a human.

Appearance
They have different colors - some are the generic brown and white, others are black, grey, white, tan, peach, even cream-colored. There are also the rarer ones: spotted, albino, and pitch-black.

Usage in Battle
It is unknown if people will start to armor the beasts to add defense to their mounts.

Capture
Griffins can be found at any nearby mountain; they do not like moving around much. In order for a successful capture, one must first wait for a griffin to approach out of curiosity. Then the griffin's wings have to be immobilized so that it won't fly away; then it will start to calm down as the capturer leads it away from the mountains and back into whichever hometown or city they come from. Griffins are mainly independent and they do not stay in flocks - although they are very friendly to other griffins.

Griffin Capture
The discovery of griffins made a new tradition - instead of dragon-hunting, it is called Griffin Capture. Occasionally an experienced griffin owner and a person who wants a griffin will set out on a nearby mountain. The time of day depends on what the griffin-capturer wants (the rarer griffins will come out by night).

Griffin Capture might be a possible mini-game.

This became a tradition because of the groups of people that would go out and Griffin Capture. In order to participate in Griffin Capture, one must first purchase a griffin barn.

Griffin Capture takes place whenever. The people treat Griffins like pets, but others choose to treat them like best friends instead.

Steel Griffins
There is an elite group called the Steel Griffins. Trained from a young age (7-9 years old) to handle Griffins in battle. Some people saw this unethical for using child soldiers and couple of years later there was a law made that only if the child wants to do it himself it's allowed. This made many children of captains and generals become Griffin Elites. Griffin training is more challenging to most people because Dragons on the other hand understand the language that is most common one of all used by all races. The current leader of the Steel Griffins is Elizabeth Gideon.