Aerwhal

Aerwhals are medium-sized whales, thought to have their origins with single-tusked Narwhals of the Northwestern oceans, who became tainted by the Wyld and swept from water into sky.

Aerwhals are fat creatures averaging about 6 yards in length, excluding the large horn found at the centre of their foreheads. This horn is a potent weapon, sharp and stronger than steel. They are covered in plumage, white in coloration speckled with grey, allowing them to blend into clouds as they fly through the air. Though they drift slowly most of the time, they are capable of diving at incredible speed to catch prey. Their primary diet is small birds and flying fish.

The horn of an aerwhal serves as a sensory organ to detect potential prey through vibrations in the air, and is particularly vulnerable to the mechanical emanations of artificial flight, which disturb and enrage the creatures. Travelling in pods of ten to twenty individuals, aerwhals will use their horns to pierce ballons and glidewings of flying machines encroaching on their territory.

Aerwhals are not a numerous species, only a few hundred present in all of Creation, and they are not well suited to gathering food, causing high mortality. Their introduction was an effort of the Bureau of Nature, led by the gods Oplath Daigono Shar and Clear Mind, and the successful breeding of Aerwhals in Creation created a position for the unemployed Clear Mind to occupy in the Celestial Bureaucracy.

The airboats of the Haslanti League have had to face hostile Aerwhals more frequently with each passing year, which has prompted the mounting of crossbows on airboats that would otherwise face few threats in empty skies.