Tirin
The Tirin is a small, compact bipedal runner standing 30 to 60 cm at the withers, its rounded body densely covered in short, soft pillow feather, finer on the belly and slightly coarser along the spine. Large bright eyes grant keen sight for spotting predators and tiny morsels alike, while a hardened beak tips the narrow snout for pecking and tearing at shoots, seeds, and insects. A flock in flight looks like a cloud of mist kicked up by their own feet, and in settled lands they serve as egg-layers, alarm-callers, and controllers of insect and seed dispersal.
Key traits
- The Tirin feeds opportunistically on plant shoots, insects, seeds, grubs, and food scraps, thriving wherever soft soil shelters grubs and young shoots near settlements.
- Its sharp screeches alert settlements to strangers or danger, making it a valued living alarm system in villages and caravan camps.
- Flocks establish strict social orders, with dominant Tirins bullying and guiding the weaker ones in a constant jostling hierarchy.
- Domesticated across Elshore for eggs, meat, and feather harvesting, the Tirin is one of the most widely kept creatures in the known world.
- A white-coated Tirin is considered a good-luck gift for newlywed households among the Maan People Maan The most numerous people of Elshore and the baseline cultural reference of the age. and river-tribes.
- In Baramma Place Baramma The great jungle island east of Tarkdaara, separated from the mainland by the Bram Sea and home to the Bar. jungle villages, Tirins painted with berry dyes are released during harvest festivals, symbolising the scattering of plenty into the next season.