Phoenix information

[Aine]

Want to play a phoenix? Well check out this information first so you can see what strengths and weaknesses this nearly immortal bird breed has. You can have more strengths or weaknesses than this for your character, but these are the ones that all phoenix's should have.

 First off, phoenix birds are not entirely immortal. Once they reach a ripe age over 1000 years they can die of old age, sickness, venom, fatal injuries inflicted to them, drowning, lack of oxygen, and poisoning. After this age unfortunately they will not rebirth form their ashes. They are totally dead.

 A baby phoenix hatches from a small black egg usually surrounded by a nest of smoldering charcoal. The babies will grow their flight feathers just after a year of age. This is also the same time they beginning to learn about their fire powers. A yearling phoenix will grow into a young adult form by age two. This is when they leave the nest and either continue living in their parents territory with the flock or leave to find their own place in the world. A phoenix is not mature enough to breed until it has hit fifty years of age.

 A phoenix bird's true age will not reset after it is reborn from death. If a bird died at age ten then was reborn it is still ten years old, but it starts out as a chick again until it grows up into an adult another two years later.

Weaknesses and limitations

 A phoenix can be killed in a variety of ways. However the things are hard to get rid of with their ability to be reborn from their ashes. All phoenix's will die, and eventually rebirth, if their heads are cut off or if their hearts are stabbed through with something. Equally, if their bones are all crushed or if they are bleeding too much a phoenix will die.

 Phoenix birds will also die if they are drowned, fatally poisoned, if fatal venom is injected into them, or if they are deprived of oxygen for too long. Of course they will be reborn from flame and ash after a short while.

 Baby phoenixes can't exactly defend themselves and without use of their fire powers they can be killed very easily. A yearling can sometimes use their fire powers to help defend themselves, and they also use their sharp talons and beaks. Their flight, agility, and speed are not the best though since they are still getting used to their abilities and growing bodies.

 There are also some ways to keep a phoenix from being reborn from their flames/ash/egg. Some are quite easy to do. It takes about five minutes for a phoenix to be reborn from its ashes, and the egg hiding in the pile of ashes, after they catch fire and die. If someone moves that egg into a place where it is not exposed to air, heat, lighting, or fire then the egg will never hatch into a baby phoenix.

 The easiest way to keep an egg from hatching is to drop it into water. Phoenix eggs will sink in water, but they will never die and cannot be crushed or broken. The only possible way an egg will hatch under water is if something or someone is blowing bubbles onto it OR if the egg is touched or covered by lava from an under water volcano.  However if it does hatch in these circumstances the resulting baby will most likely drown before it can get out of the water.

 Another way to keep an egg from hatching is to keep it in a vacuum sealed container. The vacuum seal sucks up all the oxygen in the air which is used by the ashes and the phoenix egg to catch fire and hatch. So by being in a container with no oxygen the egg can never hatch. This can also be done by magically sealing the egg into dense rocks and minerals, or even into thick ice or the heart of a tree.

Strengths

 All phoenix's are reborn with fire again by their ashes (and the egg inside of the pile of ashes) when they are killed. This ability is not so often passed down to Phoenix hybrids of other species. Anything half phoenix will have a 25% chance of gaining this ability. A creature less than half phoenix will only have a 5% chance of having this ability. So basically on a twenty sided dice you have to roll a 1 in order to get the ability if you are less than half phoenix. On the same twenty sided dice you need to roll either a 1, 5, or anything between those two numbers to receive this ability if you are exactly half or more phoenix. Only full 100% phoenix birds will get this ability without rolling dice.

 Most phoenix's have great amounts of stamina and speed due to their smaller size.

  All pure blooded phoenix birds will be able to cloak themselves in their own flames.

 The strongest a phoenix birds flames can be are light blue colored flames. The color of a creatures flames shows how powerful and hot their flames are. Phoenix's range between 410-590 degrees F.

 If your creature is half or less phoenix their strengths and weaknesses may be mixed with whatever other species they are made of.

Breeding

 Phoenix birds live a very long time, but there isn't a huge population of them because they can't and don't breed that often. Normally only the leaders of a flock of phoenix are allowed to nest and produce young. So this helps to keep their numbers down. However there are also other reasons that phoenix babies are rare. First off, a female phoenix can only breed and produce eggs three times in her 1000 year life. Males can breed at any time though, and because of this hybrids between male phoenix birds and other species do sometimes occur.  

 On that topic, phoenix birds can hybridize with other magical species. Might be hard to do in some cases but it is possible.

 A typical phoenix clutch will contain 1 to 2 small eggs at most. The nest will be made out of logs, branches, and other flammable material. The mother warms the nest by setting fire to the things its made of until only burning charcoals remain. Then periodically she, or her mate will go and get more wood if its needed to keep the charcoals smoldering. Phoenix hybrids can lay a varying number of eggs or give birth to babies depending on what the other half of their genetics is.