Griffon

Griffons are hybrids bred long ago through the magical experiments of First Age Atlantean sorcerers. They have a lion's body, hindquarters and tail joined to the forelegs, head and wings of a giant eagle, with a wingspan of over 30 feet. Like most sorcerous crossbreeds they are few, most being sterile.

Like eagles they nest in high places such as sheer cliffs and mountainsides, building strong nests of roots, branches and whatever else they can scavenge, up to twenty feet wide and walled up to six feet high. A mated pair usually has 1-4 fledglings, eggs or a mix of both, and one parent always stays to guard them. Oddly, sterile griffons still pair up and may steal eggs or chicks from other great birds, such as rocs and hippogriffs, to raise as their own.

Fierce hunters, they take prey up to horse size, diving to strike with talon or hooked beak and carrying the victim home; unladen, they fly fast and nimbly. Their eyesight is as keen as a hawk's.

A griffon raised from birth or soon after makes a superb mount, fiercely loyal and trainable like a warhorse to fight beside its rider. Their eggs and fledglings are therefore highly prized and can fetch several thousand gold pieces from breeders and eccentric collectors. The young can reportedly be taken with nets of strong cord, but only if the parents are somehow overcome, since adult griffons fight to the death for their brood.