Race - Swanlike

[Hisao]

Sources:

Mythological - Fictional - Original

Race created by Hisao. You don't have to ask my permission if you want to RP this species, but when posting a biography or a character sheet somewhere, I would like a short note of credit for creating this race. Also, please don't just edit the characteristics of this race for your own good.

Internet sources:
Lin, Animal Totem: Swan, link.
Wikipedia, Swan, link.


Content:

• Basic
  
• Subspecies
  
• Life span
  
• Anatomy of the human form
  
• Anatomy of the swan form
  
• Skills/abilities

Basic:

The Swanlike are basically anthropomorphic creatures with the body structure of a human being, but they have no hair. Instead, they have feathers, which are mostly white, but can also be colors like brown or black. Swanlike will have another form in which they can morph; this is a swan form, and will have the same color of feathers as their human form.


Subspecies:

The subspecies of the Swanlike are derived from the name of their swan form. The division goes according to the existing swan species, with as exception the currently extinct 'Giant Swan'. The name of the related Swanlike is been composed merely by adding -like to the swan name.

Mute Swanlike (cfr. Mute Swan):

Mute Swanlike is one of the common species of Swanlike. They are mostly known because of their more soft voice than the other subspecies. A small group, almost 5% of Mute Swanlike, are even (almost) entirely mute. The sound of the wings - when they are in their swan form - compensates for this, being heard from quite far. As all Swanlike though, they will still hiss at you when you get them angry.

The swan form of this Swanlike is 55-63" / 140-160cm long and has a wing span of 79-94" or 200-240cm. Their human form is average 185cm / 6'1" for males and 175cm or 5'9" for females.

Black Swanlike (cfr. Black Swan):

Black Swanlike are - again, hence their name - recognized by their completely black feathers. In their swan form, their bills are red. Black Swanlike often have a more artistic mind, and are generally musically gifted. Mostly, they aren't as sedentary as other Swanlike, and tend to move (even to another city or country) every couple of years or decades. Either that, or they want to go on vacation quite often.

Black Swanlike are average 170cm or 5'7" for males and 155cm or 5'1" for females. Their swan form is mostly 110-142cm / 43-56" long, the span of their wings being 160-200cm / 63-79". Black Swanlike Cygnets (children) often have a lighter color of feathers, in extreme cases up to light grey or (platinum) blonde. By their teen age, they will however mostly have turned completely black already.


(insert here: Black-necked Swanlike, Whooper Swanlike, Trumpeter Swanlike, Tundra Swanlike)

Giant Swanlike (cfr. Giant Swan):

The Giant Swanlike is a rare form of Swanlike. Average being a couple of inch taller than the other Swanlike, their human form is average a little over 6' / 1m83 for females and around 6'3" / 1m90 for males. Even though they are tall, Giant Swanlike are the only whose swan form is longer than their human length, with 190-210cm or 75-83". The span of their wings would be about two feet (60cm) more.

Giant Swanlike cannot fly long distances like the less tall and heavy subspecies. However, with their long history and likely because of their appearance as well, they are respected by the other Swanlike. Only a couple of hundreds pure-blood Giant Swanlike are left. Hybrids with dominant genes of Giant Swanlike go up to maybe one or two thousand.


Life span:

Normally, Swanlike would have the same average life span as the human kind, but sometimes, it happens that a Swanlike dies much earlier or later than would usually be the case. There are three cases in which a big deviation of the human life span is seen:

* Swanlike are much more frail when morfed in their swan form. Therefore, it happens that Swanlike get confused to be real swans and are shot by an ignorant hunter. It also happens that they get crushed under a falling tree, rock, etc. much easier, as they are more vulnerable to natural disasters in this frail form.

* Swanlike, just like swans, tend to form a bond with only one partner in their entire life. If this partner dies only slightly earlier, it isn't really obvious. However, there have been cases when the Swanlike's partner had an accident or died early because of a disease. The Swanlike have often been seen as dying out of sadness.

* On the contrary as well, when a Swanlike's partner lives a very happy, prosperous long life, Swanlike have been seen to live life spans up to 130 or 140 years old without too much of a problem. Marriages between Swanlikes and other species with a long life span, therefore often cause the Swanlike to live longer.


Anatomy of the human form:

Skeleton:

The skeleton of a Swanlike does not have any extra bones or different bones than a swan has. They do not have wings when they are in their human form, like angels or avions. When transforming into their swan-form, it is their arms that completely change into wings.

The bones of the Swanlike on the other hand are quite light already. As Swanlike on the other hand can easily grow as tall as humans, this sometimes tends to give problems when teenage Swanlike are in their growing sprint. Pain at the joints is rather common, and taking it easy is therefore advised.

Hair:

A Swanlike does not have hair at all, no single square inch of their skin is covered by fur or body hair, not even their head. Seemingly logical, they instead have feathers.

The feathers Swanlike have on their body, start around their eyes, with small feathers replacing their eyelashes, to cover most of the upper part of their face, like their forehead and the area above their ears. Eyebrows aren't needed, as that as well is covered by feathers, growing longer on top and back side of their heads, almost like a human haircut.

Feathers on the body of Swanlike, just like body hair with humans, depends from one individual to another. The most common places where feathers grow are the shoulder blades, lower back, forearms and calves. Completely opposite to humans, where hairs seem to grow mostly in warm places, feathers of Swanlike tend to grow on the spots with lower body temperature to warm it up.

Face:

The mouth of a Swanlike is usually smaller than that of other creatures. Volumous lips is a very uncommon feature in the face of a Swanlike, almost only appearing in the face of a hybrid. The lips are usually quite thin, and the mouth small. Their voice tends to be average quite loud and sharp, though Mute Swanlike

A Swanlike's nose has a thinner nose bridge, and a sharper point. There nose is not located very deep in the face, like the case is with Asian people, but isn't big either, not to dominate the face.

The forehead bends more backwards than humans, a feature that is emphasized by the feathers on the back of the head. That way, the eyes are more drawn on the facial expressions of the Swanlike, which is probably a reason why they often tend to keep a serious look on their face.


Anatomy of the swan form:

...


Skills/abilities:

Flight, etc.:

Swanlike, when in their swan form, have the same abilities as real swans. This means that they can fly, hover on water, walk, sing, build nests and so on. These abilities are mostly naturally present, but can be perfected when taught by their (Swanlike) parents to reach a more 'professional' level. Some of these abilities do not seem useful to other species, but even when they aren't really that useful in for instance combat, they are a great way to disguise as a real swan. Only swan-specialists would be able to tell the difference between them and real swans, after all.

Sixth sense and precognition:

A Swanlike has a more developed sense of the supernatural and also has some abilities of seeing in the future.

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[KableLee]

Sound pretty awesome till now but the only thing that I dont like is,is that its not a "manly" species but thats only me.
I really like the Swanlike though