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Description
Kethklak Taresskar-tarra, leader of the griffins that invaded Uumet'kya from Kalaakya, cold-blooded conqueror, and conlanger with an eye to logic.

EDIT: Fixed armor on right shoulder. The leather straps are still somewhat tentative. Their red color is not dyed- rather, this is descaled stegosaur leather, from bright-red warning stripes arcing down from the eye and back. Kethklak is using the stegosaur totemically as a symbol of danger and power, and practically, as their thick hide makes very tough leather.

Ridiculous prancing pose entire for the display of relevant anatomy. I believe the leg positions are part of a slightly exaggerated walk cycle, but there's no excuse for that wing-flagging.

Warning: Babble ahead. Read at your own risk.

Foremost, you might note that Kethklak's limbs seem a bit mismatched. Kalaakyan griffins have much more powerful forelegs than hindlegs to prevent loading the tail while in flight. The hindlegs, while not irrelevant to gait, provide much less of the propulsion (meaning that griffins took the entirely opposite route of their distant cousins the hadrosaurs)

Speaking of the fore- and hindfeet (hak in Resskar, not to be confused with haak "big"), you may notice they don't really look like a bird's or a cat's. Kalaakyan griffins are descended from Heterodontosaurid dinosaurs, and have the typical primitive-ornithopod hindlegs. Their forefeet are modified for locomotion, and no longer have the "double thumbs" or wonking huge thumb-claw of Heterodontosaurus

Note also the short tail. Only primitive and a certain few Uumet'kyan griffins have long tails. The main flight control come from the feathers near the rump, while the end tuft serves primarily to mitigate the drag of the rest of the tail. I'm not certain if a more advanced product of the griffin's line will evolve a proper pygostyle or not; this may be a certain "minimum length". More primitive griffins have progressively longer tails until you reach their long-tailed Heterodontosaurid ancestors.

Shoulder armor- Kethklak most likely has a helmet and neck-guard as well, though the latter may be unnecessary, as she has long, thick neck feathers. However, I have not yet designed them, while the shoulder-armor came out in her first iteration. Most likely the flank and tail will remain bare, to prevent tail-loading and because they are subject to a lot fewer stresses.

This armor is also made out of polished bronze. Kethklak pretty much polishes it because it's what she owns. She also has a set of kray'ghin that she's not wearing right now.

Coloration- Kethklak may have unusual coloration at least on her primaries and secondaries due to flying through a magic storm. Otherwise, gray-pink is a common coloration. Griffins still have an unstable phenotype, and many different colorations and wing-shapes exist side by side, with only a tentative genetic tie. The only consistent genetic colorational difference is between the "cheek griffins" (Kethklak is one) and the "lore griffins" (Laharak is one of these).

I'm sure everyone's wondering what took me so long with this. Well, it's a rigorous ref. I started out with a sketch like this, then drew in bones, then muscles over them, then checked to see if it still looked right, and redrew each of the over fourty layers (except the background and the color blotches reference) at least twice.

Skeletal - [link] . Exceedingly rough musculature - [link] . Layer comparison - [link] . There's one last iteration of this picture, which will be up probably in the next couple of days.

Kethklak, Kalaakya and Uumet'kya are all mine, as is everything in this picture.

Description
Kethklak Taresskar-tarra, leader of the griffins that invaded Uumet'kya from Kalaakya, cold-blooded conqueror, and conlanger with an eye to logic.

EDIT: Fixed armor on right shoulder. The leather straps are still somewhat tentative. Their red color is not dyed- rather, this is descaled stegosaur leather, from bright-red warning stripes arcing down from the eye and back. Kethklak is using the stegosaur totemically as a symbol of danger and power, and practically, as their thick hide makes very tough leather.

Ridiculous prancing pose entire for the display of relevant anatomy. I believe the leg positions are part of a slightly exaggerated walk cycle, but there's no excuse for that wing-flagging.

Warning: Babble ahead. Read at your own risk.

Foremost, you might note that Kethklak's limbs seem a bit mismatched. Kalaakyan griffins have much more powerful forelegs than hindlegs to prevent loading the tail while in flight. The hindlegs, while not irrelevant to gait, provide much less of the propulsion (meaning that griffins took the entirely opposite route of their distant cousins the hadrosaurs)

Speaking of the fore- and hindfeet (hak in Resskar, not to be confused with haak "big"), you may notice they don't really look like a bird's or a cat's. Kalaakyan griffins are descended from Heterodontosaurid dinosaurs, and have the typical primitive-ornithopod hindlegs. Their forefeet are modified for locomotion, and no longer have the "double thumbs" or wonking huge thumb-claw of Heterodontosaurus

Note also the short tail. Only primitive and a certain few Uumet'kyan griffins have long tails. The main flight control come from the feathers near the rump, while the end tuft serves primarily to mitigate the drag of the rest of the tail. I'm not certain if a more advanced product of the griffin's line will evolve a proper pygostyle or not; this may be a certain "minimum length". More primitive griffins have progressively longer tails until you reach their long-tailed Heterodontosaurid ancestors.

Shoulder armor- Kethklak most likely has a helmet and neck-guard as well, though the latter may be unnecessary, as she has long, thick neck feathers. However, I have not yet designed them, while the shoulder-armor came out in her first iteration. Most likely the flank and tail will remain bare, to prevent tail-loading and because they are subject to a lot fewer stresses.

This armor is also made out of polished bronze. Kethklak pretty much polishes it because it's what she owns. She also has a set of kray'ghin that she's not wearing right now.

Coloration- Kethklak may have unusual coloration at least on her primaries and secondaries due to flying through a magic storm. Otherwise, gray-pink is a common coloration. Griffins still have an unstable phenotype, and many different colorations and wing-shapes exist side by side, with only a tentative genetic tie. The only consistent genetic colorational difference is between the "cheek griffins" (Kethklak is one) and the "lore griffins" (Laharak is one of these).

I'm sure everyone's wondering what took me so long with this. Well, it's a rigorous ref. I started out with a sketch like this, then drew in bones, then muscles over them, then checked to see if it still looked right, and redrew each of the over fourty layers (except the background and the color blotches reference) at least twice.

Skeletal - [link] . Exceedingly rough musculature - [link] . Layer comparison - [link] . There's one last iteration of this picture, which will be up probably in the next couple of days.

Kethklak, Kalaakya and Uumet'kya are all mine, as is everything in this picture.