from March’s Creatures Beyond the Walle

Wyverns appear similar to dragons’ drake form, although without hind legs, around half the size, and with a venomous stinger in their pointed tails. Less deadly than dragons in drake form, wyverns are sometimes tamed as pets. During the ninth and tenth centuries, ’twas fashionable at Calatini’s court to own a pet wyvern, and watching wyvern fights was a popular entertainment. However, the custom of owning wyverns faded when people tamed draklizards, which are smaller and easier to manage. Yet wilder gentlemen still patronize wyvern fights held in rougher neighborhoods.

Wyverns are extremely energetic and territorial as well as excellent hunters and scavengers. An obligate carnivore, they consume at least double their weight in meat every day. However, they particularly love eating gold deer, unicorns, nightmara, or other magical ungulates because they derive extra energy from those creatures’ magical powers.

Sensitive to cold, wyverns become slow and clumsy when the temperature drops. They will often sun themselves to gain energy, and during the winter, they hibernate in caves, particularly deep ones heated by the earth. To prepare for their hibernation, wyverns are especially ravenous during autumn and late summer.

Wyverns live in mated pairs, raising their offspring from egg to adulthood over four years before driving them away. They typically only have one offspring at a time, but occasionally will have two (although the stronger of the pair usually kills the weaker.) Once on their own, wyverns hunt for a mate, battling rivals and potential mates until they choose a mate. However, they choose new mates every spring after waking from hibernation. Wyverns live around three to four decades.