Lugia

10/15/2024

This is the first thing I'm going to write on here, sorry if it's a mess.

Disclaimer: This is going to focus on the Lugia within my universe. There is a good chance some of the information here will not apply to you if you don't live in the Taskforce universe.

Starting with the basics

• Type: Psychic/Flying
• Average Standing Height: 11' 3"
• Average Wingspan: 16' 7"

Lugia are bipedal bird like dragons who typically live in or close to the sea. They have powerful wings that let them fly through the worst of hurricanes without issues, making travel in the sky very easy for them. The back of their heads stick out as a way to make space for their brains, which gives them access to the psychic powers that help them control the storms they make. A highly flexible tail helps propel them through water and lets them make sharper turns in flight. Their sharp beaks makes it easy for them to catch prey or rip into difficult to eat berries.

There's quite a bit of variation when it comes to how a Lugia can look. Stripes and spots are pretty common to see if a Lugia has patterns, some can have points like one may see on a cat, or in rare cases they'll have a piebald down. There's more patterns than just these, but I don't want to go into every single one here. A majority of the time, Lugia keeps a cooler coloration, typically keeping to a range of blues. The common shiny coloration has more pink instead.

A Lugia's beak can look pretty different from another's beak, with things like small spikes or changes in their "teeth" being some of the more obvious things. The eye horns have some slight shape variation too, though they always point to the area behind them.

The fins or spikes on their backs can be either… Well fins or spikes. They're always in pairs and are pretty much never connected to the other fins/spikes, though there are quite a few shapes they can be.

Sometimes wings can be webbed, have rounded fingers, or have a wing spur instead of the usual thumb. Rarely you can find a Lugia with claws on their feet. The tail spikes also always come in pairs, though sometimes there's two or three sets of them.

Lugia hatchlings start off as a solid grey color to help them blend in with the darker colors of the rocks they're usually near. Trying to touch a baby Lugia's grey feathers will lead to them splintering into sharp little bits.

Unlike what what many people think, Lugia are actually wanderers! They use the clouds to hide when flying and stay rather high up, so most Lugia sightings tend to be in or near the ocean.
They also have great control over the storms they make. Old legends talking about Lugia storms are often referring to Lugia that have been angered to the point of losing control.

Wings

Both Lugia and Ho-oh have legends surrounding them involving feathers with interesting properties. These feathers are often referred to as the Silver and Rainbow Wings by most. However, it seems that over time many Wings have been combined into the Silver and Rainbow wings when telling these stories, likely due to the information slowly being lost to time. Here I am going to document each of Lugia's Wings and the various things each one can do. I'll add a photo with the labeled Wings at a later date.

SILVER WING
This feather will be the same color any spot of the Lugia, though it tends to be more silvery shades when possible. It looks like it splits at the end of the rachis (the thing in the middle of a feather) and is very shimmery to the point that it could possibly be mistaken for a feather from a shiny pokemon.

This is how a Lugia will keep track of their chosen (and potential chosens). It's often also sign of trust from the Lugia if you are given one.

Holding the Silver Wing under moon light will cause it to glow and sparkle quite a bit. I'm not sure why it has to be moonlight specifically.

There are myths that say that people who have one of these have a silver soul. Apparently that means they're someone who stays true to themselves even with their imperfections, though this may be incorrect since I can't find a concrete explanation for it.

GUIDING WING
This is a smaller feather that starts as a color from the body of the Lugia and fades into the color of the eye horns. They also only come from areas near the eyes. It's got a soft glow to it at all times, though it's only really noticeable when it's dark.

If you hold it for a few minutes it sorta feels like it's trying to gently pull you somewhere. Having followed this tug with several Guiding Wings it is safe to say that it will lead you to a sea shore, no matter where you start.

Holding the feather up in the air at night will let me see stars through the clouds, though having other people try to do the same doesn't seem to work. This may be just a chosen thing.

OCEAN WING
This feather looks like it's grown into two feathers. The rachis is even split in two. It shares the same color as the back spikes/fins of the Lugia it comes off of.

Holding this Wing for about a minute starts to make you feel warm, which I think is to help counter how cold the ocean can be.

There's a myth that says splitting a Wing in halve let a "hero of storms" breath under water for a while. I think it's referring to this Wing, though I can't exactly test it myself due to my hybrid status.

STORM WING
This is a large rectangular shaped feather that comes from the wings of a Lugia, and it matches the wing color too.

I haven't had an opportunity to really see what this one does, though I have found old journal scans that describes a feather pretty much exactly like this one. Apparently they're supposed to help guide ship captains out of storms and hurricanes. Here's a link to the scans I found [OOC - Links to Tumblr]. It's also got information about Ho-oh Wings and seems to line up with what I've figured out.