FRIC — Viewing Species: Razorshriek

This egg appears to shimmer lightly in shades of grey and violet, but the shell has a slightly coarse texture that seems to defy the glossy sheen. Though it's very light, when handled or moved one can hear an angry tapping from within. Whatever creature is inside the egg clearly doesn't like being disturbed.

The shell split into dozens of shards when the newborn within struck it particularly aggressively. The result is a tiny, serpentine dragon with wings and no legs, black with starkly contrasting white markings and wings, with subtle hints of gray and violet across its body. As it grows, these hints grow more defined, beginning to form intricate markings especially on the ventral side of its wings, and its bottom two fangs are growing much more rapidly than its other teeth. It hisses and growls when handled, and a nip with its oversized fangs can cause a deceptive amount of damage and pain, even through gloves. If approached from behind, it instead uses the barbed stinger on its tail to ward off pesky researchers, and flies away to a hard-to-reach spot. It can only be coaxed toward its handler with food, of which it prefers raw meat from rodents and birds.

A sister species to the Vitrevern and shockingly aggressive for its size, the Razorshriek is a tiny dragon and an avid predator. Known to use their relatively massive bottom fangs to skewer prey and deal surprisingly deep puncture wounds to the hands of field researchers, these creatures are similar in their gregarious behavior to Vitreverns and gather in massive swarms which can actively threaten larger predators. Named for their foul demeanour and piercing flock calls, Razorshrieks are common in arid areas of the planet, but until recently it had been difficult to find nests, due to the species tendency to lay eggs in small crevices only they can fit through.

Adorned in an intricate pattern of vibrant colors, the wings of a Razorshriek serve a dual purpose: one, for both sexes to attract equally-colorful mates, and two, to confuse predators attempting to pick one dragon out of a swarm. With their barb-tipped tails also sporting these dazzling colors, a predator which tries to attack a swarm may find itself stung and bitten countless times when it thought it was going for the relatively-unprotected belly of a Razorshriek, making these diminutive predators far more trouble than it's worth to hunt them. Though most wild Razorshrieks are a striking black and white with the only color in their violet markings, it isn't uncommon to see wild adults come in other color variants, which tend to be more vividly colorful; however, the sheer contrast of their standard color scheme seems to help survival by soaking up heat, providing countershading, and making it nearly impossible to stare directly at an active swarm for long periods of time.