Savage Vunreks--the greatest threat known to the species of crystal wyverns, aside from the Keeper. As was mentioned in the first lore painting, the Savages are Vunreks who have undergone a horrific transformation and have become mindless beasts due to intense stress or pressure. There are two generally accepted ways this can happen, by a gradual change or a sudden change.
---Gradual change---

This method involves the stages seen in this painting, and is usually caused by a prolonged fear or paranoia. The start of the first stage can be easily seen, the Vunrek's body will become paler, with watered down colors, unusual or new gaps will start opening up in and around the chest, and the eyes will have distinct vein-like lines going through them. Vunreks can be saved only in this stage, if they can put away their fears with the help of others, and keep themselves out of harm's way, they will not advance through the other stages, although their physical body will remain deformed.

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If the Vunrek is unable to let go of its fears, however, it reaches the end of the first stage. At this point, the Vunrek will start having black outs, where it loses control and awareness of itself and its surroundings briefly, hunger for magic, and the urge to hunt other Vunreks for their crystals.

Stage two is considered a transitionary stage, the wyvern's mind is completely animalistic by this point, but its body still resembles a stage one Vunrek. During this stage, the Savage's body begins slowly warping into the final product, the crystals all over the body start changing colors, black scales grow under the old scales, new spikes poke through, sometimes the mouth changes completely and the horns twist.
On rare occasions, this process won't finish, resulting in a half-formed Savage, like Quasimodo here.

Stage three is the final, completed stage, the Savage has completed the transformation and is beastly in both mind and body.

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It can take months, even years for a Vunrek to go through this transformation.

---Sudden change---

This kind of transformation occurs when a Vunrek is put under an intense, sudden pain or fear, like torture, or being attacked out of the blue by some horrible monster. In a state of total panic, the Vunrek will suffer through a speedy mutation, going through all three stages in a matter of minutes. This is terribly painful for the Vunrek, which only makes it worse.
Many Vunreks became Savages this way in the thousands of years they were on the Keeper's space ship.

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The sizes, shapes, and powers of Savages vary depending on what Variant they were beforehand, but they rarely use their magic, as they have a limited supply of magic, and it serves as their life force.
The trick to figure out a Vunrek's age does not apply to Savages, Savages can live indefinitely as long as they can constantly feed off of magic. Weaker Savages have dark crystals that hardly glow, older, stronger Savages have brighter crystals, although a Savage with extremely bright crystals has never been seen. The black wyverns tend to ignore each other, likely due to their weak magic, until one Savage gains more magic than the others, which can cause a feeding frenzy among them.

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Perhaps the most disturbing aspects of the Savages is the fact that not even children are safe from joining them, as a result, parents (especially the mothers) become very protective of their hatchlings, and the children are not allowed to learn about the stories of the Deviljaw and the Keeper until they are well into their late hundreds... unless an old grandmother slips up, like in Nyu's case, which calls for a simple, lighthearted retelling of the dark tales.

Savages, while although their minds are animalistic and focus solely on self-preservation, may actually remember a few words from before their transformation. It happens much more often in a sudden change, but if a Vunrek repeats a word, name or phrase while it's turning, it will likely keep that after its mind is gone. Because of this, Savages can often be heard screaming the names of friends, family members, and loved ones, or phrases like "Help me, oh please, help me," or "It hurts, so much."

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Nevertheless, Savages do not understand what the words mean, nor do they even realize that they are speaking, and they cannot form intelligent sentences.

(Almost forgot this!)
A black substance can be seen connecting a Savage's wings at the joints, it almost feels sticky to the touch, and can burn, freeze, or shock the skin depending on the wyvern's element. It seems that the Savage's heart crystal is too weak to support the wings by magic, which is the likely cause of this. In some places, it extends out limply, allowing the Savage to use it like a whip.

One location of the Vunrek's planet seems to draw Savages toward it, leading the Circle to name this place the Savages' territory (I'm working on an official name), and have deemed it forbidden to go there. It is unknown what lures the Savages to this place.

I think that's all for now, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer it here X3

Also, please note that the eyes in this painting are Quasi's, the colors are different for each Variant, except for stage 3.

WOAH, dark xD They look so evil and... full of anger! Great work

Re: Oh, sorry ! I didn't realise I never posted it ^^' I can't post it today though because, of course, the upload limit prevents more than four paintings.

Re: :O
Ty!