Board Thread:Custom Lore Development/@comment-26535281-20170412001549

The Xinshi ying are very important in the Xinese empire in the form of messenger hawks. So Important are these hawks that they can only be owned by the state and royal family. Anyone trying to smuggle one faces death by a thousand cuts.

These Hawks allow Xinese commanders and officials to communicate with the farthest reaches of the battlefield and the farthest colonies. Every town in Xin is expected to have a messaging post for both the Hawks and the scrolls they carry. These Hawks are known as 'Phoenix Hawks' in Xin and are treated as a bird aristocracy in Xin.

The Hawks themselves are moderately sized raptors. Their feathers are primarily red on it's back and head with the under belly being a buff color. It has two sets of ear tufts with the top tuft being larger and sticks out as a angular plume, the bottom tuft is smaller and gives off the appearance of horns. It's beak is rather small and triangular and has two small mustache like plumes descending from it.

When Trained the Hawks have a rather cold attitude and are known to deliver messages pretty much anywhere (Some claim this to be some sort of dark magic others say it is elvish in nature). A lesser bred of Hawks known as simply 'Xinese Mountain Hawk' is used for more commercial and civilian usage. 