Physical Characteristics
Kudesos are fast birds, able to lift into the air at a moment’s notice and zip about on their wings. They’re rather short at an average of 1.3 meters, but they’re sleek. Their short beaks are sharp and their thin legs end in long, sharp talons. Their feathers come in all sorts of colors and their tail feathers are sleek and hardy which helps them angle in flight. They can also see excellently, able to spot something halfway across a city from the sky.
Kudesos have a natural tendency towards flight—they usually learn how to fly before they can even walk that well. They can’t fly for a long time, but they’re so fast they can cover a lot of ground anyway. They’re unable to grasp things with their wings, though, so they use their feet for that, and so a lot of times kudesos will fly more than they walk in order to free up their feet. Kudesos only live for about 50 years on average.
History and Culture
With only a 50-year average lifespan, kudeso lives are considered fast-paced. While some try to remain safe enough to extend their lives as much as they can, many kudesos—and the public perception, brought about by the more famous kudesos adopting this view—is to fit as much excitement as possible in the short time they have. This leads to kudesos being known as daredevils, many taking risks and doing fantastic things, often aided by their proficiency in flying.
This has also led to many becoming pilots—being familiar with flight allows them to learn easily, and their small bodies allow them to fight into tight aircraft. Some become deliverybirds, flying across cities to deliver mail or packages quickly. This has earned them a reputation for being speed freaks, something that entails much of their culture—carnivores, much kudeso cuisine is known for being burnt because they heat it up so quickly.
This is all in contrast to nervists, Zhop’s other bird species and one often known to live twice the age of kudesos or more. Nervists are seen as patient, take-things-as-they-come types, unlike kudesos who charge in fast to get things done. Long ago skirmishes took place between them, and common perception is that the two species hate each other, but that’s not particularly true—they got over fighting long ago, kudesos often simply soaring over the nervists to ignore them as they spread throughout the planet.
Duth Olec's Cuckoo Cosmos 