Aves

Aves, also called Avians, are just what they sound: bird-like parasynths created first in the HARDA. The Aves are sorted in two: Sapientals and Creatures--Raptors. They are the first parasynths created, first as Creatures by genetically modifying ravens and crows before the first synthetic Creatures followed: chicken-sized, pet Raptors. Although the Sapientals have bird-like wings and patterns, they are not related in any-way with the bird or birds they were based on.

Concept
Beyond the question of "What if people could fly?", there was no deep thought into the concepts of Aves. So, the idea was simple: a winged humanoid. However, achieving that vision led to a lot of testing and trial and error.

First, the founders of the HARDA were split in two by each party's idea: one side proposed organic methods while the other proposed bionics to be the faster and easier to produce. Enjoying the competition sparked, a third party came in and proposed that each had two years to produce functioning prototypes, which they would then present to a crowd of HARDA employees and the concept with the most votes would then be funded for further research.

Fired up by the competition, the first group began work on their concepts immediately. Within the first year, the team managed to produce the first two types of Aves prototypes. Meanwhile, through suspected sabotage, the second group underwent many changes of leadership and production for the bionic wings was stalled. By the end of the designated time, the Aves concept had come the furthest with the first Type-3 prototype ready to be grown, and the third party, pleased with the potential, doubled the initial funding.

With that money, the Aves development sped up and broadened, with a few lead scientists in the first group taking some samples to experiment with patterns and color, and the rest focused for long term viability and stability of the genetics with permission to go further and create more parasynths from the research; with this, they went on to produce Chiros and more Creatures besides Raptors, wanting to make flight-able animals.

Production
With the funding, growth of the production team and a broadening of the genetic codes from which they could pull traits, the main researcher--Aiko Nakamura--set up prototype tests in England, to configure a good standard for Aves.

The key base species which are primarily used are birds of prey, however, other birds can be found as well:


 * Crows/Ravens
 * Pigeons
 * Seabirds
 * Parrots
 * Songbirds

All other bases outside these are usually created by commission or with some, with dragonfly, butterfly and hummingbird being a favorite to use. Certain bases are used for certain roles, with many 'stealthier' types being trained as spies, and hardier, more durable, bases used as soldiers.

To actually produce Aves, however, they were first grown in synthetically altered ostrich eggs, then, after the forth type was produced, they used actual Aves eggs to grow further generations.

Biology
Because of their anatomy--which has more resemblance to birds, bats and other flying creatures rather than humans--the only humanoid aspects of Aves that remains is the face and speech.

Genetics
Aves share a lot of genetic content with Creatures such as Raptors. Like the majority of parasynths, they have a 8-Based genome:


 * Improved Immune System
 * Increased Reaction Speed
 * Hyper Effective Muscles
 * Hyper-efficient Blood
 * Rapid Metabolisms.

Bones
Their bones are obviously nothing like human bones, being more similar to birds in that they have the same honeycomb structures within that birds have, though they are comprised of a far denser, but lighter, material thanks to their synthetic nature, and, as such, only make up about 8% of the overall body weight. The walls of Aves bones are also very thin, and, in some parts, translucent when light is shone through them, but still retain the necessary durability to deal with the stress put on them.

A necessary aspect which Aves require is the keel, a large protrusion from what would be the sternum. It's a very thin, but strong bone and often acts as a breastplate that protects the heart and lungs behind it, though its key function is for the wing and pectoral muscles to be anchored to it. Although not outwardly visible, they also often lack a lot of smaller bones within the feet and have an adjusted pelvis to allow for free movement of the tail. However, they also have more changes, such as rib projections which overlap across the bones of the ribcage--to strengthen it--far longer scapulae, an adjusted collarbone that connects very loosely to the top of the keel and more vertebrae within the neck than humans do--about twice as many, though they are smaller and allow for far more flexibility of the neck, like in birds.