wyverians have a digitigrade stance, meaning they walk on their toes with their soles + heel lifted off the ground. their gait differs drastically to this - they take longer strides and have exceptionally confident footwork. this stance is an evolutionary holdover from ancient times, wherein wyverians lived almost exclusively in high altitudes. that stance made traversal of rough terrain easier. they lean forwards notably, and use their long, stiff tail as a counterbalance to further aid in mobility. while a wyverian's tail is vital to their locomotion, it also serves as a fat repository during seasons of famine. a wyverian's tail is an excellent indicator of their general health - the thicker and more "shiny" it is, the more healthy an individual.
wyverians are adorned with a thick covering of scales! mostly, a wyverian's scales fall along their spine, across the shoulders, and on their legs. their legs and tails are the only limbs that have full integument, the rest of their bodies see a partial scale cover. a wyverian's scales are very important for a multitude of reasons! mostly protection, but they also help regulate heat. wyverian's scales aren't just surface level, they have an underlying osteoderm beneath the epidermal scale spot. this means that a wyverian can't really "lose" a scale without damaging the underlying tissue, like some other reptiles can. they still shed though, but they simply shed the outer keratin payer of the epidermal scale. this tends not to come off in a single "shed" like snakes, it rather comes off in flaky "patches". a wyverian's scales are also an indicator of their general health - the smoother and shinier their scales are, the better their health. prolonged stress may cause a wyverian's outer scale layer to become more matte and prone to breakage.
most wyverians have the thickest scales around the pelvis region and along the topside of the tail. the scales along the dorsal region of the tail are notable for having limited mobility, the muscles on the tail can contract and "raise" those specific scales slightly. most of the time, this is an involuntary action, caused by extreme stress or surprise. a wyverian's scale color is normally determined by their environment and parentage. typically they take on darker, more earthy tones, but as of late lots of variation has been seen, as well as some emerging patterns!
wyverians also tend to have keratin based horns!! these are a bit more uncommon in younger wyverians, who tend to only have little "nubs", but older wyverians might have longer sets of horns.
similar to some types of reptiles, wyverians never really stop growing. they age incredibly slowly, but this is a persistent and constant process that occurs throughout a wyverian's hundreds of years of life. this is the main reason why wyverians have such diversity in how they appear. generally, the first sign of a wyverian aging is an increase in height, followed by a very sudden decrease in height once they reach elder age. generally, the shorter and more "stout" a wyverian is, the older they are. this is easily seen with maolo and zellard in MHS2 - zellard is in his 500s, while maolo is reaching into his 800s-early 900s. zellard is pretty much the equivalent of a human being around 50-60, maolo is equivalent to his 80s. wyverian age is a REALLY fickle thing and is just, not easily equatable to human ages, because the way they age and how it affects them is so inherently different. wyverians are hard to find an average lifespan for because. theocratically, they could go on forever. their bodies tend to give out on them before they could reach that 1000 year mark.
