Misterican Sky Children :: The Art of Flight
This one has been a long time coming guys, I have rambled about it a lot on disco so here we go because this is one of the most crucial parts of Kumo's character and I need to make sure it is covered thoroughly.
So if I haven't been forward enough about this before, Mistericans are flight capable beings. They have the ability to defy gravity itself and take flight into the skies above. They can do everything from full fledged flight to levitation. Kumo uses some form of flight nearly every day, the most common of which being levitation. While he does not take into the skies themselves very often, he still finds himself floating just above the ground more often than not.
When Kumo floats above the ground it can be anything from a couple of inches to a couple of feet depending on the circumstance and his company. If it is someone he is comfortable with and his only a few inches taller than himself, it would probably only be enough to match their height but if it is someone like Kaze, he will find himself at least a foot off the ground as Kaze is several heads taller than Kumo is.
Also depending on the person, Kumo will remain in a full levitation as long as that individual is in the room and he will not allow his feet to touch the ground despite any fatigue he may be feeling. Kaze is again, a prime example of this and this is due to the way the gun mage has used his physical mass to intimidate in the past.
Kumo's flight ability is a natural born skill and nearly all Mistericans can do so. It's the same to them as walking is to us and most Mistericans learn to fly at a very young age. Anywhere between 2 to 5. Despite this being a natural born ability, Mistericans still must attend a flight school to receive training on how to fly with proper speed and control.
All Mistericans must attend mandatory five years of flight training during their schooling years as a child. Further flight training can be sought after once these years are completed. Any member of the Royal Knights is required a mandatory ten years of flight training and they are given many rigorous courses in not just proper control but assisting others in the case of an emergency and advanced safety techniques.
The thing with Misterican flight is the skill has more uses than just transportation. It is also applied to fighting techniques and dancing. There are safety protocols that can only be performed through flight and it is also used as a way of escaping one's enemies. On top of this, Mistericas also hold a test of skill once every four years as a flying race that all are allowed to enter - public and royals alike. The only requirement of entering this race is that the Misterican is over the age of 10 years old and all their mandatory schooling has been completed.
You see, while flight is an ability that is natural born, the skill one possess ranges from Misterican to Misterican. Some Mistericans could hover well but not fly at great speeds. Some could take to the skies but only do so slowly. The top recorded speed reached in Misterican History is around 360 miles per hour and this record was held by one Eversti Revon Tulet.
The average flight speed for a Misterican ranged anywhere between 100 and 150 miles per hour, with a rare few being able to reach speed much higher. Kumo flies at a casual 200 miles per hour at any given day, but his top speed is around 700 miles per hour but doing this is extremely exhausting and he needs to really be pushing himself to get to such speeds. Kumo cannot take off at that speed but he can dead launch into speeds nearing 100 to 125 miles per hour. Otherwise he needs to raise his speed over time to get to such velocities. Kumo can reach such great speeds due to his status as an Unlimited, however his top speeds were never recorded as he was never put in a situation in which he needed to reach them before Misterica fell to Chaos.
Both Kumo and his older brother have been shown to fly at speeds so great they appear as beams of colored light to non-Misterican eyes (or non-Windarian for that matter.) When a Misterican reaches these speeds to create this effect, the beam of light they produce is generally the same color as their mist. Kumo is the only exception to this rule because as you can see, the resulting beam of light appears a bit white and blue.
Flight is one of the most integral parts of Misterican culture, and it is their main form of transportation - excluding the need to move items - import and export. This is why Kumo will float often. Even if it just moving through a space with his feet only inches above the ground. It is natural reflex to him to do so.
It's also high key where his agility lies in a fight. Kumo might not straight take to the air, because to him it means so much more than soaring into the skies. It means hovering just inches above the ground. It means using it to effortlessly skate through the air while his feet never touch the ground, even if it looks like they are. Mistericans consider flight to be anything that involves lifting their bodies from the ground even if it's barely an inch.
Because of this, there is the flip side that flight takes energy. This is why their bodies process foods and sugars differently from a human. Everything from hovering, to full floating to levitation to full fledged flight costs them energy. Depending on the activity and the duration of it costs a different amount and it's akin to running VS walking. It would cost a Misterican less energy to float above the ground than it would to go into full flight but they can still get tired if they float for extended periods.
However on that note, it costs a Misterican less energy to float than it does to walk or run, so this is why it's their first choice. The downside to this is though - it only costs them less energy to float over walking if they are doing it for short periods.
Long distance walks = less energy than long distance floating.
Floating is not meant for long distance travel, that's what full flight is for. It's much faster and accomplishes the trip in far less time. It should also be said that Mistericans tend to choose flight over walking if only because their bodies are meant for such a thing. They are creatures of the sky and have used this ability to avoid enemies and other ground bound dangers since the beginning of Misterican history. Their eyes have adapted to this skill and because of it they see differently than a human does.
Mistericans have a wider panoramic view of the world than a human does. So this means while a human would see this:
A Misterican would see this:
The peripheral vision they possess far extends what the human eye is capable of and as such that means a Misterican can see further than a human can in 360°. This is to assist them when in the air. Misterican sight has naturally enhanced itself over the years to provide a wider view of the space around them so they can see what's above and below them as well as off to their sides. It makes navigating the skies far less treacherous because despite popular belief that it would be easier with less to worry about - flying can be extremely dangerous.
There are other things and creatures in the skies to avoid, as well as keeping track of surroundings and places to land in case of exhaustion or sudden injury or aliment. Flight might be the faster option but it is not always the safer one. This is why Misterican stress the importance of being properly trained in what they consider the art of flight.
Now Misterica as a kingdom existed on floating islands in the sky, so one needed to be able to fly to access them. This is for previous mentioned reasons like avoiding enemies or hostiles, but also because a large portion of Misterica's resources were found on these islands, so it was only natural that they would form their society around the places there resources were in easy access. As such, a Misterican who could not fly due to injury, illness, or impairment was considered to be under a death sentence. Misterica as a culture frowned on the flightless, Mistericans or otherwise.
There was a bit of a superiority complex going on over the ability of flight within the space Misterican culture. They looked down upon any creatures that could not fly and saw them as being unfit of the "Celestial Mother's blessing". Because of this, they saw themselves as the superior beings simply because they saw themselves as blessed by Lady Tiamat themselves to obtain such an ability.
Therefore they also viewed creatures like birds as sacred children of the sky as well. Birds are beings of Mist and within the space of Misterican culture they are seen as sacred and a point of holy worship. Consuming one was wildly taboo and something only the heretics did. Kumo would rather starve than consume that is a bird or comes from a bird and that is entirely a reflection of both his religion and his culture on his part.
Mistericans are what as known as Sky Children, and they refer to themselves as this because they see themselves as exactly that. Children of the Sky. If you were to discuss such a subject with Kumo he would undoubtedly find a way to bring this fact up. Kumo of all Mistericans will bring up the phrase "Sky Child" one way or another due to his connection to Lady Tiamat.
Mistericans have a saying within the space of their religion/ culture that is "From the Sky we are Born and to the Sky we Return" and it means literally what they're saying. As Lady Tiamat is the ruler of the skies and creator of the heavens, Mistercans see themselves as not just flight capable but also born of the sky itself. So in death, their bodies fade and they return to the natural world to become one with the nature around them. To become one with the sky from which they were born.
So in turn, the ability to fly became indispensable to their culture and customs. Mistericans use the sky not just as air space to travel but also to maintain their body temperatures and as protection from enemies. Mistericans see the Mist in their lungs not just as a blessing of the Celestial Mother and as their very souls but also as the individual piece of the sky they were born of. The sky contains a vast hue of colors depending on the time of day and position of the sun / moon in the sky and Mistericans are born in nearly every single one of these colors.
They see themselves as the sky's hues fragmented into living form. They see themselves as the sky given life. So in turn, they refer to themselves as "Sky Children." They are not saying it because they live in the sky and they are flight capable creatures. They are saying it because they honestly view their people as Children born from the sky itself.
This is also why the ability of flight is seen as so sacred to Misterican culture and how the arrogance around it arose. Due to their nature as Sky Children and their ability to not just control but also produce Mist, they hold themselves in high reverence. They see themselves as the beings that are the absolute closest to Lady Tiamat herself, and therefore that arrogance was born.
Being so close in form to Lady Tiamat, the source of all Mist, is why Mistericans will look down on flightless creatures or hold themselves a little higher than any around them who cannot perform the action or/ are weak in the action. This was one of the major flaws of their society (but they wouldn't see it that way.) That's why I call it arrogance, because that's exactly what it is. Even Kumo possesses this negative trait, though he's not quite so forward about it and most of the time is hardly aware he's doing it. (He would correct himself, if pointed out to him however.)
