Pyre Vulture

With a few heavy beats of the massive black wings it was atop the remains of our fallen. It did not feast, however. Or at least not on the flesh. The jagged and charred beak opened and the air around the corpse shivered. We heard a noise, a wind, like the rushing of a great bellows. Two orange embers slowly lit in the empty pits of its eyes as it consumed the heat from the corpses. Something beneath its seared feathers glowed, as if the demon-bird were lit from within by some hellish fire.

Classification: Infused Beast

Major Elements: Fire (only after feeding)

Minor Elements: Fire, Air

Habitat: Warm, Arid regions with minimal vegetation

Also known as a seared buzzard or sometimes demon birds, the pyre vulture can be found throughout the hotter regions of the eastern continent of Rhydd, though it is most common in the mysterious barrens known as the Bleak Wastes. 

Possibly related to the smaller carrion vultures of the region, the pyre vulture has many similar features including a hooked beak, broad wingspan, and bald head.  However, the pyre vulture differs in many notable ways, most obviously its size.  While the common vulture has a wingspan of about 1.5 to 2 meters, the pyre vulture has been approximated to around 3 to 4 meters.  Unlike the brown and white plumage of its smaller relatives, these massive birds are covered in charcoal-black feathers.  The head of the pyre vulture, though bald, is black as well, leading to the belief that their coloring is actually result of their fiery feeding habits.

The pyre vulture has developed a unique method of feeding which involves drawing the remaining heat from the recently deceased.  The exact method for this process is currently unclear, but some believe the vulture may have developed a strong affinity with the Aura element (which all birds have to some degree)  to create an internal vortex that draws in heat.  As feeding progresses the creatures otherwise indistinct eyes will glow similar in fashion to red-hot iron.  If the meal is large enough a similar glow can be seen in the chest as well, even through the feathers.  No other part of the corpse is consumed, so it would seem the creature manages to sustain itself entirely from this process.

Once fed, the pyre vulture exhibits traits similar to other Fire-aligned creatures, including increased aggression.  This state is temporary but extremely dangerous, as the now infused beast is capable of 'regurgitating' its fiery meals in the form of super-hot gouts of flame.  After a few hours this state will subside and the vulture will return to its normal, relatively calm nature.  Though the infused state lasts only a few hours the bird will not need to eat again for several days.

Pyre vulture nests have never been found, nor have fledglings ever been observed, leading some to hypothesize that the pyre vulture is in fact the same species as the common vulture but through some unknown process has altered its eating habits (which may have in turn increased its size).