The Gikairan
The Gikairan are a humanoid species characterised by the pair of wings on their back, and their scaled forearms and lower legs.
Physical Traits
Scales
Gikairan scales are small, flat and smooth - think of them more like a snakes scales than lizard scales.
For most Gikairan, they only have scales:
From the elbow down
From the knee down
Across the entire wing arm, with a small scattering on their back around the wing shoulder
Though it is entirely possible for a Gikairan to have fewer scales (e.g. only on their hands and feet, instead of the entire lower limb) or to have more- either extending further up the arm/ leg, or to have small clusters of scales on other parts of their body (e.g. chest, or even face)
The divide between scales and skin isn't a straight line, but a dapple pattern.
Usually, Gikairan scales are one single colour across the entire body, with no kind of pattern or colour variation. However a skin condition like vitiligo will also impact their scales.
Colour Genetics
Gikairan scale, hair and eye colours are often bright colours, not seen in real world humans. It is actually rare for a Gikairan to have; brown, blonde or black hair or brown, black or white scales. Black or white scales would be due to Melanism or Albinism respectively.
Usually a Gikairans scale, hair and eye colours are complimentary to each other, though sometimes eye colours could be contrasting.
In terms of skin tone, Gikairan skin tones have the exact same range as real world humans, but no fantasy colours. If a real world human has a particular skin tone, a Gikairan can also have that skin tone.
Wings
A Gikairan's wings are bat-like wings, attached around the shoulder blade on their back, with a membrane that extends down to their hip. The entire arm of the wing is scaled, as well as much of the area of the back where the membranes connect. The wing arms themselves will be slightly longer than their normal arms.
Each wing has a distinct "hand", with 4 fingers and a small thumb. Each digit has a clawed on the end.
A Gikairan's wing is not actually enough to allow them to fly- merely glide. With the right circumstances, they could use natural weather patterns to get upward lift, but generally you won't see a Gikairan flying upwards.
While their wings might not allow for flight, they are used for more than that by the Gikairan. They are extremely expressive with their wings. While the hand might not have a huge range of movement, the way they hold these limbs is an indicator of their general mood. A sad Gikairan would have them droop, an anxious Gikairan would hold the wing hands in front of them (or even fiddle with them with their "normal" hands), whereas an excited Gikairan would be rather animated.
The small claws on the end of each digit also come in use for climbing- a Gikairan can use these claws to better grip onto sheer surfaces. While they may not be able to fly upwards, they can easily climb difficult surfaces.
Body Shape
While a Gikairan can't fly, their wings still have a massive impact on their actual bodies.
A Gikairan usually has very little fat on their body, in order to keep it light. Their metabolisms are flexible, and adapt as needed to any particular diet or lifestyle. This makes most Gikairan look pretty skinny. They can build muscle, especially in the chest/ shoulders, but it might not be overly apparent under clothing.
Gikairan are also not very tall - the usual height range for an adult is between 4ft 10 (1.47m) to 6ft (1.82m), with the average being closer to 5ft 5 (1.65m). Note that the taller height ranges are not very common at all.
Hair
Because of their scaled body parts, Gikairan have a lot less body hair than a human. While the hair on the top of their head can be varied in texture and thickness, their body hair is much finer. Male Gikairan also don't really grow facial hair like humans do, and don't really need to shave.
Culture
The Clans
Populations of Gikairan are split into thousands of individual Clans - each having their own distinct culture.
The size of a clan can vary dramatically - some clans may be as small as a single village, while others might span an entire country. In some clans, you might know everyone in them - in others, there may be entire groups of people you'll never see. However clans are usually on the smaller side, rather than the large scale. If one clan spreads too far, and its population ends up too far apart from each other, a splinter clan may form.
Clan Tattoos
While most clans will have wildly different cultures from each other, there is one constant - the clan tattoos.
These are tattoos on the face and bodies of a Gikairan that tell others which clan they belong to. The colour of the tattoo is based on an individuals scale colours.
The first of the clan tattoos is a facial tattoo that is applied around the age of 3 months. These are symmetrical tattoos, across both halves of the face. They are usually simple designs, rather than complex ones. These tattoos reflect the clan you were born into.
The second of the clan tattoos is a torso tattoo. The exact placement of these varies from clan to clan, though the usual placements would be the chest, hips, shoulder or lower back. These represent the clan you came of age in, and vary in intricacy.
A Gikairan can have the facial tattoos of one clan, and the body tattoos of another clan.
Before the advent of widespread magic use, clan tattoos were applied at the age of 18 using a traditional stick-and-poke method. The modern method of applying the tattoos uses magic to get the ink into the skin instead, which makes it a much quicker and relatively painless procedure as the ink is simply brushed onto the skin.
Illustrations on this page are traced stock photos, because I'm lazy. Credits go to:
https://www.123rf.com/photo_43499730_perfect-fit-man-from-the-back-in-underwear.html
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/set-woman-hands-isolated-on-white-1318842383
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-hairy-legs-isolated-on-white-164601392