..| The Tale |..
For millions of years, throughout the creation of the world, the entire continent of Africa was open to all, no part deliberately isolated from the rest. Then, a thousand years ago, unknown forces suddenly created a massive canyon, separated from the rest of Africa. There had been a tribe of people nearby, before the canyon was created. Eight of their dogs had wandered into the area that became the Great Canyon, followed by fourteen hyenas and all manner of birds and prey-creatures. All the creatures were lost to the outside world when the canyon was closed. The native people believed that their gods had created the Great Canyon and trapped their dogs inside to punish them for their sins. Mistrustful of the trap, the tribe left the area, moving west, into the interior of Africa. For the next thousand years, the area around the Great Canyon was deserted by any type of life, human, animal, and plant, cursed by the people's gods.
One day, on the day before the Great Canyon would have been closed for a thousand years, the descendants of the cursed tribe heard a huge rumbling from the east. Unsure of what the sound was, but knowing it came from the direction of the Great Canyon, hurried to see. When they were only a little more than a hundred yards from the mouth of the canyon, they couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw: the boulders had rolled away! The canyon was open! Quickly, the bravest men of the tribe went into the canyon. They knew the tale of their dogs going into the canyon so long ago, and so were both unsure and hopeful of what they might find. What they first saw astounded them: there was a forest! The outside of the Great Canyon was an infertile desert; inside was a lush rain forest. The men trekked through the forest until they heard a sound, in front of them. The youngest of the men, barely sixteen years old, crept forward to see what it was. What he saw amazed him.
It was a creature unlike any he'd ever seen. Its body looked like a hyena's, with a scruffy mane, but some parts were clearly a dog's. Its legs were long and the same length, making a straight back; the tail almost as long as the rest of the body. Its ears were pricked and not rounded, its muzzle longer than the hyena's. But the most amazing and unsettling part was what rode on the creature's back: two huge birds' wings, attached to the creature, and clearly fully functional. Even as he watched, they spread out fully, then folded back in. The boy raced back to the rest of the group and shared his find. The men thought of what the creature looked like: a hyena, a dog, and a eagle. The creature was too majestic to be called a dog, and so they used the last two animals to form the name. The creature would be called Kikuto Tai: a hyena eagle.
The group followed the Tai back to its home: a savanna, hidden by the forest. There they encountered others, and realized that the first Tai was a juvenile. After walking among the Tai, who had no fear of them, they finally decided that the dogs, hyenas, and predatory birds that had been trapped in the canyon had somehow combined, with a little help from their gods, and the Tai was the result. Full of joy, the group raced out of the canyon, followed by the whole of the Kikuto Tai's population. When the very last pup had become clear of the opening to the canyon, a huge rumbling came yet again. Both man and animal turned to see the entire canyon collapse behind them. The Great Canyon, the birthplace of the Kikuto Tai, was no more.
The group of man and Tai returned to the rest of the tribe. Lining up, each Tai walked by the group of men, looking them in the eyes with a mix of happiness, gratitude, and sadness. Each Tai looked that last young boy in the eyes a fraction of a second longer then the others, and with more gratitude than any other. They continued down the line until the end, running off into the sunset with their own purpose. All except for the young Tai, the one that had been the first to be seen. He was at the very end of the line, and so when he came to the boy, he looked into his eyes and did something different from all others. He turned and sat on the boy's left side, wings tucked neatly, head raised. He had shown his gratitude for the boy's discovery of them. He had chosen his fate: to stay with the humans.
For the next few years, the humans and Tai lived in the same area, at peace with each other. The humans honored the Tai in their festivals and dress; the Tai returned the favor by sometimes staying close to the camp and protecting it from lions, hyenas, and other unwanted creatures. Those that stayed close regularly sometimes became the companion of a certain human, and were called a mwenzi. The pups of these Tai were sometimes chosen to be the mwenzi of human babies, and so grew up with them. The odd thing of these Tai given to babies was that they lived long beyond the lifespan of those Tai born in the wild. Both grew to adults together, then old together. When their tamer died, so did they. Though the joining of a human and his mwenzi was a great advantage, the humans accepted the Tai's freedom, and never imposed their wishes on them.
Nowadays, the tribe allows foreigners to adopt a Tai. However, the Tai never leaves its African home, and instead lives a wild life, perhaps never meeting its tamer. However, through some magical bond, the tamer often is able to control their Tai's life. These are the Tai that you can adopt for your very own, and play out their lives.
