Starfire

Five weeks old; in human years, approximately one year old. If standing normally, she would reach about knee-height on an adult.

Starfire is a rare all-white griffin of a breed called Snow Silkies. She is not albino — the white coloring is genetic. Her father is white with black spots; her mother is brown; one sister is white with brown spots. Starfire inherited her father’s white but not his black spots: “Somehow they didn’t show up.” Both white and black spots were dominant traits in the father, making Starfire’s all-white result rare. She has a white lion tail and feathers on the back of her head that “poke out” backward, resembling mini wings — a characteristic of Snow Silkies: “That is what snow silkies look like.” These do not function as wings.

Griffins are half lion and half eagle: “The back legs and tail of a lion. The head, chest and wings of an eagle.” Starfire has only two back legs (lion), not four. All griffins can fly.

Powers: Snow Silkies as a species can breathe fire. Starfire currently produces “tiny little balls” of fire — “They’re strong even though they’re small.” She learned to breathe fire after accidentally making smoke while coughing from snow in her throat, on December 1st (two days before the recording). She can also generate snow and ice, currently only able to make it snow softly due to her young age. She discovered this power when rolling on the ground wishing it would snow — and it snowed. Snow was discovered before fire. More powers may emerge as she grows. She can also tunnel through snow and ground using her large beak to peck through ice underground.

Family: Three sisters, all born in the same litter. Eyes opened within hours of each other: one sister opened eyes one hour before Starfire, one two hours after, one one hour after.

Backstory: The family took a celebratory trip (celebrating the litter opening their eyes) to one of the colder, Antarctica-like sky-islands of the Griffin World. Starfire loved the snow, wished for it, and it snowed — discovering her snow power. She also surprised her parents by tunneling and popping up through the ground. Her eyes had opened just two days before the recording.

Name origin: Named by Ellie because “some snowflakes look like stars.”