ALL NOVEL Correspondence
Barien Dunelin
Director of Anatomical Sciences
In the Care of
Department of Health, Medicine, and Well-Being
Toborro, Curali
Writing in correspondence to
Mathiu Ferr
Master of Surgery, Triage, and Wound Treatments
In the Care of
Imperial Ministry of Medical Sciences
Garenesh, Serana
Ser Ferr,
It is wonderful to hear from you after all this time, my friend. How long has it been? Too long, for certain. How is young Stela doing? I daresay she was barely a toddler when last you and I met, but I imagine she is almost a woman fully-grown today, yes?
As for me and mine, we are doing well, and I thank you for asking after us. Our children have all moved off by now, so it is just me and my wife Coren these days (and a grumpy cat named Slouch). The winds of Curali are refreshing even in old age, however, and I bid you join us here if life in Serana becomes too stuffy for you.
On to other issues, however.
In your previous letter, you sought information regarding erman physiology, specifically with cross-species wing transplants from an erman to a human. I will admit that this is something I have pondered myself in this modern age where human-human transplants are near commonplace, and even where cross-species transplant experiments have taken place between wildlife and livestock, though I am loathe to think on such grotesque hybrids.
However, let us put that aside, and I shall answer as plainly as I may.
On a base level, ermen and humans are very similar. Both stand at around the same height, with ermen being slightly taller. Aside from the erman wings, the skeletal structures are nearly indistinguishable: same ribs, same spinal column, same bones in the hands and feet, even down to the same hammer-and-anvil structures within the ears. To a casual observer, they are identical to the core.
With the addition of the wings, though, the similarities end. We humans have the core form, but then the wings add a new skeletal structure, beginning with a small, second set of scapulae lower on the body than the shoulderblades of the arms, but overlapping them like two pieces of scale armor. There is some ligature between the sets of bones to keep them from scrubbing, though these systems can wear thin over time and give elder ermen difficulty in flight if they are prone to various connective tissue disorders or have not maintained a proper diet.
While the base skeletal structures are the near-identical to humans, the wings are nearly identical to those seen in birds capable of flight: humerus, radius, ulna, a structure similar to a hand, and a network of feathers that range from tertiary near the back to the primary feathers at the extent of the wingspan. When outstretched, these wings may reach a span of about seven feet, but this span varies as much as erman height does. If there are cases of erman with wings either too short to fly or too broad as to impede movement, I have not heard of them. That is not to say that these cases do not exist, but Edaria is prone to its secrets, so I have not heard of them if they do.
With the addition of the wings, we then come to one of the few core skeletal differences between ermen and humans - reinforcements in the ribcage. Again, these are indistinguishable to a casual observer, but the full ribs and sternum are denser in ermen than in we humans. This is to support the added weight of wings to the back, which, while they are not heavy, they are not negligible. If you were to transplant wings from an erman to a human, these bones would need to be either hardened or enlarged. I am no bloodmage myself and have never asked one if altering bone density is possible, but you certainly have more access to that information than I do. Alternately, this could be compensated by strengthening muscles along the chest and back.
Finally, the main aspect, and this being the reason I believe any of us would ask over attaching erman wings to a human: aether access.
Of course, humans do not have access to aether - not even the smattering of bloodmages, as they are able to convert their own spilled blood into fuel for their magic, have these systems within themselves. Ermen wings carry filaments that can absorb and shape aether flows showered upon the planet by the stationary moon Cirellias and the traveling moon Rythellas (and the connection between the wings and those moons would be best answered by either an astronomer or a philosopher as it seems Edaria will crumble before they yield that information).
These filaments extend throughout the feathers, filtering through core channels within the wings’ bone structures, and then into the spine. My best guess is that between 90 and 98% of the filaments are in the wings themselves, with the spinal connection occurring along the twelfth vertebrae counting down from the base of the skull and behind the lungs. From there, filaments may overlap into the eleventh and thirteenth vertebrae, but then they are woven into the nervous system, which allows the erman to control the aether flows as they see fit. With these wings extended, the filaments form a structure akin to a large net in spirit, able to catch larger amounts of aether for more powerful spells. When contracted, they cannot draw as much, and their aether is less effective.
While attaching wings to a human as limbs would likely be no challenge—barring a rejection, but I believe an adept bloodmage can force that to happen as we’ve seen in other cross-species experiments—the key to such an attachment would be in binding these filaments into the human’s spinal structure. At that point, as long as the structure holds, I would see no reason that a connection could not occur, and that, given enough time, the human would become indistinguishable from an erman.
This then raises the question of where a donor set of wings would come from, assuming that you are not vile enough to try to assault and kidnap a straggler erman during the Void or Soulless Moon, during which some believe they lose access to aether. I doubt that Edaria would be willing to allow an exchange from an injured erman to a human. Perhaps you could find a set from an elderly erman who has lost much of their mobility anyway, but even then such wings would likely be of little use to a suitable human candidate.
I thank you for offering me this mental exercise in my later years, and I can only hope that I have been of some help to you. Again, I do believe this is possible, though I think the challenge of finding wings would be greater than the challenge of binding them.
Please, my friend, come to Curali at some point. We have plenty of room for guests now that our children have moved. I believe you would appreciate the company of Slouch, who is fat, happy, and currently brushing my leg in an effort to get some food.
I look forward to hearing your reply and hope to see you soon.
Your friend,
Barien Dunelin