Gustavo the One-Winged
A guide to the most fearsome of wyverns in San Felipe.
By
Fray Geronimo Savonarolo de Bacolod, SJ
on the Commission of
Sir Antonio Miguel de la Mancha, Grand Knight of the San Felipe Fiefdoms
published on the
5th of April on the 7,406th Year of Our Lord
***
Preface
I, Fray Geronimo, write this on the orders of the Grand Knight, Sir Antonio, himself. In the Bacolod Fiefdom where my monastery can be found, the serpentine figure of Gustavo the One-Winged is often used to scare unruly children to behave. The old wyvern himself is well-known in San Felipe at large. Yet beyond the borders of our fair realm, his name had mostly been unknown until fairly recently when tales of this beast spread through the digital clouds of The Domain.
Recorders seeking to capture Gustavo, not physically but in pictures, had been coming in droves to Gustavo’s Fief. Blinded by the promise of riches in digital form, they risked their lives and, in many cases, lost them.
This document is a guide, and also a warning, meant for those foolish enough to even consider seeking out Gustavo the One-Winged.
Introducing Gustavo
To those familiar with the mountainous jungles of San Felipe, the name Gustavo the One-Winged is a familiar one, surely to inspire fear and awe, and perhaps a glimmer of challenge. The question often posed by would be monster hunters goes as such: how dangerous can a wyvern with only one wing be?
A good question, and certainly a wise one also, for it would be better to learn of the power and the danger of Gustavo from these words than to discover it from experience. Few who did so had lived to tell the tale.
The History of Gustavo
The early life of Gustavo remains shrouded in myth. To this day, we are not certain on how old Gustavo truly is. Some had claimed that Gustavo is older than even the Holy League itself. Legends has it that not only did Gustavo live through Emperor Zhi’Long’s invasion of San Felipe back in the Age of Chaos, he also fought the Dragon Emperor himself.
The battle was great and terrible. I dared not describe it in these pages for I know that I will not be able to do them justice. For those interested, peruse Emilio Angelo’s epic The Romance of the Cathayan Crusade, which described the battle in great detail. There are also vids that cover this time period; the notable of them is The Don’s Quest Against the Dragon Emperor, an Imperial production from Bracil.
The myths had it that the epic battle between Gustavo and the Dragon Emperor ended in a draw. Zhi’Long, unable to break through the resistance of Gustavo and the wyvern warriors (the knightly orders of San Felipe as a formal institution had yet to exist at this time), was forced to retreat with his Cathayan troops. But this triumph also came at a cost. Gustavo, the hero of the fight, lost his wing, becoming the (in)famous One-Winged Wyvern.
It was a good story, there was a problem though, the battle against the Dragon Emperor never happened. After all, the Dragon Emperor never once set foot in San Felipe. His attention was instead fixed towards the West as he seek to extend Cathayan domination to the Afrique and the Europa regions.
As we all know, Zhi’Long’s ambition eventually led to the famous Battle of Lepanto Pass where the Dragon Emperor perished against the united armies of Christendom. We mentioned this to point out that San Felipe was but a sideshow during the Cathayan Crusades which marked the closing of the Age of Chaos.
Now let us be clear on this point. There was a battle that happened during Cathay’s invasion of San Felipe that closely described the great myths. This included a great battle between a Cathayan dragon and a large wyvern. However, the Cathayan dragon in question was, in fact, not Zhi’Long the Dragon Emperor. Rather, it was his cousin, Xi’Long. This would certainly explain a lot of the problems that existed within the existing mythical narrative. For one, a black Cathayan dragon (on which Zhi’Long was one) in his or her transformed form can easily dwarf even the mightiest of a San Felipe wyvern. Indeed, Zhi’Long’s true dragon form was so huge that it took an Archangel-class Venetian airship to finally bring it down. Even then, Providence had played a part to ensure that Zhi’Long’s demise was even possible to begin with.
On the other hand, Xi’Long’s true dragon form was much smaller in size, and so would make for an even fight against a wyvern.
So much for the dragon, but what about the wyvern? Those with a meagre understanding of our history will understand the issue with assigning Gustavo with the identity of the wyvern in question. But for the sake of the ignorant, I shall explain.
The Cathayan Crusades and the End of the Age of Chaos happened in the 60th century, yet Gustavo continued to be sighted regularly even up until the now in the 75th century.
How Old is Gustavo?
The question of Gustavo’s age remains a topic of intense discussion in the intellectual circles of San Felipe. Amongst the laymen and peasants, the answer had long been settled: at least 1,400 years; for them, it was not even a question that the same Gustavo who defended San Felipe from the Cathayans was the same Gustavo who can now be found here in the edges of the Bacolod fief. Is it possible for a wyvern to live that long? Let us parse this question.
It seems that the same wyvern who fought the Cathayan dragon over 1,400 years ago was Gustavo the One-Winged. Eyewitness accounts, at least those that we could recover, attested to this battle, thus proving the veracity of the myths.
Furthermore, the description of the wyvern in question fit with the description of Gustavo beyond its singular wing.
On the contrary, the existence of a wyvern who lived for over a thousand years seem to beggar belief. The closest recorded age of a wyvern, both in captivity and in the wild, was 304 years, not even close to the alleged age of Gustavo.
That being said, “With God all things are possible,” as Christ once said as recorded by the Gospel of St. Matthew.
I answer that it is impossible to know for certain at the moment. The only way we can truly know is to study Gustavo himself. That would only be possible once the old wyvern dies, as capturing the beast may well be impossible.
Gustavo’s Fief
Regardless of the truth regarding Gustavo’s age, we know for certain where Gustavo the One-Winged currently lives. Around the border of the Bacolod and Valencia fiefs was a flat ground with a mix of forests and plains; there over five hundred years ago, Grand Knight Arturo had set aside the land as a sanctuary, and it became known as Gustavo’s Fief.
Unlike wyverns who made their lairs at the highest mountains of San Felipe, Gustavo, unable to fly with just one wing, had to make do with staying mostly on the ground. Though there were exceptions. Many times, the wyvern would glide to get from one place to another. Most of the time, this was how Gustavo was able to be captured in vid. Yet most other times, Gustavo remained hidden in his lair or amongst the thick jungles of Gustavo’s Fief.
Gustavo’s fief, thanks to the old wyvern’s presence, is also known for its density of wyverns. Wyverns, as a rule, are polygamous. A sufficiently powerful wyvern male will have multiple territories which include females and hatchlings.
Because of that, Gustavo’s Fief is a place for many knights go to in order to harvest wyvern eggs, to be hatched and raised to be a knight’s ride. Amongst the ranks of the Knights of San Felipe, a significant number of them had mounts who were children of Gustavo.
Thus, the San Felipe Fiefdoms owed Gustavo a debt for its continued protection, even putting aside the historicity of his supposed battle against the Dragon Emperor.
Gustavo’s Challengers Throughout History
Other than the dubious example of Zhi’Long the Dragon Emperor (most likely his cousin Xi’Long in actuality), there had been many others throughout the centuries who were foolish enough to challenge the One-Winged wyvern. The following are examples that littered the popular imaginations:
Cosimo di Alberto Pazzi - “Cosimo the Unfortunate”
Legends have it that Sir Cosimo de Pazzi, known by his epithet Cosimo the Unfortunate, is the first foreigner to have fought Gustavo in direct combat. Hailed from the Italian hive-city of Turini, Cosimo was a scion of the Pazzi family, and a descendant of a soldier who fought in the Lepanto Pass. That soldier was Gianluca Pazzi, also known as Gianluca the Crazy for his bold initiative in taking a chunk of the Italian contingent for a maneuver that took advantage of a gap in the battle lines. The attack was a success; while it was not the decisive action that led to victory, it kept the forces Christendom fighting long enough for the forces of Texarkana to arrive.
As for Cosimo himself, he shared his ancestor’s insanity but not his good fortune. Cosimo squandered his family inheritance, and he made so many enemies in his home country that he was eventually banished from Turini. He became a wanderer, which led him to San Felipe. Always one to seek out a fight, he decided to challenge Gustave in the hopes of proving his enemies back in Turini wrong in banishing him. The warnings of the locals served only to encourage him. I can only imagine that the fight didn’t last long, and that Cosmio was burnt to death, presumably by Gustave though we did not know for sure. The unfortunate man’s charred remains was found by a knight of San Felipe a few days after his disappearance. So much Cosimo the Unfortunate.
Jacques-Paul Berber – “Jack the Hunter”
The 65th century saw the rise of San Felipe as a member of the Holy League. While the realm remained a minor power still, people began to take notice of the verdant mountains and lush jungles which were unlike much of Earth even back then. To outsiders, San Felipe was home to monsters, whether that be wyverns or undercity spiders which found themselves wandering into the surface every now and then. One such outsider was Jacques-Paul Berber, also known as Jack the Hunter, a known monster hunter from the Kingdom of Franz-Bretonnia. But his ancestry traced him to the Mediterranean Marshes, and he himself was half-orcish. By the time he learned of Gustave, Jack had taken down various beasts from both the surface and the undercities of Earth.
Despite his sterling reputation, Jack was not satisfied. He was the kind of warrior who wanted to be the very best, and, in his estimation, he needed to defeat the very best in order to be worthy of such a title. Upon learning of Jack’s designs, the Grand Knight seek to stop the monster hunter. He sent a letter forbidding Jack from undertaking his expedition on the threat of criminal charges. Undeterred, Jack pressed on and eluded the wyvern knights sent to stop him. They pursued but arrived too late, instead discovering Gustavo leaving after having just crushed the monster hunter’s body. The knights attempted to save his life, applying medi-gel before finally bringing him to the nearest medical doctor, but their efforts were in vain. So much for Jack the Hunter.
Lester Erensen – “Lester the Unlikely”
Lester Erensen was a man from the Amerigo region, and he was as unimpressive as a man could be. Yet somehow he became a mercenary, and one who survived battles seemingly by sheer luck. It was as if God Himself actively intervened to ensure that the man would live to see old age. It was from these strokes of fortune that he became known as Lester the Unlikely. Yet his most impressive feat happened in San Felipe.
Lester lived at a time when Bacolod had to deal with a rebellious and unruly lordling who seek to carve out his own territory out of the fief. He was one of the mercenaries hired by Bacolod’s then fief holder, Sir Miguel de Bacolod. The march took Sir Miguel’s soldiers through a path that veers close to Gustavo’s Fief. Somehow, Lester got separated from the rest of his unit and wandered into Gustavo’s lair. Gustavo, territorial even for a wyvern, attacked yet Lester was able to escape with his life. Much of Lester’s body was burnt and many of his bones were crushed, but he lived, as he was able to get medical attention on time. So much for Lester the Unlikely.
Galatea de la Mancha – “Galatea the Lady Knight”
At this point, I am sure that many of you will be confused. Did Lady Galatea, the Lady Knight who fought alongside Lord Inquisitor Aeneas Aquilanus against the Grey Globe, did she fight against Gustavo? The answer is no. The reason I addressed this is because of an ongoing popular tale which describes of a great battle between Galatea’s mighty wyvern Sancho Panza and Gustavo the One-Winged. It was surely a great story, yet it didn’t happen. It was true that she went on an errantry through San Felipe before she reunited with her beloved Aeneas, the myth-makers made use of this fact as a background to their fantastical tales. However, Lady Galatea’s path to Pahwalan went nowhere near Bacolod. Anyone familiar with the geography of San Felipe will surely know the absolute impossibility of this tale.
I acknowledge that the reason I put out this example is because Galatea is the current Grand Knight’s cousin and his sister in all but name, and he wished to defend her honor from these baseless tales that tarnish her name. Thus, I am compelled to honor the wishes of the man who employed this piece; that said, I shall add that the Grand Knight’s desire to correct this popular error is a worthy one. Thus, I am happy to oblige.
Who Else?
There were many more challengers I could list, but then this would be an entire book.
Final Warning
Unless you have the necessary permits, you shall not enter Gustavo’s Fief.
Whosoever enters Gustavo’s Fief without the necessary permission to do so will be considered trespassers to be apprehended by any knight of San Felipe.
If you ever see Gustavo, you shall not approach.
Gustavo is territorial and dangerous. Far from being an evidence for weakness, its one-wing and lack of true flight had pushed the old wyvern to become even more dangerous on the ground. Furthermore, keep in mind that wyvern hides are known to withstand lasers and bullets. Gustavo took this resilience even further beyond as the old wyvern can survive even a round of heavy firearms.
If you disregard the above two warnings, you shall not survive.
Godspeed.
AJPM
Going OOC, here's my inspiration for the story: https://substack.com/@germanicus/note/c-104410425