Things to discuss:

Religion
Magic
Culture
Politics
Technology

Neat!

Alright, so, I'm doing this fic, which is going up after soon, involves gryphons heavily. The basic premise around this society/setting is the phrase uttered in Griffon the Brush-Off-

"They're extremely rare"

Okay, so, here's the skivvy. The Gryphon Republic is this nation across the ocean, that resides in various mountain cities. These cities are built into the mountains, sort of in spiraling layers, so flight is as important as walking. The class-standing of the building goes up the higher up you get, and at the top is the citadel, which is used as a theatre/meeting place for the senate. In my story, there is much discussion there over a single topic, which eventually leads to a civil war. After that war, they are invaded by an unknown enemy, who decimates the population. The refugees flee to Equestria, ~20 years prior to NMM.

The ability for magic to any relevant degree is exceedingly rare, and all magic requires the use of crystals and diagrams. The magic of gryphons is sight-related, and all that entails, such as foresight, truesight, the observation of the flow of magical energy, etc.

The culture is highly traditional. Sort of Ancient Japan meets Norse. There are lots of important customs for every manner of life, very family-oriented, and the Name of a house is important. So, like, Japanese values in a Norse setting, I guess.

Many of the more specific details are worked out, or are too relevant to the story to immediately reveal. However, the cause of the civil war is something I'm unsure of. I was thinking the main debate was whether or not to favor Equestrian Nobility as trading partners, or to remain ambiguous and un-declared. The more simple argument that is the subtext to the argument, however, is whether or not Celestia is a true God, who they should be loyal to. However, if a better cause can be found for the war, I'd love to hear it.

I will also gladly answer any questions about this story that I can. I am super excited to write it and am looking forward to your thoughts!

Here are some proposed ideas I have, which I am incorporating into my story I'm working on.

Culture: Since the one actual griffon available as an example from the show has a human type name, (Gilda) then maybe names such as Horace Razorbeak (as an example) could be used.

Proposed name for the Griffon nation: Griffia

Technology: In my fic, the Griffon Nation has developed airships, similar to dirigibles or blimps, which could be used to transport equipment or goods over long distances. Initially, towed behind a group of griffons, eventually, a means of self propulsion will be developed.

Here's my two bits on this...

Religion:
I don't particularly think that gryphons would have much of an emphasis on any kind of religious worship, save for the most obvious one of having some degree of respect for the Princesses given their important nature on the control of the celestial bodies.

Magic:
It's not been shown canonically whether or not gryphons can use active magic much like the unicorns, but I'd at least assume that they share similar passive magic akin to pegasi (like walking on clouds). Other than that, they're a more conventional race much like the buffalo.

Culture:
This is probably where the divergence occurs. As far as I can see, the most common portrayal of griffons is as a militaristic culture with a heavy emphasis on positions of authority and elders. But I'd assume that with this, do have some degree of tolerance canonically to those who pursue their own path with their own eccentric personalities, such as Gustave Le Grand.

Politics:
A monarchy seems to be the most standard route of portraying gryphon leadership given its correlation with a military culture. Not much for me to say about this, as politics isn't usually my forte.

Technology:
I'd say they're roughly at a medieval-level technology, but do have more leeway for advancements in technology such as explosives (gryphon pictures by Equestria-Prevails would be a good example of this) and engineering since they don't rely on magic being such an intrinsic part of their daily lives.

Politics and General Information
I have seen quite a few Gryphon nations in the fandom, ranging from divided warring tribes with late Bronze-age/Iron age technology (From Skies Above) to Napoleonish (Equestria: Total War - okay, I only caught a glimpse or two and I've only read a couple of chapters so I'm probably very wrong) to a Kingdom with warrior tradition (quite a few, albeit very vague) or stand-in for Canada (or based on it, in the case of Flight 19).

My personal view is that the Gryphons are a confederation of 5 to 10 smaller Kingdoms and their High King (the one representing all of them) is elected whenever he/she abdicates or well, you know, kicks the bucket from the remaining Kings.

The United Gryphon Kingdoms is basically a fusion of late 19th century France and Germany (1860s without the military technology) to the British-American Equestria (Canada seemed to have been taken by the Minotaurs, based on the official map).

I like Griffins, besides ponies they are the most interesting species on Eques. I use that word to describe the planet, as "Equestria" should only be used to describe the land controlled by Princess Celestia.

So based on the idea from the official map, I imagine that the Griffins live on a great continent to the east of Equestria. There nation is called: "The Holy Griffin Empire"
Their paramount chief is an elected monarch stilled "Sactum Gryphanom Imperetor" He is "commander-in-chief of the imperial armies" and "protector of the faith" but the HGE is unlike Equestria very decentralised and so the emperors actual powers are often very limited.

Griffins do not have magic of any kind, (except for basic cloud walking) but they are very ingenious and the HGE are much more technologically advanced then Equestria. The Griffin Imperial navy consist of steam powered ironclads with spinning bow canons, while the Equestrian Royal navy only use wooden sail ships.
The culture in the HGE are diverse, some of the great cities like their capital Grphia completely multicultural where dozens of races lives and works together. Griffins are unlike the ponies a warlike race and have subjugated much of their continent under an iron claw. Their empire spans from the steaming jungles to the south home to the felines, to the frozen north where the Minotaur province lies.

Religion in the HGE are as the name implied very important. The official state church were founded by disciples of an old griffin prophet that preached about love and tolerance. The prophet himself started the first book of holy rules, that would end up becoming the massive complex known as "Gryphon Law" . The first Griffin emperors that accepted the new faith believed that the best way to insure that his holy words were heard were by the sword and the claw. They believe it is their holy duty to spread Gryphon Law to all nations of of Eques.
They are the only other true Superpower except for Equestria, and are actually many times larger. Over a million people living in Gryfia itself, 800'000 of them are griffins.

I think that is everything for know.

Religion: Worship Caelus, the God of the Sky.

Magic: They do have an innate magic, and magically they are close to the Pegasi

Culture: With the few Griffin OCs I have made I have made the Griffin culture very close to the Irish Celts and the Scots. Much like the the Irish they have a rich mythology. They are probably one of the most war-like of the major races. Also I see the Griffins as being diverse, with most avian and feline races being used as bases. They are also a quasi-Matriarchal society

Politics: The Griffin Kingdoms are a loose collection of kingdoms united under the High King. The farther one gets from the central Kingdom, the one where the High King rules, the less overall control he has. Which despite the Kingdoms officially being allied with Equestria for over 1000 years some of the outer kingdoms have tried their luck against the boarder.

They are also the closest ally Equestria has, having added Equestria in the War of Eternal Night and the Equestira-Prance War.

Technology: While not as advance as Equestria, though they are close, the Griffins are still one of the more advance races. They are a steam power and were the first to use black powder around the time of the Long Night

Location: North of Equestria and East of the Crystal Empire

If you want a more in-depth version of my headcanon on the subject, go have a read of of NickNack's Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel.

Hell, go read it even if you don't. Gilda really needs more love.

Gryphon Kingdoms. A heavily mountainous area split into several smaller kingdoms, all under the control of a High-King of some variety. Various different tribes and inter-tribal conflict. Heavy Germanic influences (Gilda, for example) including their religions (if you don't know what that's like, think Norse Gods but with a German twist).

They are a dying race after some tragedy that they never quite recovered from. (in HoG FoS it was their stubbornness. They refused to stop hunting Equestrians, so declared war on them. Then Celestia happened).

Fairly chilly relationships with ponies, seeing as Celestia basically doomed them all to a slow death. Gryphons treated with hostility for being monsters (their omnivorous tendencies) while they see ponies as spineless wimps.

Time for some sharing of the inner workings of my mind!

Religion: Their spiritual beliefs would be a mix of Norse and Greek. They usually offer animal sacrifices to their Gods, and to die in battle for their nation offers automatic eternal rest in The Isles, their version of Heaven where they live in everlasting bliss. Those who lead bad lives and have committed sins of the most atrocious nature without praying for forgiveness will be subjected to The Desert, a version of our Hell where the heat pounds on the soul constantly with no water and endless miles of sand. They are great practitioners of rituals and worship, with many factions or churches built for a specific God. Although a Griffin may worship one particular God more than others, such as the Sky God or Sun God, they must pay full respect to all Gods or else fall under their holy wrath. The Griffons see Celestia and Luna as false Gods, since they are of flesh, and any Griffon found worshiping them is banished from Griffon society.

Magic: While all Griffons have the ability to use magic, only a select few are particularly skilled in it to actually use it. Unlike pony magic, their magic is more elemental and offensive based. They can use it to control weather, increase their speed while flying, call upon wind at their command, and several Griffons together can actually summon a hurricane. Using magic for menial tasks such as house work is seen as a squander of the gift and taking the easy way out, so it is looked down upon. Powerful magic users are identified with the tips of their wings sporting a certain color. Magic users are seen as regular citizens in regular society, while in the military they are treated with much respect by the soldiers. A Griffon could use crystals to augment their power, but this can be dangerous to one's health if used too many times.

Culture: The Griffons are a warrior and fishing race, protecting their islands with their lives. Although not invaders or interested in claiming other land for themselves, they will go to war if prompted to if another nation insults their honor, steals their land, or assassinates one of their politicians. Society is split into three classes, upper, middle, and lower class. Lower class are usually fishermen or labor workers, and they live mostly on the coast and small villages. Middle class live in more urban areas such as cities, and are usually artists, architects, clergy, engineers, and other manner of skilled workers in multiple fields. The upper class are mostly aristocrats and merchants, with nobility and senators being the top of the class. Griffons are fiercely prideful and do not take weaknesses from anyone. Family and bloodlines are important, since any failure you commit also goes to your families' name. The Culture is late Greek, with fishing being the main food source since the rocky mainland doesn't produce much crops except for hardy plants such as olive trees.

Politics: The King is the head of the state, but has a set limit of command because of the Senate. To make sure the nobility and aristocrats can't have full power over the kingdom, anyone who hasn't been committed of a crime can join the Senate, the only factor being voted in and holding your position with political action. Religion also plays a factor here, since the Senate can be at anytime have a higher number of supporters for one particular God than another. This gives them more power on the Senate floor. In a time of desperate crisis the Senate can hold military action if the King is seen to not be able to do so. Likewise, the King could abolish the Senate if they are too corrupt, which will lead to a reform. Each island pays fealty to the King, and are subjected under his rule.

Technology: While not the best blacksmiths, Griffons are skilled in making aerodynamic armor and deadly weapons. Their boats are the fastest and sturdiest in the land, while their skill in crystal magic is unbent. They are skilled architects and can construct the most majestic buildings in only days through hard work and labor. While more old fashioned than most, they are quick to pick up on new technologies when they are seen as useful.

In a fic I'm working on, the Griffons live in the desert southwest of Equestria. They have a sort of tribal society, where ranking is determined by victories in battle. The tribes are used to serious infighting, which leads to them not being a threat to the rest of Equestria, but recently they were united under a High King, who fancies himself like a god. Duels to the death are often used to solve disputes, and political assassination is common.
They can use magic, but they have to speak to do so, except for innate magic similar to the pegasi. For example, a Griffon blacksmith could whisper certain words of power over metal while he is forging to imbue it with special qualities. This type of magic is fairly rare, however, as the words of power used are recorded in ancient books, most of which are lost to the ages. Griffons do get a type of magic that no other race gets, and while it is preposterously rare, some Griffons are prophets, with the limited ability to tell certain events in the future.
That's just how I see it.

Although I do very little (so far) with griffins in my sole story on the site thus far, I've had to do a fair bit of thinking about how to work them since at least one branch of my story will spend time in their company.

Politics: I conceive of the griffins as being an extremely close alliance of city-states governed by a central council and an executor chosen by that central council to represent the entirety of the nation in the way that the Equestrian Diarchy represents Equestria. Each semi-independent city-state, centering around a particularly massive geographical feature (a mountain or, more commonly, a mesa), is known as a province, which gives rise to the name of their nation, the Griffin Provinces. Unsurprisingly, they came out of an intensely tribal system, one that would make the early pony conflicts between unicorn, pegasus, and earth look like minor squabbles. Because of the relatively arid nature of their home, food was of a limited quantity and each tribal family struggled through each year at the direct expense of another family; as a consequence, tribes hated each other with a passion that's difficult for even their eventual descendants to entirely understand. Fierce, well-night genocidal wars took place fairly often between the tribes and not surprisingly, given the dearth of food, the tribes collectively came to celebrate the immense body counts as a perverse way to make food more plentiful for the survivors. Things may have continued in this vein to the point of self-extinction if continual expansion seeking food and shelter hadn't violated what the dragons regarded as their borders. Vast, immensely old, immensely powerful, avaricious creatures represented the possibility that all griffins would die if the dragons came to see their lands as being poorly-defended and ripe for possession and this mutual terror was stronger than mutual hate.
And yet, the mutual hate remained and was supported by a long, proud, heartless warrior tradition; the immediate solution was the widespread exchange of heirs as hostages. Tied together with bonds of mutual fear reinforced by mutual threats, the griffins presented an illusion of a united front and with the possibility of much richer things to be had by flying in another direction, the dragons deferred the issue until the easier conquests had been accomplished. The "problem" with the widespread traditional mixing of members of different tribes was that the young gradually failed to learn that the griffin that looked like them and sounded like them was their enemy. The tribal system was resilient, lasting another hundred years or so, but it was a dying government since the first exchange of hostages. The idea of each tribe having its own minor traditions, its own stories, its own variations in culture, its own style of adornment, survived and even thrived in the new regime. By nature fiercely independent, no tribe was willing to abandon its identity and as trade and exchange of ideas gradually brought the ability to build permanent cities, tribes turned into independent city-states bound together by their mutual path of nurturing hate, learning that there were more dangerous things than other griffins, and putting hate aside for brotherhood.
Although each province is governed in its own way, the overwhelming trend is towards a smaller version of the central government: community leaders sitting in council and electing griffins to represent them to other nations and yet others to represent them to the Grand Council. This Grand Council, in turn, is designed to be totally reliant on the goodwill of the city-states to remain functional; it's illegal under griffin law for the Council to be supplied with necessities by any source other than the city-states or by less than 75% of the city-states at any given time. Laws are enacted by this Council by majority vote, although compulsive laws (ones that force the city-states to take a given action) require just short of unanimous consent. The Council is also responsible for raising and equipping a military and it does so with careful attention to ensuring that all city-states are represented and do their part. This military, collectively called the soldat, focuses almost eclusively on the natural griffin strenghts of being naturally well-armed (razor-sharp beaks and talons, strong wings, leonine claws on their rears feet) and being extremely mobile: each ten is directed by an officer called a decon, each hundred by a century, each thousand by a praetor, each ten thousand by an olberst.
Their relations with other nations tend to be governed by how much of a threat those nations are combined with how able those nations are to defend themselves from attack. As such, their closest and warmest relations are with dragons and Equestria owing to the immense power of dragons and the fact that Equestria is ruled by a pair of goddesses. Harkening back to their hostage tradition, they generally send large numbers of their young to live with receptive families or study under foreign tutelage although they have little fear that these "hostages" will be harmed. This practice is most commom when dealing with ponies, and it's fairly ordinary to see young pegasi and young griffins attending flight school together.

Culture: There is a very intimate relationship between the griffin way of government and the griffin culture. The primary cultural traditions of the griffins are Family, Duty, Independence, and Merit. From the very beginning of their history, the family has been the pinnacle and central aspect of griffin life. The immediate family was sacrosanct because the griffins simply couldn't afford to take the risk of a family unit being split up or the inherent support system dismantled because constant warring ensured that only the fittest lived and the fittest had an eerie tendency to cluster in the same tight-knit family. Family also extended out into the tribe, which accounted for the fierce and fanatic loyalty that each griffin felt towards their own tribe and their bloody-minded antipathy towards other tribes that, in their minds, sought to steal from and kill their extended family. The traditional and even modern griffin family is patriarchal although tradition is that the sire is the warrior, the provider, and the leader outside the nest but the dame has all authority in the nest and related to their chicks. The father may be mighty in council but a proper and dutiful father submits to his mate in the privacy of their home, and speaks politely of the mother of his children outside of it; to do otherwise is a very severe faux pas and could even be regarded as a dereliction of Duty. The mother minds her chicks and by tradition, a prospect of either gender seeking a mate must receive the blessing of their beloved's mother if at all possible. The mother gives away their child at the ceremony, and each child traditionally gives their mate's mother a small trinket as a gesture of gratitude for permission and a traditional symbolic reparation for taking her child out of her home. It's regarded as entirely acceptable, and is even thought of favorably, for a new couple to live for a time in the home of one mate's family; some do a half-year in each home even if they have the means to live independently. The Council is not permitted to make any law governing the operation of family; and interpersonal crimes are regarded with immense seriousness because every griffin is a member of a family in one way or another. Finally, griffins will sometimes ceremonially induct non-griffins who they have a special bond with into their family and there are not a few dragons and pegasi who are welcomed into a griffin home with pomp and circumstance as if they were born griffin.
Duty is strongly entwined with Family: each griffin's first duty is to their family and the dereliction of this duty is regarded as the most serious dereliction. The patriarch has a duty to protect mate and chicks from physical danger, from want, and from denigration by others; as mentioned before, committing denigration of mate in public is a very serious thing. The matriarch has a duty to nurture and strengthen the family as a whole and chicks in particular, seeing to their correct feeding, to ensuring that they are aware that they are loved and supported, to their education in tradition and in more esoteric discipline, and to see that their future mate is free of glaring flaws that may endanger them, The child has a duty to submit to mother and father meekly so long as mother and father do their duty to the child; either one failing in their duty relieves a child of their duty in turn. In the larger society, all griffins recognize a duty to see to the strengthening of griffins generally, and not to be a drag or a waste on their fellows; a griffin lacking Independence and Merit is regarded as having failed in their duty. Dereliction of city-state is the next most serious and, in an odd inversion of common tradition, dereliction of nation is regarded as the least serious because in the end, the nation is not a form of family. That said, the duty to protect family has eventually evolved to a duty to protect all family, even family not your own and griffin soldat tend to be intensely dedicated to their soldierly duties.
Independence is, like all of the other Four Pillars, strongly entwined with its brothers. To be independent requires merit, the family exists to ensure that each member of that family is as free as obligations of duty permit, and it is the duty of each griffin to seek independence and cause themselves to be capable of it. Taking action to diminish the independence of another griffin is very serious and griffins generally feel so strongly about this that they more or less enslave their government to the independent city-states by making it totally dependent on those states for each crust of bread, drop of water, and shelter from the weather. Despite the intense atmosphere of duty towards family both immediate and extended, individuality is highly prized because it allows the expression of Independence and Merit, and ultimately the reason that dereliction of duty to state is regarded as the least serious lapse is that it is the cultural conclusion of griffins that it is good and proper to manifest independence from a distant body that cannot possibly govern the life of any one griffin better than that griffin can govern his own. The virtue and cultural importance of independence is another of those things that forges intimate bonds to dragons and ponies: dragons are born hosts unto themselves, the ultimate expression of independence, and the deepest, most intimate, most fundamental nature of ponies is that each has their special gift that makes them independently meritorious, a special gift represented by a permanent mark on their flanks. Some griffins will, upon achieving something of great merit and unique importance, will emblazon marks on their own flanks in conscious imitation of a cutie mark because of the universal knowledge among other races of the importance of cutie marks.
The final cultural aspect of griffins is Merit and it's the tradition of which griffins are most proud. Fiercely independent with a fierce sense of pride and regard for their inborn advantages as a species, griffins love the concept that each Independent griffin has something they can do best, has something that makes them individual and special, has something that no one else can do in the same way or with the same ability. Some have merit of the mind, being scholars, researchers, mathematicians, engineers, and analysts of law; other have the merit of body, being stronger, faster, deadlier, more agile, or having immense endurance. Even inborn things are regarded as giving a griffin merit of that griffin takes those traits and makes best use of them; exceptional beauty, for example, becomes merit when a griffin uses it to represent their people in the best light (which necessarily requires education and the cultivation of natural intelligence), or if they cultivate it to provide artists with an ideal subject to use to inspire and improve their art. In griffin culture, a griffin without merit isn't a griffin, they're just a mutant combination of lion and eagle that deserves no sympathy or kindness.
The only other significantly notable feature of griffin culture is long-windedness. A griffin can easily be blunt and they often will cut right to the core of a matter if there's some urgency but generally-speaking, griffins very much enjoy long speeches and an excess of talking, even in large crowds where there's no possible way for anyone to hear what another person is saying. If there's one griffin trait that drives other nations absolutely up the wall, it's the fact that a griffin ambassador can speak for literal days before getting around to addressing a very simple and easily-resolved matter. Tradition has it that this trait comes from pre-writing story-keepers who would regularly recite the entire history of the tribe from beginning to end, each new keeper collecting the previous one's history and expanding it to include events of their own era.

Religion: By and by large, griffins don't have much in the way of religion. They don't venerate the Princesses of Equestria but at the same time, they reason that if there were any other gods or spirits, they'd be right out in the open and interacting the way that Luna and Celestia do. If anything could be called religion in the average griffin's life, it is the religion of the Four Pillars: Family, Duty, Independence, and Merit.

Magic: Griffins enjoy the same magical connection to weather, clouds, and flight that pegasus ponies do. Like zebras, they can sort of "cheat" in magical matters by using ensconced potions and their own blood as a medium of magical exchange and a low-yield magical container that can use rune symbols (written in blood) to charge an object with magical energy for a particular purpose. Howver, the majority of griffin magic dwells within their physical forms and cannot used directly against anything. However, their magic being confined in themselves means that their physical strength, agility, and senses are quite exceptional far out of proportion to the griffin's size or musculature. A griffin's bones break less easily, their wings are stronger and can be used as weapons, their talons can shear through hardened steel , and they can focus their internal magic to repair their bodies more quickly than another creature with similar injuries would be able to. Other than this, they can fly like a pegasus, direct weather like a pegasus, and walk on clouds like a pegasus... which is why they tend to associate closely with pegasi.

Technology: In any intensely martial society, one of the key focuses is always the collection of the best tools to create a temporary war advantage and until relatively recently, griffins have long been a martial society. When the constant tribal wars ceased, this trait didn't fade but simply expanded to include technology in general. Stone rapidly turned to copper, to bronze, to iron, to steel, and then alloys of steel. Gathering became cultivation, hunting became breeding and harvesting, hoes became simple plows and then sophisticated ones that a griffin could pull easily, and then expanded to include threshers, reapers, seeding drills, and machines that would harvest entire crops at minimum effort. Pick and shovel work to create living spaces became blasting powder and then fused explosives; navigation left the sextant and astrolabe to become the compass and longitudinal watch. Griffins, with their worship of merit, have a special place in their hearts for technology which in their view is the physical product of unusual merit. As much as is possible, they use the development of true economy-of-scale processes (think the natural outgrowths of things like the FlimFlam Brothers' machine) to make it easy to have large amounts of whatever they need for comfort and easy, and they regard this as yet another element of proof that technology is physical merit. Mass productive technology aside, however, griffins prize a high degree of artisan skill in their tools and a talon-crafted tool of any kind is regarded as a major status artifact quite aside from the fact that such tools tend to be exceptionally well-made (although the secret-not-spoken is that artisans are eager consumers of modern technology to make their work easier and more effective). Needless to say, being technophiles has made them all the more secure against threats and above all else, this characteristic of high military technology to make griffins (and thus Family) safer is yet another thing that drives the griffin technophilia.

Go, go Gadget Wall o' Text!

532698
You do know that the offical map have an arrow that points east across the sea that says "yonder to griffins" right?

533499
While I am a stickler for canon, I do not use the Hasbro Map for a couple reasons. 1) I don't think even the animators use it, the geography doesn't always seem to be constant, 2) I've had a map of the MLPverse in my head well before Hasbro released their map.

533580
But it makes more sense, the Holy Griffin Empire needs to be on their own continent.

533594
And the Giffin Kingdoms do not, and neither does Equestria. No one country controls all of the continent of Atlas.

533598
No I don't think they need to control a whole continent, and I don't think they need to. But Equestria's borders are made by natural geographic reasons, not because of a political agreement. The Great northern glacier is what actually defines their northern border. Despite being sparely settled they claim sovereignty over the great tundra plains to the north of the Crystal mountains. The rise of the Crystal empire really helps to enforce their presence in the north. And the Chrystal empire is by the way not an independent nation, just a vassal state to Equestria, one of the few, because unlike the HGE Equestria is mostly unitary.

Their southern border is of course as you know defined by a three very inhospitable regions. To the south-east lies the Badlands, home to the Changelings, where the air is poisonous and the land is barren. In the middle lies the Machintosh Hills that despite the large number of Dragons and other dangerous beast are the safest of their border regions, and to the to the south west is the Great San Palomino Desert, where no sane pony will treat, because of dangerous beast like sand sharks and effing worms kills everything that put their hoof on the grounds. Not even dragons dare to venture there.

The east and west are of course bordered by two great oceans, but to the initiate east and south is an island chain known as the cahoofbien that also have vassal status to Equestria and Canterlot.

I've always personally identified their culture with being somewhat Nordic, given that 'Gilda' seems to be a Norse name.

533658
Gilda is not a norse name, I have never meat anyone named Gilda. Why would you think it sounds nordic?

533703

It isn't? Hmm. I'm not sure how I got that impression. Ah, well.

533704
A lot of people not nordic often have some very weird ideas about what a Nordic name is. I did a background check on Gilda and found out it is actually an Iberian name. I am Danish and my own name "Rune" is a old, not too popular but very Nordic name. It means secret lore.

533704
Gilda is usually considered a Germanic name, but their ancient mythology is surprisingly similar to Norse mythology.

533832 If I'm remembering my history correctly, Gilda is an old english name, and it comes from the word "Gilded" (which gives it an anglo saxon origin) and I believe it means gilded or gold covered. Could be wrong though.

533849
English is also a Germanic language, so both of you are right

Ooh, relevant to my interests. I'll add the headcanon I developed for Banishment Decree back in the day:

Religion: The closest thing griffons have to a 'goddess' is Chingis, who created the griffon race by taking a giant eagle and a fell lioness, and then smooshing them together until they bumped uglies. She's a fairly antisocial goddess, eschewing the 'ruling and guiding her subjects' methods of Celestia and Luna for her preferred methods of 'sitting on her great mountain, sending out dooms.'

She has no respect for the weak who would grovel at her paws, begging for aid. She gave the griffons two gifts: the will to survive and the strength to kill their enemies, and that is all they could want of her. If you insult her with honeyed prayers for selfish wants, she will send a fell storm your way. Unless you're in a drought and need a storm, then she will send a fell storm towards a kitten orphanage. Do not think yourself clever and try to bargain a boon from her with gifts and trickery; she will smite you down and everything you love. She's still bitter over the whole 'accidentally giving the mortals fire' thing three-odd aeons ago.

Unsurprisingly, most griffon societies approach Chingis with a mixture of respect and healthy fear, instead of worship.

However, most griffon clans perform ancestor worship of a sort, though the ancestors that recieve most of the worship are not exactly dead. Griffons have many heroes and venerated figures, but only the ones who have transcended their mortal limitations recieve what we Equestrians would think of as 'worship.' The most famous of these figures are known simply as the Four Heroes. These were Zephyrous the Brutal, Hoelun the Covetuous, Adune the Decadent and Young Zephyr the Just.

The Four first appeared in around 1500 BNM, exact dates unknown. The period when the four were most active is known as the Second Griffon Renaissance. Zephyrous was the first to become widely known. He was a successful warlord who turned a group of disparate hunting groups and militias into one of the most powerful fighting forces on the planet. His armies built roads, bridges and airborne supply depots wherever they marched, connecting their fiefdom together and increasing trade. Eventually, they were making more on tariffs from merchants than they were on conquering, so they put their armies to use to this end. They stormed the bandit strongholds in the Dural mountains and killed everyone they found. To put this achievement in context, 'Dural' comes from the old Greywing phrase 'Druuch aile' meaning 'Thieves nest,' and the very earliest historical mentions of the Dural mountains refer to them in this manner. The army marched to far cities offering 'trade insurance.' This involved allowing griffon traders to enter freely, and paying a small, two percent tax to Zephyrous's fiefdom. This would ensure that the city was not burned to the ground by a horde of griffons.

The second to appear was Hoelun, a polymath who helped found the city of Condorcorum. She is a genius who wrote seminal works in several fields, including mathematics, architecture, natural sciences, thaumatology and thaumaturgy. She became a friend of Zephyrous a few years after his armies began marching, and provided him with the weapons and engineering expertise his forces needed to succeed. She sent units of her own forces along with Zephyrous's, who had two main functions: they would secure any libraries in cities that were being looted and make sure their contents safely reached condorcorum, and they would search out scholars and skilled workers in conquered or allied cities, and induce them to study at the Great University in Condorcorum. She would also send scribes to the libraries of allied cities, or cities that had submitted to Zephyrous, to copy their works and bring them to the university library.

Young Zephyr and Adune both appeared five years after Zephyrous and Hoelun first met, though they were likely active years before that. Young Zephyr was an odd mix of assassin, spy, detective and monster hunter. He was responsible for putting many of the residents of Tartarus in there in the first place, he created the first griffon intelligence agency, Sinn Bird, which still survives to this day; and exacted harsh reprisals on any individuals that attacked members of the griffon nation. Most famously, he kidnapped and executed the pegasus Colonel Typhoon and her entourage, who had carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the nearby Buckbeak clan. Adune was a bard and diplomat whose exploits left a huge impression on both griffon and pony culture, and were frequently unprintable. Both Celestia and Luna attended some of the celebrations thrown by Adune, and have said that the lurid rumors surrounding those events are absolutely true, except for the bits with the bananas.

The four adventured together for many years, collecting artefacts, banishing monsters and defeating enemies of the griffon nation. Exposure to magic left them near-immortal, and their reign lasted 430 years. Eventually, Young Zephyr was corrupted by exposure to fell powers, and he attacked Condorcorum, killing tens of thousands, destroying most of the city and killing Zephyrous before he was defeated. Since then, Adune has disappeared, though she has been sighted at parties and orgies throughout history since, and Hoelun gave up her powerful body, electing to reincarnate herself once a generation. At the time of writing, she is living in Highfrench, doing research at the High Energy Weather laboratory in Paree Polytechnique, among other things.

Griffin Empire

Religion: official: traditional Griffin religion. Minorities: Paganism, etc.

Magic: They have access to magic, but mostly prefer their own military might.

Culture: The griffins have a long history and rich culture, for which I base mostly off of Imperial Germany, with some elements of Ancient Rome (a pick 'n' mix, somewhat like Equestria).

Politics: Absolute monarchy & Autocracy. The name of their leader is the Kaiser (German for 'Emperor')

Technology: The griffins, due to their work ethic, have excelled are leading the way in science and technology, especially in the weapons department.

Gryphons, eh? Well, might as well put here the type of Gryphon Empire I am using in my own fic. It is mostly parts taken from my own notes, removing all unnecessary stuff that concerns the history of the empire.

Religion:

A heavily shamanistic religion, concentrated around the aspects of animism, totemism and ancestor worship. While the gryphons do not have “gods” such as Celestia and Luna, they do honor their ancestors and the spirits of the land. The greatest “ancestor” is be the sky itself, something honored as the domain of the gryphons, and the gift that should be solely theirs. Of course, this is an old-fashioned view, and in the current world most gryphons do not pay heed to this sort of thinking. Religion’s importance in general has diminished greatly, thanks to the technology and modern way of thinking that has been adopted from other cultures such as that of Equestria.

In the eyes of the old gryphon religion, nature itself is be the underlying force in everything, judging those who are alive. Such way of thinking could be expected of predators, as it would connect to the “survival of the strongest” mentality. That does not mean that shortcomings from “weaker” species or individuals are not be tolerated. However, those who do not aspire for greater feats are frowned upon, and not respected as much. For those who still abide by the rules of their old religion, the more removed a gryphon is from his or her natural instincts (associating with ponies, not hunting for meat, eating cupcakes, you name it), the more respect he or she loses in the eyes of the nature. This, in turn, affects the quality of his or her life.

But, as said, not many take the religion that seriously anymore.

Culture:

As a partly nomadic culture, the culture of the gryphons is heavily tied to the land they live in, and to their empire, Ikh Iarudi Uls. Tightly knit tribes of the past, before the times of the empire, have left their marks on the culture as a deep respect for the family and ancestors. Even in the greatest of the modern cities (most found on the western edge of the continent due to trade-reasons), the people of the cities tend to be very cordial and familiar with each other, and lot of emphasis is put on getting to know the beings that live in the same area. This is a nod to how close Gilda seems to be with Rainbow Dash, who she lived with for some time, but how she shuns the rest of the ponies who are strangers to her in all aspects.

Physical and mental prowess are important for the gryphons, and their tales and songs are influenced heavily by ancient legends of heroes who roamed the continent, vanquishing dragons and fighting against all manner of beasts. Because of this, many of the traditional festivals and games played amongst the populace are focused on defeating one’s opponent, whether it is through wrestling, shagai, or even foreign games such as checkers (surprisingly popular amongst gryphons).

The ultimate show of this adoration of warriors and strong leaders is the “Rite of Passage” that both male and female gryphons must pass on the day they become adults. They must venture in the large desert that lies south of the main mountain-region where the gryphons live, and hunt down and defeat an olgoi-khorkhoi. It is an meter long red worm with large teeth and ability to spit acid. Some of the more ferocious ones can even control lightning. Only after the gryphon defeats one of these worms is he or she considered an adult in the society.

Politics:

The gryphons are ruled by a “Khagan” who exercises his power over both the nomadic tribes or the cities that have been built (mostly from conquered ones). His rule is the ultimate one, and no major change can be made in the empire without his knowledge. However, as the continent is divided into smaller khanates, each ruled by a Khan (or a Khatun, if the gryphon is a female) who are the offsprings of the Khagan. The current Khagan is named Temujin, referred by the populace as the “Old Crook-Beak”, who was a mighty war-hero in the past, but has gotten rather paranoid in his later years, locking himself in his palace.

While currently there exists a peace between Equestria and Ikh Iarudi Uls, it was not always so. There is still some bad blood between the two, and especially in the coastal cities of both, old grudges have not been forgotten. Still, thanks to the fresh views of the Khans, more emphasis has been put on getting the empire accepted by Equestria, as they are the most important source of trade for the empire. While some agriculture exists in the largest cities, most of the gryphons live in nomadic tribes. Most of them keep at least a small herd of goats (due to their fantastic ability to climb in the mountains), but get the main portion of their meat from hunting. It is because of this that foreign merchants are widely respected amongst the populace, and enjoy a type of hospitality that other ponies rarely do. The empire even provides capital for merchants in order to make the foreign trade flourish.

Technology:

Since they live off the land, the gryphons have not had a dire need for most of the modern technology. They have, however, excelled when it comes to advancements in weaponry and military equipment. The recurved composite bow of the gryphon archers is a feared weapon across Equestria, and the gryphons are infamous for their ability to black the sky with their arrows whenever their army attacks. Unlike knights of Equestria, the gryphons prefer a lamellar armor which allows swift movement, along with vests made out of silk that would allow easier removal of arrows that hit.

The nomadic gryphons live in yurts that they carry across the vast plains and high mountain-ranges that make up for the most of the geography of Ikh Iarudi Uls. They keep their technology simple and minimal to minimize the amount of equipment they must carry as they travel. However, certain techniques and inventions from foreign countries have made the nomadic life much easier. For example, dowsing as a method of searching for ground water has been all but forgotten, and more reliable methods of magic, such as crystals that are naturally drawn to water, like enchanted aquamarines.

Thanks to the peace between Equestria and Ikh Iarudi Uls, the largest cities of the empire have now adopted multiple technological innovations, and thus, the cities do not differ much from those of eastern Equestria, like Manehattan. Both trees and vegetables have been transplanted to the western coast of Ikh Iarudi Uls, and with them, agricultural technologies have been adopted. Some of the more traditional gryphons are even worried that the new generations might revert completely to being herbivores due to how eating meat is now only thought of as a tradition in the most modernized cities of the empire.

The three biggest cities of the Ikh Iarudi Uls are Karakorum, the vast walled city that lies at the bottom of a great valley. Due to its accessibility to most beings, it is a major site for the politics, trade, philosophy and culture for the gryphons. Currently, it is ruled by the eldest son of the Khagan, and it is seen as the capital of the empire, though formally the capital is the “City of Eternal Summer”, Xanadu. Xanadu is a city hidden by the mountains, resembling a gigantic palace, from where the current Khagan rules. Access by beings other than gryphons is restricted, and only the most trustworthy and famous of merchants and politicians can step into the fabled city of “Green Gold”. The last of three great cities is the military city of Daidu, which lies at northern mountain range. The city itself is more of a huge castle that wraps around the peak of the mountain, and only the hardened soldiers can access it from the outside. Others have to use the tunnels that lead to the root of the said mountains. Daidu is one of the major concentrations of the military power of Ikh Iarudi Uls, and it is ruled by the eldest daughter of the current Khagan.

535119

Ah, another griffon worldbuilder with an appreciation for mongolian history. Welcome to the club!

535160

Glad to be aboard! For me, the Mongolian culture always felt as a logical choice when it came to gryphons. Their mythological origin might be related to the fossils of Gobi Desert, and though they were most heavily featured first at Ancient Greece, a nomadic life of the Mongolian Empire feels like it fits a bit better than a city-centric, cultured life of the Athens or such.

One of the things that bugs me about Star Trek is how each alien species is a mono-culture, a single individual of which somehow manages to be an accurate representative sample. So, when it came to design griffin culture for my story, I decided to make them more varied and interesting, at best loosely united by shared ethos and reproductive compatibility.

Politics: Drawing inspiration from the Ancient Greeks (from the days of Marathon, not the Trojan War) I decided that the griffin culture located adjacent to Equestria is actually about a dozen independent city-states, each with their own history, traditions, and means of government; they include monarchies claiming divine right, democracies, oligarchies of the 'best families', a plutocratic/mercantile state where 'political capital' is directly counted in coins, etc. Only a few of these states allow any forms of slavery, none allow chattel slavery.
Closely matched in power and proud in their independence, the states have never managed to build a unified nation; even alliances of more than two or three states last no more than two generations before ending. Without an external threat to unify against or to unify them against their will, the city states spend most of their energy in squabbling between states. Equestria's influence, both diplomatically and in terms of industrial progress, is causing the states to war less, but this is a process of gradual change.

Technology: Just as varied as their political systems are griffin technological progress: one state provides most of the world's industrial steel, another makes the best airships, a third sailing ships, etc.

So many ideas floating around my mind, so little time to hammer them into coherent writing...

Final thought: do griffins have teeth?

533383
Wow, that's a LOT of info.

Has anyone thought of portraying Griffons like the Aztecs? I might write a little essay on that...

537144 I have a wall o' text tendency when I'm inventing headcanon out of thin air. Sorry..

537253
This isn't story, this is world building, so the more information the better. The point of this group IMO is to give authors ideas, and the more to work with, the more points there are that inspiration can spark from.

537422 I know, I know. I just felt like I should apologize for some reason.

Hey, this looks like fun, I think I'll give it a shot.

Religion: When it comes to religion, they may possibly just have a pretty basic Monotheism. Just worshiping a single God, maybe based off a ancient Griffon, kind of like Christians/Catholics look at Jesus of Nazareth. If they have a Polytheistic kind of religion, it could be much like the Greeks and the Romans, having multiple Gods, all representing a different thing. Back to a Monotheistic religion, real quick, perhaps, since they are carnivores and most likely predators, have a single God of "War" or "Battle" or something like that.

Magic: Magic might be something that the Griffins have, but just may have forgotten it. I'm pretty sure there are species on Earth that have forgotten certain traits or skills they once have had. (Hint, hint: Humans) They could also just have certain higher status citizens or leaders that are allowed to learn magic. To show their class, family, or rank, and such.

Culture: When I think of the Griffins, I think of Pre-Westernized Russia. They could be trying to more like the other, more successful nations, like Equestria for example. They could be changing the way they work, act, and live to try to become a more accepted peoples in their world. Because of their nature, they could have been a very war mongering nation in their past and are now trying to redeem themselves by entering the next era of civilized nationalism.

Politics: Again, I think it would be like Pre-Westernized Russia. They may have a single leader, descending from a single family, much like a Tsar (Or Czar, however it's spelled). Since they're most likely very militaristic, their military leaders may double as a sort of Council or Parliament.

Technology: Once again, Pre-Westernized Russia (I like PWR a lot, can you tell?). They may be like how it was during the Napoleonic Wars for Russia, trying to catch up to the rest of their version of "Western Europe". However, they might still be successful (Like how Russia fucked up Napoleon's forces in Russia).

533883 what does BMN mean? If you have a link to a timeline that would be very helpful!

659062

Before Nightmare Moon.

I'm not sure how you guys feel about this but I'll punch out a few details I've come up with for a sub-species of Gryphons for my fic, Winner.

Wedged-Tailed Gryphon Tribes
Homeland
The Southern Continent, Terra Serpantis

Religion
The tribes have great many legends and stories the elders tell to the younger members of the tribes to warn them of dangers, of which there are many in thier homeland, and the educate. Two major forces play an important part in these stories.

The Rainbow Serpent, shaper of all the lands, mountains and rivers. Wise and eternal he is considered one of the most powerful beings to exist, at least according to the Wedged-Tails. It is said he now slumbers within Uluru.

The Dream Spirits, who reside the earth, the sky and all things between. The Wedged-Tails claim to be able to feel them when they move.

Tribal lands are considered traditional but hold no religious significance other then Uluru near the centre of the continent.

Other figures known in the North by other names appear in thier religion;

The Uncreator - Discord (known to have been driven from Terra Serpantis by the Rainbow Serpent)

Brightstrider - Celestia (frequently visited the Rainbow Serpent before seeing him to his slumber inside Uluru)

Silverstrider - Luna (also visited the Rainbow Serpent and was present when he went to his slumber, also reportedly hates kookaburras with a passion after one ate the moon)

Magic
They can land on and move clouds but refuse to do the later as they consider that the realm of the Dream Spirits.

Culture
The tribes have traditions dating back further then the founding of Equestria and have maintained thier way of life in complete isolation from the rest of the world for as far back as they have had any kind of history. They take great pride of thier traditions and connection to the Dream Spirits.

The males are all raised as warriors, keepers of the stories and caregivers for the cubs from an early age while the females are raised as huntresses, dancers and caregivers for the elders from around the same time as thier male counterparts. This tradition has lead to both genders become considerably larger then thier northern cousins with average wingspans matching the largest Northern Gryphons can grow to.

Much of thier culture is tied to thier religion.

Politics
Originally inter-tribal politics was settled in battle. Post-colonization most disputes are settled more peacefully... so thier warriors are kept fresh and ready to fend off settler incursions.

Tribe to settler relations are tense at best and outright hostile at worst. The way ponies manually control the weather and forcefully alter the climate and soil conditions are considered an affront on Terra Serpantis and disrespectful of the Dream Spirits.

The Tribes care little about how Ponies live back in Equestria though.

Surprisingly, the Tribes get along peacefully with the subterranian dwelling local Changeling hives and have long standing trade agreements with the hives in thier territories.

Technology
Following Equestria's colonization efforts got off to a rocky start several tribes have adopted some technology from the settlers. One in particular has become rather successful thanks to setting up a vineyard on thier lands.

Beyond that they are primitive by most Northern standards. They refuse to wear any armour, preffering War Paints and generally carry spears and boomerangs into battle and little else.

Religion Ancestor worship plays a part in it.

Magic Apart from basic clould walking and cloud moving, not common. Some Griffins see it as cowardly, some just don't have the time or money to learn it. Some Griffins in high places fear what might happen if magic became common amongst the poor griffins.

Culture Griffins see staying monogamus as very important and mostly they do. Their eggs are very well guarded and it is seen as a disgrace to lose one's eggs, unless they were taken by force. Such a thing is almost unheard of-it's like horse theft in the Wild West, and very few griffins would do it anyway. Familes are strict but generaly loving. Changelings are greatly disliked and despised for sneaking about in disguise and stealing love.

Politics
I see them as being ruled by a Field Marshal and being military up to a point, but there are channels for ordinary griffins to bring things up as a system that was too rigid would be brittle. Laws are few and simple, but are rigidly enforced.

Technology
Simple but less basic then you might think.

Has anyone else here ever gotten the idea of playing griffons as Russians?

Religion
I never actually thought about it. I'd create a sun worship religion, considering their cold homeland.

Magic
Griffons have no magic at all. However, they are extremely physically gifted in senses and might.

Culture
Primarily Russian, but with some Ukrainian aspects thrown in there.

Politics
Griffons live in a feudal system. Most are peasants, although serfdom has been outlawed. Only nobles have power.

Technology
They are industrial but not very elegant or refined. They are great arms makers, however.

Well, may as well add mine.

Religion: Spiritualism. Majority of them invoke Ancestors, but there are some variables depending on the region they grew up in. The Gryphons in the Southern Farmland, where most of the crops are grown, evoke earthen spirits. The Eastern Plains have animals spirits (they take care of herd animals there). The Northern Mountains have rock and stone spirits (cold mountainous region with mining facilities). Lastly, the Western Ports have water and wind spirits (fishing region).

Magic: Unlike Ponies that have a good amount of sub-species that can manipulate magic directly (unicorns), only a few rare griffins have the natural capabilities to do so. There are two variants of Griffins:

1) The earth-griffins which have natural abilities of strength, running power and stamina, and endurance (though name is a bit inaccurate since they can still fly)

2) The sky-griffins which are blessed sharp eyes that can look beyond an earth-griffin's visual range, stamina for flying, and cold weather endurance (they have thicker coats and feathers).

Griffins that can manipulate magic can be both and are rare in numbers that the Kingdom tries to recruit as many as possible to be Magus Knights, which acts as the griffin artillery and medics in battlefields. Unlike unicorns though, they need an external foci to use. Staffs are the most prevalent. There's a darker aspect of it, but considering the topic, its neither here nor there.

Culture: The Kingdom uses a meritocratic culture as a means of advancement. It basically consists of 'How useful are you to the Kingdom' and builds it up from there. Almost all gryphons have been soldiers, even the rulers and senators, as being one is the fastest way to get recognition.

Politics: The Kingdom, as a whole, is run by either the Queen or King (currently Queen). She manages the Kingdom through the High Lords and Ladies spread out in different regions and cities. Under those are senators, who propose new laws and new ways of implementation.

Technology: Different from Equestria. Griffin war machine is more advanced than Equestria's, but are lacking in machine technology (mostly because in my verse, magic is what powers machines, and the griffins lack the number of magic manipulators that Equestria has). There's also the fact that they cannot grow as much food as the ponies can, and a lot of their resources are tied to that.

They do have more options in transportation technology (Wind Coaches, Regular Coaches, and will be revealed soon, fast tanks) because the griffins can't build a a train track (the lands are quite uneven that the Kingdom thought money was spent better just smoothing a small area to use as roads).

This will change as my story progresses though. Hopefully.

1131843 Griffonness? Hens? Eagless? Guess it would depend on whether you see them more cat-like or bird-like.

1131843 1133008 I think I'd like to assume that they have regional variations. Some will say cock and hen, some will say sire and queen, some will say something else again. That way you can get away with anything.

What if I completely turned everything upside down by suggesting the Gryphons were akin to our Scottish people, back before the days of Braveheart? The show doesn't exactly cater to this perfectly, with the mentioned names and hints of culture, but it is still a conceivable possibility.

The Scots were large people back then, and the Gryphons in mlp are also portrayed to be bigger than ponies. This leads to superiority in strength, which could suggest and empire or militaristic regime like so many assume. But what if rather than empires, it were a series of clans, with one clan ruling over the others?

This presents opportunities for Gryphons to have some sort of magic, if one were to allow Scottish myths to be considered realities in this universe (which isn't unusual, given the amount of greek myths present in the show's lore...).

The Scots were also great engineers in the root stages of the first tech revolution, using their strength to create stronger versions of old weapons.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Disagreements?

1134101 Scots hmmm? I like the idea very much! I could definitely see them working the whole Braveheart thing. They may take our beaks, but they will never take our freedom! Also griffons. IN. KILTS! Think about it! I wanna see a story based on this now. Maybe have a loch Ness monster type creature in it XD

Oh and Beowulf was Anglo-saxon! It was written in Scotland and stuff. Griffon Beowulf hell yeh! Yes I love your idea.

1134882 Glad you think so! I'm playing a Scottish gryphon in a roleplay right now, and wanted to share my idea when I saw this thread come up.

I've come to actually wonder if the griffins could be culturally styled after America. Now just hear me out before attacking me with pitchforks and torches: what I mean is portray them as having a culture without nobility and heavily focused on individuality. Griffins might look at the titles held by noble ponies as being bizarre curiosities, and instead of being militaristic griffins may simply be zealous and aggressive in any field. Whatever they're doing, they plan on being the best at it.

An explanation for this could be extrapolated from the obvious characteristics of griffins. First, without any figures like the princesses or even unicorns griffins have no obvious "born" leaders. Because of this, griffins would likely come to regard the idea of being born to a leadership position to be absurd; they will only follow someone who has demonstrated an ability to get favorable results. On top of that, griffins never get cutie marks denoting an obvious special talent. Without those, young griffins likely would be pressured to develop a talent rather than waiting for life to walk up and hand one to them.

The focus on getting results as the way to get ahead in griffin society would be what makes griffins more aggressive: with everybody trying to get results you have to stand out by having the best results. You can't just point to your flank or family line and say "obviously I am best suited for this job". The watchwords for most griffins are "prove it". "Show why I should trust you and respect you and listen to you" is the prevailing attitude.

While they might not have any sort of "proper" democratic system, this kind of culture would give griffins an inherent democracy at least. For them, leaders are not born, they are made, chosen implicitly or explicitly by their followers.

The reason I think this would be so interesting is because I'm reading This Platinum Crown and I keep thinking what fascinating stories could result from taking the kind of scheming nobles on display there and throwing them in with a leaders from a foreign culture who don't care about all the pomp and titles. All stories hinge on conflict, and the conflict between a heavily aristocratic society and one with no aristocracy could be really fun to watch.

1230957 Like I said, one big impetus for the idea is I just want to see a culture with an established aristocracy bounce off of one with absolutely no aristocracy. Thanks though!

My Story Zig Zag Love features heavily airship warfare as specialized by the Griffin Kingdoms. I've illustrated them here for your viewing pleasure. Griffins in my universe are akin to 18th century Brittish Imperialist beholden to worship of Norse mythology, especially Valkyries and Odin's Ravens.

Zig Zag Love"Click to Visit!"