Community:Fanfiction/Ironhead

Ironheads (Mycteria deimos) are the post war descendants of the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) that roam the lower southern states of post-war America. It can be found in tropical to subtropical areas of the Gulf Coast and lower East Coast and into parts of east coastal Mexico and central America. It may exist in the upper parts of former Baja California and the Caribbean but reports are unverified.

Description
Ironheads stand about 4”2 ft (1.27 m) to 5”10 ft (1.77 m) and weigh around 200 Ibs (90.76 kg), but legendary individuals have been reported to stand over 7”2 ft (2.18 m) to 9”0 ft (2.74 m) and weigh over 290 (130 kg). Adult specimens retain the overall white plumage with the primary to secondary feathers on their wings and tail being black with a purple to green-ish iridescence of their pre war ancestors. They also retain the distinct bare head with dark grey skin and legs. However, adult specimens possess a black to red gradient beak from base to tip and a very noticeable hooked beak not too dissimilar to extinct terror birds.

Juveniles
Chicks hatch with a grey colored down that is replaced with a white, more dense and wooly down as they age and grow, and do not get their distinctive bald head until a year after they fledge. When they fledge, they resemble the adults except for the feathered head and a yellow bill.

Background
Despite their very close look to various extinct terror birds in terms of build, diet, and even features, they are not related to Phorusrhacidae in any way. They evolved to fill a similar ecological niche in post-war America. It is possible they were also at least in part genetically modified but this theory has not been proven or discredited. If the species was in any way genetically modified, it would have been after the Great War as reliable reports were only confirmed by scientists of various factions around the 2200's.

Name
The Ironheads' exact name origin is unknown, but “Ironhead” was a regional name for the Wood Stork prewar, so it is very likely that it came from that mundane origin. The name could also originate from the Ironheads' distinctive hunting behavior of head butting their target to the ground before overtaking them.

Behavior
Ironheads will hunt and kill any creature that they can overpower either via numbers, speed, or brute force via their axe like beak or claws. They will also fiercely fight against anything that may endanger their nests or invade their territory from small animals like radgulls, oppossums, and ants, to even larger creatures like humans, deathclaws, and wolves. But Ironheads are not the biggest predator around and even adults can fall prey to Deathclaws and Yao guai. Chicks and eggs will often fall prey to smaller predators and even humans.

Ironheads are not very picky with their diet and will eat anything they can from invertebrates, mammals, amphibians, other birds, fish, and even carrion if the opportunity presents itself. They will also eat humans (and their derived brethren like ghouls, supermutants, etc) but shy away most of the time due to human's larger numbers and various weaponry.

Biology
Because of their similar anatomy to extinct terror birds and even living flightless birds like the Ostrich, Ironheads can run up to 30 mph (48 km/h) in short to medium bursts to ambush and go after prey or run from assailants. The species as a whole are social like their pre war ancestors and will forage/hunt in groups and nest colonially like their pre war ancestors but must nest on the ground due to their larger size.

Ironheads ARE capable of some flight as their wings are scaled to fit their size, but only a brief gliding with high enough ground and sufficient uplift from wind thermals due to their size and weight. Adult specimens do not engage in this gliding behavior except for rare occasions, but juveniles will do it more due to their smaller size.

Unusually, the Ironhead and its pre war ancestor still exist side by side. The Wood Stork proper still exists in small pockets of what is the Everglades and further down south into Central America and Mexico. It is unknown why or how this is, and is the subject of debate by many from the religious to the factual.

Trivia

 * The Ironhead was inspired by modern depictions of terror birds (such as those found in ARK: Survival Evolved, and Walking With Beasts), but still striving to be at least somewhat accurate in terms of real life and the Fallout Universe.
 * The Ironhead was also inspired by convergent evolution, which is the independent evolution of two different species which have similar features but otherwise are unrelated to each other.