Imperial Griffons are a much rarer version of the griffon, with the same head, fore-claws, and wings of a giant eagle, but the body, rear legs, and tail of a tiger. Beak to tail, imperial griffons can reach up to 15 feet in length. A truly majestic and fearsome creature, depending on its habitat it can be colored anything from orange, light brown, or pure snow white, with a tiger’s distinctive black stripes. Its massive wings can span 40 feet or more, and a mature specimen weighs around 900 pounds.

They usually choose to nest in caves or cliff faces in the mountains, in either cold or very hot and humid climates. To an imperial griffon, anything smaller than itself is prey, and they will swoop down from out of the sun to attack. Like the more common griffon, they are especially fond of horse flesh, favoring them above all other prey. While mated pairs may stay together while raising their young for awhile, they are otherwise solitary animals, exclusively preferring to live and hunt alone.

Despite being even harder to keep in captivity than griffons, none-the-less some have trained imperial griffons as loyal and protective mounts. An adult imperial griffon mount can carry up to 700 pounds as a light load, or 1,400 pounds heavily-loaded.