A bird combining characteristics of two others:

Simurgh

In the most widespread account, the simurgh is said to possess a silver head and a peacock tail, and to make its nest on the Tree of Knowledge, and to have lived long enough to have witnessed the destruction of the universe three times over. As such, it is a fine symbol for the Gamezohan Empire, which is headed by the silver dragons, and quite vain and ostentatious, and founded on scientific superiority, and so on. The simurgh was also said to be able to sing a beautiful song through the thirty holes in its beak to lure in all animals, who gathered to be eaten, which might or might not make the symbol a criticism of Gamezohan imperialism.

Shrikes

Birds of the Laniidae family, remarkable for their habit of impaling insects and small birds and mammals on thorns of trees and bushes, to make it easier to dismember them and also so the bird can return later for more.

One can presume the shrimurgh, this combination of two already dangerous fowl, impales its victims in the Tree of Knowledge. This merely complicates the already voluminous body of associations that can be drawn remembering certain legendary statesmen infamous for their weakness for impalement as a method of execution.

The shrimurgh is also depicated on the coat of arms for the Imperial House Gauss.

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