Paddlemar

The paddlemar, known in its jade variety as the Jade Paddlemar, is a tortoise-like creature counted among the common animals of Bandle City and Ionia. It is a herbivore, and it belongs to the reefs, the habitat it makes its home in across both regions. What sets it apart from an ordinary shelled beast is its command of two very different elements, for the paddlemar is at home in the water and in the open sky alike. The creature's ability to take to the air is not present from birth. Young paddlemars remain earthbound, unable to leave the ground until they have grown large enough to hold the energy that flight demands. Only once an infant has matured far enough does it gain the strength to lift away and join the adults overhead. Grown paddlemars sail through the skies with ease, drifting above the reefs and waters that shelter their young. Slow and peaceful in the manner of the tortoises they resemble, they graze rather than hunt, moving between water and air in a way few other creatures of Runeterra can match.