Biological logistics of a fantasy species I'm working on...

[Moogle-Girl]

I don't really know where to put this or if it's even appropriate for this site. c':

So I have this fictional species I'm hammering out, right? They're called demons, but they're not really tied to existing lore; it's just a name. They have really tight skin that clings to their bones and gives them an emaciated look, but they also have these, uh, protrusions (???) that cover their bodies. It's sort of like hair, but much wider and flatter. The variation in how this stuff grows divides them into races. Demons that live in cold climates have the things grow out longer, looking sort of like feathers, whereas those in warmer climates have them stay short and cling tighter to their bodies, more like scales. And then there's also an uncommon mutation that makes a demon not grow these things at all! These races are called (read: approximately and somewhat offensively named in English) avians, reptilians, and skeletals respectively.

I have three questions. One, does this make any sense at all? (I'm willing to pin some nonsense on magic but it should have at least SOME basis in reality) Two, is there a word that would already approximate these weird growths or should I just make one up? And three, I want to give them wings but I'm not sure how this all would interact with that. Like, what if their wings followed the same patterns as the rest of them? Would all three races still be able to fly (or at least glide)? Or should I just give them all the same style wings?

Sorry if some of this doesn't make total sense, I'm having a hard time wording it coherently. ;w;

 

[Asuras]

The word your looking for could vary as you see fit, but "epidermal plate" comes to mind. In colder climates it would probably be more feasible that these things grow out longer to retain pockets of warmer air along their skin (akin to feathers), though having emaciated skin is probably not going to serve them well in such a climate. As for wings. There's no reason that epidermal plates would necessarily grow on the wings if their developmental genetics didn't encode for their wings to grow them, so no need to worry about interference.

The wings will more than likely be leathery and devoid of true feathers (and universal across each race, or, for a more appropriate term, subspecies). These epidermal plates would not serve well in place of feathers for lift. They would be too heavy if used extensively on something like a wing.

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Wow, that was amazingly helpful, thank you!!