All Vortigaunts come pre-packed with specific abilities due to their Vortal heritage

-- Hive Mind Interdimensional Telepathy, Flux Shifting, able to tap into the collective memories of all Vortigaunts within about 200 miles, no matter which dimension they happen to be in. If there's an equitable location and a Vort is in it, he can know what they know, see what they see, and communicate to them directly. With quantities of his people near, he can also tap limited amounts of skills

-- Invasive Telepathy able to detect life and the thoughts of creatures with a mind, including energy or electronic ones, within 100 meters. If a person or creature is telepathic he can easily sense them and communicate, but also read deeper thoughts at close range. He asks first, he knows from experience that humans and other non-Vorts don't much care for the way Flux Shifting works

-- Electrical Command, Vortigaunts can fling short bursts of electrical energy that can disable or kill smaller animals, disrupt electronics, or boost energy levels of generators and batteries. Autry uses a very short range and low-damage version of this to guide large animals, but not enough to hurt them unless they're actively aggressive and can be damaged freely (ie: herding on the ranch, versus rodeo performances)

-- Healing and Life Sense, he can concentrate his Vortal energy into a modest amount of healing power, which fixes small injuries such as cuts and bruises on contact, and can stabilize an larger injury or stave off hunger and disease while others do more detailed or difficult healing

-- Antlion Affinity, the Vorts on the Black Mesa Antlion Ranch have a lot of experience with Antlions and their ways, herding them around has been in their line for generations, and they won't stop now! Antlion eggs containing larvae offer them their extract, which accentuates all of their Vortal powers significantly, changing their visual appearance to a lightning-blue and violet rather than their fleshy browns and reds. With an egg's extract imbibed, for a period of around half an hour, Autry can boost his transmission and reception of telepathic or empathic powers by tenfold, or can strongly heal deeper wounds, and if needed, can kill large creatures such as Antlion Kings and Guardians, though this drains his power quickly. Antlions overall (the Vortal type, not the little bitty arachnoids of Earths) respond to him since he knows how to use their Pheropods, collected off of dead Guardians to control the drones and workers. This extends eventually to other kinds of herd-based or hive-based life forms, which is why he's now the Rodeo instructor...

Dragon Rider - Autry and his companions at the Ranch are all somewhat attached to their Whiptail dragons, and he has mastered working with

Ranch And Rodeo Pro +5 Autry is adept at leadership and organizational skills beyond most Vorts, and organizes the events they have to collect antlions, though he concentrates more on the above-ground efforts rather than leading down below into the nectarium areas. He has very good skill in recognizing what any given ranch hand can or cannot handle, and assigns them to their duties with confidence. More than that though he really enjoys 'breaking' the tougher big animals into a more docile understanding with their keepers. He knows that some bulls will just Not Cooperate, until they know who is stronger than them. Riding Antlion Guardians or very wild boar, either of those things are notches on his belt!

Animal Recognition And Use +5 It's not just Antlions that he herds. After all, back at both versions of the Ranch there are plentiful cattle including angus, longhorn and buffalo, goats and sheep, pigs, boar and peccary, even chickens, snarks, headcrabs, and ducks that he shoos into the coops at night. He likes horses, ponies, donkeys and even deer, and they seem to like him back. If it appears in the dusty desert environment or has been introduced to it, he is going to be able to ride, talk to, or tame it at least long enough to get it into a barn or pen

Lingo And Language +4 Unlike quite a few Vorts, he separates his 'human-style' speech from his Vortigese easily. His poetry night work is fascinating particularly to anyone attempting to learn the intricacies of Vortigese language, and he will help translate those poems and epics, though he admits they lose a lot in non-Vortal translation. Without telepathy, they tend to read more like a book report than an epic poem. However he is also very good with specific English dialects, and has picked up a tremendous amount of Spanish from the local ranch hands that re-migrated to the area at the Rookery (or at the Repurposed Black Mesa area, they have a ranch there too after all). He can shout out commands in three distinct languages, making his ability in the rodeo ring quite valuable with disparate workers involved

Loves Working With Kids +3 there aren't many children where he lives, but here there are so many! And they are eager to learn, some even bearing not-insignificant similarities to his own sets of abilities! They are difficult to master, but he gives a constant and confident sense of belief in his students, even if they fail to perform a task he knows they'll be able to learn from that loss

Rider Up! +3 He has a good grasp of the gear needed for taming or riding virtually any kind of animal, including saddles and bridles, preferring bitless bridles vastly over anything with an intrusive and damaging bit. He'll help you get up again and again, even if you're falling off because you don't have the limb structure to hold on... And then he'll commission a proper saddle for your biomass...

Name: Melody, bonded to Autry
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Long/Medium-Small 7' shoulder / 55' l / 60' ws
Colors: Dusty tan and dirt brown, Darker head and legs/wingtips, striking pale tan markings along nose, head, neck, chest, shoulders, and rump, with small marks on wing arms, tail is mainly creamy tan with caramel tan striping and fade; wingsails are charcoal brown but transparent; eyes orange; horns are ivory
Features: Whiptail dragon, very long build, with 4 sturdy pawed legs; hide is very fine, soft and smooth scales in a dull finish; two wings with single visible fingers, nearly transparent wingsails; boxy face with prominent muzzle, horns split in the center; remarkably long tail which can be used as an attack cushioned by padding on hips. Wingsails can be easily torn and not so easily repaired. Omnivorous, meat for flight, and plant when flying is not needed.
Powers: Winged Flight; strong flier, able to fly easily in a dust storm without issue. Not particularly bold, more of a lover than a fighter, just like her rider.
Parentage: Wild, unknown
Origin: adopted from Dragonsandvideogames on Deviantart.
Other Info: Melody truly enjoys it when her companion sings, either in his native Vortigese, or in the Human tongue. She's fond of crooning along with him.

Collected info for Chicks

Features: Chick dragons all have the same general physical configuration of two powerful legs with large talons, two feathered wings, and a short feathered tail, a head with a beak, short crest on females and males bearing a larger crest and wattles; they are bipedal*. They lay bright easter-styled eggs, 3 to 10 in quantity, and may hybridize with other breeds, though prefer avians; 2 year maturation; all colors and many patterns possible; they have no naming structure, and do not require a bond but may have one;
Size: *They may be large enough for a typical Humanoid to ride, but are generally smaller than 5' at the head
Powers: generally have telepathic speech, teleportation, and short flight capabilities which all vary in strength by individuals
Parentage: unknown and unrelated
Origin: Lantessama Island Easter/Spring Events
Art By: Trix!

Name: K'kuth (koo koot-th; to pluck a fruit)
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: sport/small 4' h, 6'6" ws
Colors: Yellow Duckwinged Mint-laced Pink Belted Cyan
Powers: Winged Flight, though unable to fly for long, K'kuth does have powerful wings, and uses them to grab and pull at virtually anything she's interested in. She does a lot of 'backwards flight' in this fashion, playing tug-of-war, "k'kuth taynu", with virtually anyone or any thing that wants something she also wants. And generally she wants what you have.
Teleportation, only when stressed or being pestered too much, K'kuth vanishes leaving only a feather or dust behind. It's possible that she can teleport greater distances than the others, because there have been times she's simply not on anyone's vortal radar
Telepathy, K'kuth is noisy in both vocalizations and her busy mind. Always asking 'can I see that', 'can I have that', 'you gonna eat that', and the like. Her mental voice is cheerful until it isn't.
Mate/Offspring: likely Skaa Duuk, though is on the lookout for other available partners just in case he is too overbearing
Other Info: A hopeless gossip, spending a lot of her time listening in to the chatter of people nearby, dragons, and students. But she rarely gets the chance to use any of the juicy information she gathers, because apparently if she decides you're not worth remembering, she will forget you exist including your weird habits or relationships

Name: Skaa duuk (skah doo ook, to pack away/store, upright food plants; 'how do you eat that much corn?!')
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: small, 4' 6" h, 10' ws
Colors: Purple-speckled Black
Powers: Winged Flight, the only one in the flock adept with actually flying around for a bit, he likes windy and warm conditions to keep himself aloft or the occasional ride on a larger dragon so he can glide down to the ground, which he greatly enjoys and is obviously able to maneuver to where he needs to drop. He doesn't have much lift, but he can maintain flapping hard enough to keep off the ground for a full minute, or while in motion, can go almost half a mile if he's up high enough to start. Doesn't carry anything typically, but if he manages to grab a basket with fresh-picked corn, he will have it around his neck and be off and flapping!
Teleportation, confidently able to intercept or get right in the way, and good with both longer distances up to 2 miles, and very short hops around 50 meters from one field to the next, and can bring along others if they are small such as school kids
Telepathy, definitely smart and quite clever, though not talkative. The kind of ranch rooster that struts around, occasionally checking up on workers, visitors, and his hens with a gentle but gruff 'yo, sup?' This all goes out the window if there's food involved.
Mate/Offspring: probably his two companions, though he's a touch on the worried side that perhaps Liig, who looks cool and has similar markings, is just too much of a ditz for his tastes
Other Info: Will, in point of fact, eat anything that can be eaten by any animal. Prefers grains and reeds, grasses, and seeds, but has had to nudge some of those Pantheon people to grow much larger stuff - he had seen some millet seeds that were about the size of softballs, and really wanted more of those! Now there's a 30' tall millet grove...

Name: Liig ha-liig (literally 'no thoughts, head empty', 'there should be thoughts in their brain but there aren't any')
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: small, ridable, 5'2" h, 10' ws
Colors: Spangled dark purple with pale green spots
Powers: Winged Flight, you'd think that with wings as big across as a vulture's she'd be a good flier, but oh absolutely not. She can flutter into the air, strongly, but lacks all coordination and uses this purely to get onto improbable rooftops or branches, and then has a hissy fit when it's time to come down; her much more preferred place is on the ground, where she is a powerhouse and does enjoy having small people ride her around. She might or might not notice them being on her back. She doesn't have issues with them, and won't buck or protest, which is good
Teleportation, you might think that a chicken-for-brains dragon who can teleport would be in danger. But no, Liig ha-liig is easily able to just be right where she's needed or where she wants to be - forgetting during the above 'getting stuck in a tree' that she can in fact teleport... She's best with short distances, within about 100 meters.
Telepathy, there is always the lingering presence of this Chick Dragon's mind, and it almost always has the big glowing "?" over it that you'd see in a video game or comic book. She Just Doesn't Get It. Doesn't bother her a bit, just she's also slightly unable to form real questions to ask, and will just sort of stand over your shoulder and look at what you're doing until you tell her. The act of telling her is enough, she doesn't have to understand the answer...
Mate/Offspring: possibly Skaa Duuk but she might not really understand the needs of a nest, maybe her ? would change to a !
Other Info: she is a ditz, but rarely angry and almost never unpleasant to be around, she's often tempted by shiny things or food, and used as a practice creature for riding just to make sure of compatibility and skill before moving on to bigger or more unruly creatures in classes held by Autry