Eminence of the Painted Mesa. Darn it FA, why the character limit on titles!

This is a lovely piece by  CandyOkapi , a choose your colors ych using a base by  Binxxy . There may be a few modifications later on, but generally, this is them. [If you know Diné bizaad, please come correct me! I'm winging this translation terribly, and don't mean any disrespect]

'I'ii'ą́ is a member of a "species" I'm putting together, referred to as an Eminence, a living embodiment of a particular area. So, in this case, Sun-Set-Falling-Upon-Stone's-Surface is the Eminence related to a moderately large mesa in the southwest portion of the United States of America. They are something of a goof, and a fun loving show-off, but they are also strongly passionate and courageous in defending their home grounds. They cares little for people, though they are happy to help individuals that aren't hurting their locale or harming their ecology. They become especially wrathful around people who waste or pollute local water, because their range is notably drier than the surrounding lands, and they are jealous of that bounty, and fearful for the plants and animals that are tied to them if the water is further reduced.

Small caches of obsidian are found churned up at the foot of their mesa, explaining both their raptorian-sharp claws, and their first contact with the people who would become the Diné (Navajo, to you English speakers), who named them first (along with many of the other local Eminences), who sought the stone for arrows and tools. Mindful of the limited water, Sun-Set refused the Diné the right to settle on their place, but accepted small groups who heeded their warnings and showed respect.

In modern times, 'I'ii'ą́ is even more wary of people, because most people are careless and disregard their warnings (which is to say, people are more likely to shoot them on sight. The physical body of an Eminence is not particularly important to their existence, or this would be more than a minor bother. It is, however, still painful - and in this case, means Sun-Set will watch, and hunt outsiders, waiting for a person to make a harmful move, and then separate from other humans, where they can safely kill the miscreant. Campers and travelers who take care of the area around their mesa will find the land easier and safer to travel through. It is somewhat telling what most visitors are like, that the locale is often referred to as "the ghost mesa" in local rumors and schoolyard myths.

There is one more secret, a hidden oil patch in the depths of a sealed cavern network beneath their mesa - the results of the surrounding areas pushing various deposits into the voids beneath them. They desperately fear that humanity will find this deposit somehow, and will crack their heart open for the black liquid, murdering their surrounding life, poisoning what little water is available, and, in essence, killing 'I'ii'ą́ as they currently exist...perhaps removing it entirely, if the area is sufficiently sterilized and polluted. The Eminence of the surrounding areas find them excessively brash, but recognize the validity of their fear, (and feel some guilt about forcing all the risk into them, even if it wasn't by conscious choice) and will support Sun-Set to keep that secret. 'I'ii'ą́ might have an easier time, if their unique progenitory wasn't a pool of oil-soaked sand with a flame pillar hovering beyond it, a rather significant hint at what lies in their geographic depths. [I will explain progenitory...somewhere marked mature XD] It obviously isn't visible in this image, with their leg in the way.

Sun-Set stands 11+ feet tall, somewhat small by Eminence standards, and the hostile state of their home range means they are functionally bustless, though the rare rainstorm pushes them into explosive growth for a few days, during which their body darkens, and their free hair greens brilliantly. Their claws are regenerative obsidian, and are viciously honed to maximum sharpness. The "scales" on their hands and feet are actual stone plates, as are the 4 horn outcrops. They have no idea why their tongue is that long. The raptor claws on their feet are a remnant of the raptor packs that once roamed them, back when there was more water in the area, and whose bones are now buried beneath their earth, as well as the far descendants that still fly through their skies - one of the few creatures that regularly visit their mesa's top. The stone horns mark one of the other animals hearty enough to make their range home for any length of time, a small populace of ram and goats that occasionally wander up their steep sides to eat the scrub grasses that struggle to survive at the top. A small ravine in their eastern face house a small colony of bats, a group that has been present since there were bats on the continent, more or less, and are much cherished by 'I'ii'ą́.