Before you stands a gryphon of large stature! He stands half-again as tall as an average stallion, which is to say fifty percent bigger. His feline coat is black as coal, and his feathers are a deep purple that scintillate in the availible light. His crest combs forwards a bit and to the side, covering his left eye a bit. Though it is easy to see past them and see that the gryphon wears an eyepatch a bit larger than one usually needs. His right eye, a piercing blue, is always darting around, analyzing, assessing, and watching.
The reason why becomes clear when you look at his body; under his pelt is a roadmap of old scars and wounds, going from his belly to his back, and his neck, and, of course, over that patch-covered eye. The drake wears a gauntlet on his right foreleg with odd writing on it, and his breastbone is covered with a breastplate that straps around the base of his wings. His bits are also tucked safely away in a steel codpeice. All the armor has odd, flowing writing and the styalized image of a gryphon in flight.
The drake looks at you as you eye him, and you are sure you can see a faint, pinpoint of purple glow through the eyepatch.