Got a Real-World Weapon, Armor or Tactics Question? Mk. XXV

[Tobtor]

I did say i'd talk about how passive flight might work out. Whilst it's just completely incompatible with what the OP wanted the easiest way would be to make the passive flight pure transport and have them do their hunting and gathering on the ground. I'm not sure what evolutionary pressures precisely could produce such a need for efficient long distance transit but it would also probably look closest to the traditional "winged human" archetype as the heavy groundside work would tend to push for a more human limb set whilst whatever evolutionary pressure needs that excellent long distance efficient movement capability would tend to push the desire to keep the wings, whilst the poor hunting and gathering efficiency of passive flight pushes the need to do hunting and gathering ground side with a body better adapted to it.

Transport between different "living" quarters could be a reason. Sort of like with of the Draco lizards, which have developed "wing"-like tisue independent of their 4 limps (they use the "wings" to move from tree to tree without going to the bottom of the forrest):

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Draco Volans

These liazards doesn't really have flight (just gliding), but perhaps we could imagine our "bird" people stating out this way and then developing more "flight" ability? Anyway Draco lizards are the closest I have seen to a vertibrae with four limps +"wings".

They could have developed the early flight to move between mountains (or islands with sea cliffs), as a way of moving about. The gradually improved it with more powered flight to use in hunting/fighting?