Canary
In the early First Age, perhaps predating the war with the Primordials, the canary was a plain bird, olive and with a pretty song, occasionally born with brighter flashes of colour. These birds became the first target for the evolving science of biogenesis, the Exalted engaging in increasingly complex programs of breeding and essence manipulation to perfect both their music and their plumage. Canaries existed in all colours of the rainbow, with innumerable variations on their songs. Exalts and their wealthy retainers would keep canaries, coordinated with the décor, to add music to their gardens. As the First Age wore on, those interested in biogenesis, moliation, and magitech achieved more splendid wonders, but canaries continued to serve as a symbol of the Solar Deliberative. By that time, while many variations and songs had fallen from favour, the birds were known for their bright golden-yellow plumage, gleaming like orichalcum in the light of Sol Invictus, whose course they serenaded before falling into sleep until he rose once more. Deliberative buildings and public gardens, even a number of avenues in major cities, were decorated with caged canaries to sing to passers-by.
When the Usurpation came, the canary suffered great pain, and was gifted great freedom. Standing as accessories to the infrastructure of Solar rule, they died in mass numbers as Dragonblooded armies clashed with Solar Exalts and their loyal forces across Creation, neither side interested in the survival of the birds. But this destruction also opened the door, in a literal sense. The Golden Aviary, a massive manse-estate located on the coast of the Inner Sea, was a centre of both mundane breeding and the art of biogenesis, specialized particularly in birds. Countless thousands of bright golden-yellow canaries filled its vast dome, singing together as they flew, waiting to be shipped across Creation to decorate the facilities of the Solar Deliberative. Conceived first as a temple to Oplath Daigono Shar, interference by Vanileth had seen it instead emerge as a tribute to Sol Invictus, and later as a temple to the Solar Exalted themselves.
The Dome and its birds were a symbol of Solar rule, and while no Solar Exalt stood to defend the manse or its attendants, the Usurping armies moved quickly to purge it from Creation, a fleet arriving and turning potent weapons upon the dome and surrounding city. The edifice was destroyed, the geomancy disrupted in the fury of the bombardment, only the outer walls left partially standing in twisted columns… today, these persist as parts of the city walls surrounding Thorns.
But the Dragonblooded were not systematic in their attack: as the Dome was torn asunder, thousands of birds escaped into the sky, tens of thousands more were seized and stolen by citizens fleeing inland away from the Usurper fleet. While the advanced essence manipulation for breeding canaries was lost, a breeding tradition persisted, as did the birds, in various parts of Creation. Those birds in the wild lost their golden hue as centuries wore on, becoming olive-yellow, the songs of praise to the Solar Exalted changing tune to more disorganized, but still beautiful, melodies.
Today, canaries are found in small numbers across Creation, ancient lines joined by more recent escapees. Wild canaries are coloured olive-yellow, the more common bred canaries bright yellow. Their songs are still considered very beautiful, and their colour is no longer associated with the Solar Anathema but with the blessings of Sol Invictus. Major breeding occurred in Thorns, until it fell to Mask of Winters, and Paragon also breeds them in large numbers. Local breeding also occurs, and breeding secrets kept by ancient family lines provide unique colorations, carefully guarded and sources of great prosperity.
Canaries are popular in noble courts and gardens across Creation for their beautiful colours and songs. Canaries considered by breeders to have imperfect voices or colouration are also used: they are also considered a food bird in some regions, particularly in the Songbird Skewers of Paragon Cuisine.
