Crow

Crows are a species of bird, covered in iridescent black feathers along with black bills and legs. They are intelligent creatures, having been known to puzzle out the untying of knots and the retrieval of scraps using sticks, though they are not deemed san-beasts in the reckoning of the Haltan Republic. They are vocal birds, communicating through a variety of sounds dominated by series of loud caawing cries.

Crows are omnivorous scavengers, eating a variety of seeds, insects, scraps, and carrion, along with eggs, small mammals, and nearly anything else which might strike their fancy. They seem able to survive in a wide variety of terrain, found across Creation and well suited to areas of human habitation where they feast on the refuse of urban life.

Crows gather in large flocks, known as ‘murders’, which can consist of thousands of birds, roosting together each night before splitting up each day to seek food. The term ‘murder’ is somewhat unfair, as crows do not murder humans, but their scavenging skills means a large number of crows in one spot usually identifies the location of a corpse. The similar Raiton shares this name for its flocks, and those larger birds have been known to kill humans in order to consume them, but the two birds do not get along, crows maintaining respectful distance from raitons when in small groups... mirroring the behaviour of flocks of smaller birds when confronted by egg-seeking crows, however, crows will gather in large numbers and engage raitons, raptors, owls, and other birds of prey in order to steal kills or defend their nests.

During breeding, they construct bulky nests of sticks in trees, and separate from their large flocks into smaller family units. These may still number a dozen individuals, not just the monogamous breeding pair but younger crows, previous offspring, who remain to assist in rearing new chicks for several years before starting their own families.

Crows are considered by many peasants to be a pest (as they will eat planted grain from fields and break into storehouses to locate food) and an ill omen (due to association with the dead). Some subversive works of poetry from the Threshold draw parallels between crows and the Dragonblooded Host, though the Realm and the Immaculate Order quickly seek to suppress such heretical comparisons.