Ravenhawks and Snow Shrieks (Patreon)

Communication is very important in the land of Theria. Only the Librarium and a few kings own the ancient relics known as Edessian Orbs,  talismans able to communicate words and thoughts across great distances. Few exist and even fewer are in the hands of an adept that can properly use them. So the most common way to communicate at distance is with messages relayed via avian and the like. In most of the land this is achieved via courier crow. The Saurian's us a small, feathered, winged serpent called a Kukul. The Stallosi use doves and both Rangers and the Levarin prefer small cute feral mammals called Lokas.

But there are two of these creatures used by two powerful orders of warriors that stand out for their magical nature. These are the Ravenhawks of the Order of Raven Knights and the Snow Shrieks used by the Imakandi of Amarok. Though the two creatures vary wildly in size and specialties, both are magical creatures of ascension, thought to be created by the druids long ago.

Ravenhawks can carry messages like a courier crow, however, they can communicate fully via feelings and thoughts with adepts. They are highly intelligent and can actually imitate speech. Often they are verbally told long messages and can recite these messages back to the receiver. Ravenhawks are intelligent enough to know the difference between various peoples and can be given multiple messages for multiple different people. Ravenhawks have been known to attack, defend or withhold information in order to assist their knights. They have an empathetic and magical bond with their knights, able to sense each others thoughts. Only high ranking Raven Knights are bonded with Ravenhawks. These special birds are born of mana and quintessence and the eggs only hatch after feeding off the quintessence of their partner, who must carry around the strong rock like eggs for some time before it draws in enough of the Knight's quintessence to incubate and hatch. As with all creatures of Mana, those with deep spirit wells such as mages and particularly gifted Knights have stronger connections and their Ravenhawks have a wider array of abilities.

Likewise up in Amarok, Snow Shrieks serve a similar function in similar ways. But unlike a Ravenhawk, a Snow Shriek cannot imitate the speech of kinlings. Instead these creatures seem almost telepathic, able to discern feelings, ideas and emotions and convey that to others. This is not an exact form of communication and written messages like the ones used with common courier crows are best used with those who can not feel the creatures thoughts. Snow Shrieks are also a lot less dependent and close with individuals. They can form close bonds randomly, but generally one Snow Shriek is assigned to a group of hunters and tends to stay with that group throughout its life. Snow Shrieks have a wide variety of useful combative abilities due to them being creatures of mana, but the most devastating is the one for which it is named. A Shrieks cry can be turned upon a person to deadly effect. The high pitched scream vibrates the air and can stun, disable or even kill an unprepared foe.

Truly these are two of the most fascinating creatures living in Theria.