Kenku

Kenku are a rare race on Azimuth. They are a crow-like race of humanoids, known for their mimicry and forgery skills.

Description

Appearance

Kenku have corvine heads with a large beak and glossy black feathers, which covered their whole body except for their bird-like arms and legs. Unlike aarakocra, they lack wings.

Statistics

Kenku are around 5 feet tall and weigh between 90 and 120 pounds.
Kenku have shorter lifespans than humans. They reach maturity at about 12 years old and can live to 60.

History

Early history and supposed creation

In ancient times, kenku were beings of a farther Plane than Azimuth. When the first gods came to this place and made their creations, they brought war to the Primoridals and sent them back to the Elemental Planes. Afterwards, in their avarice for this world, the pantheons warred with each other over Azimuth’s fate. While the races of the Age of Creations fought at their creators’ whims, a few beings from the Divine Planes would also find their way to battle.
The kenku were once messengers of one of these lost gods, and through events unknown during this time of strife, were cast away and cursed by another, scattered across the Material Planes across the Multiverse. Many were slain and it was assumed they were lost, however a small number would make it to Azimuth before the events of the Severance cut Azimuth from the Multiverse and the reach of the divine.
Though the kenku survived oblivion, they returned as mortals, stripped of all the divine gifts their god had bestowed on them: their voices, their wings, and all memories of their past existence. Their history was lost, and they were reduced to squat beings that could speak only by mimicking the words of others.

Society

Kenku wander the world as vagabonds and burglars who live at the edge of human society. Kenku suffer from a sinister reputation that is not wholly unearned, but they can prove to be valuable allies.
Kenku exist across Azimuth in small numbers. Considered by most to be monsters, they keep to themselves as a result, always longing for something they can neither ask for nor explain. Something in a kenku's mind stirs when it looks to the sky and see birds flying freely-an ancient longing, and a memory trapped within oblivion.
They settle in places that accept them, usually bleak cities that have fallen on hard times and are overrun with crime. Kenku gather in groups called flocks. A flock is led by the oldest and most experienced kenku with the widest store of knowledge to draw on, often called Master. They have a talent for learning and memorizing details. For this reason, many kenku make an easy living serving as messengers, spies, and lookouts for thieves' guilds, bandits, and other criminal cartels. However, some kenku are law-abiding and pursue legitimate trades in places that accept them.
Kenku adventurers are usually the survivors of a flock that has sustained heavy losses, or a rare kenku who has grown weary of a life of crime. Others strike out on their own in search of the secrets of flight, to master magic, or to uncover the secret of their origins in Azimuth.

Kenku in Gimora Major

Some kenku have been reported in the Undercity of Endor, the First Mountain, though these are largely unconfirmed. There are many tunnels in the lower levels of Endor and many places that no longer see much traffic where any number of creatures could be hiding.

Kenku in Tarteria

In Tarteria, kenku exist on the fringes of the largest cities and can be seen in the muddy and poor Westbank district of Kievs. Farther afield, some make their way in the Western Valley away from the queendom in places like Goliin Hiid.
Kenku are very rare in the Hobgoblin Khanate to the south, as the hobgoblins there treat them as a plague to be removed.

Type
Humanoid
Size
Medium
Age of Adulthood
Around 12
Lifespan
Around 60 years
Average Height
Around 5 feet
Average weight
Between 90 and 120 pounds
Feather color
Most commonly black
Planes
Material Plane