Terror Reading

You cannot be less than what you are. And claiming to be more is equally impossible.

Terror Birds are large flightless birds that appear to be simple mounts for riverside warriors. But unknown to most, they are able to convey long strings of ideas to their bonded rider with just a 'bleat' or a 'squawk'.

Geographical Distribution

Range

A shorter, stocker breed of birds breeze through the canopy but are too small to ride.

Terror birds are able to withstand the swamp cold for up to 9 leagues from the river of life.

A colony of terror birds have taken root along the lake shores and have remained wild for their existence.

Vocabulary

It is not an expression of intent. It is an expression of being.

A collection of associations are painted in the riders' dreaming mind. After absorbing that perception, the rider understand who their mount is and was and will be.
This communication is not necessarily one-way. The warrior can reply in a similar manner; relying on the bird's mysterious medium to 'pour out their essence'. It is described as carrying away a piece of themself; though not in any terrifying way.

Spoken by

• River Toiks

Sinkling
River Toiks
Terror Birds
Common Names
While the birds are intelligent, they do not have names as people do. In the same contexts, terror birds name themselves very long titles that are their identities. These can be conveyed in a second, but would take several paragraphs to recite verbally.

They have no short-form. So their human companions have taken to naming them after human professions: Priest, Watcher, Fisher, Driver, Soldier, etc.