Raven shapeshifter
The Raven is commonly regarded as a harbinger of doom. Of old, he was known as the grandson of the wind god Stribog, who bore the winds, as well as the Water of Life and the Water of Death from the god’s heavenly abode. The Raven could also prophesy, though people tend to associate his cawing with the approach of death and war, and react accordingly.
As a frequent traveler between the two worlds, the raven is not fully rooted in either, and what he loses as a result of people’s suspicion, he makes up for by being privy to secrets, from knowledge of the future, to awareness of buried treasure (to which ravens are unusually attracted).
The raven's parent(s) typically have a rookery high up in the mountains, or atop a very old and tall tree. More than most shifters, ravens tend to live in family groups, which protect a valuable treasure in their hideout. More likely than most shapeshifters, ravens will abandon human society, and rejoin their own kind.
Archetypically, the Raven is male, though his close relative, the Crow, is female, and shapeshifters from the family are evenly split between the two. In human form, ravens and crows tend to have jet-black hair and thick eyebrows. Their speech is typically shrill and cackling. They often wear bright jewelry.
The raven is a mysterious sort, who sees himself as being an agent of Fate. As such, he may bear aid and blessings at one time, and damnation at the very next meeting. Some ravens regard themselves as being cursed (a legend has it that they were originally white, and were cursed for disobedience to God, or perhaps even for bloodthirstiness). The Raven is also a larcenous creature, who covets both treasure and paramours, both of which he secrets in hidden mountain, forest, or even subterranean fastnesses.
Certain ravens and crows buy into their carefully constructed mystique too heavily, and begin to exhibit lazy, stupid behaviors, empty braggadocio, and a tendency to miss opportunities (like the eponymous Crow who dropped cheese from its beak when the Fox flattered it and called it a great singer).
Ravens and crows may come from a variety of stations. Frequently, they are enigmatic heathens on a particular mission from powerful beings living beyond the land of Nor’, or fledgling scribes receiving training in the arcane arts. Urban-born ravens are often ruffians and mountebanks, given their penchant for theft, and these tend to belong to secret societies in the criminal underworld. Given the love some of them exhibit for war, they are attracted by a soldier's life, and often grow up as wards of particular princes or boyars. Most rare for ravens or crows is an origin among the peasantry or urban poor.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
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