Malheliganta

The Bird That Blots Out The Sun

"Wake up, everyone! The Host is here! Up and about with you all, we've got food to catch! ...Bloody talons, there's a lot of 'em."

— A Ressengian farmer

CONTENT WARNING: Bird poo. Watch out above!
The malheliganta bird - lit. "Darkening Bird" in Vortheht - is a bird that travels in flocks large enough to blot out the sun. It is considered one of the holiest birds within Shahru, and the appearance of a flock of malheliĝanta is often considered a blessing or a sign of favour from the Firebird.. They live in one single, immeasurably large flock that travels from region to region throughout Pretheya, venturing as far as Belyria in the east and Ostokive in the west.

Appearance

The malheliganta is known for its slender and elegant appearance. It is a relatively large bird, often growing to around 16 inches in length, and has a somewhat rounded body in males, while that of females is longer and more defined. Its body is covered in feathers, the majority of which are a pale grey colour often compared to seawater, with a number of its wing feathers containing coal-black tips, and the majority of its tailfeathers being entirely black. Its most distinctive feature is the large orange patch on its breast, which is present in both males and females; though markedly more pronounced in the males. The females sport more brownish wings, and the orange breast stripe gives way to a strip of white that runs down to their tail.

A Malheliganta sat in a tree that has spotted some berries and is preparing to eat them

Behaviour

The behaviour of individual malheliganta is nothing particularly unusual, and at first glance they much resemble other non-predatory flocking birds. However, there are two main differences between them and other Pretheyan species. The first is that they are one of the only birds in Pretheya to primarily eat acorns and chestnuts that fall from trees; these comprise the primary staple of their diet, and thus they must move from place to place in search of fresh acorns from trees when one area has been emptied of food. For this reason, they are commonly found in forests and other heavily wooded areas, and tend to avoid open spaces.
The second is the malheliganta's unique flocking behaviour. Where most other birds may form flocks of many thousands and in some cases as many as a hundred thousand, the malheliganta lives in one single region-spanning flock of an unknown number of birds. Attempts have been made to estimate how many individuals are present within the mega-flock, with guesses being placed in the millions and potentially upwards of tens of millions; but despite various attempts to develop a system of counting them throughout the centuries, there has been no success in determining even a close estimate. The mega-flock travels from region to region, stripping entire areas bare of acorns, nuts, and berries, before moving on to their next destination. They commonly remain in place for between one to three weeks, depending on the density of food available.
When migrating, the assembled malheliganta take the form of a column that can be multiple miles wide in circumference, and is commonly enough to obscure not just the sun, but the majority of the sky depending on distance. These columns are long enough that one researcher observed the beginning of one in Pasdjit, before leaving the site for three days, and returning to find the migration still ongoing.
Individual malheliĝanta are known to be quite agile, and when hunted by predators such as other birds of prey, take to the sky in massive coordinated movements designed to disorient attackers. Despite the enormous numbers that the birds saturate areas with, this behaviour makes them quite difficult prey for other flying species. However, their habit of perching on low-lying branches in trees has made them very easy for humans to hit with bows, slingshots, and other ranged weapons; as well as rendering them vulnerable to the few predators that have ranged or long-distance means of attack.

Cultural Significance

The malheliganta mega-flock is often referred to within Shahru countries as 'Rukhmar's Host.' Whenever the birds arrive in a location, their perching behaviour makes them among one of the easiest possible targets to hunt for humans. This, combined with their virtually limitless numbers have rendered them one of the most convenient and plentiful sources of meat - which is otherwise often very difficult to come by for the poor of Pretheya - available to commoners. As a result of this, most farmers and other lower-class individuals will often drop what they are doing the moment the malheliĝanta arrive, and venture out into the woods the armed with bows and slingshots, where they will kill as many of the creatures as they can.
The mega-flock can go several years without visiting a territory and only stays for a few weeks at most, so hunting of the birds is not able to be used as a consistent source of food by a community in most cases. This infrequency has lead to beliefs around the flock's appearance being a sign of favour from Rukhmar, and often a major source of celebration as well. Communities will commonly use excess meat gathered from the malheliĝanta to hold plentiful feasts which would not otherwise be possible. As a sign of respect, many villages will choose a spot in a high-up location near the settlement and leave leftover bones there. It is believed that having one's bones picked clean by vultures and other carrion birds guarantees reincarnation, and so this is a way of honouring the creatures that provided them with sustenance.
One unfortunate side-effect of the malheliganta's presence is the amount of feces they tend to leave behind. The amount of excrement produced by the mega-flock is so great that it has come to be described by many as a 'rain of shit', and often, it can take days to clean off of buildings and anything left exposed once the flock has left.

"Well, I s'pose there's gotta be some kind of a price to pay for all the free food. Just wish it wasn't such a shitty one."

— The same farmer"

Among the Rukhmarite Priesthood

One of the most important proscriptions within the Rukhmarite faith is that it is ordinarily considered a grave sin to kill a bird, and an even graver one to eat it. However, the malheliganta is one of very few exceptions to this. The official explanation for why the bird is allowed to be eaten is that it is considered to be a direct offering of sustenance from Rukhmar to Her worshippers; this deriving from the incredible ease through which the bird is hunted. However, some say that attempts were actually made to extend the ban on hunting to cover the malheliganta, but that this proved so impossible to enforce that the Rukhmarite church - rather than admit defeat and lose face - simply decided to declare that the bird was a blessing from Rukhmar made to be eaten.