Main Avian Post

Rainbow Crow

Long ago, when the buffalo first settled, the cold season was even harsher than it is in modern times. But the buffalo settled anyway, believing the winter would soon give way to spring. Even when it did not, the buffalo stubbornly stayed, no matter how hungry they became. During one of their stampedes, the early buffalo met the Rainbow Crow, whose song lifted the buffalo's spirits and whose rainbow wings could reach high into the sky. The buffalo beseeched the Rainbow Crow to bring them warmth from the sun. On a six-day journey to the sun and back, the Rainbow Crow brought the sun's fire on a torch to give to the buffalo. But the smoke and soot of the fire caused her feathers to turn black and her damaged her singing voice. Regardless, thanks to the Rainbow Crow, the sun's fire melted the snow, and the buffalo were able to grow crops.

Rainbow Crows are sapient corvids native to southwestern Equestria. Standing a little taller than the average pony, they otherwise resemble normal crows, though they can shimmer with myriad colors if they wish.

The Rainbow Crows state that when the buffalo tribes came to Equus (during the Pleistocene), the bovines had difficulty surviving the harsh ice age winters. The Crows brought the tribes fire from the sacred bonfire which the corvids keep lit (to this day) in a secret cave in the mountains.

This generosity gave rise to the common Buffalo legend, though it has become embellished to some extent.

As it stands, Rainbow Crows are a solitary race, preferring privacy, but they do enjoy the occasional visitor.

Loquentavis

Native to Stirrope and Khaan, these intelligent, omnivorous birds have very long life spans, which they spend gathering knowledge about the world. They sometimes offer wise advice to weary travelers, and they somehow know instantly if someone has honor. If approached politely by such a person, they answer all manner of questions.

On the rare occasions when a male and a female Loquentavis meet (perhaps once every 50 years), they go through an elaborate mating dance that lasts for up to one week. The female then lays a single egg, one year after mating, which hatches almost five years later. Newly hatched Loquentavis are as beautiful as their parents, but must be taught how to speak, with new languages being taught by their mother. Other information they learn by traveling and observing, but they usually avoid contact with other species until they have lived for at least 50 years, so they will have wisdom and information to offer. They can live for centuries, and some claim to be more than a millennium old.

These 2-foot tall birds have a calm and melodious speaking voice. Their singing voice is also very beautiful.

Corby

Created in flagrant disregard of Starswirl's Law Against Uplift, Corbies are 3-foot tall natives of a small kingdom within Equus (created by folding space in order to essentially create a small pocket dimension).

Corbies were created when this kingdom's ruler (an individual known for his mad experiments) sought to try his claws at creating an intelligent race. The Corbies were his first attempt, but were deemed a failure due to a seeming inability to grasp the art of metallurgy. They were then released into the wild.

Corbies live in tribal communities of up to 28 adults and their chicks. They have grasped the concept of fire, and fashion tools out of bone, wood, and rock. They are a fairly peaceful race, but prefer to keep to themselves.

Dire Corby

The SECOND attempt made by the creator of the Corbies, he deemed these beings too dangerous even by his standards, and planned to kill the entire root stock, which unfortunately escaped into the tunnels under the kingdom, and have since then most likely spread outside the kingdom into the massive cave system known as the "Underdark" which travels under Equus, Mustikk, Khaan, and Stirrope.

Dire corbies are intelligent, but have little use for society outside of the rough, squabbling pecking order of the rookery. Dire corbies roost in huge rookeries of up to 60 adults in large, open caverns. They roost together for mutual protection, but seldom have leaders who preside over an entire flock. Dire corbies are smart enough to realize the value of cooperative hunting, and go in groups of 10 when doing so, but once prey has been felled, they fight among one another over the choicest bits.

A typical dire corby stands 5 feet tall. In addition to being savage predators, enjoying the mad rush of taking on intelligent prey even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, dire corbies are also notorious cannibals when it comes to their young, and a mother dire corby must carefully defend her eggs lest a flock of male dire corbies from the same rookery descend on her nest and devour the unborn children in a flurry of yolk and blood. This ultimately counterproductive tendency only further supports the impression of dire corbies as dangerously unbalanced beings, and may explain why the creatures remain relatively rare.

If a creature is small enough or weak enough, it is prey, and if it is too big or too powerful to hunt and eat, it is an enemy to be avoided or fought until one side is utterly defeated. Disturbingly, dire corbies don’t seem to care whether they’re the ones who perish. They favor their claws in combat, relishing the feel of their talons ripping through flesh and the hot spurt of fresh blood on their feathers. If absolutely necessary, a dire corby will craft a crude tool for a specific purpose, but invariably discards it once it has served that purpose.

Velka

The final attempt made by the creator of the Corby and Dire Corby, these 7-foot avians possess the power of flight, and are intelligent, and even downright sociable and pleasant to be around.

Velka live in small, matriarchal flocks, often in service to their creator or as hoofmaidens to his daughter, but have also found work as some of the best blacksmiths in the entire kingdom. Other than this, however, they have no distinct culture of their own, more or less integrating themselves with the culture of the local ponies.

Are there any White Ravens?
Yes that is an ASOIAF reference but they do appear in the Edge Chronicles as well and the concept is taken from Greek Mythology.

5958782 as a species, yes, but while smart they fall a little short of the "sapient" classification

5958787 Ah yes. Fair enough.

5958789 The question is, who would openly dare to break Starswirl's Law.

It was my adopted son, Fleg, who may or may not be the Known World's equivalent of Seathe the Scaleless

Yikes...
Taking any influence from the Dark Crystal?
Or do they fall into another category?

5958793 https://www.fimfiction.net/group/199698/the-known-world/thread/107493/extinct-races-skeksis