“When you become a friend to the Deathseeker Crows, you receive permission to offer them sacrifices.
[…]
What do the crows desire as a sacrifice? What do they abhor?”
I added the deathseeker crows as a mayor faction into the life of my Shadow crew, the Black Birds. I plan to use them as Splinter-like wise mentors with maybe a bit of double-crossing.
Which brings my to the quote from the rules above: Do you have some input for me what a crow could expect as sacrifce?
For me they are more spiritual birds, meaning electroplasma or spirit essence would be ok, but maybe I’m missing the cool (= not so obvious) stuff…?
Any input welcome and thanks for your time and effort.
Maybe the heart of one of the Spirit Warden’s crows? That could spark some good inter-faction conflict.
I think the Deathseeker crows are the Spirit Warden’s crows.
So in addition to their death connection crows are highly intelligent (Possibly on the same level as cetaceans, primates, and elephants) and often associated in folklore with tricksters, curiosity, and a desire for shiny objects. So intricate puzzles, the eyes of interesting dead folks, something shiny that is sentimental or has a storied history but is monetarily worthless, secrets.
The spirit of a murderer (someone who has sent them to many spirits).
The spirit of an innocent (so they can meet someone new).
The spirit of someone they know, like an old Bluecoat beat cop who’s seen a ton of corpses, who’s walked the same district for years.
The spirit of a Warden (so they may exact their revenge).
Basically anything they ask for should be distasteful and/or dangerous. Because that’s interesting.
They lust after scrolls (no pages to turn.) When the whole murder has absorbed the information on the scrolls they are snipped to bits and used to make the nests that crust the seminary bell tower interior spaces.
They prefer to nestle on parchment made of human skin, but any once-living creature’s hide will do.
It is said that the hardest truths, the deepest mysteries of the city, have been offered to the crows for favors that were too much to ask of them. It is said that the crows cannot absorb some of these mysteries, and in the upper rafters of their tower, you can learn things that have been lost everywhere else in the city.
Andrew, that is fucking BAD-ASS! I forget if you’re writing a stretch goal. You are, aren’t you?
Wow. Thanks everbody for the input. Will steal all that shamelessly. 🙂
Duamn Figueroa Thanks for the idea of intra-warden-crows-inter-crows friction. That will be useful esp. with my story arc (see below).
Mark Moller Thanks for the details. I’m planning for a story arc where the crows are actually the old spirits of some elite warrier group which failed in bringing down the sorcerer who brought the cataclysm. Old shiny objects may hold meaning for a bigger mission with regards to that.
Adam Schwaninger thanks for the details about spirits. Much better than my ideas.
Andrew Shields Was hoping for an answer from you. Thanks for your awesomeness.
BTW I think that the crows are always in need of hands/bodies to do their missions, too. That’s not only a favor you could do them but I will link them to the Hulls for that, too. What to do with all the spirits (if not consumed)? Maybe place some of them in mechanical bodies and build an army/crew for yourself? Seems like a plan to me…
Hope my players like that.
Ben Liepis No, I’m not working on any stretch goals. I was late to the party. =) I may do some third party stuff when the time is right.
Stefan Struck With the idea you have of working with hulls, you could create an urban legend: the Birdcages. Over time, people have reported seeing hulls with crows inside, in unexpected places doing unexpected things.
Speculation as to why is rampant. Darla Teeth has a theory that the hulls can be freed by the crows if they do penance, or pay off the service fee, or however you want to frame it.
So where the crows cannot dig, the hulls labor. Where the crows have no fists, the hulls break walls. Where the crows cannot breathe, the hulls submerge. In this way, riding in hulls, the crows can extend their wills beyond their reach, and do more than watch.
She’s wrong, of course. Magus Skyslippers has the right of it. The crows are a potent catalyst, and if compelled, they can serve to channel the will of a ritual caster into the hull to make it obey. Only six people in the city know how to do this, and they’re playing a complex game of strategy with unknown rules and a mysterious prize through their proxies.