Corax
Corax are one of the changing breeds. They are wereravens.
Overview[edit | edit source]
The Corax animal form is that of a Corvus Corax, and they take to their role as scouts, spies, and gossips with zeal. They are one of the few, if not the only, groups of shifters still on good terms with the Garou after the War of Rage.
Corax are well known for flying, talking (and talking, and talking...), performing practical jokes on deserving Garou, and swooping down from the sky to nab dimes and tin foil. Most of all, they have a reputation for knowing things. A fomor can't fart in Jersey without every Corax in California knowing about it. Wanderlust, wings, and the breed's well-known inability to shut up enable to Corax to report their finding to one another as well as the local Garou and other authorities. Some Corax have even bragged about being faster than the internet; while this is an obvious exaggeration, the breed survived the War of Rage by being the fastest means of communication available to Garou war parties. Corax gain renown as Ragabash Garou, though they tend to favor their particular brand of Wisdom. Glory is often neglected by the fragile Corax.
Corax do have Rage, but they rarely develop it and are not known for the kind of violent outbursts that plague the Garou. They begin life with more Gnosis than most Garou, though they are usually forced to barter favors and information for access to Caerns. While Corax are able to breed with humans or ravens, new Corax are only created by the Rite of the Fetish Egg. This ritual is very taxing to the parent and will automatically fail if attempted on the child of two Corax.
All Corax have Raven as a totem, and their bond with Helios is similar to the one shared between the Garou and Luna. They adore shiny and sparkly things, and require restraint upon encountering one to avoid snatching it.
Mythos[edit | edit source]
Secrets exist to be unearthed. Information is a living entity, and its reproduction is dependent on the words of others. Corax are formed with this understanding coursing through them, tasked with knowing everything. Their creator cursed them for making sure this knowledge was revealed before Gaia. Now, they gather secrets, pulling them from them from the reluctant ground of others’ souls and from the most hard-packed soils of the Umbra. They turn over dirt and sift through decay, revealing the gold beneath.
The Corax were created as spies and interpreters for Gaia, responsible for gathering information about the Garou and the other Fera, making sure they spilled out their knowledge to anyone who would listen. Tricksters from their beaks to the tips of their feathers, they played their grandest prank on Helios, and he forever left his mark on them. Helios went into hiding, leaving the world drenched in darkness, sullen over the attention paid to his sister, Luna. The Corax tricked him into returning by using a mirror and Helios’s reflection, making him believe another could light the world just as well as he did. His ego forced his hand, and he gladly accepted when the Corax told him they could return him to his rightful place.
In excitement, he chased his new friends. His searing pursuit torched the white feathers of the Corax, turning every one of the ravens black. Their tricks further backfired, as Luna appeased her brother’s vanity by giving him the Corax, stripping their auspices away.
The Corax haunt history, gliding over it from up high and observing every detail. They soak in the blood of battles, peck and caw over the dead, and watch power as it is born, grows, and fades away. They exist in every corner of the world, reliquaries of the information they glean, devour, and disseminate to others. History and its players hold no secrets from Raven, and the Corax reveal everything, eventually.
During the Wyrm’s seige on the world’s caerns, Corax worked with Silent Striders to act as go-betweens and escorts, using their expertise at navigating the Material Realm. Other than the Nuwisha, the Corax have the most comprehensive knowledge of the Umbra and how its inhabitants work. Combining their talent at navigation with the intelligence they gathered from the Garou tribes and their enemies, they aided in the transport of Cubs, kinfolk, and the injured, spiriting them away from the worst of the fighting and hiding them as necessary in the Umbra.
The wereravens were able to endure umbral storms and help coordinate efforts to save the few remaining caerns. As messengers, they delivered crucial information when no other creature could break the lines. They played the role of tricksters, evading the most careful traps and providing false information when needed. Their maps and notes provided only a confusing mess to any enemy who attempted to outsmart them.
If the Garou are Gaia’s muscle, the Corax are her circulatory system, aiding in resisting the Wyrm in the Age of Apocalypse. They act as the seamless flow of crucial intelligence, moving necessary resources from one place to another. They’ve saved more than one werewolf when the tide of the battle turned against them.
In spite of their war efforts, some shapeshifters forget the contributions of the Corax. The children of Raven are most frequently seen as quirky babblers, always talking about some detail or another, with their knowledge falling on annoyed ears. However, some tribes are quick to understand there is more beneath the surface of a Corax than her sarcasm, her frequently backfiring pranks disguised as lessons, and her fast flow of words. The Get of Fenris long counted the Corax among their battlefield allies, and the Glass Walkers found them to be as interested in technology as they were. These tribes understand there is wisdom hidden in the barrage of noise. Shrewd Garou and Fera keep the Corax close, forming relationships by offering tidbits of things the Corax desire most—tasty morsels of secrets and truth.
Through all of this, the Corax act as they always have; they gather, they verify, and they gossip. They piece together narratives and data, constantly observing and fact-checking to make certain they are the most accurate and trustworthy purveyors of information. They barter or steal, when they must, to make sure they have the resources they need—whether it’s a required fetish or the location of a shard for a caern. They have thrived in the Internet age, using the Weaver’s gifts to connect with their own and to transfer their accumulated knowledge back and forth.
The children of Raven are Gaia’s spies, born to root out and disinter deeply buried truths, then reveal them to anyone who is wise enough to ask the right questions. Their souls are held together by forgotten lore, whispered rumors, and the most minute details of others’ histories, lives, and legends. The Corax perch high on the wires above the world and the dream spaces of the Umbra; nothing is safe from their eyes.
Breeds[edit | edit source]
Corax are either Homid or Corvid, and have no Metis breed. Socially, the differences between the two are negligible.
- Homid - Human-born Corax are similar in many respects to their Garou counterparts, though they have Corax traits rather than some of the anger-management issues typical of werewolves.
- Corvid - Raven-born Corax usually undergo their First Change after 8–10 months. They are unable to purchase several skills and knowledges except with freebies at character creation.
Forms[edit | edit source]
- Homid - A Corax in human form is said to be wearing her Homid skin. Homids are visually and physically indistinguishable from normal humans, though a Fera’s behavior may mark her as a feral, strange sort of person. They make darting movements, suddenly changing direction without warning. In addition, they have mild streak of kleptomania, and are attracted to objects that are shiny, gaudy, or glittery.
- Harpya - A Corax in Harpyia form spawned the harpy myths of old. Their legs become switch-thin, scaling over and becoming viciously clawed. Their upper bodies, especially at their shoulders and torso, sprout a fine down of black feathers; their fingers twist into needle-sharp talons. Their faces remain all-too human, as their black eyes become abyssal, seeming to swallow the light rather than reflect it.
- Rara Avus / Crinos - In Rara Avus, the Corax equivalent to Crinos form, a Corax stands as huge half-human, half-raven creature with massive wings. The Corax rarely use this form, as they find it awkward and unsettling; they call it “Rara Avus” due to how rarely they choose to be in it. Before the appearance of the Red Star, when werewolves saw the Corax in Rara Avus form, they believed the Corax to be fomori or other creatures of the Wyrm. This confusion caused more than one Corax to find herself on the other end of her allies’ claws. Fighting back has become more necessary, and while the war-form of the Corax is no longer mistaken as an enemy to be destroyed, the Corax still dislike using their Rara Avus form. She cannot be mistaken for anything but supernatural, even when seen from a distance. A non�supernatural human who sees a Corax in Rara Avus form will be impacted by Delirium, suffering confusion, memory loss, and potential madness.
- Corvus Magnus - A Corax in her Corvus Magnus form is massive raven, with the approximate mass of a large wolf. When viewed at a great distance, observers may mistake this form for a large carrion bird, but it is otherwise much too large to be natural.
- Corvid - A Corax in her Corvid form appears most often to be a large black raven. At times, they may look like other large, carrion-eating birds native to the area where the Corvid first changed. Corax in Corvid form are visually indistinguishable from normal carrion birds.
Gifts and Rituals[edit | edit source]
Corax have access to almost all Gifts in common use among the Garou, though they favor those specific to Ragabash and the Shadow Lords. As creatures of Helios, they receive some exclusive fire-and light-related gifts, as well as some specific to creatures with wings and feathers. Corax have only a few Rites not practiced by a Garou. The Rite of the Fetish Egg and Rite of Memory Theft are two of the most important of these.