Aarakocra Mythos

Aarakocra history is a complicated matter. Due to the race's nature in the world, as they are only found in Authn, and scattered across the general world of Tsra. Historians of other races find themselves confounded by the beautiful stories of mountains and the Elemental Plane of Air, with no easy explanation to those places' overlap into Tsra's map.

## It Shot across the Sky

It Shot across the Sky tells the story of the origin of the Aarakocra. Aarakocra griots recount this story often to their young, who grow up and retell it to their young, as is the tradition of oral history. Below is a rough translation of the story from Aarakocra to common.

"In the very mountain range we used to call home, long before any tunnels were carved and any humanoids roamed the land, a ferocious beast taller than six men put together and heavier than the largest tree claimed the area. The beast, named Ilharg, took the form of a boar. His body glowed with green magic, though his bright-orange fur brought death upon many a prey. His tusks exceeded the heaviest warrior in size.

Ilharg spent his days hunting, resting, and hunting again. He could kill any beast that crossed his path. After he depleted an area of any suitable prey, he would dig cavernous tunnels through the mountains with his tusks; emerging on the other side ready to claim dominion over the helpless fauna there.

Now, when a disturbance in the Far Realms shook up the cosmos, the Elemental Plane of Air collided with the Material Plane, bringing great terror to the natural life. When the cosmos settled, the small overlap in these two planes remained. In addition to the wind overtaking Ilharg's tunnels, a meteor come streaking from the heavens, disintegrating in the lower atmosphere. The meteor brought with it two things of great importance: a mysterious black metal, and Kefnet, God of the Skies.

Ilharg did not take kindly to Kefnet's presence. The Raze-Boar sought out the Sky-God and engaged Him in a year-long battle. Tusk clashed against staff; beak against hide, talons against talons. Mountains fell and the earth quaked where the two fought.

After many days of sleepless battle, Kefnet struck down Ilharg. As the Sky-God stood atop the Boar's corpse, he took his own last breath, unable to withstand the injuries He sustained. When Kefnet fell, His body spread over the mountains and the earth, giving birth to the first Aarakocra."

## By the Teeth of the Dragon

By the Teeth of the Dragon tells another, more horrific tale. In a conflict with an unkown, warlike race, the Aarakocra found themselves near the brink of total extinction. Chroniclers tell this fable in multiple fashions: sometimes as a triumphant victory over an unbeatable foe, sometimes as a warning to always be prepared for war, or sometimes as a reminder that there is always a bigger bird in the sky. Ironically, there is no mention of any dragon, rather, the name dates back to an old Aarakocra expression *'Tis better to escape by the teeth of the dragon than to succumb and be swallowed whole*. Below is the transcript of an interview with famous scholar Aarastotle.

"After we [the Aarakocra] had claimed the mountains for our own, settling the biome for forty generations [a thousand years], we grew weak. Feeble. As our hollow bones keep us adrift, but weaken our strength on land, the safety of the hollow mountains made us pathetic. It was not only us who realized this fact.

They [the Troglodytes]1 invaded with such force, such tenacity, and such speed that we had but a second to react. As our armies scrambled, their fate became that of an egg. We were eaten alive, humiliated, and exiled from our home. Perhaps it was for the best, as if we did not leave, I would not be alive today to tell you this story.

The handful of dozens of survivors hid. Do I know where? No. Perhaps back in the Elemental Plane of Air, perhaps in another plane entirely, or perhaps just in a series of hideouts here on the Material. Regardless, we endured.

Survivorship brings strength. Strength brings friends. Allies. Our ancestors, from hiding, banded together with nearby races and plotted. We were not the only ones sent into hiding by them [the Troglodytes]. Those grey monsters scoured many a civilization, but their incompleteness would be their undoing. Fighting against a common enemy brought together an unlikely alliance. Even the halflings2, who had every talent but combat, joined the cause.

Four hundred years of planning and scouting was put to the test the day we marched upon our former homeland. Countless skilled warriors joined Kefnet that day. The dull stones turned blood-red as our warriors dug deeper into the reptiles' lines.

At last, the final fool3 fell. We won. Some collapsed from the effort while others celebrated, but in the end, we won. The lessons learned that day, a culmination of over one thousand years of history, cannot be told in a single story. Perhaps I should take you to my personal library sometime."

1. Troglodyte is the name given to a race of tall, muscular, hairless, grey-skinned people. They are described in other writings as brutal and quick to anger.
2. Halflings are another race not yet seen in the Tsra archipelago. They are normally described as short, stocky, and quite hairy, with an appetite larger than that of a giant tiger.
3. It was later revealed that in the Halfling language, "troglodyte" meant "foolish."