Wrobel

**Wrobels**, also known as Sparrows, are giant intelligent birds with powerful psychic abilities.

## Appearance

Wrobels look more or less exactly like an airplane-sized version of common sparrows.

## Powers

Wrobels are defined by their immense psychic abilities. In their own area of competence, Wrobels are some of the most dangerous beings alive.

### Mind manipulation

Wrobels can edit a human's or reaper's memories, at least recent ones with few emotional attachments. They can also suppress someone's consciousness altogether, or hold them in place. It's even possible for a Wrobel to enslave someone on a continuous basis, controlling their actions directly, though this ability is generally shunned in the present day.

### Sense reading

Wrobels can gather sensory information from all people in range. The mental load of this ability is relatively low for the amount of information involved, since the Wrobel relies on the humans' own brains to process most of the information, and they also don't typically bother reading senses other than sight and sometimes hearing. Wrobels typically use this ability for situational awareness, to watch for cameras, and to eavesdrop on particular conversations.

### Illusions

Wrobels can also edit the senses of people in range. Most commonly, they edit themselves out of perception, making themselves effectively invisible. They can also create false architecture, such as hiding doors or creating openings into fake rooms. They have no trouble projecting the same illusion to everyone in an area.

### Telekinesis

Wrobels can create telekinetic forces at least as strong as a human, though nowhere near as strong as a servant using their ability.

### Avatar

Wrobels can unite their illusions and telekinesis to make a lifelike human or animal under their direct control. Even reapers perceive a good avatar to be a real person. Wrobels can have multiple avatars active at once, and can conjure or dismiss them at will, though crafting a new avatar takes time and concentration. Avatars are a Wrobel's primary means of interacting with human society.

## Weaknesses

Powerful though they are, Wrobels do have a few weaknesses, and are likely to come to grief if they try to use their powers for everything.

Some individuals are resistant or outright immune to their mind manipulation. Truly immune individuals are very rare, but just one in the wrong place can completely blow a Wrobel's cover if they attempt to mind-meld their problems away. One form of immunity is if a person is able to maintain multiple independent thought processes, in which case only one process will be affected.

Soul-empowered barriers or armor completely block mind manipulation, while aberration shadows block some aspects but not others.

While Wrobels can passively affect a great many humans at once with their powers over senses, their more aggressive powers are harder to use and become saturated if the Wrobel tries to use them on crowds.

A Wrobel's illusions are nearly flawless, and work even on manipulation-immune individuals. However, they can only fool senses that the Wrobel knows the target has. Mutations or artifacts that grant extra senses, may expose these illusions. Also, Wrobels cannot fool mindless machines, so security camera footage viewed after the Wrobel leaves can reveal them.

Wrobels find it difficult to modify memories that have strong emotional connections, either because the event itself was highly emotional, or because the memory is an old one that has accumulated a great many minor connections.

Wrobels cannot read thoughts. Mental architectures vary wildly from person to person, and a Wrobel would need to devote a prohibitive amount of study to a single person in order to read just that one person's thoughts.

## History

In times past, Wrobels were often tyrant kings, nests of them enslaving great numbers of humans and even reapers to do everything for them. When Hector suggested to the Wrobel Hanton that their powers would allow them to "take over half the world," Hanton tacitly admitted that ancient "Kingsparrows" had done just that. At the peak of their power, Abolish and the Vanguard fought side-by-side for nearly a century to stop their conquest.

In the present day, their power is greatly reduced. Many groups hunt down any Wrobels they hear of, such as Morgunov Abolish and the Andalero, and a group called the Old Wardens may have been specifically formed to do so. The fate of any Wrobel caught by these groups is not pleasant; they will either be vivisected to learn their secrets, enslaved for their powers, or simply killed to eliminate the threat.

Some Wrobels work for the Vanguard, serving as spies. These Wrobels receive good protection, but are heavily monitored at all times and have little freedom. Other Wrobel nests hide out in relatively isolated countries, usually taking the guise of nobles or wealthy recluses, and work to make those countries secure places to hide.

## Notable Wrobels

* House Gaolanet, Atreyan noble family
	+ Lord Hanton Gaolanet
	+ Pauline Gaolanet
* Unnamed Steccati noble family
* Vanguard Marshal Graves (suspected)