The Storm-Bird

Beyond this point lie **spoilers** for *Fallen London*, *Sunless Sea*, or *Sunless Skies*. This may include **midgame** content. **Proceed with caution**.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy **here**.

## The Storm-Bird

The Storm-bird, a fowl of ice and dreams.

### Affiliation

Independent
Mr Spices

### Related

Mr Spices

> *"Raise your arms to the sky and it will come for you. It will lift you away. Its talons are ice, and they protect you. Its wings are frost. Its eyes are two holes. It has only to look at the flames and they are quenched."*
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The **Storm-Bird** is a mysterious avian creature that patrols the lands of Parabola.

## A Defender of Dreams

> *"Found in Parabola; or perhaps it would be more accurate that it finds you there."*
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A well-known fact of life is that nightmares and other dangerous thoughts are almost always just that: thoughts. But in Parabola, rules are made to be broken, and sometimes, the horrors that the mind can dream up forget to stay within the confines of the head, resulting in conflagrations and other disasters that can place all forms of surrounding life in danger. The Storm-bird is a being, visually similar to an large avian, that is drawn to these firestorms of fear. It does not appear to be malevolent, merely curious, and it can help rescue unwary travelers from these horrors, dousing the flames with merely a glance. However, this help comes at a price: of knowledge or perhaps something else entirely. This role in rescuing unwary dreamers from the perils of their nightmares made real is recognized by the Viscountess of the Viric Jungle, another denizen of Parabola who shares this common cause.

Appropriately, the Storm-bird resides in its **Cloud**, a cold, wet, and foggy location, where it apparently collects mechanical trinkets, such as scraps of metal, intricate whirring contraptions, or expertly crafted model ships. According to at least one witness account, the Storm-bird is also capable of summoning dream-ships and presumably other weapons to aid in battles against particularly tough nightmare-opponents, but the veracity of such tales remains unknown.

## A Bird's Biology

> *"Its eyes are pits of darkness. It is drawn to fear, curious, not always able to read what it means."*
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Storm-birds are biologically unique even when compared to the creatures of Parabola. Their eyes are dark and their wings are cloud-colored, with a wide wingspan and a texture like the soft down of a young chick. The birds also emit an aura of frost with feathers and talons of ice, and they can even weep snow when severely distressed. When multiple Storm-birds are assembled, they behave as if they cannot see one other, or indeed as if the others are not there at all.

When removed from Parabola, they slowly fade from existence, as if their essence was so intertwined with dreams that existing outside of them for long would be difficult. In fact, Storm-birds aren't quite "real" at all, they are "dream-projections": beings that apparently manifest in Parabola from the dreams of a greater being in reality. Possibly as a result of this greater nature, and the fact that Storm-birds can easily destroy nightmares, Fingerkings actively avoid Storm-birds and refuse to possess them, regardless of whether or not the bird tries to repel them itself.

Interestingly, Storm-birds have a unique reaction to the Private Stash of Mr Spices; instead of a typical sedative effect, the bird seems invigorated when exposed to the drug, to the point that its wingspan expands significantly. Storm-birds also seem to cast shadows that appear more bat-like than one would expect, similar to that of a young Master, and when allowed to fly freely, Storm-birds also tend to travel towards the Bazaar...

## A Story of Spices

Beyond this point lie **major spoilers** for *Fallen London*, *Sunless Sea*, or *Sunless Skies*. This may include **endgame** or **Fate-locked** content. **Proceed at your own risk**.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy **here**.

> *"The Storm-bird gives a pleased cry you've never heard before, and tries to snuggle its head against Mr Spices."*
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> *"Mr Spices is taken aback. It seems to want to comfort the bird without getting too close. "Do you have a toy?" it asks you urgently. "A miniature train, or a model motorcar, perhaps?""*
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The Storm-bird's shadow resembling a young Master isn't a coincidence, it's implied that the bird may be a dream-projection from the unborn progeny of none other than Mr Spices! Some time ago, Mr Spices was romantically involved with and impregnated by a Baroness from Hell, but this relationship apparently ended rather poorly. This pregnancy has had its complications, however, which at least some of the other Masters have noticed as "ill health", regardless of whether or not they know the cause.

To aid with its situation, Mr Spices regularly takes drugs from its Private Stash to soothe itself and ensure its child is born healthy, and perhaps dream more deeply than it normally would. Perhaps this is the reason for the Storm-bird's unique reaction to the Private Stash's medications. The tendency of the Storm-bird to fly towards the Bazaar may also be in line with its nature as a progeny of the Masters; according to Mr Fires, such offspring are usually kept in the Bazaar's spires as "common property".

In the presence of Mr Spices, the Storm-bird is unusually happy and affectionate, and Mr Spices itself shows some awkward affection in return, but in close proximity to its parent the Storm-bird eventually melts away, in the manner of a dreamer's dream-self fading as it approaches its "real" body.

Amusingly, given its baby's circumstances of conception, Mr Spices sometimes needs to deal with a unique form of what may be pregnancy cravings, such as thoughts about collecting various transportations as well as thoughts devils might have, like the baby perhaps being born with mandibles. Given that Curators, including the Masters, are known to obsess over amassing a collection of certain items, it can be inferred that the child of Spices will have an affinity for collecting transports, like carriages and landaus, with a special preference towards mechanical vechicles. To reflect this, Storm-birds seem fascinated with trains, and some like to race the engines that run through the Great Hellbound Railway, their only competitor in sheer speed and booming sound.

## References

2. ↑ Storm-bird, *Fallen London*
3. ↑ Conflagration, *Fallen London*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Embattled with Storm-bird, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ Cry to the storm-bird, *Fallen London*
6. ↑ Ask what she will do against enemies that are not Fingerkings, *Fallen London*
7. ↑ Await the Parabolan Quarry at its Lair, *Fallen London*
8. ↑ Face the Storm-bird in its Cloud, *Fallen London*
9. ↑ Search the Cloud 1, *Fallen London*
10. ↑ Search the Cloud 2, *Fallen London*
11. ↑ Kill the Pinewood Shark, *Fallen London*
12. ↑ Work toward a fuller understanding of monstrosities 2, *Fallen London*
13. ↑ Observe, *Fallen London* *"Its wingspan is perhaps a foot more than it was a moment ago."*
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Capture the Storm-bird, *Fallen London*
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Offer the Storm-bird to Fingerkings, *Fallen London*
16. ↑ Work toward a fuller understanding of monstrosities 2, *Fallen London*
17. ↑ Know the Storm-bird, *Fallen London* *"Keep a Storm-bird [...] long time in your Laboratory, [...] eventually it becomes more and more faded..."*
18. ↑ Ask her to help with ordinary research (April) 1, *Fallen London* *"Not a bird [...] Dream-projection. Rest of this being is much larger than we see here."*
19. ↑ Ask her to help with ordinary research (Lettice), *Fallen London* *"The drugged animals lie about in a somewhat stunned condition."*
20. ↑ Observe, *Fallen London* *"Its wingspan is perhaps a foot more..."*
21. ↑ Know the Storm-bird, *Fallen London*
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Observe the behaviour of a Storm-bird in the vicinity of Mr Spices, *Fallen London*
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Discuss the matter of Mr Spices, *Fallen London*
24. ↑ Discuss the matter of Mr Spices, delicately, *Fallen London*
25. ↑ Finish your experiment with Mr Spices' Drug and reveal the truth to the Dean, *Fallen London* *"Pregnant animals find the drug soothing. It makes their offspring quieter, soothes the differences between parent and child. Runts of the litter survive longer after the birth. Both the born and the unborn dream longer and more deeply."*
26. ↑ Observe, *Fallen London*
27. ↑ Discuss the matter of Mr Spices, *Fallen London* *"...when there are children [...] one brings them to [...] the Bazaar for raising. They are [...] common property."*
28. ↑ Observe the behavior of a Storm-bird in the vicinity of Mr Spices, *Fallen London* *"It seems to want to comfort the bird without getting too close. [...] the bird melts away like lacre. [...] like a dream-self that has come too close to its dreamer."*
29. ↑ Offer Mr Spices your medical opinion on its peculiar health, *Fallen London* *"Thoughts devils have," [...] "That the baby will be born with mandibles."*
30. ↑ Curator, *Sunless Skies*
31. ↑ Offer Mr Spices your medical opinion on its peculiar health, *Fallen London* *"Thoughts devils have," [...] "That I should build a strange newfangled transport for its baby carriage."*
32. ↑ Observe the behavior of a Storm-bird in the vicinity of Mr Spices, *Fallen London* *"...you produce your Model Infernal Locomotive. The storm-bird is instantly transfixed."*
33. ↑ Reveal a contemptible truth to the Fool's Apostate (1898), *Fallen London*
34. ↑ Winged Creature of Considerable Speed, *Fallen London*