The Flock

## And their many secrets...

The Beakmen and so-called Practitioners are individuals part of a mysterious cult/organization that specializes in **healthcare** and **electricity**. Often referred to as "The Flock", they are comprised of several ranks determined by beak-length. Typically, these are the following:

1. The Head Practitioner
2. Practitioners, Chemists, and Undertakers
3. Apprentices

## The Head Practitioner

The Head Practitioner is the biggest bird that makes all of the rules. They have the biggest beak, and are often the tallest. With insane medical skills, wealth and a leadership position, they are best played by people who have a solid grasp on medicine, the lore, and roleplay.

## Practitioners

The Practitioners are the henchmen of the Head Practitioner, often the most abundant of them all. Widely seen as helpful, generous and giving, these are the ones who typically do the healing. As head of the Flock, it is your job to remind them of their place on the pecking order, the importance of the Obelisk and it's messages, and whatever meddling's with the Nobility are taking place.

## Chemistry, Chemists, and what-not.

The chemists are Practitioners specialized in creating chemical concoctions out of raw elements. Dangerous, witty and known for being more murder-inclined than their brethren, they are often regarded with a sense of distrust and hostility. Because of this, there is often no chemist present, at all. The chemistry system itself is quite complex; and at face value seemingly impossible to learn. But with some intuition, your preferred search engine and some basic real-life knowledge you'll be pulling death cocktails together faster than you can say "GLORY TO GREAT LEADER".

## The Undertaker - and his undertakings.

The Undertaker is a practitioner specialized and tasked with acquiring corpses. By harvesting their organs and limbs, they are able to feed **The Beast**, a massive and poorly understood contraption/creature that supplies the bunker with power. All extremities can be harvested and fed to the beast, such as the head, legs and arms, but the eyes and tongue as well. It is suggested to start with the feet before the legs; likewise, the hands before the arms, eyes before the head, and so-on.

Although this job can also be done by normal practitioners, they often have better things to do. It is also looked down upon, and can be dangerous.

## Apprentices, and their thirst for knowledge...

The Apprentices are Practitioners who are yet to even get their own beak. They are tasked with helping out and following orders from the other members of the Flock. This role exists for new players to learn how to do the basics of medicine without taking the Practitioner role away from a more skilled player. Apprentices can request to be taught by the practitioners, and even be the Flock's mailmen, selling the organs harvested by the Undertaker to the Commissariat.

## Their Place Under the Stalagmites

The Flock is a very strange organization. They are driven by the pursuit of power over money. They do not answer to the local government, but usually follow their orders in order to avoid execution. They worship GREAT LEADER, the color red, and Redistan just as any other citizens. However, in spite of this, practicii tend to have separatist tendencies. They often strike deals with the Commandant, or end up in power struggles with them and their henchmen. Usually, this results in either the execution of the entire Clinic, or a **Bird-Up-Coup,** in-which the practitioners seize power over the Commandant through any means, and end up taking over the bunker.

### Combat as a Bird

The Flock is incredibly likely to end up in conflict, and sometimes, genocide. This means the Flock needs to keep itself armed and trained. But they are hurt by one major flaw: they cannot take off their masks or their cloaks.

This is because their beaks are stitched or nailed into their skulls and their cloaks are grafted onto their skin. This means Flockmen cannot wear body armor, or any kind of mask, only helmets. This makes it less viable to go on all-out wars with another of the bunker's factions.

With assassinations being much more efficient and fitting, if the Flock is forced to fight, it's best to strike a deal with the Commissariat for weapons and helmets. Red Helmets and Shotguns are the industry standard for any half-decent **Bird-Up-Coup**.

### Methods of the Coup

Due to how weak the Flockmen are at face-to-face combat, they are often forced to use sneakier and more efficient ways of disposing of their enemies. In situations where this would not work, bribery is also utilized. The following contains the most popular methods perused by the beaks.

1. Malpractice (Tricking someone into surgery, sawing off their head or ripping out their organs)
2. Lethal injection (The lab contains many chemicals, almost all of which are inherently dangerous)
3. Brute-force (Even apprentices are familiar in basic knowledge of various firearms. This knowledge scales with beak size)

## Trivia

* In Warfare, which is set 50 years before the events of Reborn, Practitioners worked as medics in the army and could remove their masks and cloaks. This hints that they used to be a subsidiary of the government, before somehow becoming independent and rapidly radicalizing into the zealous bird lovers we know today
* Practitioners are inspired by their 13th-century real-life counterparts, as well as those featured in the videogame *Pathologic*.
* Unlike many others, the Undertaker is *somewhat* replaceable. Should they perish, a new one may arrive by the boat.
* Sometimes, the Obelisk will speak to you or your fellow flockmen. Follow the orders of the Obelisk with absolute haste and certainty.
* They will not have sex with you. Do not ask.
* Their masks *can* be removed with certain acids. These are, however, *incredibly* rare and difficult to manufacture.