Corvus

A constellation of high magic, or bad luck, or of demons, Corvus is a small fainted constellation seen most clearly in the southern hemisphere.

Features

Corvus is a small constellation. Its name means "raven" in Latin. It depicts a raven perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. The four brightest stars, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a distinctive quadrilateral in the night sky.
With an apparent magnitude of 2.59, Gamma Corvi—also known as Gienah—is the brightest star in the constellation. It is an aging blue giant around four times as massive as the Sun. The young star Eta Corvi has been found to have two debris disks. Three star systems have exoplanets, and a fourth planetary system is unconfirmed. TV Corvi is a dwarf nova—a white dwarf and brown dwarf in very close orbit.
While the constellation does not contain any particularly bright stars, it is home to the Antennae Galaxies - a likely preview of what will happen with the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies when they eventually come together.

History and Mythology

There are many myths attributed to the story of Corvus. In the magical community, it is said Corvus is the reason people think ravens are bad luck. While there is the well known story from Greek mythology dealing with Apollo, demons through the ages have attributed the shape of the constellation to various altars and rituals meant to bring about human suffering. It is unknown why demons have used that constellation and what their own particular powers can draw from the visualization of the constellation, if that is indeed true at all. Other magic users claim that star-based magic is an untapped resource that demons understand that humans do not.

"Why is it your kin develop such arts with the stars?" she asked.
"Why indeed!" he laughed. "We don't. We just say we do and you mortal beings believe it. Believe it or not, sometimes we do something for the explicit purpose of fucking with you."

Petra Lakatos and her Demon

by Daniel Verschatse

Alternative Name(s)

The Raven

Type

Star System