Tengu Species in Mòrherinn | World Anvil
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Tengu

The Tengu are a race of flightless humanoid avians mostly resembling crows and ravens. The vast majority of them live in Qeiri, there are no major settlements in other countries. The only tengu found outside Qeiri were usually either taken from Qeiri, or are the children of such misplaced tengu.   Despite the quite clear differences between the two races, many people outside of Qeiri tend to mistake the tengu for Kenku. Tengu are on average about 1ft taller than the Kenku, and while they're not exactly known for their physical strength either, they are still usually stronger than the Kenku too. The most obvious difference between the two races however is the fact that the tengu can speak freely using their own voice and have no mimicry ability, and the Kenku can only communicate using the voice and sounds of other people.   This common confusion is also the reason why many tengu who found themselves outside of Qeiri are usually not treated terribly well, despite the fact that their kin in Qeiri are very well respected actually.  

Tengu in Qeiri

    Most of the tengu in Qeiri live in Telukei, situated along the sides of Mount Telu. It is not an easy place to live in for most people that aren't used to Wild Magic, and as such the city is mostly only populated by Kitsune, minor spirits and [some other things], aside from a large majority of tengu. The life in the city isn't very different to life in any other city, with the exception of the monastery found high up above the clouds at the top of the mountain.   Every once in a while, a curious phenomenon happens, and a young tengu hatches with wings on its back, even though its parents lacked them. There isn't a single known case of such a tengu being born anywhere else in the world to date, and no scholars ever had the chance to study such an individual as it's seen as both a great honour and a sad duty to give your child to the Great Tengu living on top of the mountain. There they will be trained in martial arts, science and magic to serve as guardians to protect the great Tree of Life.  

Tengu in the rest of the world

  Very few Tengu ever leave Qeiri willingly as many of them have heard of how badly their kind is treated due to being mistaken as a Kenku elsewhere. Most of the Tengu who find themselves on foreign shores were either exiled from home, or abducted to be sold as novelty items to the highest bidder. Tengu slaves have recently become surprisingly high in demand due to their resemblance to the Kenku while generally being stronger and better educated. Because Kenku have a generally bad reputation as thieves and spies, public mistreatment of a Kenku is often shrugged off as 'they probably had it coming anyway', and it's easy to pass a Tengu off as a Kenku if you teach them to keep their beaks shut.   The few fortunate Tengu who escaped this fate through whatever means or sheer luck, often find themselves with the outcasts of society regardless. Despite their generally good nature and dislike of crime, many of these end up joining smaller criminal organisations regardless to stay out of sight and make enough money to be able to afford food. Very few Tengu ever form families in this dangerous world, and even fewer actually have children, so it's not much of a surprise that none of them reach back farther than a generation or two away from Qeiri at best.

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