Reaper Crows

At the request of Saint Nora, these creatures were made by Musen the God of Birds. They were created at the start of the Silver Age. Reaper Crows are said to be the the Spirit Form of normal Crows, and look almost exactly the same with the same shape, feather and eye colors, but can also be adorned with a necklace of Aethercite. The original purpose of reaper crows was to be messengers for the dead. They could fly into Meliheal the Wellspring of Souls and deliver messages between the dead and living Silver Peoples. This was to ease the suffering the Silver Race endured, as they were once the only beings on Vreathe that experienced death.

After the Olimians rebelled against the Gods and set fire to the World Tree, many of the Silver Race were banned from the afterlife for taking part. The Gods gave reaper crows a new purpose. They were not to deliver messages to the dead anymore. Instead they were to guard the afterlife. Those that were banned would continued to be banned, forced to wander the lands of Vreathe forever, until their spirits fade into nothing.

In the Iron age, reaper crows still appear from time to time. They will often appear at funerals. When someone passes from Vreathe into the Wellspring of Souls, the eyes of a reaper crow as well as the aethercite around their necks will flash silver for a moment. These birds will also gather around graveyards and are said to be keeping watch over the souls that were denied access into the afterlife.

There are some superstitions involving reaper crows. If you spot one following you around, it is said that someone close to you recently died. Others believe that it is because Saint Nora is watching over you. A third belief is that you are radiating the same negative magical energy of a recently departed soul, and the crows are confused about your appearance.

All three of these might be true, or maybe none of them are. reaper crows are very smart animals and often follow living humans around because they know that humans pay them some manner of respect as messengers of Saint Nora. My suggestion is that you offer them food. If they take the offering and go away, that means death was not following you around that day!

- Salika